Overview
The purpose of this thread is to provide some hope and optimism to those using Qantas points to book a Oneworld Classic Flight Reward.
Many of the posts relating to OWAs on this forum are negative, and understandably so, given Qantas’ enduring administrative failures (e.g. phantom availability, errors issuing tickets, and problems addressing itinerary changes). However, the below is a tale that it can go right, and when it does, it is a fantastic points opportunity.
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There is no intention to discredit or diminish the bad experiences others have had with OWAs, and those who’ve had plans ruined by Qantas’ failings have my sympathies. There will be a separate thread shortly detailing Qantas’ failure to issue a reward ticket on another of our trips.)
Booking
When booking the trip in early January 2023, the briefing was:
- Christmas 2023 in Brisbane.
- Reducing our considerable stash of Qantas points.
- USA to see an NHL game.
- Japan to catch up with friends in Osaka.
- A quick stopover (i.e. one night) in Asia.
Based on the above briefing, and flight availability, we booked the following itinerary (all in J):
BA – DUB to LHR
BA – LHR to ORD
JL – ORD to HND
JL – HND to KIX
CX – KIX to HKG
CX – HKG to PER
QF – PER to SYD
CX – SIN to HKG
CX – HKG to LHR
The total cost for 2 passengers was 636,000 points, plus €2,104.56 (Euros as our departure point was Ireland). There were several quirks with our itinerary:
- Starting in Dublin – we saved over £1,000 by starting the itinerary in Dublin. Some of the savings were attributable to the UK’s high APD (£191 p/p in J from LHR to ORD) which isn’t payable when transiting, but not sure what the additional savings were?
- HKG to SYD via PER – this was the only option available, though it was fine with us as we needed a QF flight to qualify for a OWA, and the PER to SYD segment would be on an A330 (in theory!).
- No other domestic flights in Australia – we could have saved money by adding our domestic flying to the OWA itinerary, though we weren’t 100% sure of our plans when booking, and we knew we’d need some flights with VA to requalify for Platinum (which we did).
- No flight out of Australia – when booking there was simply no availability at all from Australia into Asia in any class (no surprise in late December). Given this limitation, we booked a reasonable economy cash fare on SQ from Brisbane to Singapore.
- While we could have added segments after making the booking, we were reluctant to do so, as this seemed to be the main source of trouble for others, and we were genuinely happy with what we booked (9 in the hand is worth 16 in the Qantas IT aether!).
Once booked, we selected our seats via the manage my booking function of each airline’s website.
The Dreaded ‘Important – The Departure Date for Your Flight has Changed’ Email
As outlined previously by others on this forum, many of the problems with OWAs seem to start when Qantas’ partner airlines make changes to their schedules, especially with transits, as newly timed flights may not meet an airport’s MCT (or in some cases, the inbound flight arrives after the outbound flight departs!).
For the first 6 months we heard nothing more from Qantas, but in July that changed, and we were hit by a deluge of flight change emails (presumably as the airlines were firming up their 2023 winter schedules):
- 7 July – BA – LHR to ORD – 20-minute change to departure time
- 19 July – JL – ORD to HND – 10-minute change to departure time
- 24 July – CX – HKG to PER – 15-minute change to departure time
- 24 July – CX – SIN to HKG – departure time moved forward by 9 hours to the middle of the night (1:25am), by far the most irritating change, as we lost our night in Singapore
- 24 July – CX – HKG to LHR – departure time moved forward by 90 minutes (which is why the SIN to HKG flight was moved forward by 9 hours)
- 23 August – JL – HND to KIX – 5-minute change to departure time
- 24 August – CX – HKG to LHR – 15-minute change to departure time
Given the number of changes, and the negative experiences others have had with itinerary changes, we were apprehensive there would be problems re-issuing tickets, and the changes would derail the whole trip.
However, tickets for these changes were reissued on 9 July, 14 August, 23 August, and 24 August. It seems we were extremely lucky, as the 4 changes from 19 July to 24 July were not reticketed until 14 August.
Equipment Swaps
In addition to the above changes, there were the following equipment swaps:
BA – LHR to ORD – switched from B777 with Club Suites to A380
QF – PER to SYD – switched from A330 to B737
While initially disappointed we would not be flying the new Club Suites, the change to the A380 ended up being fine. The seat is definitely not the class-leading seat it was in 2006 (when the refreshed Club World was introduced), but travelling as a couple on the top deck in 53A and 53B, with a load factor of <40%, it was a good experience (it’s nice being able to talk face to face, though it’s understandable this may not be appealing for solo travellers!).
The big disappointment was the QF switch to the B737 as it’s clearly a huge downgrade in hard product (not to mention the underwhelming soft product; the food was fine, but the crew seemed completely ambivalent and were just going through the motions. Admittedly, it’s the first time we’ve experienced such poor service on Qantas).
The Trip
Despite all the schedule changes, and the two equipment swaps, the trip went off (mostly) without a hitch, and we had a fantastic time. We were able to complete online check in for each leg.
The only small drama we had was upon arrival in Singapore when we received a text saying our SIN to HKG flight had been cancelled. Uncertain of the impact on our onward flight to LHR, we got a taxi from Terminal 2 to Terminal 4 (which cost SGD$11 and surprisingly the driver was not bothered by such a short fare), where the staff couldn’t have been more helpful.
We were rebooked onto the next available flight (some 8 hours earlier than our original (re)scheduled flight) and moved onto the next available flight to Heathrow, which meant getting home quite a bit earlier than planned. After such a long trip, that was fine by us!
