Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[yaksha98]

Need some guidance here, and hope someone can help.

I have a OneWorld Classic Business Reward booking commencing on Sep 14 returning on Nov 1, with about 12 flight legs involved.

Due to circumstances beyond our control, we are a slight chance of having to do one of the following:
- cancel one leg in the middle of the trip (scheduled Oct 3)
- or do the unthinkable, and cancel the entire trip

This raises the following questions:
- when is the cut off time for cancelling the entire trip before the trip is commenced (without losing the points and taxes)?
- can I cancel one leg of the trip (no additions or replacements) near or just after commencement of the trip, but 10-12 days before the specific leg (without losing the rest of the trip)?

The really concerning thing is that if I have to do either of these things, I have to call the Qantas Service Centre and go through the travel equivalent of Russian Roulette!

This reads like it's up to 24hrs before your first segment begins you can cancel and get a full refund back: https://help.qantas.com/support/s/article/Refunding-cancelling-or-changing-a-Reward-flight-booking

It does not sound like you can cancel one segment of the trip once you've commenced the trip however: https://www.qantas.com/au/en/freque...ms-and-conditions.html#classic-flight-rewards

So you'd likely have to make a decision before the trip to remove that segment of the trip, which will necessitate a call to the contact centre and run the risk of the various issues detailed in the forums.

 

[jeza]

Cross posting this here in case it may suit someone.

On the off chance someone is looking for a Classic Reward seat back from Europe next month

Just cancelled a MAD-DOH-SYD QR J flight for the 22nd of Oct & it does appear to be available on the QF site.

 

[PointsTraveller!]

Absolutely. You should book your flights exactly 353 days after they become available (as early in the day as possible to try to snag those seats before other AFF-er's do!). This does, as you note, require using the call centre to add additional flights after the first booking via the online multi-city tool. Also see here for the number of days in advance that various partner airlines release their flights: Qantas Oneworld Award Planning (wiki content) - Australian Frequent Flyer

So each time I call up to add another flight to my initial flight on the same booking will cost 5,000 points, unless after the initial flight booking I add multiple flights on this call then this will be one single 5,000 points fee?
Assuming this is also the same if booking for 2 people, needing to pay 5,000 points each irrespective of the flights added being the same?

 

[ChrisMars]

Absolutely. You should book your flights exactly 353 days after they become available (as early in the day as possible to try to snag those seats before other AFF-er's do!).

I personally try and book them 0 days after they are available, but if other members prefer to wait 353 days that's fine for me

 

[am0985]

QFF Silver, called late afternoon today and got straight through with no wait to the call centre to add on a booking to my itinerary (JL6 HND - JFK 24/8/23).

I had to wait about 30 mins on the phone whilst he sorted everything out but that was fine. Very easy!

 

[Thetravelbyte]

QFF Silver, called late afternoon today and got straight through with no wait to the call centre to add on a booking to my itinerary (JL6 HND - JFK 24/8/23).

I had to wait about 30 mins on the phone whilst he sorted everything out but that was fine. Very easy!

Do you mean add on a segment to your pre-existing OWA itinerary? That's good news, there was a fright earlier this week that this was no longer going to be allowed.

 

[am0985]

Do you mean add on a segment to your pre-existing OWA itinerary? That's good news, there was a fright earlier this week that this was no longer going to be allowed.

Yep, it went fine. Though in that thread someone else corrected it - so it's definitely still allowed!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Yep, it went fine. Though in that thread someone else corrected it - so it's definitely still allowed!

There’s currently a discrepancy between the QFFF terms and conditions and the fare conditions. The former says you cannot add segments, the latter says you can.

Some call centre agents are saying you can not add segments, sticking to the QFFF version of the rules. Armed with the fare conditions it should make it easier to correct an agent claiming they can’t do it.

 

[squid01]

I just had a couple AA flight time changes on my OWA. Those legs are now showing no ticket number in CMT (all other flights still have ticket number).

