Travel Airlines, Flights, Airports and Frequent Flyer Programs

[Jezzza]

that moment I get reminded of QANTAS' Frequent flyer changes starting next week I think it was.
Guess I can wait a little longer

Anybody know how best to contact QANTAS about an around the world classic reward airfare?
I read that it's a base amount of points for x miles and up to 12 stops. But Ive never seen classic reward around the world before.

The One World Classic Award (OWA) has no requirement to fly RTW.
The main conditions are
-35k miles (surface sectors count)
- Up to 16 segments
- Up to 5 stop overs
- 1 stop over per city and can transit city twice
- Must use at least 2 other OW carriers apart from Qantas.
There are also a few other little rules and quirks and it does require a bit of work.
Current cost in points is
Economy 140k
Business 280k
First 420k
These will change shortly to 132/318/455.
You have 12 months to complete travel so you can break it up into a couple of trips if it suits. I’m currently in the process of booking a first class trip for both of us in May next year that will look something like
SYD-DOH-CDG (Qatar)
CDG-HND (JAL)
NRT-JFX (JAL)
JFK-LAX (AA)
LAX-SYD (Qantas)
Fees and taxes will still be quite high and struggling for some availability so will have to tinker around or perhaps try Business.

I'm part way through a Business OWA, first flight were in July this year & resume the trip in May 2020

Have flown SIN-HEL (AY), HEL-TXL (AY), AMS-DOH-PER (QR) & next year will go PER-HKG (CX), HKG-BCN (CX), CDG-DOH-SIN (QR) about $1600 in taxes & charges.

A few other bits & pieces;

Book the initial flights online if possible as soon as they become available & then as more flights come available add them to the existing PNR & pay a 5000 point change fee.
I've added them via phone call & SMS service.
Seats are limited & you snooze you lose, especially on popular routes & in Premium Classes.
You may have to get a bit creative with where you fly into and out, some routes are near impossible to get hold of.
Airlines release there award seats at different dates from departure see here. Note not all those Airlines are part of Oneworld
There can be quite a bit of variation in what they call the hard (seat) & soft (service) product especially in the premium classes. Qatar Q Suite in Business is very highly regarded.
Be prepared for long waits on the phone to QF, a few hours is common.
Huge variation in usefulness of call staff, if your sure your right HUCA (hang up & call again)
Be wary of what they call a married segment it can through a spanner in the works
Be very careful when adding flights that they re-ticket in a timely manner. The existing flights can drop off if this not done, QF responsibility to get them back (if your booking with them) but you'll have to fight for it. It's ticketed when you get the document with a ticket number starting with 081.
The points will revert to the correct amount excluding any change fees once you satisfy the requirements as outlined by Great8
Once you return to the origin city the award is finished.
You can finish in a different city to the origin but they will still count the mileage back to the origin city.
If wanting to do 2 trips to Europe consider starting in an Asian city such as Manila, Bangkok, Bali or Singapore, which I did.
Don't start in a Country where a Oneworld airline is based eg Oz or Hong Kong as it limits your transit/stopover options.
If short of points look for a CC with a large QFF point bonus sign-up usually tied to a certain amount of spend in a specified time period. Target either no fee for first year or half fee. You can always cancel the card once the bonus points have landed in your QFF account
Use other sites like Australian Frequent Flyer forum or Pointhacks they are a great source of knowledge. AFF has a huge pinned thread on the OWA in the QANTAs section.

It can seem like a lot of hassle but once your up the pointy end on a 10hr plus flight it's all worth it.

 

[Great8]

I'm part way through a Business OWA, first flight were in July this year & resume the trip in May 2020

Have flown SIN-HEL (AY), HEL-TXL (AY), AMS-DOH-PER (QR) & next year will go PER-HKG (CX), HKG-BCN (CX), CDG-DOH-SIN (QR) about $1600 in taxes & charges.

