Does a final destination on a oneworld classic reward itinerary count as one of the max 5 stopovers?
Hi and welcome,
Based on a quick read of your question, I wouldn’t have thought the final port counts as a stop over.
If you are having issues with your itinerary, happy for you to share more details for us in the forum to hopefully assist further.
I am having a general difficulty with agreeing with Qantas the number of stopovers on an itinerary. Most commentators say the final destination is not a stopover and Qantas accept that. However, there is now another issue. Qantas call centre are telling me that every surface sector will use up two of the maximum 5 stopovers, One will be the arrival airport and the second will be the next departure airport. In my case I arrive at Istanbul on 21st Aug 2025 and I am then cruising to Venice, where I board another flight to Madrid on 5th September. Qantas say this is regarded as two stopovers. (I have 4 other stopovers so this puts me outside the rules) Surely that’s not correct? I cannot find a definitive clause that says so, but I do know of another traveller where a similar scenario has counted as just one (because they have 4 other actual stopovers)
Would you mind listing out your intended full itinerary for the OneWorld (RTW) Classic Reward redemption? Highlight the stopovers and the surface sectors too.
This website says " * Surface sectors are allowed, and count as one stopover, but the distance between the two airports counts towards your total limit. Although there is no published limit, Qantas seems to allow up to 2 surface sectors per itinerary."
I’d suggest Hanging Up and Calling Again (HUACA). Might have gotten an agent who doesn’t know.
The answers above do not really address the original question: “is the final destination considered to be a stopover”.
With the OW award you are supposed to return to your origin and you have five stopovers. If you finish somewhere else, a surface sector is included back to the origin and so the final destination becomes a stopover. This way you only have four “real” stopovers left.
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Thank you for your reply, @jxv200 . I think you have hit the nail on the head. I failed to realise the itinerary starts at MCY and end at BNE. Hence, BNE-MCY is added as another surface sector and stopover.