Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[Mr H]

This thread is littered with cancelled flights on OWA reward redemptions. It seems like its the norm rather than the exception. Not only this thread but I know close friends who've had reward flights cancelled and they need to scramble to sort out other flights, spend big $ on revenue fares or the several hours trying to call the QFF line.

A bit of crystal balling but I wonder when we can finally use the QF multi-city tool & it not error, and if we do get bookings which are actually ticketed, that they'll stick until T-0? It just seems such a frustrating merry-go-round right now.

This has become the norm. QF ticketing does not work - not sure whether it ever did.

OWAs will always be tricky because they can almost never be booked in one hit as flights become available at different points in time. By the time the last required flight becomes available, other required flights will have been taken by someone else. Even if the multi-city tool is error free, there would still be multiple changes required to each itinerary - and in my experience, the call centre usually manage to get the first booking done OK, it is the changes that cause the problems.

Bookings will seldom remain unchanged if they are booked a year in advance. Flight schedules change at least twice a year.

What is needed is a ticketing function that will ticket immediately, and contact the passenger if a problem is encountered rather than just timing out. And in the case of a schedule change, the system needs to automatically reticket - as happened to me the other week when a BA Avios on QR had time changes and I was sent new e-tickets immediately.

 

[Phoenix-1]

View attachment 314649

Thanks. RJ isn't that appealing due to the the aircraft, but it's a reasonable route.

Also something that may help someone in the future - seems like you can make flight changes on Finnair's website that would otherwise be unavailable. I was offered a flight change on Finnair's website that I used to change the date to one day prior. Qantas in MMB didn't offer any alternatives. Received an email shortly after from Qantas saying flights have changed, accepted it in MMB and was ticketed this morning. Furthermore, the original flight has now re-appeared in Qantas's classic award inventory.

Also weirdly enough there was some glitch on Finnair's end where they sent me e-tickets....64 e-tickets in total over about 20 minutes. I think this finally stopped once I accepted Qantas's MMB change, but I can't say for sure.

 

[algae]

Also something that may help someone in the future - seems like you can make flight changes on Finnair's website that would otherwise be unavailable. I was offered a flight change on Finnair's website that I used to change the date to one day prior.

Now that's useful advice. Hadn't even thought of that. In the event of a change, probably worthwhile checking the carrier's website before accepting through Qantas. Good tip!

Did you get an email from Qantas saying the time had changed on that day, but then the Finnair website additionally offered a move to the previous day instead of accepting the time change?

 

[Phoenix-1]

Now that's useful advice. Hadn't even thought of that. In the event of a change, probably worthwhile checking the carrier's website before accepting through Qantas. Good tip!

Did you get an email from Qantas saying the time had changed on that day, but then the Finnair website additionally offered a move to the previous day instead of accepting the time change?

That's correct. Exact chain of events for future reference if anyone ever goes through the same thing:

1. Flight change email from Qantas regarding Finnair flight time change
2. Accepted change
3. Checked Finnair's website to see if seat selection is required and noticed they have a reschedule option
4. Meanwhile e-ticket from Qantas is issued for 1st flight change while I'm mulling over risking my OWCA
5. Selected a new flight on Finnair's website to avoid my 16 hour layover (changed flight to previous day)
6. Finnair page went to a "Please wait while we change your flight, don't close this page"
7. Started receiving mass e-ticket emails + "Your flight has been confirmed" emails from Finnair. E-tickets did not reflect the change in step 5, but the emails did.
8. Received a "Your flight has changed, please accept changes" email from Qantas containing the new flight change made in step 5.
9. Accepted flight change in Qantas MMB (which seemed to stop the Finnair spam, but I also closed the ever-loading page in 7 at the same time).
10. Received email this morning from Finnair saying "Unfortunately your flight time has changed" but it was just showing the flight change in step 5.
11. Called Qantas this morning to push through the e-ticket as I hadn't received it. Received the e-ticket 10 minutes after calling. All flights showing as ticketed in CMT.

 

[pyramidforce]

Hi everyone, my first post, please be gentle.

I must admit I am feeling uneasy at the oneworld RTW flight i booked through Qantas departing this december. With some creative routing, I managed to find business flights to all of the cities I wanted to visit and even managed to keep taxes down by avoiding LHR etc.