A few other bits & pieces;

Book the initial flights online if possible as soon as they become available & then as more flights come available add them to the existing PNR & pay a 5000 point change fee.
I've added them via phone call & SMS service.
Seats are limited & you snooze you lose, especially on popular routes & in Premium Classes.
You may have to get a bit creative with where you fly into and out, some routes are near impossible to get hold of.
Airlines release there award seats at different dates from departure see here. Note not all those Airlines are part of Oneworld
There can be quite a bit of variation in what they call the hard (seat) & soft (service) product especially in the premium classes. Qatar Q Suite in Business is very highly regarded.
Be prepared for long waits on the phone to QF, a few hours is common.
Huge variation in usefulness of call staff, if your sure your right HUCA (hang up & call again)
Be wary of what they call a married segment it can through a spanner in the works
Be very careful when adding flights that they re-ticket in a timely manner. The existing flights can drop off if this not done, QF responsibility to get them back (if your booking with them) but you'll have to fight for it. It's ticketed when you get the document with a ticket number starting with 081.
The points will revert to the correct amount excluding any change fees once you satisfy the requirements as outlined by Great8
Once you return to the origin city the award is finished.
You can finish in a different city to the origin but they will still count the mileage back to the origin city.
If wanting to do 2 trips to Europe consider starting in an Asian city such as Manila, Bangkok, Bali or Singapore, which I did.
Don't start in a Country where a Oneworld airline is based eg Oz or Hong Kong as it limits your transit/stopover options.
If short of points look for a CC with a large QFF point bonus sign-up usually tied to a certain amount of spend in a specified time period. Target either no fee for first year or half fee. You can always cancel the card once the bonus points have landed in your QFF account
Use other sites like Australian Frequent Flyer forum or Pointhacks they are a great source of knowledge. AFF has a huge pinned thread on the OWA in the QANTAs section.

It can seem like a lot of hassle but once your up the pointy end on a 10hr plus flight it's all worth it.

You make some excellent points and I agree with you 100%. It can be hard work but it is worth it. As you said definitely grab the individual sectors when they become available and then piece them together. Some times if you are lucky they will even waive the 5k points charge. I’m back to the drawing board with mine as QR availability has dried up but they are offering return flights from MNL to Europe for about $2800 as are EY so I might just shell out for those and then try to build a OWA from there. I will be based in SIN for a couple of stints next year which makes it easier

 

[Dirty Bird]

****ing pissed at BA.

I had a booking in about 2 months time.

Initially they had about 4 flights a day from London to Luxembourg, cool, I book it.

They firstly merge all the flights into 1. So Now I have to fly at a s**t time, whatever, Ill tolerate that.

Then about 2 weeks ago, they moved that flight from the 3rd of December, to the 4th. Then create a new flight on the 3rd.

We wanted enough time to drive from Luxembourg to Bastogne and check the ww2 war memorial out. Then onto Brussels to go to the Waterloo battlefield.

But landing late on the 4th and leaving Brussels late on the 6th, left it at a rush.

So move the flight back to the 3rd, and they're charging $65 per person.

****ing bs.

2nd time an airline has screwed me with s**t like this.

In 2014 I had a booking from New York to Miami with AA around lunch time, and had already booked the exit row seat.

They moved the flight to the red-eye flight.

I didn't like this and tried to change to another flight (once again, created out of fresh air around the original departure time) but was told, oh, you can make this change, but you'll be forfeiting what you've paid for the exit row seat.

So rather than piss the money down the drain, I just took the red-eye flight.

 

[juss]

****ing pissed at BA.

I had a booking in about 2 months time.

Initially they had about 4 flights a day from London to Luxembourg, cool, I book it.

They firstly merge all the flights into 1. So Now I have to fly at a s**t time, whatever, Ill tolerate that.

Then about 2 weeks ago, they moved that flight from the 3rd of December, to the 4th. Then create a new flight on the 3rd.

We wanted enough time to drive from Luxembourg to Bastogne and check the ww2 war memorial out. Then onto Brussels to go to the Waterloo battlefield.

