Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[NoobTraveller]

I have a Oneworld Classic Reward booking for business class which took me staying up to 4am and 3 pages of scribbles to figure out but now I have a problem.

My Tokyo to London leg had a stopover i.e. Tokyo to Helsinki (JAL), Helsinki to London (Finnair) flight. I've just been notified that the Tokyo to Helsinki flight has been moved to the day after but the Finnair flight is still the same (i.e. the day before).

Has anyone gone through the same problem? I plan to call Qantas to see what I can do but I'd like to get an idea of what other people here have done in this situation.

EDIT: I called Qantas and they said I have to call JAL. I'm on hold to JAL now.

EDIT 2: JAL told me to call Qantas. I had a worrying suspicion I would be stuck in this circular purgatory.

 

[Captain Halliday]

I have a Oneworld Classic Reward booking for business class which took me staying up to 4am and 3 pages of scribbles to figure out but now I have a problem.

My Tokyo to London leg had a stopover i.e. Tokyo to Helsinki (JAL), Helsinki to London (Finnair) flight. I've just been notified that the Tokyo to Helsinki flight has been moved to the day after but the Finnair flight is still the same (i.e. the day before).

Has anyone gone through the same problem? I plan to call Qantas to see what I can do but I'd like to get an idea of what other people here have done in this situation.

EDIT: I called Qantas and they said I have to call JAL. I'm on hold to JAL now.

EDIT 2: JAL told me to call Qantas. I had a worrying suspicion I would be stuck in this circular purgatory.

You need to call QF to have this resolved.

If the new JL flight is suitable then changing the HEL-LHR should be straightforward as there is generally good availability on the route.

If the new JL flight in not suitable, research some alternatives and put these to the QF agent as potential solutions.

 

[pyramidforce]

You need to call QF to have this resolved.

If the new JL flight is suitable then changing the HEL-LHR should be straightforward as there is generally good availability on the route.

If the new JL flight in not suitable, research some alternatives and put these to the QF agent as potential solutions.

I guess the challenge in this situation is how to get the agent to listen to you in the first place, cant suggest alternatives if the first thing they do is say CaLl JaPaN aIrlInEs on repeat like a toddler throwing a tantrum then hang up the phone on you. (Although recent data points seem to indicate this is less likely than before)

Can try the reward ticketing escalations email address floating around somewhere, but I wouldnt stop calling in this situation either.

 

[NoobTraveller]

The second Qantas agent was much better but she was only able to get me NRT-HEL, HEL-LHR both on Finnair which I understand is not a great business class product.

Better than nothing but I am disappointed not to be able to enjoy JAL business class for what would be the longest leg of the journey.

 

[pyramidforce]

Up to you if you like AY business seats or not. I wouldnt say it is objectively bad, and tbh I personally prefer it over Apex suites on JL, not to mention their sky skuite 3 which is...just not good. Not sure what plane they fly NRT-HEL.

AY catering IMHO is not very good.

If that were my trip, given my travel preferences, would be relieved in your situation just to have the problem sorted. Of course if you specifically wanted JAL i xan understand the frustration. The reward ticketing escalation address may have had more power/competence than the agent, although one bird something slmething two birds something bush.

 

[cjd600]

The second Qantas agent was much better but she was only able to get me NRT-HEL, HEL-LHR both on Finnair which I understand is not a great business class product.

Better than nothing but I am disappointed not to be able to enjoy JAL business class for what would be the longest leg of the journey.

If you have the new Finnair J on the A350 for NRT-HEL, I found this great, and measured up well to my long haul JL J on B777 and B789 on the same trip. Short haul HEL-LHR will be typical Euro short haul.

 

[frodo]

If you have the new Finnair J on the A350 for NRT-HEL, I found this great, and measured up well to my long haul JL J on B777 and B789 on the same trip. Short haul HEL-LHR will be typical Euro short haul.

See this thread for the finnair seat - it divides opinions and I'm looking forward to trying it out for myself early next year.

FINNAIR - new Business Class AirLounge seat

Business class seats that do not lay flat, but rather the occupant has to wriggle down? Finnair launches a business class seat that doesn't recline

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

You might get lucky with the short haul flight as some of them are operated by the 359s, but otherwise the majority of the flights will be Euro J.

 

[Mwenenzi]

FJ is not a oneworld member airline yet.
You won’t be able to use it in a oneworld classic Flight anward until they join as full members.
You could try JL via ports in Japan.