When I click accept changes in the Qantas app, will the whole itinery then become unticketed (until new ticket number issued for all flights)? And what do you think the chances of it being ticketed automatically instantly are given it’s just a simple time change?

 

[gilldo]

I just had a couple AA flight time changes on my OWA. Those legs are now showing no ticket number in CMT (all other flights still have ticket number).

When I click accept changes in the Qantas app, will the whole itinery then become unticketed (until new ticket number issued for all flights)? And what do you think the chances of it being ticketed automatically instantly are given it’s just a simple time change?

For simple time changes they're normally pretty good.

 

[djkelly69]

And what do you think the chances of it being ticketed automatically instantly are given it’s just a simple time change?

I just had about 3 changes to our OWA at 3pm today as well (AA domestics). One time change and two new flights.

Accepted changes and new e-tickets have already issued. Should be within 10-15 minutes of accepting the changes in my experience.

 

[Flying Rock]

Had I only read this thread earlier. My own ordeal:

Qantas cancelling 5 of my ticketed Oneworld Award Booking Business Flights - not taking payment and ticketing in time

Hey AFF Community, Qantas Bronze Member here. Thought I'd share how disastrous it's been trying to arrange my first Qantas Oneworld Business Award Booking (Business redemption, capped 318K QFF). At every step, there have been roadblocks and obstacles. For the past year I have been arranging...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[yaksha98]

Had I only read this thread earlier. My own ordeal:

Qantas cancelling 5 of my ticketed Oneworld Award Booking Business Flights - not taking payment and ticketing in time

Hey AFF Community, Qantas Bronze Member here. Thought I'd share how disastrous it's been trying to arrange my first Qantas Oneworld Business Award Booking (Business redemption, capped 318K QFF). At every step, there have been roadblocks and obstacles. For the past year I have been arranging...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Sorry to hear! I posted my own experience a little earlier with a positive outcome, with QR flights reinstated but it was a mess to get there.

 

[FenderQF]

Hi All, have a OWA Business trip Feb - March ‘23 and have just had a SJO-HEL via Miami sector cancelled due to Finnair scrapping the MIA-HEL route earlier in the month.

Rang QF a couple of times and they say there is no available seats, mostly due to AA routes and they hope some will open up but to just wait it out and see. They can find availability from JFK/DFW on Finnair though.

Should I just wait it out as they say or keep on persisting with calls? Can they request seats be opened by AA? Always apprehensive with changes on these tickets but something that can’t be helped sometimes.

 

[Lynda2475]

If I were you Id add the JFK/DFW to HEL sector now; you can always amend if seats from SJO become available later. Will be cheaper to buy a SJO-DFW/JFK sector later if needed, than to have to buy a SJO-HEL closer to the date.

 

[squid01]

I just had a couple AA flight time changes on my OWA. Those legs are now showing no ticket number in CMT (all other flights still have ticket number).

When I click accept changes in the Qantas app, will the whole itinery then become unticketed (until new ticket number issued for all flights)? And what do you think the chances of it being ticketed automatically instantly are given it’s just a simple time change?

Well I clicked approve changes in the app at 1pm today. Still no new email itinery has come through from QF.

I emailed the itinery to myself and it has the old flight on there. In CMT the two flights which had a time change have e-ticket numbers on them, but the one flight that had a flight number change doesn’t have an e-ticket number. All other flights in the itinery have ticket the number.

What should I do here? Just wait it out? Are the other partner flights at any risk of dropping off or are they all safe if they have a ticket number in CMT? Could that AA flight which has no e ticket number drop off? I’m just petrified of calling the call centre again.

 

[FenderQF]

If I were you Id add the JFK/DFW to HEL sector now; you can always amend if seats from SJO become available later. Will be cheaper to buy a SJO-DFW/JFK sector later if needed, than to have to buy a SJO-HEL closer to the date.

