Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[vetrade]

Hi there
quick question relating to booking MH rewards seats using QFF points.
Will all seats be released 353 days before departure, or are seats sometimes released periodically before departure date?
i have a J seat outbound ADL-KUL for next feb, but currently J return availability for my prefered date early march is not available, could this change as departure date gets closer?
thanks in advance

It's very "hit or miss" (mainly miss) in my experience. Classic reward availability for direct MH flights from KUL to MEL, ADL, PER or SYD etc often only shows up for random dates. FWIW, I think you're more likely to get MH KUL - MEL direct than to ADL e.g. there's J available ATM for KUL - MEL around 19/6/25 or 5/11/25. The MH KUL - ADL route seems to rarely have rewards available for some reason.

Batches of rewards covering blocks of about 14 days do get released 3 - 5 months out but the availability that QF shows is nearly always via places like Denpasar or Singapore - and often involves jetstar flights - and most of the time it's only Y available.

Luck plays a big part so I think you will need a Plan B

 

[N860CR]

So glad I'm out of QF points after this one! Needed to make a booking with 7 "Flight" segments so couldn't be done online. Got through to Suva and was told SYD-HKG wasn't available. It's on QF and clearly was (only Silver... but still gets a little more access!). Can't seem to get it through the agents head. I'm transferred to a "supervisor" who is instantly pretty aggressive. Tells me straight out "your status doesn't matter, classic award availability is the same". Try to argue this point, but she gets more and more agitated and doubles down; "we've just logged into the website with your frequent flyer account and there is no availability". Puts me on hold again. Segment 4 isn't super critical so I have a go booking online without it (the first agent also said this one wasn't available anyway - AY flight). What do you know, it books and tickets instantly. When she comes back I'm told rudely "as I told you, there's no availability." Goes very quiet when I give her a PNR. Still doubles down that the availability is the same for all status and "you can call any call centre and they'll tell you the same thing".

I then try to get her to find the "Segment 4" flights. Lots of silence and keyboard tapping and I'm now told "yes I can add it, let me price it". Eventually comes back, as expected, with "I need to escalate this", "yes they are available however I cannot price them, we need to speak to our OneWorld hub". Gets wishy-washy in regards to validity of the routing (says yes, then someone else will check, then "I don't know"). Promised a callback in the morning.... we shall see.

The call centres remain an absolute joke.

** Ok so update. I didn't trust the "supervisor" so I called back and spoke to someone in CPT who seemed oddly competent. Explained, they got it and said they'd speak to their manager and calculate the taxes. Was on hold for an hour with them checking in every now and then. They come back and say "I need to go to lunch, I'll call you back in a half an hour". Unsurprisingly, never did. An hour later, the "supervisor" calls back and suddenly they can calculate the taxes (and take the payment). When asked why I was told something totally different an hour ago, I'm told "I was not in the frame of mind to do it during the call before". On hold for an hour while it’s ticketed. Amazingly, it comes through. Not without another round of borderline abuse from the supervisor!

W....T....F

 

[sudoer]

Not without another round of borderline abuse from the supervisor!

If you can spare 5 minutes, lodge a complaint with the customer care form. The calls are recorded, and this behaviour isn't okay.

 

[DejaBrew]

If you can spare 5 minutes, lodge a complaint with the customer care form. The calls are recorded, and this behaviour isn't okay.

Can I hit the “Agree” reaction more than once? Feeling the need to hit it 100 times over.

 

[N860CR]

If you can spare 5 minutes, lodge a complaint with the customer care form. The calls are recorded, and this behaviour isn't okay.

Can I hit the “Agree” reaction more than once? Feeling the need to hit it 100 times over.

I will, but it largely feels like a waste of time. The last OWA I booked was almost as painful and I never even got a response from customer care. Qantas knows how bad their call centres (and website) are, however they actively elect to do nothing to fix it.

 

[Blazer1]

I'm looking at booking PE on AA72 (SYD-LAX) on Tuesday 29/4 via Qantas using points, cost of 81,300. But the little info icon states my flight will be in economy? There are several other AA72 flights in PE that week with exactly the same details. What on earth does it mean?

 

[05flyer]

I'm looking at booking PE on AA72 (SYD-LAX) on Tuesday 29/4 via Qantas using points, cost of 81,300. But the little info icon states my flight will be in economy? There are several other AA72 flights in PE that week with exactly the same details. What on earth does it mean?

Most likely a tech glitch - occasionally the info icons get the details wrong for non-QF flights (e.g. listing a business recliner seat for an economy flight).

As long its listed as a 'Premium Economy Reward', and it lets you book and ticket the flight, shouldn't be any further problems.

 

[djkelly69]

I am going to have to disagree - that notation is usually used when you are booking 2 or more flights, and it definitely means the indicated leg will be in a lower class despite the overall headline higher booking class.

It definitely sounds like a glitch as it obviously makes no sense when used for a single flight, but I am not convinced you will get what you are expecting.

 

[ozflier]

I've had problems accessing reward seats Vancouver to LAX later this year.
There are partner award seats on American Airlines available for a non stop flight on the right time and day.
However, the Call Centre do not recognize these as they only offer Westjet seats which,to be fair, are avaiable. The itinerary is a OWA so a Westjet flight would cancel the OWA and return it to a standard award!
I've rang twice to no avail.
Is anyone aware if the agents are correct - ie if an AA award is available as a partner award, it can't be used as part of a Qantas award on the YVR-LAX sector because Westjet gets preference?

 

[Amanad78]

Currently trying to book our final leg of our OWA we have 5 stops, 4 transits and 1 surface sector. Qantas are trying to say we have more than 5 stops. Please confirm we are within the rules!

