Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[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

 

[Mr H]

Just started compiling a OWA. My basic wish is to get to Cuba and back over the Christmas period 2024. This is not an easy task...

I have so far managed to get the following seats, all in J. No idea how I'm going to get to AKL from my home base in MEL. Hoping more options pop up through the year.

AKL-HKG CX
HKG-KUL MH
KUL-BKK MH
BKK-HEL AY
HEL-LHR AY
LHR-MEX BA on Christmas Day

So as some new flights became available, I have changed my itinerary...

AKL-HKG CX
HKG-KUL MH
KUL-BKK MH
BKK-HEL AY
HEL-LHR AY
LHR-MIA AA (Christmas Day)

MIA-HEL AY
HEL-HND JL

My objective is to get to Havana but HAV is not an option on the Multi-City tool and the call centre agents can't see any availability for HAV ever. I guess it is off limits for redemptions.

I might try to add in EYW (Key West) to MIA somewhere in the itinerary using American Eagle - but only if I have other changes to make.

My problem is I need to get to AKL from MEL to start the itinerary, and I need to get back from HND at the end. Returning through HND gets me up to 35,000 miles so I don't have enough spare mileage to get back to MEL allowing for return to the point of origin. I could get to MEL if/when an alternative route becomes available from HEL.

 

[Lynda2475]

My objective is to get to Havana but HAV is not an option on the Multi-City tool and the call centre agents can't see any availability for HAV ever. I guess it is off limits for redemptions

If you can get to Cancun on an award flight, you will be able to pick up cheap flights to Havana on Air Cubana (you can book online), or Mexico City for slightly more expensive flights with one of the Mexican airlines.

Noting that visiting Cuba since 2019 means you can't get an ESTA and will need a visa for any future USA trips.

 

[Mr H]

If you can get to Cancun on an award flight, you will be able to pick up cheap flights to Havana on Air Cubana (you can book online), or Mexico City for slightly more expensive flights with one of the Mexican airlines.

Noting that visiting Cuba since 2019 means you can't get an ESTA and will need a visa for any future USA trips.

I can't get to CUN or MEX within the mileage and get back TATL. I had to give up a flight LHR-MEX to get home. I will get to Cuba with AA from MIA

I am already banned from the US ESTA thanks to my visits to IR Iran.

 

[yaksha98]

Thought I'd try the brains trust here before having to call the QF call centre....

Currently mid way through a OWA trip and have had to get a new passport.

Have tried looking at manage my booking but couldn't see option to update my new passport details, but my next flight isn't for another 2 months.

Anyone know if I can update online or do I need to call QF to update on my behalf? Or does it not matter and when I show up for my next flight segment they can update at the check-in desk?

 

[RichardMEL]

Thought I'd try the brains trust here before having to call the QF call centre....

Currently mid way through a OWA trip and have had to get a new passport.

Have tried looking at manage my booking but couldn't see option to update my new passport details, but my next flight isn't for another 2 months.

Anyone know if I can update online or do I need to call QF to update on my behalf? Or does it not matter and when I show up for my next flight segment they can update at the check-in desk?

APIS is greyed out?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thought I'd try the brains trust here before having to call the QF call centre....

Currently mid way through a OWA trip and have had to get a new passport.

Have tried looking at manage my booking but couldn't see option to update my new passport details, but my next flight isn't for another 2 months.

Anyone know if I can update online or do I need to call QF to update on my behalf? Or does it not matter and when I show up for my next flight segment they can update at the check-in desk?

You can just show up. They’ll swipe your passport at check in and get all the current details. No need to do anything in advance.

 

[Lynda2475]

You can just show up. They’ll swipe your passport at check in and get all the current details. No need to do anything in advance.

I believe not having accurate apis can prevent OLCI especially if any US flights.

 

[djkelly69]

I believe not having accurate apis can't prevent OLCI

can't or can??

 

[yaksha98]

APIS is greyed out?

Apis able to be updated when manage my booking but can't save when I update

Post automatically merged: Feb 6, 2024

You can just show up. They’ll swipe your passport at check in and get all the current details. No need to do anything in advance.