Just got off the phone with the call centre, found economy flights on AA SJO-MIA-JFK and business JFK-HEL on AY. Will monitor for business availability to have the flights amended. Anybody used EF or similar for alerts on availability?

Now, the nervous wait for e-tickets!

 

[gilldo]

It does not sound like you can cancel one segment of the trip once you've commenced the trip however: https://www.qantas.com/au/en/freque...ms-and-conditions.html#classic-flight-rewards

14.9 Classic Flight Rewards (excluding Classic Flight Rewards forming part of Combined Classic Flight Reward Bookings) - tickets cancellation and refunds
14.9.1 Clause 14.9 is subject to the Qantas Conditions of Carriage and the Australian Consumer Law. You may be entitled to a refund or other remedy under the Australian Consumer Law depending on the circumstances. If so, no fee (in cash or Qantas Points) will apply to that refund or other remedy.
14.9.2 Classic Flight Reward tickets issued for travel on Qantas, oneworld Member Airlines or Airline Partners (including Jetstar Airlines) may be submitted for refund and re-credit prior to commencement of travel. Where applicable, only Qantas Points that would not have expired will be re-credited. A Cancellation Refund Fee (see the Fee Schedule) will apply.
14.9.3 Once any travel has commenced on a Classic Flight Reward, the Reward is considered used, even if the remaining travel is not completed. Qantas Points will not be re-credited to the Member's account for unused ticket coupons.
14.9.4 If a Classic Flight Reward is cancelled by the airline and reasonable alternative travel cannot be arranged, Qantas Loyalty will waive the Cancellation Refund Fee on any Classic Flight Reward submitted for refund and will re-credit the applicable number of Qantas Points.
14.9.5 If a Member fails to board a Flight Segment (no show) of an itinerary containing only Classic Flight Reward Flight Segments, then the no show segment will be forfeited and the remaining Segments (if any) will be cancelled. Any cancelled Segments will only be reinstated if Classic Flight Reward seats are available. If any Segments are reinstated, the Reinstatement Fee will apply (see the Fee Schedule). In addition, the Qantas Points required for the entire Itinerary including no show, travelled and reinstated Segments will be recalculated and any additional Qantas Points required will be deducted from the Member's account.


Within the link at the top is the above segment on cancellation conditions. In 14.9.5, they refer to 'failure to board a Flight Segment (no show)'. My questions are:
- is a no show a failure to board a flight leg?, or
- is it a failure to board a flight leg WITHOUT notifying the airline prior to departure?

If it is the latter, then is it possible to cancel a leg (not change or replace it) prior to departure AND still retain the remaining legs in the case of a OneWorld Classic Reward?

I rang Qantas this afternoon and tried to get some form of clarification. I ended up politely hanging up the call after the most circular conversation with one of their CapeTown staff who plainly did not know, but was not prepared to acknowledge it.

 

[squid01]

Well I clicked approve changes in the app at 1pm today. Still no new email itinery has come through from QF.

I emailed the itinery to myself and it has the old flight on there. In CMT the two flights which had a time change have e-ticket numbers on them, but the one flight that had a flight number change doesn’t have an e-ticket number. All other flights in the itinery have ticket the number.

What should I do here? Just wait it out? Are the other partner flights at any risk of dropping off or are they all safe if they have a ticket number in CMT? Could that AA flight which has no e ticket number drop off? I’m just petrified of calling the call centre again.

Should I be worried here and get on the phone asap go have the whole thing re-ticketed? Or are my other flights safe as they have ticket numbers in CMT? Just that one AA flight which had a flight number change which is now not ticketed. Change was accepted 19 hours ago.

 

[Sale]

I have just cancelled my OWA - the major flights may go back into availability:

(JL774) MEL -> NRT -> HEL (AY74) departing on May 14th 2023

and

(QR240) IST -> DOH -> ADL (QR914) departing 14th June 2023 QR240

hopefully may help someone