Hi all, wondering if anyone has an insight. Looking at Syd to Yvr (Vancouver) in business next August for two adults. Easiest redemption seemed to be Fiji Airways booked via classic reward. How we flights for August 2025 are not being released as per normal patterns. Thinking it might be some sort of blackout period? Flights on Fiji Air to Dallas / SFO / LAX are still being released, so worst case maybe we fly to LAX / SFO and buy a separate flight to Vancouver. LAX is not preferred but has the a350, SFO is the a330. Not ideal to do 2 layovers but better than not going at all I guess. At this point I'm waiting to see if any flights from Nadi to Vancouver pop up but eventually will need to make a decision before we get to the end of our ideal dates, i have a week or two up my sleeve at best to sit and hope that the Fiji flight to Vancouver reappears

Or if anyone has a suggestion of alternate routes,that would be appreciated too.

Since the thread title change now getting some "classic rewards" questions in this "Oneworld classic rewards" thread. Better if those posts were moved out of this thread to some other thread.

 

[shankoz]

The second Qantas agent was much better but she was only able to get me NRT-HEL, HEL-LHR both on Finnair which I understand is not a great business class product.

Better than nothing but I am disappointed not to be able to enjoy JAL business class for what would be the longest leg of the journey.

Glad you got a good outcome. Something similar happened to me a few months before the start of our OWA itinerary last May - when I called to sort out new flights with an agent, they failed to re-ticket on time, and for a while we lost all our Qatar J flights on that itinerary. Was an incredible hassle getting it all back!

Agree with the others, the Finnair seat is a love/hate thing - I personally quite liked it when I flew it HKG-HEL earlier this year!

 

[tkelly]

Is anyone able to confirm if you can have more than two Surface Segments in a oneworld Classic Flight Reward booking?

The T&Cs don't mention any restrictions (just that Surface Segments count towards the maximum of 16 segments and towards the total miles). However, I'm aware that you can't book more than two surface segments in any itinerary on the Multi-City booking tool (see: Qantas Website Error Codes (And How to Avoid Them) ). Is this just a restriction on the website? Has anyone successfully booked a oneworld Classic Flight Reward with more than two Surface Segments via the call centre?

 

[Jacques Vert]

Is this just a restriction on the website? Has anyone successfully booked a oneworld Classic Flight Reward with more than two Surface Segments via the call centre?

Not since QF updated their website about 7/8years ago. Before then, was able to do it either on the multi-city tool or by phone. Haven't been able to get more than 2 surface segments since then IME.

 

[Thomas088]

Is anyone able to confirm if you can have more than two Surface Segments in a oneworld Classic Flight Reward booking?

The T&Cs don't mention any restrictions (just that Surface Segments count towards the maximum of 16 segments and towards the total miles). However, I'm aware that you can't book more than two surface segments in any itinerary on the Multi-City booking tool (see: Qantas Website Error Codes (And How to Avoid Them) ). Is this just a restriction on the website? Has anyone successfully booked a oneworld Classic Flight Reward with more than two Surface Segments via the call centre?

Yes we were able to book our itinerary with 3 surface segments (4 if NRT-HND is counted as a surface segment?). I booked about half the trip online (when there was only 2 surface segments) then called to add the other flights to the itinerary as they were released.

 

[kenjicult]

Brand new here and wished I had stumbled across this earlier to glean from the pros.

I've made a booking through the multi-city page. One booking, 2 pax in J

It goes like this

HKG-ICN-HEL (CX and AY)
HEL-LHR-JFK (AY and AA)
SIN-HEL-LHR (AY)

Booking didn't reach the cap and was 310k points per person. I believe under miles and surface segment parameters. And still just 3 stopovers.

Because the points never "capped out" I wasn't sure whether this meant that I had simply spent the points to book them separately, or whether if I had booked another segment, it would have capped at the 318k limit. Ie. I'm not fully sure I've made a OWA booking

I then tried calling Qantas to add a JFK (or technically Newark) to LAS flight, but for whatever reason, their repricing exceeded the cap (leading me to believe I may have violated one of the OWA rules in the first place).

Later in the year when the flights open up, the intention was to add a LHR-HKG segment to see out the OWA trip.

Have I messed up the OWA or do I still have a chance of adding more segments at only 8k points extra pp? I don't have status and every time I call up, it feels risky - as though someone will accidentally delete the bookings that I've already made.
TIA

 

[pyramidforce]

Brand new here and wished I had stumbled across this earlier to glean from the pros.

I've made a booking through the multi-city page. One booking, 2 pax in J

It goes like this

HKG-ICN-HEL (CX and AY)
HEL-LHR-JFK (AY and AA)
SIN-HEL-LHR (AY)

Booking didn't reach the cap and was 310k points per person. I believe under miles and surface segment parameters. And still just 3 stopovers.