Thanks!

 

[DC3]

Apis able to be updated when manage my booking but can't save when I update

Did trying another browser make no difference?

 

[yaksha98]

Did trying another browser make no difference?

No, unfortunately not.. tried Chrome, MS Edge and Safari... was about to get to the APIS screen and after typing in new passport details and clicking save, it throws up the same error message each time.

The next OWA flight segment is on BA, and lo and behold, I tried the BA site today and was able to update APIS through them via Manage My Booking.....

 

[ozflier]

No, unfortunately not.. tried Chrome, MS Edge and Safari... was about to get to the APIS screen and after typing in new passport details and clicking save, it throws up the same error message each time.

The next OWA flight segment is on BA, and lo and behold, I tried the BA site today and was able to update APIS through them via Manage My Booking.....

I have found Firefox the answer to clunky browsers .
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www.pcworld.com

 

[Lynda2475]

can't or can??

Can stupid auto correct.

I was going to suggest checking apis on the operating airlines website, as that is where you do olci.

Waiting to check in until you get to the airport might mean more likelihood of getting bumped.

 

[devpianist]

Hey all, I'm looking to book a rough RTW economy itinerary of
MEL -> JNB early July
JNB -> BER mid July
WAW -> LHR mid-late July
then LHR onto SFO and eventually back to MEL
booked with Qantas points.

There are currently zero reward flights to JNB for the whole of Julym which I'm wondering is down to demand at that time of the year... or how likely is it they'll put more on in the next few months? As an alternative I see Malaysia Airlines have got some economy reward seats for KUL -> JNB for around that date, but I can't see those flights when trying to book via the Qantas website. Is there a way of doing this that I'm not seeing?

I'm also seeing a lot of variety between the Qantas page and comparison sites like SeatSpy - see pic below where there are 6 economy seats available according to SeatSpy, but not only do Qantas not have these, but they have some premium economy ones that SeatSpy thinks don't exist. Do Qantas only get access to some of these seats? Or how can I go about booking the ones on SeatSpy using Qantas FF points?

 

[sap1l]

Welcome to AFF @devpianist!

There are currently zero reward flights to JNB for the whole of Julym which I'm wondering is down to demand at that time of the year... or how likely is it they'll put more on in the next few months?

Qantas generally releases award seats a year in advance, and then very close to the date. In your case, I can't really see any availability on SYD-JNB (Qantas' only direct route) at all. To add to that, not many oneworld airlines fly to JNB. You have:

• BA from LHR
• CX from HKG
• QF from SYD
• QR from DOH (But QR doesn't release award seats to Qantas this far ahead)

I would try to find an Economy seat for now, or look at routings via the above ports.

As an alternative I see Malaysia Airlines have got some economy reward seats for KUL -> JNB for around that date, but I can't see those flights when trying to book via the Qantas website. Is there a way of doing this that I'm not seeing?

I don't believe that MH flies direct between KUL and JNB. Can you check that these flights only consist of oneworld airlines?

In any case, the flights on the Qantas website are the only ones you can book.

I'm also seeing a lot of variety between the Qantas page and comparison sites like SeatSpy - see pic below where there are 6 economy seats available according to SeatSpy, but not only do Qantas not have these, but they have some premium economy ones that SeatSpy thinks don't exist. Do Qantas only get access to some of these seats? Or how can I go about booking the ones on SeatSpy using Qantas FF points?View attachment 370482

I haven't personally used SeatSpy, but is SeatSpy showing availability when booking specifically with Qantas Points?

Airlines generally release less award seats to partners, so what you can see on BA for example, may not be available for bookings using Qantas Points.

To answer your final question, if you can't see a seat on the Qantas booking engine, you can't book it via Qantas Points.

 

[Rich]

As someone who regularly looks out for JNB reward flights in any class with QF, I say you'd be lucky. They just don't come up too often.
You can get there with Emrites but that adds a lot of points, dollars and time to the trip. (I don't believe Malaysian goes there. I do see KUL to JNB via SIN and DXB.) I am becoming resigned to paying up (since I don't have enough points with other partners eg Virgin or Singapore.)