Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[FlyingFiona]

Booking a RTW in J for 2 pax tonight flying April / May next year.
Syd - HKG - Mad stop (CX)
Mad - Bio stop (IB)
Opo - Mad - Ven stop (IB)
Rome - Hel - HKG stop (AY)
HKG - Syd (CX)
Have a wedding in Spain and also a family thing in Italy so dates weren’t super flexible, but to my amazement I was done with the booking from initial search to being ticketed within an hour. This will be RTW #6, and whilst the least complicated of them I am still shocked all worked out so quickly. My past trips were months of research and waiting for releases. Very happy indeed.

You got lucky with the CX flights. Nice! I have booked MEL-Europe for the same time period but no CX flights were (or are) showing for me at all. Consequently I have a long MEL-KUL-SIN-HEL-VIE with a 12 hour transit in SIN.

 

[FlyingFiona]

My question is regarding baggage in the 1st transit of 3 hours at HKG. How is this handled between the 2 carriers QF and AY? Do we have to collect bags and re check in?

No, your bags will be checked through at the transit port so you won't need to collect them.

 

[The Bison]

Are all Qantas Oneworld Classic Rewards booked with 1 piece for baggage? (i.e 23 kgs max)

Just finished a journey SYD-LAX-MAD-HEL-ICN-SYD

On the final leg ICN-SYD they wouldn't accept one of my families bags as it was 27 kg. Check in stated that my ticket specified it was only 1 piece (23 kgs max) and that it was not able to be pooled across the three people flying (We only used 45kg of our combined 99kg).

She couldn't use her discretion to let it through. Ended up paying 67k won (75 AUD) as a heavy bag charge

Wasn't an issue or flagged on any other flight.

Tough luck for me or worthy of a follow up with Qantas to see if I can get my cash back?

Honestly assumed it was standard 30kg on all long haul international flights. Sat here thinking it's all a little underhanded of QANTAS to design reward flights in this way

 

[ShelleyB]

Are all Qantas Oneworld Classic Rewards booked with 1 piece for baggage? (i.e 23 kgs max)

Just finished a journey SYD-LAX-MAD-HEL-ICN-SYD

On the final leg ICN-SYD they wouldn't accept one of my families bags as it was 27 kg. Check in stated that my ticket specified it was only 1 piece (23 kgs max) and that it was not able to be pooled across the three people flying (We only used 45kg of our combined 99kg).

She couldn't use her discretion to let it through. Ended up paying 67k won (75 AUD) as a heavy bag charge

Wasn't an issue or flagged on any other flight.

Tough luck for me or worthy of a follow up with Qantas to see if I can get my cash back?

Honestly assumed it was standard 30kg on all long haul international flights. Sat here thinking it's all a little underhanded of QANTAS to design reward flights in this way

I don't think rewards have different baggage allowances to whatever is the standard for the airline and class you are travelling in. 23kg and 1 piece is not unheard of for international flights in economy. Who was the flight with that caused the trouble? And what allowance did it state on your e-ticket?

 

[levelnine]

Are all Qantas Oneworld Classic Rewards booked with 1 piece for baggage? (i.e 23 kgs max)

Just finished a journey SYD-LAX-MAD-HEL-ICN-SYD

On the final leg ICN-SYD they wouldn't accept one of my families bags as it was 27 kg. Check in stated that my ticket specified it was only 1 piece (23 kgs max) and that it was not able to be pooled across the three people flying (We only used 45kg of our combined 99kg).

She couldn't use her discretion to let it through. Ended up paying 67k won (75 AUD) as a heavy bag charge

Wasn't an issue or flagged on any other flight.

Tough luck for me or worthy of a follow up with Qantas to see if I can get my cash back?

Honestly assumed it was standard 30kg on all long haul international flights. Sat here thinking it's all a little underhanded of QANTAS to design reward flights in this way

Qantas have a baggage allowance of 30KG in economy. So if you were flying Qantas, you were definitely wronged by the check-in agent.

 

[The Bison]

I don't think rewards have different baggage allowances to whatever is the standard for the airline and class you are travelling in. 23kg and 1 piece is not unheard of for international flights in economy. Who was the flight with that caused the trouble? And what allowance did it state on your e-ticket?

Qantas have a baggage allowance of 30KG in economy. So if you were flying Qantas, you were definitely wronged by the check-in agent.

Yeah it was with Qantas. I knew it at the time but was at the end of a long trip and didn't feel like having a protracted argument in someone's second language.

Anyone with any ideas of which department of theirs to call/email/chat to, if I want to follow up

 

[Kerrodt]

Yeah it was with Qantas. I knew it at the time but was at the end of a long trip and didn't feel like having a protracted argument in someone's second language.

Anyone with any ideas of which department of theirs to call/email/chat to, if I want to follow up

How did you pay? Cash or credit card? Were you issued a formal receipt?

Reason I ask is that I’ve heard of this situation before that turned out to be a scam by the checkin agents. Not at ICN though.

 

[The Bison]

How did you pay? Cash or credit card? Were you issued a formal receipt?

Reason I ask is that I’ve heard of this situation before that turned out to be a scam by the checkin agents. Not at ICN though.

Credit card paid through an Amadeus portal. Receipt seems legit.

Guess I could do a charge back if I don’t like their response calling tomorrow

 

[madrooster]

Are all Qantas Oneworld Classic Rewards booked with 1 piece for baggage? (i.e 23 kgs max)

Just finished a journey SYD-LAX-MAD-HEL-ICN-SYD

Honestly assumed it was standard 30kg on all long haul international flights. Sat here thinking it's all a little underhanded of QANTAS to design reward flights in this way

Qantas have a baggage allowance of 30KG in economy. So if you were flying Qantas, you were definitely wronged by the check-in agent.

