Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[Captain Halliday]

I haven't looked for a 4-seat itinerary since Covid but I suspect it is even more difficult than before; and it was extremely difficult then (as I was looking for J).

I’ve not been able to successfully make one work for 3 pax post covid.

Was able to put three together prior to covid.

 

[Jacques Vert]

I’ve not been able to successfully make one work for 3 pax post covid.

Was able to put three together prior to covid.

Anything more than 2 pax has always been a challenge; Extremely unlikely using QF but not impossible.

OTOH, SQ often has 3, 4 or even 5 seats on the same flight. But the cost in points and taxes is often lower than
QL; rvrn
duro
mg

 

[J-P]

If I make a change to a OWA booking, do fees get charged extra/refunded for the difference? This example I've found a different flight on the same route that has ~$700 lower fees, and I've never tried making such a change - so unsure if I'll be refunded or if I am still charged the original rate.

 

[Mr H]

If I make a change to a OWA booking, do fees get charged extra/refunded for the difference? This example I've found a different flight on the same route that has ~$700 lower fees, and I've never tried making such a change - so unsure if I'll be refunded or if I am still charged the original rate.

In theory they will reprice the whole itinerary, so if your new flight is cheaper but the other flights have gone up you could still end up paying more. In my experience they will charge more if the price is higher but they seldom offer to refund if the new price is probably lower (and it is very difficult to verify what the fees should be or what you have already paid).

 

[DC3]

If I make a change to a OWA booking, do fees get charged extra/refunded for the difference?

Not sure how many flights are in your itinerary, but as already posted, the whole itinerary will be repriced if you make a change.

 

[Warren Mason]

We have a trip booked that includes a flight from Madrid to London on Iberia airlines. It is the only flight that I couldn't choose seats on. They have allocated seats 1A and 2A which means we are not sitting together and may have a stranger sitting beside us. I have searched for a way to request a change to the seats but can't find any way. Has anyone solved this problem? Thanks

 

[Mr H]

We have a trip booked that includes a flight from Madrid to London on Iberia airlines. It is the only flight that I couldn't choose seats on. They have allocated seats 1A and 2A which means we are not sitting together and may have a stranger sitting beside us. I have searched for a way to request a change to the seats but can't find any way. Has anyone solved this problem? Thanks

Call Iberia?

 

[Warren Mason]

Call Iberia?

Can't find a number that goes close to stating they can help. Seems that the problem is the booking was made through Qantas.

 

[cjd600]

In theory they will reprice the whole itinerary, so if your new flight is cheaper but the other flights have gone up you could still end up paying more. In my experience they will charge more if the price is higher but they seldom offer to refund if the new price is probably lower (and it is very difficult to verify what the fees should be or what you have already paid).

In my experience they reprice the whole itinerary and if you have to pay more you pay more, and if due a refund, you receive a refund....
Every time. Its what the "computer says" not what "they" offer....

 

[DC3]

Every time. Its what the "computer says" not what "they" offer....

And then there’s “Pease wait while l recalculate the fare”. I’ve heard that a few times. And it seems to take forever, even though I’ve always suspected that it was computerised. I’m talking about itineraries of quite a few flights, with several carriers.

 

[Jugurtha]

Hello,
I'm trying to build a RTW oneworld fare with Qantas FF points.
I'm looking at Delhi to Europe (e.g. Rome, London, or Athens etc) leg for Jan 2026. There seems to be only two business class seats for award bookings and more economy with Finnair.

What is chance more seats will be allocated or is it locked to max 2 seats online but if I call the Qantas booking team, are they able to access 3 business seats?

There doesn't seem to be many other business seats with other one world carriers. If anyone knows when or if the one world partners will release business class flights, that will be helpful. thanks.

 

[Jimmy89]

Hi,

I’ve just tried to add a leg in January 2026 to my existing booking which was made in April 2024.

so far I have:
Departing March 2025
MEL-HKG (CX)
HKG-HEL (AY)
HEL-FCO (AY) - stop over
FCO-AMS (ground segment)
AMS-HEL (AY)
HEL-HND (AY) - April 2025

I just now tried to add a
HND-DFW (JL) - January 2026, however I got told they couldn’t reticket due to ticket being issued in April 2024.

I was under the understanding that they could reticket it all as the flight duration will still be within the 12 month window from departure? Is this correct ?

 

[fastferret]

I booked a 316k OWA for 2 pax last September. 1st leg SYD-HND with JL I could only get PE so settled for this with the remainder of the trip in business. I was ticketed and selected seats for all legs and thought everything was sweet.

Today I got emails from JL and Qantas saying:
"We’re sorry to let you know that your cabin class on your upcoming flight JL52 to Tokyo Haneda has changed. Unfortunately, there are no Premium Economy (P) cabin seats available so we’ve booked you in Economy (Y) cabin for your flight should you still wish to travel on the same flight."

This flight connects with a flight to Nagoya then others to Helsinki then Dubrovnik. I could be flexible and travel to Japan a few days earlier, but searching using the QF engine isn't showing me anything but Y options.

I'm thinking I'll need to call Qantas, but as silver, I don't know that they will do much for me.

Has anyone had this happen to them before and have any ideas for dealing with this?