But landing late on the 4th and leaving Brussels late on the 6th, left it at a rush.

So move the flight back to the 3rd, and they're charging $65 per person.

****ing bs.

2nd time an airline has screwed me with s**t like this.

In 2014 I had a booking from New York to Miami with AA around lunch time, and had already booked the exit row seat.

They moved the flight to the red-eye flight.

I didn't like this and tried to change to another flight (once again, created out of fresh air around the original departure time) but was told, oh, you can make this change, but you'll be forfeiting what you've paid for the exit row seat.

So rather than piss the money down the drain, I just took the red-eye flight.

Minor changes here and there you don't have much wiggle room, but you seem to be inconvenienced enough and have grounds that a phone call request and explanation might work if you play your cards right.

Failing that, you could always go full Karen and ask to speak to the supervisor and you'd probably be able to avoid the change fee?

 

[stmookeyj]

Bit annoyed that I can't directly get Qantas or Virgin points or status (the Virgin link I understand given I took one of the last flights with a code share in 2018 before Virgin went alone on NZ flights) from my upcoming Air New Zealand flight to and from Auckland. Forced now to link with my Kris Flyer (Singapore Airlines) account, which I haven't used to accumulate points on in my limited flights taken with them pre 2020 (used Virgin status for Lounge access), then make a conversion to probably Virgin points post trip.

Fortunately status with Virgin shouldn't be that affected, only need 210 credits before end of Feb and have flights to Hobart and Melbourne to come that will help.

 

[Geelong_Bisons_#36]

I'm sure you've all heard some stories about how QANTAS is pretty bad at the moment, here's another example.



I'm currently in NZ, flew here from Melbourne 2 days ago.

So checked in fine and went to boarding gate no worries. Boarding was a few minutes late, but nothing too bad, then sitting on the tarmac waiting, it got to about half an hour late and then the realisation that something is wrong. So announcement comes on, Captain says something about thunderstorms in Auckland and we have too much weight, and not enough fuel, so we need to take some bags off, BUT THOSE PEOPLE HAVE BEEN NOTIFIED.

As we hadn't been told anything about our bags, thought all good. 4 people get off the plane, and ten minutes later, 2 of those people get back on.

Nearly an hour passes before another announcement.

Something about just searching for the luggage for those people who got off and should be ready to go soon.

First thing I think of is sounds strange. What we were 200kg overweight? As 2 people and their bags, can't be too much more than that. Doesn't make a lot of sense in a plane that weighs what? 100+ tonnes? Doesn't add up to me.

Anyway, we're off 2 hours late.

And arrive in Auckland.

Waiting for bags and there are about 50 people left waiting when the bags stop coming out and it's clear that not all.our bags made the flight.

We were lucky, and only missing 1 bag and the kids stroller.

Other people were missing everything.

Now also by the baggage carousel was hundreds of bags from other flights that obviously had not come on their intended flight and were waiting to be reunited with their owners. HUNDREDS.

Anyway so another hour in line waiting to full in a form for my missing bag.

Yesterday we had an hour to kill and hadn't heard anything from the airport, so went there and actually found our bags in the baggage services department, waiting to be couriered back to us. (Who knows how long that would have taken due to the amount of bags there)
So my point to the long story is this.

What sort of policy is this from QANTAS to be doing?

Oh sorry too much weight, instead of putting more fuel in the plane, we'll just unload probably 100 bags and not tell you and that's just bad luck for you.

How is this possible?

What a disgraceful policy.

Anyway, we were quite lucky in the end as I'm sure that unless people went to the airport yesterday like we did, they won't have had their luggage back yet.

I certainly won't ever fly QANTAS again, and encourage everyone who reads this to do the same.

 

[juss]

I'm sure you've all heard some stories about how QANTAS is pretty bad at the moment, here's another example.



I'm currently in NZ, flew here from Melbourne 2 days ago.

