Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[ameliorate]

Hi all! I'm looking for some urgent assistance from the oneworld masters in this forum.

I've paid the following itinerary early yesterday morning (it's already been almost 24 hours), however there's no evidence in my QF account, points haven't been withdrawn and ticketing is apparently saying they can't book it as I have insufficient points. I'm pretty anxious as my tickets will only be held (if at all) till the end of today if I can't get them to ticket and there's very limited availability on my sectors.

Essentially, the call centre/ticketing say that as my itinerary ends in a different port to my origin port then the points for an extra flight between my final port and origin port need to be added on top of the 318,000 point cap for a business OWA. I think they said this would take me to 475,000 points or similar.

A call centre agent directed me to:
"14.4.3 A one way oneworld Classic Flight Reward Itinerary will be charged as a return Itinerary. Itineraries finishing in a port other than the port of origin must include the distance to return directly to the port of origin when calculating the number of Qantas Points required to redeem the Flight Reward and the maximum distance for the Itinerary."

Is this correct? My understanding is that only the miles between the final port and the origin port would be considered and that the points would be capped out.

Is it possible that they're are confused and either (a) have inputted my itinerary incorrectly (for example, I heard a call centre operator say they were calculating the amount of stopovers) or (b) there's something else wrong with my itinerary such that it isn't within the fare rules and as such isn't being automatically capped? I'm under 35,000 miles, am under 16 segments and all the flights are business except one which is in economy. Airlines are QF, BA, AY, CX, JL and Oman Air. I stop in LND and transit through on the way out of Europe, but I believe up to two transits are permitted?

My proposed itinerary is -

BKK-HKG (less than 24 hr connection)
HKG-PVG (stop 1)
PVG-HEL (less than 24 hr connection)
HEL-LHR (stop 2 / surface sector)
CDG-LHR (less than 24 hr connection)
LHR-MCT (less than 24 hr connection)
MCT-CGK (stop 3)
CGK-SYD (stop 4)
SYD-ICN (stop 5)
then the way home GMP-HND (less than 24 hour connection) and HND-SYD END (my understanding is that the last destination doesn't count to the stopover limit). I don't think GMP and ICN count as a surface sector as I believe they'd both count as Seoul city airports.

[SIMPLIFIED ITINERARY
BKK-HKG-PVG (stop 1)
PVG-HEL-LHR (stop 2)
CDG-LHR-MCT-CGK (stop 3)
CGK-SYD (stop 4)
SYD-ICN (stop 5)
GMP-HND-SYD END]

Any guidance that can be provided would be greatly greatly appreciated so I can try Qantas again. I'm really unsure if I'm confused or Qantas is.

 

[SydneySwan]

I think Oman Air don't join One World until June 20 2025.

 

[pyramidforce]

If you did indeed book onto Oman Air then that doesn't count for a 318k ticket because it isn't a oneworld carrier. So the whole ticket is calculating distances and prices segment by segment for all flights even the oneworls flights.

 

[Mr H]

If you did indeed book onto Oman Air then that doesn't count for a 318k ticket because it isn't a oneworld carrier. So the whole ticket is calculating distances and prices segment by segment for all flights even the oneworls flights.

This is correct. Just as an aside, I know the rules for OWA can be quite complex but the one about having to use OW carriers is quite straightforward and I am surprised at how many people in this thread seem to get tripped up on it.

 

[FlyingFiona]

Hi all! I'm looking for some urgent assistance from the oneworld masters in this forum.

I've paid the following itinerary early yesterday morning

I assume you booked on the phone given the number of segments. The agent at the time of booking will have confirmed the number of points your itinerary was going to cost. If that wasn't 318K (which it won't have been because, as others have said, you have included a currently non-OW carrier in the mix) then you should not have proceeded. In fact, I'm surprised (and suspicious) that you were even able to proceed and pay the taxes if you did not have sufficient points.

 

[ameliorate]

Thanks so much everyone for your replies! You’re, of course, all correct. I had looked at the list of oneworld airlines on the OneWorld website and somehow missed that it said “Future Member” in the corner of the box associated with Oman Air and had thought they were joining earlier.

I’ve actually booked a OWA successfully (in economy) before but for me at least this continues to be a learning process. I’m beating myself up for such an odd oversight, back to the drawing board!

In response to Fiona, there was indeed some confusion about the points which I pointed out at the time and that something may be wrong as the call centre had somehow originally put the itinerary through for less than the 318,000 cap, however, as it was less I thought it was worth a try to pay the taxes and immediately get in contact with ticketing to see if it ticketed - and if not, to try and figure out where it had all gone wrong.

Does anyone know the best way to approach fixing this? Do I need to wait for ticketing to lapse and the seats to be released and re-book changing out those sectors? Or am I able to do it now while my other seats are still saved by calling Qantas?

Thanks again everyone.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks so much everyone for your replies! You’re, of course, all correct. I had looked at the list of oneworld airlines on the OneWorld website and somehow missed that it said “Future Member” in the corner of the box associated with Oman Air and had thought they were joining earlier.

I’ve actually booked a OWA successfully (in economy) before but for me at least this continues to be a learning process. I’m beating myself up for such an odd oversight, back to the drawing board!

In response to Fiona, there was indeed some confusion about the points which I pointed out at the time and that something may be wrong as the call centre had somehow originally put the itinerary through for less than the 318,000 cap, however, as it was less I thought it was worth a try to pay the taxes and immediately get in contact with ticketing to see if it ticketed - and if not, to try and figure out where it had all gone wrong.

Does anyone know the best way to approach fixing this? Do I need to wait for ticketing to lapse and the seats to be released and re-book changing out those sectors? Or am I able to do it now while my other seats are still saved by calling Qantas?

Thanks again everyone.

Do it now! It's a simple :change:

There is no guarantee the seats will return to the award pool if you leave it until ticketing fails