HI,
My Wife and I want to use our 900K FF points to fly Business to visit family in London, and Capri (near Naples) with little visit to Paris & Berlin. It seems we have to go along way to get back but hoping its Business so not so bad…
One world site gives me the below plan.
But when I try to book it on Qantas Multi City page it doesn’t give the options eg Cathay pacific
Also a strange One world site error re: changing a flight from Mad > Ber to Ber > Mad
any thoughts appreciated.
Sector 1. MEL LON 28/Sep/2023 + 1 day
MEL LON CX178/CX257
2350 1515 (operated by Cathay Pacific Airways/ operated by Cathay Pacific Airways)
Stops : 0 Via : HKG Booking Class: Business/Business
Sector 2. LON PAR 01/Oct/2023
LON PAR BA304
0730 0945 (operated by British Airways)
Stops : 0 Via : Booking Class: Business
Sector 3. PAR NAP 07/Oct/2023
PAR NAP BA315/BA426
1400 2155 (operated by British Airways/ operated by British Airways)
Stops : 0 Via : LON Booking Class: Business/Business
Sector 4. NAP BER 11/Oct/2023
NAP BER IB3709*/IB3674*
1450 2300 (Iberia operated by Iberia Express/Iberia operated by Iberia Express)
Stops : 0 Via : MAD Booking Class: Business/Business
Sector 5. BER DFW 13/Oct/2023
BER DFW IB3677*/IB6149
1130 2010 (Iberia operated by Iberia Express/ operated by Iberia)
Stops : 0 Via : MAD Booking Class: Business/Business
Sector 6. DFW TYO 14/Oct/2023 + 1 day
DFW TYO JL11
1050 1425 (operated by JAL)
Stops : 0 Via : Booking Class: Business
Sector 7. TYO HKG 15/Oct/2023
TYO HKG CX549
1625 2000 (operated by Cathay Pacific Airways)
Stops : 0 Via : Booking Class: Business
Sector 8. HKG MEL 16/Oct/2023
HKG MEL CX105
0020 1215 (operated by Cathay Pacific Airways)
Stops : 0 Via : Booking Class: Business
The OneWorld website shows paid (i.e. with cash) bookings of RTW business trips so there would be a lot more availability than what you would be able to book on points with Qantas. I suggest doing individual route searches on Qantas’ website and then plugging that into the OneWorld RTW tool to check for eligibility instead!
This could be related to the requirement that you can’t “back track” on a RTW fare. I’d look and see if you can find a single return reward flight for that sector and book it separately.
By the looks of your itinerary, you don’t necessarily need to fly RTW (possibly… I’m making an assumption here). So here are some flights I found with a quick search trying alternate routes… you can play some more if you like but there is definitely availability at the moment… but some legs might see you in economy unless you can find some different cities to hop through if you must be in business (lets face it, this is why we points hack right?? So no judgement on that wish!! ).
Also, I’d book a trip like this in 2 bookings… one to get you to at least your main destination, and then another for the return leg. That way you can generally check your luggage all the way through and it just makes things easier to manage (as well as getting help from the airlines) if something goes wrong.
Am I missing something or is it not possible to combine the two seperate multi-city bookings into one? The advantage of booking a oneWorld RTW is the much lower points requirement compared to booking two seperate itineraries.
Yes you can… up to 12 sectors. Given the propensity for the Qantas multi-leg engine to bork out at the drop of a hat, is why i prefer to do sectors for tricky/complex itineraries on points. Maybe I’ve been selling myself short on points spends as a result?? Quite possible.
TBH I’ve never tried to book a RTW trip with points, so dont’ know how that works. I’ve found that the points engine will recalculate the points (sometimes not add any additional points cost) for extra legs when it realises that you’re doing a full lap around the planet… or a full “there-and-back” return trip. But you might be right, it could be “cheaper” to book it via the RTW process once you find all the necessary flights via the multi-leg process.
thanks. that gives a lot of food for thought. I was hoping to do the RTW because its 300K+ points each all up for Business. so we would have enough points. ill try again and repost. Also. apparently cant use Emirates for a RTW ticket
ok. I have been wrestling with the Q website for days. I rang the FF help line and lo and behold there are flights she can see that I cant . but together we couldn’t get us back. so im tentatively booked to Europe in October but for the life of me I cant get us home. every time I make the booking it goes through until final stage and then says flights not available. Any thoughts on Getting from Paris to Melb Oct 14-16ish with points for Business would be appreciated.
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