So checked in fine and went to boarding gate no worries. Boarding was a few minutes late, but nothing too bad, then sitting on the tarmac waiting, it got to about half an hour late and then the realisation that something is wrong. So announcement comes on, Captain says something about thunderstorms in Auckland and we have too much weight, and not enough fuel, so we need to take some bags off, BUT THOSE PEOPLE HAVE BEEN NOTIFIED.

As we hadn't been told anything about our bags, thought all good. 4 people get off the plane, and ten minutes later, 2 of those people get back on.

Nearly an hour passes before another announcement.

Something about just searching for the luggage for those people who got off and should be ready to go soon.

First thing I think of is sounds strange. What we were 200kg overweight? As 2 people and their bags, can't be too much more than that. Doesn't make a lot of sense in a plane that weighs what? 100+ tonnes? Doesn't add up to me.

Anyway, we're off 2 hours late.

And arrive in Auckland.

Waiting for bags and there are about 50 people left waiting when the bags stop coming out and it's clear that not all.our bags made the flight.

We were lucky, and only missing 1 bag and the kids stroller.

Other people were missing everything.

Now also by the baggage carousel was hundreds of bags from other flights that obviously had not come on their intended flight and were waiting to be reunited with their owners. HUNDREDS.

Anyway so another hour in line waiting to full in a form for my missing bag.

Yesterday we had an hour to kill and hadn't heard anything from the airport, so went there and actually found our bags in the baggage services department, waiting to be couriered back to us. (Who knows how long that would have taken due to the amount of bags there)
So my point to the long story is this.

What sort of policy is this from QANTAS to be doing?

Oh sorry too much weight, instead of putting more fuel in the plane, we'll just unload probably 100 bags and not tell you and that's just bad luck for you.

How is this possible?

What a disgraceful policy.

Anyway, we were quite lucky in the end as I'm sure that unless people went to the airport yesterday like we did, they won't have had their luggage back yet.

I certainly won't ever fly QANTAS again, and encourage everyone who reads this to do the same.

Thats interesting given Qantas is Australia's premium offering. I havent flown them in years as I've been happy enough with Virgin and they are usually a bit cheaper.

When you pay the Qantas premium you probably wouldn't expect the above to happen.

 

[Dirty Bird]

yet here I am having just flown Qantas Adelaide-Perth-London and had absolutely zero issues, with amazing service along the way.

And dad applied for an upgrade from Perth-London and missed out, and they gave him a $100 voucher for qantas wine (which we use at times anyway)

So I'm blown away by the amazing service.

 

[juss]

yet here I am having just flown Qantas Adelaide-Perth-London and had absolutely zero issues, with amazing service along the way.

And dad applied for an upgrade from Perth-London and missed out, and they gave him a $100 voucher for qantas wine (which we use at times anyway)

So I'm blown away by the amazing service.

I haven't flown Qantas in yonks as most of my personal domestic travel I do through Virgin, but early next year work has booked some business travel through Qantas, it's the very common Melb-Syd return for business so I'm very interested to see how it goes as I'm super keen to get home as early as possible on the evening of my return with a 6pm departure from Sydney hoping for minimal delays!

 

[Great8]

I have to fly Qantas domestic due to work very regularly and don’t have too many issues with them but the standard of catering in business has dropped off massively. For our domestic leisure trips we always fly Virgin Australia if possible and they have a better product IMO unless you get the A330 on Qantas routes.
We travel internationally a bit and rarely use Qantas as there are just so many many airlines offering a superior business product.

 

[stmookeyj]

And especially in Auckland where depending on where you were based is a half hour or more from the CBD.

sterday we had an hour to kill and hadn't heard anything from the airport, so went there and actually found our bags in the baggage services department, waiting to be couriered back to us. (Who knows how long that would have taken due to the amount of bags there)

 

[utility]

Any ideas on cheapest way to Europe?

Prior to lockdowns flights via China were often the best but don't seem to be ramped up. Middle East airlines are up around 50%. Not sure best options these days.

