Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[levelnine]

CMT notifications of changes invariably arrive before the ones from airlines.

But doesn't notify of all changes. It has missed about 25% of changes over the last six months that I have been using it.
Anyone with a OWA sadly has to monitor it manually on a daily basis.

 

[flapper]

You need to find a friend or relative with status (preferably WP+) who can make the call, explain that they are calling on your behalf and then hand the phone over to you.

I don't know any WP or WP+ is anyone on here willing to call on my behalf? I no longer have any confidence on anything the overseas CC tell me as they are wrong nearly all the time and say they will call back and never do. My email to Stephanie Tully still has not elicited a response and may not, I was hoping it gets forwarded to a flunky and they contact me. One of my requests was that I get to speak to someone from HBA or AKL. I think one call with a competent person could sought it out and save QF as so far I've called at least 20 times I don't know how many hours of CC staff that has taken up.

 

[levelnine]

I don't know any WP or WP+ is anyone on here willing to call on my behalf? I no longer have any confidence on anything the overseas CC tell me as they are wrong nearly all the time and say they will call back and never do.

Unfortunately, if you are a Bronze member, you need to seriously reconsider booking OWAs that require calling Qantas. If you can't book it online, I would not be bothering. Hopefully the situation will change in the future, but I think for the moment it simply isn't feasible unless you are willing to waste literally hundreds, if not thousands, of hours on the phone hoping for the one or two competent SA/Fiji-based agents.

 

[jeza]

Have an AY flight HEL-LIS in my OWA & have received the below email from Finnair

DAT LT will be operating selected flights on our Copenhagen route in June, and on Oulu and Lisbon routes between July and October. The leased aircraft and crew are supporting Finnair’s operational stability during the busy summer season. In the flights operated with the leased aircraft, the coughpit and cabin crew come from DAT LT. They serve customers in English. Finnair service concept is followed in the flights.

The flights still have an AY flight number with the notation that they are "operated by DAT Lt for Finnair".

I did a dummy OWA including this flight & it capped at 318k but was wondering if anyone knows whether this is allowable under the OWA rules?

 

[squid01]

I don't know any WP or WP+ is anyone on here willing to call on my behalf? I no longer have any confidence on anything the overseas CC tell me as they are wrong nearly all the time and say they will call back and never do. My email to Stephanie Tully still has not elicited a response and may not, I was hoping it gets forwarded to a flunky and they contact me. One of my requests was that I get to speak to someone from HBA or AKL. I think one call with a competent person could sought it out and save QF as so far I've called at least 20 times I don't know how many hours of CC staff that has taken up.

If you can stomach it, just keep calling. I (politely) push them, and do challenge them when they say something that is incorrect. Ask to speak with their supervisor etc. Try and call late at night or early morning to minimise hold time to get through, so if you get someone bad you can HUCA straight away. Good luck.

 

[flapper]

If you can stomach it, just keep calling. I (politely) push them, and do challenge them when they say something that is incorrect. Ask to speak with their supervisor etc. Try and call late at night or early morning to minimise hold time to get through, so if you get someone bad you can HUCA straight away. Good luck.

Thanks, up to 13 calls in 2 days, 20 over the past week since QF cancelled my SFO SYD flight. Calling early in the morning tends to get answered by Cape Town and I want to avoid them as I don't want them to stuff up my booking. 4 have told me they will call back and haven't. Even the notes on their system don't have the name or user id of who puts on the notes. They all refuse to put me through to a supervisor. I'll email Stephanie with the details of my calls today unless I get success but that is unlikely.

 

[Kerrodt]

With all of the changed flights, chaos and mismanagement of bookings from the poor service out of the contact centres I am extremely reluctant to go ahead with planning my OWA.

There certainly seems to be a definite uptick in reporting here of major problems with bookings being cancelled (not all QF's fault) and remedial action being stuffed up (predominantly QF's fault). It seems that the risk of something failing (multiple times) and it all turning to custard far outweigh the joy that I'd get from the planning and taking of an adventure.

I do feel truly sorry for those people who have been, and continue to be, screwed around.

Surely the an appropriate response from QF would be to re-route the calls regarding the OWA flights to a team of competent operators by filtering it out at the call-in step and redirecting the call appropriately?

 

[flapper]

A quick update 12 calls to QF since Tuesday. Not a single person put a note on the system about any of my calls, not one. Yesterday I was told by Fiji that they would change the date of my QF flight from LAX and would call back. No call so I rang this morning and was told see could see the note and it would be ticketed in 72 hours. I asked her to do it. She refused. I called again and was told they won't change the flight. I asked her to check the notes. She said the last note was from Sunday. I said the previous person told me there was one there. I said can you call out her name & ask. I was told straight away she just finished her shift. Another operator confirmed no notes since Sunday. I'm still on hold to 2 operators. I'm emailing Stephanie again. I have all the names of people I have spoken to. I can't believe they don't make notes. I'm furious.
Update 1 call dropped out, she didn't call a back or put a note despite us discussing notes. 2nd call said the sytem was down and would call back. I asked to speak to a supvervisor. That was declined. I asked her to speak to her supervisor about my case. She said "they were in a meeting". No call back of course.

