Hi, my partner and I have just learned about the oneworld classic flight reward and are hoping to try and use it to do a trip to Europe in July 2023 and Argentina in November 2023.
I have a few questions:
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Do you think if we wait for the November 2023 bookings to open up at the end of this year will most of the europe award seats be sold out for July 2023?
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In terms of itinerary, I’m finding the qantas multi city tool hard to use
I was thinking of trying to do:
- Brisbane - Naples (then we will do internal transit to go to Paris, london, Dublin and Greece)
- Athens - Sydney
Then in November
- Sydney - Buenos Aires
- Buenos Aires to Sydney
Is that even possible? It just fit into the 35k miles limit when I had a look online
Do you think I am better off trying to use the reward for the europe trip and cover some internal europe flights then do a separate booking for the December trip?
We’re planning to do economy largely via credit card sign up points
G’day @eloise96,
Unfortunately, what you’re proposing is probably going to be very difficult to achieve using just one Oneworld Classic Reward, however, don’t be disheartened! You can still get to the places you want, just maybe using some more points. Explained in more detail below:
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Its not a certainty, but it is definitely possible that there will be economy reward seats for july 2023, if you book in say January 2023 (to do it all in one go). There is usually a lot more competition for the few coveted premium cabin seats in the European summer, but still bear in mind that it is a period of higher demand. However, you can add flights onto an existing booking by calling the Qantas call centre; there is normally a change fee of 5000 QFF points (waived until dec 2022) though. This is the route I would go down if you were going to attempt a RTW trip by booking one leg then adding on flights as reward availability opens up, however, please read on before making that call.
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As part of the rules associated with the Oneworld Classic Flight Reward, you cannot transit through your country of origin - “A ticket finishes if you return to the city or country of origin” (from Perks of starting your Qantas oneworld Classic Reward overseas). There are ways to get around this though, such as starting overseas in Bali, which the article uses as an example. But there is very little chance that you’ll be able to fit under the 35k miles limit if you do start overseas - if you end your trip in a different city than the start, it calculates the distance between the 2 cities and adds that on.
The other thing to note is that there are no Oneworld airlines that fly direct to Beunos Aires from Sydney, or any city in South America - South America is kind of a black spot in Oneworld’s coverage. LATAM fly from Sydney to Santiago direct but unfortunately they exited Oneworld, and thus can’t be used as part of the Oneworld Classic Reward. The only way to fly to Buenos Aires would be to connect in the USA with American Airlines, or go the other way through Madrid with Iberia, both of which are way too far to fit within the mileage requirements of a Oneworld award, as the individual flight distance is used in your mileage calculation, not simply the distance between airports. However, you can use your points to book LATAM flights, and fly into Santiago, and connect from there, or connect with any other Qantas partners, but that would be seperate from a Oneworld award.
Also, while it is always nice to redeem points for flights, bear in mind the cost of acquiring them (annual fees on credit cards, any interest etc.) plus the taxes and fees airlines charge, may not actually reduce the cost of an economy award enough to justify the trouble. Of course, this is solely your decision, but I would recommend comparing the outright cost of flights versus the cost of taxes, fees for reward bookings and the financial implications of credit cards.
If you do decide to go ahead, I would use the reward for the Europe trip and cover the internal flights as best you can, or maybe consider visiting other places as well to make the most of the award, like Asia or North America, then book a seperate trip.
Hope this clears it up, and feel free to send me a message if you have any other questions!
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Thank you so much for taking the time to put together that response! It is super helpful, I really appreciate it
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