But reading through this thread, I must admit it is making me feel somewhat uneasy. Based on what I have read so far, It sounds like when an airline changes anything at all, even the timing of its flight by 5 minutes (or more, which they do multiple times per year), this somehow stuffs up the QF ticketing, you get kicked off flights, airlines cancel your ticket and QF refuses to reticket you because their call centres supposedly dont understand what you want them to do. Considering I am 300+ days out and airlines change their schedules a few times per year, this appears almost guaranteed to happen multiple times between now and then.

I have loaded my trip into CMT, qantas app, Cathay app, etc and at least for now, everything looks right. Still have a 081 eticket number. But when a Cathay or Malaysia airlines or whoever invariably changes their departure time for operational reasons sometime during the year, do I have no other choice than to spend 9 hrs on the phone followed by cc carpet bombing the executives to get the changes confirmed and reticketed, multiple times in the year?

Ive read what the member above me posted and it sounded like they just had to press a confirm button, and...everything eventually sorted itself. Im very happy to receive 65 emails from Finnair and a 16 hr layover if it means i actually get to fly.

Im sorry if this is coming across as very melodramatic but this is the first time I or any one of my friend group/family have done anything like this before. I really appreciate your time in reading this and any advice you could give me about my situation.

 

[aikman]

any advice you could give me about my situation

Don't book any non-refundable hotels.

 

[Phoenix-1]

I really appreciate your time in reading this and any advice you could give me about my situation.

I think the fact that you're aware of it is a great start. You can head off any issues immediately. Also every (I think?) person who's had ticketing issues eventually does get them resolved. Lastly, the vast majority of people end up flying just fine - the horror stories are the ones that we only hear about.

 

[algae]

It sounds like when an airline changes anything at all, even the timing of its flight by 5 minutes (or more, which they do multiple times per year), this somehow stuffs up the QF ticketing

Not quite.

Couple scenarios:
1. If an airline changes flight times you get an email from Qantas requesting you confirm that you're happy with the change. Usually it's fine so you click accept and bam, new e-ticket. All automated, all fine. But use CMT to triple check, just in case.
2. If an airline changes flight times and you're asked to accept it, but it breaks a connecting flight so it's not impossible to fly. This isn't as common, but can happen. Then yes this can be problematic absolutely and involves getting on the phone to Qantas.
3. The most common complaint in this thread is people calling up because they want to change their booking (eg. Add a flight or change something themselves). This can't be done online and you need to call. This is very problematic as the phone operators are often inexperienced and is typically when you get issues with losing flights etc.

So in summary, #1 happens a lot and is fine. #2 happens rarely fingers crossed it doesn't happen to you, and avoid #3 by not touching your booking unnecessarily after you make it.

 

[FenderQF]

I think the main thing to take away from this thread is how to deal with any issue if/when they arise. There are so many flight changes that get accepted and e-tickets received within a few minutes without issue that you should have some level of confidence.

 

[Phoenix-1]

I have to book an ADL-MEL flight to get to my RTW booking (MEL-LAX on QF). Is there any benefit to booking a QF flight for ADL-MEL? Would there be any priority or benefit if things get delayed if I'm on the same carrier throughout but separate PNRs? My MEL-LAX fight is at 8:25pm.

 

[Warragul]

If you go the separate booking, get the PNRs linked which *should* make it easier for bags to be through checked etc at ADL. Should be possible without them being linked but not always the case.

 

[Phoenix-1]

Thanks. Didn't realise you can link separate PNRs. Just book and call up? Does it matter if the OWCA is partially flown?

 

[pyramidforce]

Not quite.


So in summary, #1 happens a lot and is fine. #2 happens rarely fingers crossed it doesn't happen to you, and avoid #3 by not touching your booking unnecessarily after you make it.

Hi Algae,

Thank you and everyone else for posting some advice. Good news is that most of the hotels are refundable so I guess there is always 11th hour cancellation followed by angry twitter rant to fall back on if everything breaks.

I hope you are right and that #1 will be fine for me. I remember reading somewhere here that someones QR flight got moved by literally 5 minutes and that this somehow broke the ticket because it changed the flight number as well. Maybe that was a QR specific thing, looking at some of the comments. Hopefully that won't happen to me.

