Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[Guvner]

The first half of this thread is full of posts regarding successful bookings.

 

[muppet]

The first half of this thread is full of posts regarding successful bookings.

Sure, but the first half of this thread is from a different time.

 

[FishFood]

Is OWA worth it then

It took about a week of me calling daily to arrange it, but in hindsight it was worth it since the points were just sitting there otherwise.

There are so many ways to improve the process but the fact that so many of us in this thread persist is because it can be a good deal if we make it work.

 

[vetrade]

Yes, OWAs can be fantastic value. I had a myriad of problems with cancellations, schedule changes and trouble finding replacement availability but we leave next week and have 13 flights in J. Our first long haul sector is SYD - JNB which would cost us over $5000 each alone. Our total taxes ended up being $1600 each with multiple flights on BA and QR included, so for us the economics of the OWA are obvious.

 

[Ponky]

So I am in a bit of a quandary with the tail end of my OWA booking that comes back from the US via Tokyo in mid November. I have JFK-HND and NRT-MEL all in J, with a J flight back to Perth the following morning.

At the moment, transit between Haneda and Narita is not possible due to Japan's border rules, and even now with the COVID situation in Japan it's really hard to know what to think in terms of whether they will be open to independent tourism by them. So I can either white knuckle it up until the point of departure (in late Sep) or try and change it now to something back to Australia out of Haneda. The best option I can find is a mixture of PE/Economy/Business via BKK/KUL. I can bear the 3 hour BKK-KUL in economy, but the thought of runnning the call centre gauntlet gives me chills.

Is it worth chancing it for another couple of weeks and see what the Japanese government does, or try to salvage what I can, with all the inherent risks of changing my flights?

 

[aikman]

Is it worth chancing it for another couple of weeks and see what the Japanese government does, or try to salvage what I can, with all the inherent risks of changing my flights?

This sounds like a question that only you can answer depending on your personal risk tolerance and circumstances but here's an idea. Current worst case scenario for you is that you get stranded in USA. If you have enough points why not book a flight home under a separate ticket as a last resort backup. It might give you some peace of mind and also buy you more time on deciding what to do with your OWA.

 

[snabbu]

Is OWA worth it then, unless you can book it entirely online? (and even then you have to hope for no schedule changes by the partners)

Booking online is obviously easiest if it works out for you, I have done this a couple of times in the past and everything was smooth sailing.
In recent times though, hearing all the nightmare stories about QR dropping segments, call center wait times etc, unless you are willing to put in countless hours of work and dealing with headache after headache it may not be worth it for some.

 

[Mr H]

So I am in a bit of a quandary with the tail end of my OWA booking that comes back from the US via Tokyo in mid November. I have JFK-HND and NRT-MEL all in J, with a J flight back to Perth the following morning.

At the moment, transit between Haneda and Narita is not possible due to Japan's border rules, and even now with the COVID situation in Japan it's really hard to know what to think in terms of whether they will be open to independent tourism by them. So I can either white knuckle it up until the point of departure (in late Sep) or try and change it now to something back to Australia out of Haneda. The best option I can find is a mixture of PE/Economy/Business via BKK/KUL. I can bear the 3 hour BKK-KUL in economy, but the thought of runnning the call centre gauntlet gives me chills.

Is it worth chancing it for another couple of weeks and see what the Japanese government does, or try to salvage what I can, with all the inherent risks of changing my flights?

If both of those flights are JL then they are likely to have become married - change one and they will both disappear.

 

[MJHoops]

So I am in a bit of a quandary with the tail end of my OWA booking that comes back from the US via Tokyo in mid November. I have JFK-HND and NRT-MEL all in J, with a J flight back to Perth the following morning.

At the moment, transit between Haneda and Narita is not possible due to Japan's border rules, and even now with the COVID situation in Japan it's really hard to know what to think in terms of whether they will be open to independent tourism by them. So I can either white knuckle it up until the point of departure (in late Sep) or try and change it now to something back to Australia out of Haneda. The best option I can find is a mixture of PE/Economy/Business via BKK/KUL. I can bear the 3 hour BKK-KUL in economy, but the thought of runnning the call centre gauntlet gives me chills.