Because the points never "capped out" I wasn't sure whether this meant that I had simply spent the points to book them separately, or whether if I had booked another segment, it would have capped at the 318k limit. Ie. I'm not fully sure I've made a OWA booking

I then tried calling Qantas to add a JFK (or technically Newark) to LAS flight, but for whatever reason, their repricing exceeded the cap (leading me to believe I may have violated one of the OWA rules in the first place).

Later in the year when the flights open up, the intention was to add a LHR-HKG segment to see out the OWA trip.

Have I messed up the OWA or do I still have a chance of adding more segments at only 8k points extra pp? I don't have status and every time I call up, it feels risky - as though someone will accidentally delete the bookings that I've already made.
TIA

Just at a glance, it looks like you have a massive surface sector from JFK to SIN which (top of my head, no calculations) may or may not be pushing you over the distance limit.

You are also flying HEL-LHR twice which I think might also be a problem.

Edit: also SIN is in same zone as HKG so you might have an issue there,

 

[kenjicult]

Just at a glance, it looks like you have a massive surface sector from JFK to SIN which (top of my head, no calculations) may or may not be pushing you over the distance limit.

You are also flying HEL-LHR twice which I think might also be a problem.

Edit: also SIN is in same zone as HKG so you might have an issue there,

Thanks for that, it's possible I may have missed some rules then..

When I throw it all into GCmap it still comes in at under 35000 (also counting that LHR-HKG at the end will be considered a surface)

We're just transiting through LHR that first time though which I thought was fair game.

Re: the same zone, didn't know that would be a problem so that might be my bad...

Might be worthwhile to say that those middle flights are just transit stops

HKG-ICN-HEL (CX and AY)
HEL-LHR-JFK (AY and AA)
SIN-HEL-LHR (AY)

So you reckon I've just ended up booking 3 separate flights? Oops

 

[pyramidforce]

Re: the same zone, didn't know that would be a problem so that might be my bad...

Sorry I need to get used to checking things before I speak - I don't think this is a problem.

I think what is happening is that you are ending at LHR, which you haven't "stopovered" at before. You can end a trip at a different city than you started if it has previously been a stopover (e.g. you could end the trip at HEL and it would calculate a surface sector back to HKG...I think this is the rule...honestly I could just be making things up at this stage). If you just add JFK-LAS then you are still ending in a different city than the one you started in, and in a different country, so this isn't allowed (I think).

I suspect (I think) if you call and ask them just to add LHR-HKG at the end or even JFK-LAS and LHR-HKG at the same time it will cap at 318k (I think).

 

[Jacques Vert]

So you reckon I've just ended up booking 3 separate flights? Oops

If it's all on the one PNR (booking reference), then it's one ticket/Award.

 

[Captain Halliday]

I then tried calling Qantas to add a JFK (or technically Newark) to LAS flight, but for whatever reason, their repricing exceeded the cap (leading me to believe I may have violated one of the OWA rules in the first place).

Too many miles is your problem.

You don’t say where in the trip you want to add LAS-EWR but in any case you’ll be way over 35k.

Your current routing is 32,711.

LAS-EWR is 2,227.

The you have to add xx_-LAS and EWR-xx_.

The 9,537 miles for the surface sector JFK-SIN could be a new record for this thread.

 

[kenjicult]

Too many miles is your problem.

You don’t say where in the trip you want to add LAS-EWR but in any case you’ll be way over 35k.

Your current routing is 32,711.

LAS-EWR is 2,227.

The you have to add xx_-LAS and EWR-xx_.

The 9,537 miles for the surface sector JFK-SIN could be a new record for this thread.

Thanks for the tip. I should have mentioned the routing sorry. I was trying to add EWR-CLT-LAS after JFK (was one of the only ways to get from the east to where we needed to go)

So yeah, big surface sector from US to SIN with or without that sector but it still appeared to come under when I checked...


Hence my confusion as to why I couldn't add the sector after JFK

Still happy with the flights but was hoping to squeeze a bit more value!

 

[Thomas088]

Thanks for the tip. I should have mentioned the routing sorry. I was trying to add EWR-CLT-LAS after JFK (was one of the only ways to get from the east to where we needed to go)

So yeah, big surface sector from US to SIN with or without that sector but it still appeared to come under when I checked...

View attachment 404933
Hence my confusion as to why I couldn't add the sector after JFK

Still happy with the flights but was hoping to squeeze a bit more value!

Don't have a reason why it's not pricing correctly when trying to add flights - but I recreated your itinerary (using dummy dates) in the multi-city tool and it's correctly capping at 318k. You may need to try the call centre again and hope for a better outcome!