I've looked up my flight numbers and seen that #2 (large time changes) happens quite a bit, but based on historical trends, this ends up giving me more time to transfer, not less. All but one of my flights is routed through major cities, so I doubt that there will be cancellations. So hopefully this won't affect me either.

I have no intention of minmaxing the OWA booking by doing #3; I'm already very happy with there I am going. If I don't touch anything, hopefully this means segments won't just drop off for no reason at all!

Thanks again everyone for your help and the great resources you have put together to help me book this itinerary!

 

[Mr H]

I think some of the recent posts here are minimising a genuine risk. Flight schedule changes do not always automatically re-ticket; airlines can and do cancel routes between major cities; itineraries may require changes to be initiated by the passenger for a variety of reasons; and when flights disappear, passengers do not always find everything works out in the end. There may be things we can do to minimise the risks but right now there is a high risk that even half-way complicated OWA bookings will go off the rails at some point.

 

[cjd600]

I've had an active OWA since pre covid, about 3 years.
Countless, countless changes, rolling it forward, and never lost a flight.....
Need a bit of perspective, from the hysteria, only hearing the 'horror' stories, not the many that have no issues whatsoever.

 

[Mr H]

I've had an active OWA since pre covid, about 3 years.
Countless, countless changes, rolling it forward, and never lost a flight.....
Need a bit of perspective, from the hysteria, only hearing the 'horror' stories, not the many that have no issues whatsoever.

I’m pleased for you. I have experienced five or six separate occasions of flight losses in the past 12 months.

 

[levelnine]

I think some of the recent posts here are minimising a genuine risk.

I'm inclined to agree.

Airlines are probably changing routes more often than they were pre-COVID as they are forced to adjust to a rapidly changing travel environment. I have a OWA coming up with a fairly vanilla itinerary (Australia - US - Europe - Asia - Australia) that has had more than a dozen flight changes since it was booked a few months ago. At least 3 of the changes have required me to phone Qantas after the Royal Air Maroc flights disappeared due to a 5 minute schedule change not being reticketed. It seems like Royal Air Maroc flights disappear in a matter of hours if not reticketed. I only found out about some of the changes through CheckMyTrip — I never received any notice from Qantas. If I wasn't aware of this issue and immediately on the phone to Qantas, I could have lost these flights for good. I do think you need to be hyper vigilant at the moment.

 

[pyramidforce]

I think some of the recent posts here are minimising a genuine risk.

Hi Mr H,

Thank you for your insight. It sounds like from what you and others are saying, Qantas can just fail to reticket you for no reason when faced with even the slightest disruption to your itinerary. This is really disappointing to hear. Is there anything else that can be done to minimise the risk, beyond checking CMT multiple times a day to see if anything has been dropped off? As I said, I have no doubt that at the very least, at least one of my flight times will change by 5min before I start travel, given how far away it still is, so I will very likely need to call at least once.

Calling, staying on the line until reticketing is completed, hang up and call again, calling with two phones at once, going to the lounge and hoping to get a hobart number, cc carpet bombing executives are things Ive seen mentioned so far. Some airlines also seem to lose tickets faster than others, based on what I think I understand.

Sorry again if this all sounds naive, as I said this is my first time. Thanks so much for your help so far.

 

[levelnine]

Is there anything else that can be done to minimise the risk, beyond checking CMT multiple times a day to see if anything has been dropped off?

You don't really need to check CMT multiple times per day. What you do need to do is act if CMT informs you of any changes to your flights, even a 5 minute schedule change. Make sure all legs have the same ticket number after any schedule change. If any ticket numbers are missing or mismatched, you need to be reticketed ASAP.

 

[pyramidforce]

Thanks for your help. I hope that I have set CMT app to have permissions to buzz my phone.

Sorry, another naive question. Why do the ticket numbers need to be the same? My non-flying logic is that ticket is ticket, i thought that not having a ticket was the issue.

Without knowing the specifics of the situation, what would you recommend I say to Qantas in this scenario? My head is envisioning this conversation: Could you please reticket me on flight XX123, But sir what do you mean? you have a ticket number already.