Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[elanshin]

It has been a while since I have booked one of these. The QF booking engine may have a hissy fit as you are starting in AU and then transiting back through AU to the US. As stated I maybe not be correct.

Oh you're right. Forgot about starting in AU problem and trying to get 2 trips. Most 2 trip OWA need to be from non AU start

 

[Matt_01]

You can start a 2 trip (double banger as I call them) from NZ but it is not as easy as it sounds. The QF bookings system claims NZ as part of AU so when trying to stopover in AU the system fails. When I had access to the VIP team I questioned this and they confirmed that a 2 trip could be started in NZ and said the problem would looked into be fixed, that was some 3 years ago and to the best of my knowledge it is still a problem. When I was booking the trip (P1 at the time) there were notes in the booking and I was given a reference number to quote as I was adding sectors or changing flights so the agents could see there had been permission given to manually re-book everything when changes were made. I was will to give it a crack as a P1 as I had access to competent agents and call wait times were not long. I am not sure I would try it again since losing P1 status. Also from memory there were some slight mileage differences in the QF system and GCMapper and if you only had a few hundred mile up your sleeve the routing could fail based on the routes.

 

[Amanad78]

You can start a 2 trip (double banger as I call them) from NZ but it is not as easy as it sounds. The QF bookings system claims NZ as part of AU so when trying to stopover in AU the system fails. When I had access to the VIP team I questioned this and they confirmed that a 2 trip could be started in NZ and said the problem would looked into be fixed, that was some 3 years ago and to the best of my knowledge it is still a problem. When I was booking the trip (P1 at the time) there were notes in the booking and I was given a reference number to quote as I was adding sectors or changing flights so the agents could see there had been permission given to manually re-book everything when changes were made. I was will to give it a crack as a P1 as I had access to competent agents and call wait times were not long. I am not sure I would try it again since losing P1 status. Also from memory there were some slight mileage differences in the QF system and GCMapper and if you only had a few hundred mile up your sleeve the routing could fail based on the routes.

Has anyone managed to do this recently?

 

[elanshin]

Has anyone managed to do this recently?

Not from NZ but i have 2.5 trips coming up this year starting in CGK. First to Asia then to NA and finally to SIN for the start of a 3rd trip

 

[Matt_01]

Has anyone managed to do this recently?

I haven't booked one recently.

Not from NZ but i have 2.5 trips coming up this year starting in CGK. First to Asia then to NA and finally to SIN for the start of a 3rd trip

I was aware that CGK or MNL were good launching pads. In my case I did not want to do this and starting in AKL was a cheaper option for the positioning flight to get me to Japan and back to AU and then to the EU and back. Most of our flights were with QF (as I could request the seat release) we booked with CX from HKG to the EU and another internal EU flight with AY just to get the x2 OW carriers into the mix. I had always planned to end the trip in ADL but had to consider the mileage to get back to the starting country for the rules to work as the mileage was tight. There were also a few flights that were separate from the main itinerary.

 

[FlyingFiona]

When changing a single leg on a OWA ticket through QF there is a 5K points charge. But my friend was also charged a 7.7k Qantas service fee. Seriously?? isn't that what the 5K charge is? You can't do it online, there's no possible way, so why are they charging for it? And talk about adding insult to injury, he's spent 3 hours on the phone today because of the incompetency of the call centre staff - he should be compensated not charged for that!

 

[cjd600]

When changing a single leg on a OWA ticket through QF there is a 5K points charge. But my friend was also charged a 7.7k Qantas service fee. Seriously?? isn't that what the 5K charge is? You can't do it online, there's no possible way, so why are they charging for it? And talk about adding insult to injury, he's spent 3 hours on the phone today because of the incompetency of the call centre staff - he should be compensated not charged for that!

That's standard.
No Service fee applied to J and F changes (change fee still applies)

 

[FlyingFiona]

That's standard.
No Service fee applied to J and F changes (change fee still applies)

Thanks, good to know. Still stinks. I have only ever redeemed for J so wasn't aware of the charge. And I have never changed routing once ticketed.

 

[DC3]

… I have only ever redeemed for J so wasn't aware of the charge …

J is the way to go.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Mod Hat

This thread is for discussion on One World Award flights only.
Not EK or any other non-Ohe World award questions.
All recent off topic posts have been moved to a separate thread.
Please keep this thread on topic

Thanks

Mod Hat

 

[timmytime]

Would like to thank everyone for their contributions here, has been very helpful in forming my itinerary for later in the year which has just been finalised. Everything in J expect the syd-hnd sectors which are premium economy. Found messaging on social media also a helpful way to add new flights

Will be flying to London from Sydney via HND by JAL. Will then be heading to Cairo (let’s see if it’s safe at the end of the year) from Rome, and then to Japan via Helsinki before coming back home

 

[ishfrem]

I have a rewards flight that I need to make huge changes too.

basically I only want to keep one leg of the flight and change everything else. And by the end of the changes I won't be hitting the 318k for business Oneworld rewards.

is the only way to do so through the phone centre. Or can I cancel my flights except the one I want and then rebook through the Qantas website?

 

[ozflier]

My experience is that you need to do this thru the call centre .

 

[MelbFlyer]

I have a rewards flight that I need to make huge changes too.

basically I only want to keep one leg of the flight and change everything else. And by the end of the changes I won't be hitting the 318k for business Oneworld rewards.

is the only way to do so through the phone centre. Or can I cancel my flights except the one I want and then rebook through the Qantas website?