 

[squid01]

A quick update 12 calls to QF since Tuesday. Not a single peron put a note on the system about any of my calls not one. Yesterday I was by Fiji told they would change the date of my QF flight from LAX and would call back. No call so I rang this morning and was told see could see the note and it would be ticketed in 72 hours. I asked her to do it. She refused. I called again and was told they won't change the flight. I asked her to check the notes. She said the last note was from Sunday. I said the previous person told me there was one there. I said can you call out her name & ask. I was told straight away she just finished her shift. Another operator confirmed no notes since Sunday. I'm still on hold to 2 operators. I'm emailing Stephanie again. I have all the names of people I have spoken to. I can't believe they don't make notes. I'm furious.

Get pretty firm but polite, and tell them you are not hanging up the call until it is resolved. You will eventually get someone who will see it through to the end for you.

The operators make up some blatant lies as to why you can't speak with a supervisor, or why they cant contact their "specialist" team at that moment. They will try anything to get you off the phone. Just say you are happy to wait, and will not hang up, even if it takes hours for them to get it resolved. But, they will probably just disconnect you whilst you are on hold anyway.

I eventually got someone who seemed to care and called back etc, and got it done.

 

[flapper]

Get pretty firm but polite, and tell them you are not hanging up the call until it is resolved. You will eventually get someone who will see it through to the end for you.

The operators make up some blatant lies as to why you can't speak with a supervisor, or why they cant contact their "specialist" team at that moment. They will try anything to get you off the phone. Just say you are happy to wait, and will not hang up, even if it takes hours for them to get it resolved. But, they will probably just disconnect you whilst you are on hold anyway.

I eventually got someone who seemed to care and called back etc, and got it done.

I was waiting for her to speak to her support team phone cut out after waiting for an hour. She said she would call back but didn't. On hold with another operator on a different phone for an hour already. Still waitng for the support team. Eventually after 1.5 hours she came back and said the system to contact the support team is down. I asked can I speak to your supervisor, she said no. I asked if she could speak to him about my case, she said "he's in a meeting". I am certain they just lie to get me off the phone. She says she will call back but I don't believe it. I've been full time for 2 and half days on this. Not sure what to do now.

 

[DC3]

Does the brains trust know if AS awards flights that show as first class but when you hover your mouse over say your flight will be in business class. Can they be added to a J OWA booking?

This is the problem with using AS. It doesn’t work like AA, so will not max out at 318,000 points J award price if booking First class.

The other option is to book Economy on AS, not First, to keep within a 318,000 points Business award.

Edited

 

[Mr H]

This is the problem with using AS. It doesn’t work like AA, so will not max out at 318,000 points J award price if booking First class.

The other option is to book Economy on AS, not First, to keep within a 318,000 points Business award.

The other option is to accept that AS will price as F and find other F flights to put in the itinerary to make it worth paying for a OWA in F.

 

[motef]

One thing i am seeing a lot here is people when they call Qantas saying they want to "book an OWA" or "make changes to an OWA. "

Thats not required and throws off the call center staff to your detriment

In my experience, i have always just said "I want to book some flights and i can't do it online" and proceed with each leg or if adding flights simply said " i want to add some flights to an existing booking"

The call center staff don't need to know all the OWA rules and if you have done your research and effort you know whether it should meet the rules

Therefore you can escalate if say for example it doesn't cap out at the right points etc

 

[motef]

Heres my previous post from late last year on the same

"oneworld" award (132.4K/249.6K/318K/455K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Hello all. I'm trying my hardest to book a classic reward, but getting the dreaded "THE ITINERARY CONTAINS MORE THAN ONE DEPARTURE FROM THE FIRST DEPARTURE CITY/COUNTRY" error. I had the same error when I was experimenting with a OWA starting in AKL. It was as though the system was counting AKL...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[DC3]

Touch wood.

Do I need to be monitoring my flights daily in the Qantas app to ensure they are still there? Or is there some other app/site that is better? If any changes will I always be notified right away via email etc?

With EF, seat alerts can be set up, so if your already-selected seat becomes available again, you will receive an alert.

 

[flapper]

This is the problem with using AS. It doesn’t work like AA, so will not max out at 318,000 points J award price if booking First class.

The other option is to book Economy on AS, not First, to keep within a 318,000 points Business award.

Edited

They won't let me add an Econony flight to a J booking. They keep telling me they can't do it.

 

[DC3]

They won't let me add an Econony flight to a J booking. They keep telling me they can't do it.

Most unfortunate, because “they” are clearly wrong. It is allowed, as we know. Is it Fiji who says this?

I wonder what the reasoning is whereby they won’t even try to put it into the booking. Computer will say ‘Yes’, anyway.

Other than continually HUACA, and calling at varying times, day and night, I don’t know what else to suggest (that may actually have any effect).

 

[FishFood]

I'm a bit confused, I've booked a compliant itinerary for a OW business award, but have been charged more than 318,000 points. Do the flights need to be in the same PNR or can you piece it together bit by bit?

 

[DC3]

I'm a bit confused, I've booked a compliant itinerary for a OW business award, but have been charged more than 318,000 points. Do the flights need to be in the same PNR or can you piece it together bit by bit?
View attachment 278411

Must be on the same booking (PNR), but flights can be added/deleted/changed (via the Call Centre). If within the OWA rules, it will max out at 318,000 anyway.

 

[FishFood]

Must be the same booking (PNR), but flights can be added/deleted/changed (via the Call Centre). If within the OWA rules, it will max out at 318,000 anyway.

Can I fix this easily, or do I need to cancel and rebook everything? Can I get them "merged" onto the same PNR?