 

[revo333]

Any ideas on cheapest way to Europe?

Prior to lockdowns flights via China were often the best but don't seem to be ramped up. Middle East airlines are up around 50%. Not sure best options these days.

Maybe a Scoot flight from Singapore.

 

[Dirty Bird]

Around the world airfares. (Lufthansa probably the best option. Can do around the world for $2k)

 

[HigginsHawk]

Just had a trip to Los Angeles departing from Canberra via Sydney on United Airlines. Stopover in Sydney allowed me use of Singapore Airlines lounge. Singapore lounge is quite small but still very nice. United passengers may use Singapore Lounge when flying out of Sydney.

Return trip allowed access to United Lounge in LAX. Comparable to the bigger Virgin Domestic lounges, say Sydney or Melbourne.

I'm VA gold card. United are now Virgin's USA partner replacing Delta. Accrued 'miles' and status credits for United Flights.

United Flights were ok. Their premium economy option was ok but really only gave you the benefit of the larger and more comfortable seat. Meals were the same as economy. Probably not worth the extra money. Virgin website only sells economy and business class seats, you need to log into United to upgrade to premium.

 

[Great8]

Any ideas on cheapest way to Europe?

Prior to lockdowns flights via China were often the best but don't seem to be ramped up. Middle East airlines are up around 50%. Not sure best options these days.

What class?
For business class fares are always cheaper ex Asian ports and I know plenty of people that get a cheap Economy flight on someone like Scoot to Asia and then spend a bit more on a business class flight to Europe

 

[the_interloper]

Had a campaigner put his seat back during a Melbourne - Adelaide flight, that should not be allowed imo, * that idiot.

 

[utility]

What class?
For business class fares are always cheaper ex Asian ports and I know plenty of people that get a cheap Economy flight on someone like Scoot to Asia and then spend a bit more on a business class flight to Europe

Economy with plenty of checked baggage.

Looks like Chinese airlines are starting to ramp up again. Possible to get return for under 1,000 AUD but the issue is still the cost of connecting flight westward.

 

[juss]

Had a campaigner put his seat back during a Melbourne - Adelaide flight, that should not be allowed imo, * that idiot.

I had one on an 8am Melb-Sydney weekday flight, reclined right in front of me all the way back. I didn't say anything, but come on, it's a business flight and it's very short and it's daylight outside. General flight etiquette is you don't do that on that sort of flight/time.

 

[Dirty Bird]

Had a campaigner put his seat back during a Melbourne - Adelaide flight, that should not be allowed imo, * that idiot.

The second the seatbelt sign goes off, my knees go right into the back. If they recline, they got knees right there (I'm 6'5'')

I only put my seat in recline if I plan on sleeping, BUT, I always look who's there first.

But sometime's it's fun to ** off the selfish twats. Back in 2017 when I was returning from Ukraine, I had a QANTAS flight from Singapore to Melbourne. There was a tall guy in 1 seat in the exit row. Kept his seat upright. But his short arse wife next to him was right infront of me, she of course needed to put her seat in recline. Of course when I need to go to the toilet I stand up. But with the seat fully back at that **ed up angle, my bum pounds into the back of her chair waking her up in a fright. I mean, I could've avoided it, but nah, them.

Well, dont be a selfish b*tch.

 

[Dirty Bird]

Around the world airfares. (Lufthansa probably the best option. Can do around the world for $2k)

On this suggestion. It actually works

February 2023 - Colleague at work wants to book flights to Greece for July. Travel agents turning around and saying $4k. With it that expensive, I suggested trying Roundabout Travel (Specialises in round the world travel) and I pointed out you can get Luftansa for as low as $2k. And it allows stops in numerous places.

He gets in contact with them, and they pointed out there's even technicalities in those airfares. Ie. It might say 3 continents, but it doesnt say which. So he's going Australia ---> North America (Los angeles) ---> Europe (Greece/London) ---> North America (New York) ---> Australia. Got it at $2.6k 4 months out in high season.