Is it worth chancing it for another couple of weeks and see what the Japanese government does, or try to salvage what I can, with all the inherent risks of changing my flights?

I don’t know, so I’m assuming, you need to be able to see award availability on alternative flights to be able to move

I agree with @aikman it’s a choice for you and they have also suggested a backup

I think one has to weigh up the chance of Japan travel rules relaxing, or flight schedule changes possibly going in your favour (invol change or more flights added with award availability)

I also am unsure if there is a firm reason you couldn’t change it once you’ve started travel or just a preference for good reasons, so another option is to wait until mid to late Oct

If both of those flights are JL then they are likely to have become married - change one and they will both disappear.

In my situation (involuntary schedule change) I managed to eventually get the same two flights changed to JFK-NRT-MEL as a result

 

[Inuniform]

Anyone have any success following CSR not seeing availability despite the flights being bookable on QF? I am trying to add flights to an existing booking but being told there is no availability for some sectors. I’m willing to ring back but worried it’s a waste of time if the flights are really unavailable.
In this case, is it also possible to book flights separately and then merge them onto the existing PNR?

 

[Captain Halliday]

Anyone have any success following CSR not seeing availability despite the flights being bookable on QF?

Yes, but it requires persistence. You can check via other OW airlines or expert flyer if the seats you’re seeing are genuinely available, or phantom availability.

is it also possible to book flights separately and then merge them onto the existing PNR?

No.

 

[FishFood]

In this case, is it also possible to book flights separately and then merge them onto the existing PNR?

Sadly not, I booked all my flights on separate PNRs then had to cancel them and add to the existing flights once the point refunds hit.

 

[Inuniform]

Yes, but it requires persistence. You can check via other OW airlines or expert flyer if the seats you’re seeing are genuinely available, or phantom availability.

No.

Thanks. I figured this may be the case, however it makes no sense to me how flights are available to some and not others. I ended up booking the flights on a separate PNR anyway, I guess I’ll have to cancel and try again. Thanks for the insight.

 

[Mr H]

Thanks. I figured this may be the case, however it makes no sense to me how flights are available to some and not others. I ended up booking the flights on a separate PNR anyway, I guess I’ll have to cancel and try again. Thanks for the insight.

There is no guarantee that a cancelled award booking will become available again for booking as an award. Married sector rules may also interfere.

 

[DC3]

In this case, is it also possible to book flights separately and then merge them onto the existing PNR?

No merging of PNRs, unfortunately.

 

[fitzy]

This may be the wrong thread to ask this in - I (Bronze) have 2xJ OWA booked for Feb/Mar (HBA-MEL-DOH-BCN / MAD-LHR / LHR-HEL / HEL-DOH-MEL-HBA) on a mix of QF, QR, IB and AY. Ideally I would prefer to fly MAN-HEL instead of LHR-HEL. When booking online it wouldn't let me book this route (I think because it's operated by AY's regional subsidiary) so I booked in and out of LHR because I didn't want to lose the QR sectors (booked the day the new CBR via MEL flight was open).
I've heard some horror stories about the call centre accidentally cancelling entire itineraries when asked to make a change to an award booking - I'm trying to work out what the risk is if I call and make a change to my preferred routing. Is this a simple request that they should be able to make and reticket instantaneously or is there a serious risk I'm jeopardising my whole itinerary (or am I getting suckered in to rumours that the call centre is worse than it actually is?)

 

[There'sOnlyOneJimmy]

Is this a simple request that they should be able to make and reticket instantaneously or is there a serious risk I'm jeopardising my whole itinerary (or am I getting suckered in to rumours that the call centre is worse than it actually is?)

Q: Is this a simple request that they should be able to make and reticket instantaneously?
A: Yes, it is.