What sort of changes and what tiered QFF member are you?

If it's major changes as you've alluded to, if you're Bronze and if there's still reward seats showing online that you wish your final itinerary to be, it would probably be best to cancel in full and then re-book online rather than attempting to change via the phone.

It's honestly really a lottery to change reward seats if you're anything less than Platinum as 90% of the time, consultants don't have the same visibility of reward seats that are showing online.

You might get lucky and get a consultant who can see the same seats you can see online, but most of the time it doesn't happen.

 

[Mr H]

What sort of changes and what tiered QFF member are you?

If it's major changes as you've alluded to, if you're Bronze and if there's still reward seats showing online that you wish your final itinerary to be, I'd suggest to cancel in full and then re-book online rather than attempting to change via the phone.

It's honestly really a lottery to change reward seats if you're anything less than Platinum as 80% of the time, consultants don't have the same visibility of reward seats that are showing online.

If you are cancelling and rebooking, always book the new one before cancelling the old one in case the new one has hidden problems.

I don't think the different availability for agents is anything like 80%. I think it is a handful of flights. And aside from the earlier availability of QF flights, I don't think status has much to do with it. The call centres seem to have improved over the past couple of years. Timely ticketing may still be an issue, but the reward escalations email seem to be able to retrieve the situation when tickets are not issued. I am happy to make changes by calling.

 

[MelbFlyer]

If you are cancelling and rebooking, always book the new one before cancelling the old one in case the new one has hidden problems.

It depends if the OP in this case has enough points to cover the new booking, if they do - then yes this would be the best option if the required award seats are still available.

I don't think the different availability for agents is anything like 80%. I think it is a handful of flights. And aside from the earlier availability of QF flights, I don't think status has much to do with it. The call centres seem to have improved over the past couple of years. Timely ticketing may still be an issue, but the reward escalations email seem to be able to retrieve the situation when tickets are not issued. I am happy to make changes by calling.

Maybe in your experience you've been lucky - in mine with my now completed / flown OWA, it was a pain to try to change seats - either a change of date or change of flight (with seats that were showing as available online in the multi-city tool).

ie. I wanted to change my JQ economy leg to a QF business leg (which would then fall under the OWA cap) - I found a QF business award seat online and then called up to attempt to change - probably around 20-25 consultants (after I HUACA that many times!) told me that there was nothing available despite them showing online!

Of course, as a OWA itinerary, there's unfortunately no other way to amend the booking other than calling up.

Regular award bookings though, there seems to be the option to amend online to other award seats.

 

[ishfrem]

I don't have enough points to cancel the flights.

I could cancel and rebook but I'm worried that the one flight I really want will get booked in the interim since I'm not sure how long it takes for flight points to be refunded and when the rewards seat gets back into the system to be able to book with or if someone will book it as I'm trying to set up the booking.

Really just want to cancel every flight except one. Just not sure if the manage flight option allows that for Oneworld rewards flights.

If i call and rebook to the single flight would I incur the 6k fee as well as the extra 7k or so fee? There has been a small change to my flights in the interim. But nothing major. Just arriving at Melbourne slightly earlier at the end of the trip.

 

[cjd600]

Calling to cancel the legs you wish, leaving the single flight, will incur 5k change fee. No fee on top, for Business Class.
I think Manage Booking only allows for Cancel of the entire Booking, not flight(s) within the booking.

 

[Mr H]

I don't have enough points to cancel the flights.

I could cancel and rebook but I'm worried that the one flight I really want will get booked in the interim since I'm not sure how long it takes for flight points to be refunded and when the rewards seat gets back into the system to be able to book with or if someone will book it as I'm trying to set up the booking.

Really just want to cancel every flight except one. Just not sure if the manage flight option allows that for Oneworld rewards flights.

If i call and rebook to the single flight would I incur the 6k fee as well as the extra 7k or so fee? There has been a small change to my flights in the interim. But nothing major. Just arriving at Melbourne slightly earlier at the end of the trip.

You should call. Do not try to fix this online. If you cancel there is no guarantee that your flight would go back into the award pool.

If you have a schedule change then argue on line that you should not have to pay a change fee, regardless of how inconsequential it is.

If your itinerary includes at least one flight in J then you can get the 7,700 fee waived/refunded.

 

[itsjackson]

It's now next week; did you manage to sort out your itinerary?

Sorry for the late reply, I've just returned! Unfortunately, I couldn't consolidate all my flights into a single OWA itinerary, so I had to take separate flights home. I tried to follow the advice to book flights first and adjust them later based on availability, but it seems I may have been overly optimistic and was not able to do this.

Now that I'm back home, I'm still left with flights for HND-HKG-SIN-SYD on my itinerary that I can't get refunded. Had to HUCA a few times to get someone that could help (and not say my ticket was only valid 1 year after booking and not my first departure), I've removed HND-HKG and changed HKG-SIN-SYD to July instead.

Although it didn't really work out for me in the end, I learned a lot from my first OWA booking attempt. In hindsight, it wasn't really worth it for me to try a OWA for a fairly simple itinerary, especially considering the minimal points savings (after change fees) and massive headache. Now, I'm still left with these extra flights that I need to figure out what to do with even though I promised myself I wasn't going to travel much this year!

Thanks heaps all for your help anyway, it's been a journey and a half haha