Considering it was for a family of 4, that just went from $16k down to $10.4k. Saved over $5k.

So yes, look into multi-city or around the world airfares.

I'm going to Gallipoli for ANZAC Day. I was sitting there twiddling my thumbs for a few days waiting for Roundabout travel to open post xmas break. But in the mean time I found ig was cheaper to fly via Japan with a stopover. Could I have got it even cheaper? Perhaps, but I liked the routing and jumped at it. (I need 100 status to retain qantas gold next year)

But next year I'm doing an Artic cruise out of Tromso. Have the full intent of going around the world. Hoping for Shanghai, Orlando, Los Angeles on it to knock off all remaining Disney resorts I havent done (California Adventure, Epcot, Shanghai Disney)

 

[the_interloper]

The second the seatbelt sign goes off, my knees go right into the back. If they recline, they got knees right there (I'm 6'5'')

I only put my seat in recline if I plan on sleeping, BUT, I always look who's there first.

But sometime's it's fun to ** off the selfish twats. Back in 2017 when I was returning from Ukraine, I had a QANTAS flight from Singapore to Melbourne. There was a tall guy in 1 seat in the exit row. Kept his seat upright. But his short arse wife next to him was right infront of me, she of course needed to put her seat in recline. Of course when I need to go to the toilet I stand up. But with the seat fully back at that **ed up angle, my bum pounds into the back of her chair waking her up in a fright. I mean, I could've avoided it, but nah, them.

Well, dont be a selfish b*tch.

Yeah knees in the back are mandatory, I find moving a lot shits them as well. I'm 6 foot 1 so not massively tall but there's not much room in normal economy.

 

[owen87]

Yeah knees in the back are mandatory, I find moving a lot shits them as well. I'm 6 foot 1 so not massively tall but there's not much room in normal economy.

My theory is that economy seats are designed for the average height human. So somewhere between the average height male and female. Even a normal height male runs out of leg room pretty quick, so if you're north of 6 foot they're tiny.

 

[Pugz89]

On this suggestion. It actually works

February 2023 - Colleague at work wants to book flights to Greece for July. Travel agents turning around and saying $4k. With it that expensive, I suggested trying Roundabout Travel (Specialises in round the world travel) and I pointed out you can get Luftansa for as low as $2k. And it allows stops in numerous places.

He gets in contact with them, and they pointed out there's even technicalities in those airfares. Ie. It might say 3 continents, but it doesnt say which. So he's going Australia ---> North America (Los angeles) ---> Europe (Greece/London) ---> North America (New York) ---> Australia. Got it at $2.6k 4 months out in high season.

Considering it was for a family of 4, that just went from $16k down to $10.4k. Saved over $5k.

So yes, look into multi-city or around the world airfares.

I'm going to Gallipoli for ANZAC Day. I was sitting there twiddling my thumbs for a few days waiting for Roundabout travel to open post xmas break. But in the mean time I found ig was cheaper to fly via Japan with a stopover. Could I have got it even cheaper? Perhaps, but I liked the routing and jumped at it. (I need 100 status to retain qantas gold next year)

But next year I'm doing an Artic cruise out of Tromso. Have the full intent of going around the world. Hoping for Shanghai, Orlando, Los Angeles on it to knock off all remaining Disney resorts I havent done (California Adventure, Epcot, Shanghai Disney)

I am doing a two-day Intrepid tour to Gallipoli in June. If there are any tips you learn, feel free to share.

 

[revo333]

But next year I'm doing an Artic cruise out of Tromso. Have the full intent of going around the world. Hoping for Shanghai, Orlando, Los Angeles on it to knock off all remaining Disney resorts I havent done (California Adventure, Epcot, Shanghai Disney)

I watched a youtube video of an Artic cruise yesterday, Looks very interesting but to get on the ice you go on these small rubber boats and watching that raised my anxiety.