Q: Is there a serious risk I'm jeopardising my whole itinerary.
A: Yes, there is.

Q: Am I getting suckered in to rumours that the call centre is worse than it actually is?
A: No, you’re not.

As a Bronze, your call will almost certainly go to one of the offshore call centres*.
As a result your call has a higher risk of being answered by someone who is not properly equipped to deal with it.
As a result, you have a higher risk that mistakes could be made (sectors cancelled, failure to ticket).

BUT… You might get lucky, and the agent just gets it done as it should be done.
If you are in any doubt that it’s not right, then check and check again, call and call again if necessary.
Make sure you get new “081” ticket numbers within 24 hours, or keep calling until you do.

At the moment, if you’re below Plat, negotiating the OWCA maze is not for the faint hearted.

* Just to clarify, I don’t care where the call centres are, or who staffs them. I only use “offshore” as shorthand for the call centres that aren’t Hobart or Auckland (where generally the staff exhibit knowledge, experience & care.

 

[Mr H]

This may be the wrong thread to ask this in - I (Bronze) have 2xJ OWA booked for Feb/Mar (HBA-MEL-DOH-BCN / MAD-LHR / LHR-HEL / HEL-DOH-MEL-HBA) on a mix of QF, QR, IB and AY. Ideally I would prefer to fly MAN-HEL instead of LHR-HEL. When booking online it wouldn't let me book this route (I think because it's operated by AY's regional subsidiary) so I booked in and out of LHR because I didn't want to lose the QR sectors (booked the day the new CBR via MEL flight was open).
I've heard some horror stories about the call centre accidentally cancelling entire itineraries when asked to make a change to an award booking - I'm trying to work out what the risk is if I call and make a change to my preferred routing. Is this a simple request that they should be able to make and reticket instantaneously or is there a serious risk I'm jeopardising my whole itinerary (or am I getting suckered in to rumours that the call centre is worse than it actually is?)

This should be easy because you have stopovers in LHR and HEL, so no danger of the LHR-HEL-DOH being married. I presume they are in the same class (mixed class bookings seem to have become a problem of late). You want them to add one flight (MAN-HEL) and remove one flight (LHR-HEL) from your itinerary. Do not mention OWAs, changes, etc. as that just introduced potential for misunderstanding. Just the one flight added, one flight deleted. Then ask for it to be ticketed immediately. They will probably say no, but you tried. Then go and check on an Amadeus site that you still have ticket numbers for the other sectors - and chase up the ticketing for the new sector if it takes more than 24 hours. It can be done, and I have got multiple changes made in recent weeks.

 

[gfraser]

I have a OWA in U booked for later this year and I have all seats allocated except for Iberia Airlines.
I don't seem to be able to do this on their site, can anyone give me a tip on how to do this?

 

[BWKopite]

Don't mention OWA and certainly don't mention RTW to them. Just give them all the flights and if you are within the rules it should cap out. Only start busting out the OWA rules if it doesnt cap out and you are positive you haven't broken any rules.

Failing that, hang up and try again. If you get too much resistance just try with another person. You will have to go through at least half a dozen morons to get to someone who has half a clue.

Once you do get it ticketed, they will throw you off the line and put your itinery into the ticketing cue. Whatever you do, do not just wait for it to be ticketed. Call up multiple times a day and if it gets towards 24hrs then demand it be ticketed while you are on the line. When it hasn't been ticketed for over 24hrs then you are at a very high risk of losing those flights.

Good luck. Booking this stuff is an absolutely horrific experience.

Excellent advice. I called back a couple of times and managed to get someone competent in Cape Town.
After a couple calls back, i got 7/9 flights in U and 2/9 flights in J (including all connections), and paid a total of 636000 points, and $3590 in taxes for 2 people.
Absolutely buzzing with this result. I looked up how much it would have been without points and it was quoting me $44000!!

Only thing to work out how to do now is book my seats for the non-qantas flights.
Thanks everyone for your help!