SIN - HEL STOP 1
HEL - BKK STOP 2
BKK - (KUL) - (SYD) - BNE STOP 3
BNE - (SYD) - KUL STOP 4
KUL - CDG STOP 5
BCN - (HEL) - SIN END

5 Stops, 1 surface sector, 4 transits

 

[Mr H]

Currently trying to book our final leg of our OWA we have 5 stops, 4 transits and 1 surface sector. Qantas are trying to say we have more than 5 stops. Please confirm we are within the rules!

SIN - HEL STOP 1
HEL - BKK STOP 2
BKK - (KUL) - (SYD) - BNE STOP 3
BNE - (SYD) - KUL STOP 4
KUL - CDG STOP 5
BCN - (HEL) - SIN END

5 Stops, 1 surface sector, 4 transits

Have you asked them where the stops are? That should help to find the problem.

 

[Amanad78]

Have you asked them where the stops are? That should help to find the problem.

They think the surface sector is the problem.

Also forgot to mention above we are flying AY, MH and QF. Also, taxes paid in Singapore $.

The last person who helped us via messenger was in NZ and had no problems with the currency, and was aware of reticketing issues with MH and was really knowledgeable

This is the current response:

...thank you for the information you provided. We've looked into adding the extra flights to your booking.

Keep in mind that the added flights will surpass the maximum stopovers allowed for your Oneworld itinerary. You can have up to 5 stopovers, which includes a surface sector—this is when you disembark in one city and embark in another.

The points needed for the additional flights would be 605500 per person. Please let us know your thoughts on this.

 

[Captain Halliday]

They think the surface sector is the problem.

Also forgot to mention above we are flying AY, MH and QF. Also, taxes paid in Singapore $.

The last person who helped us via messenger was in NZ and had no problems with the currency, and was aware of reticketing issues with MH and was really knowledgeable

This is the current response:

...thank you for the information you provided. We've looked into adding the extra flights to your booking.

Keep in mind that the added flights will surpass the maximum stopovers allowed for your Oneworld itinerary. You can have up to 5 stopovers, which includes a surface sector—this is when you disembark in one city and embark in another.

The points needed for the additional flights would be 605500 per person. Please let us know your thoughts on this.

HUACA

 

[Mr H]

They think the surface sector is the problem.

Also forgot to mention above we are flying AY, MH and QF. Also, taxes paid in Singapore $.

The last person who helped us via messenger was in NZ and had no problems with the currency, and was aware of reticketing issues with MH and was really knowledgeable

This is the current response:

...thank you for the information you provided. We've looked into adding the extra flights to your booking.

Keep in mind that the added flights will surpass the maximum stopovers allowed for your Oneworld itinerary. You can have up to 5 stopovers, which includes a surface sector—this is when you disembark in one city and embark in another.

The points needed for the additional flights would be 605500 per person. Please let us know your thoughts on this.

I am not sure why you are dealing with them by text messages/email - you should be calling their call centre and asking them as they are the people who actually make the bookings. If you don't get help from one agent then HUACA.

 

[djkelly69]

The call centre (and 'message centre' in this case) like to try and make plausible-sounding reasons for why bookings fail, but in reality they are completely made up.

I don't think the surface sector/stopovers is the issue in this case.

If I had to guess, and given how close you are to the 35k mile limit, I would think the system is calculating the miles slightly differently and that is the issue.

 

[DC3]

HUACA

 

[N860CR]

It looks fine. Is there availability CDG-HEL instead of BCN-HEL? It could be a millage issue. That will also kill their argument regarding the surface sector. Their argument is wrong, but fighting them can be more effort than it's worth (for the sake of a quick BCN-CDG flight).

 

[Amanad78]

It looks fine. Is there availability CDG-HEL instead of BCN-HEL? It could be a millage issue. That will also kill their argument regarding the surface sector. Their argument is wrong, but fighting them can be more effort than it's worth (for the sake of a quick BCN-CDG flight).

Yes, this is what we can do if necessary

 

[Amanad78]

I am not sure why you are dealing with them by text messages/email - you should be calling their call centre and asking them as they are the people who actually make the bookings. If you don't get help from one agent then HUACA.

The call centre couldn't help last time after multiple calls, and the message centre could help and made the bookings by calling me, taking payment etc. Just found it easier

 

[There'sOnlyOneJimmy]

Currently trying to book our final leg of our OWA we have 5 stops, 4 transits and 1 surface sector. Qantas are trying to say we have more than 5 stops. Please confirm we are within the rules!

SIN - HEL STOP 1
HEL - BKK STOP 2
BKK - (KUL) - (SYD) - BNE STOP 3
BNE - (SYD) - KUL STOP 4
KUL - CDG STOP 5
BCN - (HEL) - SIN END

5 Stops, 1 surface sector, 4 transits

Assuming that the transits are all strictly less than 24 hours…, I agree with @djkelly69 that it may well be a mileage problem.
Great Circle Mapper shows you within 40 miles of the max allowed, but the problem is that QF don’t use GCM to calculate the milage, they use something else (sorry, can’t remember what it is). Consequently there can be differences in the milage calculations of every sector. These differences can be positive or negative, and generally they are relatively small. But over a number of sectors they can accumulate, and when you are operating near the limit, can push you over the max.
If you call again, I suggest you ask the operator to go through the sector distances and compare with what you’re getting from GCM. Unfortunately, this will only confirm that your itinerary goes over max mileage- the QF distance is final, and the GCM distance is irrelevant to them (sad face). But at least you’ll know what the problem is for sure.

Edit: fix typo - 24 hours, not 4…