Assuming that you flew:

QF SYD-LAX
stopover at LAX
IB LAX-MAD
stopover at MAD
AY MAD-HEL-ICN
stopover at ICN
QF ICN-SYD

The ultimate ticketed destination is MAD which is outside of USA/Canada therefore the US/Canada baggage rules do not apply. This means that each journey will potentially have a different baggage allowance as each journey is assessed for who the most significant marketing carrier is.

The baggage allowance policies/allowances that would be issued on such a ticket are:

QF SYD-LAX - QF policy 1 piece at 32kg
IB LAX-MAD - IB policy 2 pieces at 23kg each (this is actually filed incorrectly it should be 1 piece....)
AY MAD-HEL-ICN - AY policy 1 piece at 23kg
QF ICN-SYD - QF policy 1 piece at 23kg

Note that where I've written 'policy' this means both their allowance and their heavy/excess fees apply, despite it being a QF ticket.

 

[levelnine]

QF ICN-SYD - QF policy 1 piece at 23kg

Where can one find QF's policy that says they allow 1 piece at 23kg for an international flight? The minimum checked baggage allowance on Qantas' website is 1 piece at 30kg — it only goes up from there.

An eticket seems to confirm that:

 

[Warren Mason]

Is it possible to book flights through Qatar airlines with Qantas? They don't show on the Qantas booking site and I think they code share with virgin now. Can rewards flights be added by calling Qantas? Just looking to do something different on the way back from the UK.

 

[levelnine]

Is it possible to book flights through Qatar airlines with Qantas?

Short answer is no. Qatar no longer release award seats to Qantas.

(Long answer is they sometimes release availability to Qantas 3 days prior to departure, but that isn't practical for a OWA or for most travellers.)

 

[MelbFlyer]

Is it possible to book flights through Qatar airlines with Qantas?

It is possible, however Qantas get the literal crumbs (if any) of what is left in economy only, 3 days out from departure.

Not ideal for a OWA unless you're opting for an economy OWA (132.4k) and are very lucky to have phone consultants able to change / add / even see the seats.

I'd say no though.

 

[madrooster]

Where can one find QF's policy that says they allow 1 piece at 23kg for an international flight? The minimum checked baggage allowance on Qantas' website is 1 piece at 30kg — it only goes up from there.

All tickets involving Americas travel irrespective of ultimate ticketed destination have the baggage allowance in pieces. That applies worldwide, to every carrier.

That said, most if not all airlines spell that out poorly or not at all...

QF do mention it but in vague form...

Different baggage allowances may apply each time you check-in baggage. If you check-in baggage for a multiple sector journey, usually the baggage allowance of the most significant carrier in your itinerary will apply.

However, different rules may apply to tickets to and from the USA or Canada.

 

[levelnine]

All tickets involving Americas travel irrespective of ultimate ticketed destination have the baggage allowance in pieces. That applies worldwide, to every carrier.

And why is QF not the MSC on this itinerary given it is the first carrier to travel across an IATA area (SYD-LAX) on this ticket?

 

[madrooster]

And why is QF not the MSC on this itinerary given it is the first carrier to travel across an IATA area (SYD-LAX) on this ticket?

See my previous post:

The ultimate ticketed destination is MAD which is outside of USA/Canada therefore the US/Canada baggage rules do not apply. This means that each journey will potentially have a different baggage allowance as each journey is assessed for who the most significant marketing carrier is.

---

In the event that the ultimate ticketed origin or destination is in the USA/Canada, then the US DoT/Canada CTA rules apply. When these rules apply, the first marketing carrier can elect one of the following:

1. Apply their own policy to the whole ticket
2. Defer to IATA resolution 302 for selection of the most significant marketing carrier across the entire ticket

This choice by each carrier, is filed with ATPCO.

Two examples that come to mind are QR tickets ex-Canada as QR allows both AC and WS on the Canadian domestic to connect to their long haul service out of YUL.

Example 1:

YYZ WS YUL QR DOH

WS elects to defer to the IATA resolution 302 for determination of the most significant marketing carrier, which is QR. QR policy then applies to the whole ticket.

Example 2:

YYZ AC YUL QR DOH

AC elects to apply their own policy. AC policy then applies to the whole ticket.

Furthermore, if the ultimate ticketed destination was indeed in the USA/Canada, and the ticket involves all three traffic conference areas, the first marketing carrier performing carriage across the atlantic is the most significant marketing carrier.

 

[levelnine]

This means that each journey will potentially have a different baggage allowance as each journey is assessed for who the most significant marketing carrier is.

And isn't Qantas the most significant carrier for the ICN-SYD part of the journey?

 

[madrooster]

And isn't Qantas the most significant carrier for the ICN-SYD part of the journey?

Yes and they applied their policy as per my previous post.

Due to the ticket involving the Americas, the piece allowance applies which is 1 piece as you cannot have a ticket involving a weight allowance.

 

[levelnine]

Due to the ticket involving the Americas, the piece allowance applies which is 1 piece as you cannot have a ticket involving a weight allowance.

Yes, I follow all that.

But in Qantas' own baggage policy, that 1 piece has a maximum weight of 30kg, not 23kg. That's what I'm wondering — where does the 23kg come from?

 

[ozflier]

Short answer is no. Qatar no longer release award seats to Qantas.

(Long answer is they sometimes release availability to Qantas 3 days prior to departure, but that isn't practical for a OWA or for most travellers.)

they sometimes release availability to Qantas 3 days prior to departure
I have heard that but s often as I look 3 days ahead of the proposed departure date , once i put the origin and destination(DOH) in and push enter - the screen just goes black !