 

[Mr H]

I booked a 316k OWA for 2 pax last September. 1st leg SYD-HND with JL I could only get PE so settled for this with the remainder of the trip in business. I was ticketed and selected seats for all legs and thought everything was sweet.

Today I got emails from JL and Qantas saying:
"We’re sorry to let you know that your cabin class on your upcoming flight JL52 to Tokyo Haneda has changed. Unfortunately, there are no Premium Economy (P) cabin seats available so we’ve booked you in Economy (Y) cabin for your flight should you still wish to travel on the same flight."

This flight connects with a flight to Nagoya then others to Helsinki then Dubrovnik. I could be flexible and travel to Japan a few days earlier, but searching using the QF engine isn't showing me anything but Y options.

I'm thinking I'll need to call Qantas, but as silver, I don't know that they will do much for me.

Has anyone had this happen to them before and have any ideas for dealing with this?

If there has been an equipment change and there is no longer PE on that route then there's not much you can do - accept the Y or have the ticket refunded.

 

[djkelly69]

so we’ve booked you in Economy (Y) cabin for your flight should you still wish to travel on the same flight."

Could you maybe try emailing the QF reward seat escalations email and see if they can get JL to release PE or even J seats (due to the equipment change)?

 

[pye1201]

I thought I’d share my experience booking my 4th Oneworld Classic flight itinerary this week. We have a son in London and a daughter in New York, thus we travel a lot. We sometimes do a paid RTW in between to rack up points and status and this year thanks to our recent RTW booked through AA, I’ve attained Platinum with Qantas and my husband has Platinum Pro with AA. Given that Qantas is devaluing their points after 5 August this year I thought we’d squeeze one more business class OWA trip in while I have access to the premium call centre. I spent two full days planning route after route, trying to find enough business class award flights to get us to the places we wanted to go. This is the itinerary I ended up with.

SYD-LAX (XO) -PDX- (XO) LAX-HND (XO) -BKK (XO) -HEL-LHR (XO)-PER-SYD

34,612 miles

Upon request Qantas released 2 x business class seats SYD-LAX (a month in US with family) then the Portland leg for a couple of weeks in Canada. Transiting back through LAX to a short stopover in Tokyo, then down to BKK when we will take separate positioning flights back to Sydney to spend Christmas before flying back to BKK in April to resume the OWA itinerary and transit HEL to London (Europe) to spend 3 months before coming back home.

I have booked dummy dates for the BKK-HEL-LHR-PER-SYD and plan to change those dates as soon as the flights become available for April/May and before my Platinum status runs out (in October this year). I hope to again request the release of 2 x QF business seats for the LHR-PER-SYD (alt. LHR-SIN-SYD). The other Finnair flights seem to have reasonable availability if I get in quickly.

I have to say that with Platinum status the entire booking process is a completely different ball game. Hitherto I have had no status and even with all the flight availability checked in advance, every single time was an exercise in anger management and frustration. Having access to the premium team – people who actually know what they are doing and are happy to actually do it for you! It was, believe it or not, a pleasant experience! The whole itinerary took just under 2 hours to book and ticket!

But my real problem here is that the LAX-HND on AA has only econ availability. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I could find business award availability on this leg? I have put flight alerts into EF for several AA flights on and around the required date and it shows JAL flights but not award availability. Worst case scenario, could we request a points upgrade closer to the time using my husband’s account as Plat Pro? Can that be done if it’s a qantas booked OWA itinerary?

Hoping to get some more experienced minds to give me some advice?

 

[fastferret]

If there has been an equipment change and there is no longer PE on that route then there's not much you can do - accept the Y or have the ticket refunded.

I checked and it looks like JL have changed the original 787-9 to a 787-8, which doesn't have PE. Bummer!
I called Qantas and they said there were no alternatives on the day or the few preceding days. Looks like we are stuck with Y for this leg.

Could you maybe try emailing the QF reward seat escalations email and see if they can get JL to release PE or even J seats (due to the equipment change)?

I'll have a hunt for the email address and give this a go. I can see that the JL flight has J seats available for purchase, but I don't like my chances of them giving them up for a Qantas silver redemption.

 

[Mr H]

I don't like my chances of them giving them up for a Qantas silver redemption.

It’s worth a go. Less deserving people have scored even better outcomes in the past.

 

[pyffii]

Hi,

I’ve just tried to add a leg in January 2026 to my existing booking which was made in April 2024.

so far I have:
Departing March 2025
MEL-HKG (CX)
HKG-HEL (AY)
HEL-FCO (AY) - stop over
FCO-AMS (ground segment)
AMS-HEL (AY)
HEL-HND (AY) - April 2025

I just now tried to add a
HND-DFW (JL) - January 2026, however I got told they couldn’t reticket due to ticket being issued in April 2024.

I was under the understanding that they could reticket it all as the flight duration will still be within the 12 month window from departure? Is this correct ?

Hi Jimmy....if this is a revenue DONE4 then the rules specifically state that you must finish your trip 365 days from the date of the first flight....Which airline ticketed your trip ?

 

[Mr H]

Hi Jimmy....if this is a revenue DONE4 then the rules specifically state that you must finish your trip 365 days from the date of the first flight....Which airline ticketed your trip ?

The OP is finishing within 365 days of the first flight - the airline seems to be objecting because it’s finishing more than 365 days from the date the original ticket was issued - which is an error on the airline’s part.