Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[Captain Halliday]

Whacked very hard.

Large surcharge for departures from the UK ( with a few exceptions eg Inverness) .
Its a government levied fee and varies according to which class you are travelling and the distance your first sector travels . I think 2000 miles is the magic number .
It is more complicated than this - and it does not apply to arrivals only departures .
The cost can be substantial well over AUD 1100 for business seats plus all the other fees !
There are a few workarounds .
Air Passenger Duty - Wikipedia is a good reference but may not be totally up to date as some fee increases occurred this year.

And was announced yesterday (our time) that it’s increasing further.

Details in this thread: UK Air Passenger Duty increasing again and more in 2025

 

[Lynda2475]

No APD flying into London airports, or if connecting through from elsewhere.

So fly into LHR long haul have your stay in London; then fly out of LON to somewhere close in western Europe small APD, then if flying long haul out of LHR just make sure you connect from an Euro airport on same day to avoid APD.

Or fly home from HEL.

 

[Mr H]

Its a government levied fee and varies according to which class you are travelling and the distance your first sector travels . I think 2000 miles is the magic number .

Sector can mean different things to different people. In this case, it means the total distance of the next series of flights until you next have a break of more than 24 hours or switch to a new ticket. So LHR-CDG-BGF in Y/J will count the mileage from LHR-BGF and charge at the highest class of travel you use on the journey.

 

[gaz0303]

I’ve been able to select 5 Y award seats to Europe and onto the UK, but I can’t find a way home travelling east ~8-10 Oct 25. Tried getting seats released as a WP but told only F class available. Do I book the available westerly flights and hope something opens up and then make changes?

Also, I note that when searching from different countries, teenagers can be classed as a child. Are taxes based on 1st origin or do they get recalculated somehow? Might need to do some dummy bookings and work out differences from having seperate tickets and lower tax, or point savings but more cash outlay.

 

[elanshin]

I’ve been able to select 5 Y award seats to Europe and onto the UK, but I can’t find a way home travelling east ~8-10 Oct 25. Tried getting seats released as a WP but told only F class available. Do I book the available westerly flights and hope something opens up and then make changes?

Also, I note that when searching from different countries, teenagers can be classed as a child. Are taxes based on 1st origin or do they get recalculated somehow? Might need to do some dummy bookings and work out differences from having seperate tickets and lower tax, or point savings but more cash outlay.

IF you dont mind non QF, Look at HEL departures on AY to HKG,KIX,HND,SIN,BKK Etc and then connecting from there.

You can also from JL flights from LHR to HND or FRA - HND. CX would also have a bunch of flights from places like LHR -HKG.

Alternatively going through US is an option too.

 

[jbmemories]

IF you dont mind non QF, Look at HEL departures on AY to HKG,KIX,HND,SIN,BKK Etc and then connecting from there.

You can also from JL flights from LHR to HND or FRA - HND. CX would also have a bunch of flights from places like LHR -HKG.

Alternatively going through US is an option too.

If you have any Avios - try searching AY through their website (select FINLAND for the country), and it will show up some award flights, whereas other regions may not show. They've apparently guaranteed an X amount of seats as award seats on each flight, but the current implementation is only visible if the region is set to Finland. Searching when its not set to that region will not show those flights (even though they do exist)!

 

[elanshin]

If you have any Avios - try searching AY through their website (select FINLAND for the country), and it will show up some award flights, whereas other regions may not show. They've apparently guaranteed an X amount of seats as award seats on each flight, but the current implementation is only visible if the region is set to Finland. Searching when its not set to that region will not show those flights (even though they do exist)!

The problem with that is that if its not available to QF then even if itd available to Avios users, if QF can't see it then it won't matter. QF needs to be able to book the tickets for OWA.

 

[jbmemories]

The problem with that is that if its not available to QF then even if itd available to Avios users, if QF can't see it then it won't matter. QF needs to be able to book the tickets for OWA.

ah okay you want to use QFF points, yeah sorry its only AY and Avios trick for now

 

[elanshin]

ah okay you want to use QFF points, yeah sorry its only AY and Avios trick for now

This thread is OWA which is a Qantas product. It has to be Qantas availability on QFF points using OW.