round the world tickets

[tony jolley]

Help - I have just joined and need help, being a FF ignoramus.

I have 400,000+ points on AMEX Gold card. I want to try and get two business class round the world tickets (ex Melbourne)and have been told I don't have enough points, and Qantas won't let us part-pay the balance.

Does anyone know a way around this, or some type of comparable alternative?

[NM]

Welcome to AFF.

An ATW award from Qantas is called a OneWorld Award and will require Zone 10 to get around the world and back. A zone 10 OneWorld award from Qantas will cost 282,000 QF FF points. So if you transfer the 400K Amex MR points to QFF you will still be 164K QFF points short.

So you could get one ticket as an award and pay for the second with the Amex card at around $11,000. Note the surcharges and taxes on one ATW award ticket will be around $1000.

Not too many other options for getting two people around the world in business class. You just don't have enough points.

[tony jolley]

Thanks Nelly. Do you know what points are needed for economy class rtw? Also are these neded to be booked 12 mths in advance?

[NM]

Points requirements for all Qantas FF awards are shown on their web site. Here is the table for OneWorld Awards.

Typically, business class awards are double the points for an economy award, and first class awards are three times the points needed for economy. Note that the OneWorld awards listed in the table include the 2500 point "operator assistance" surcharge which is fixed and not doubled or tripled for premium cabins.

The Qantas flights can be booked up to 353 days in advance. Some partner airline award availability may not be loaded until less then 353 days ahead. The entire itinerary must be booked at the same time, so need to be less than 353 days before the final flight departure.

The itinerary can have up to 5 stopovers (max of two in any one location) and a max of 16 segments.

[Mwenenzi]

If your Amex card allows transfer to other airlines check with them.
QF is not the only airline in the world

[JohnK]

Do you know what points are needed for economy class rtw? Also are these neded to be booked 12 mths in advance?

A Oneworld RTW award with Qantas in economy will require 142,500 points each. Depending on where you want to go you may need to book the award 11-12 months in advance.

Last year I was able to redeem a Oneworld RTW award in April for travel in August 2007. I used up all 16 sectors and 5 stopovers. I have been researching availiability for 2 people travelling September 2009 and from what I can see there is plenty of availability.

[OzziTravellers]

A Oneworld RTW award with Qantas in economy will require 142,500 points each. Depending on where you want to go you may need to book the award 11-12 months in advance.

Last year I was able to redeem a Oneworld RTW award in April for travel in August 2007. I used up all 16 sectors and 5 stopovers. I have been researching availiability for 2 people travelling September 2009 and from what I can see there is plenty of availability.

Hi,

Sorry to sound like a complete newbie, but is booking/quoting a Oneworld RTW award done any differently to doing a standard QF award?

Thanks...

[JohnK]

Sorry to sound like a complete newbie, but is booking/quoting a Oneworld RTW award done any differently to doing a standard QF award?

Not really. Just use the multi-city feature and enter all the city pairs with the dates you want to travel....

[serfty]

G'day OzziTravellers, welcome to AFF.

It effectively the same process whether you do it online or call. Online, the booking 'engine' detects a booking on a second oneworld carrier other than Qantas and commences to quote as a oneworld award.

I have noted that information on the Qantas Frequent Flyer "oneworld" Awards has become rather sparse. I think this may because it is generally the most point/value cost effective way to redeem Qantas Frequent Flyer points for award flights - Qantas want to point the punter to Qantas/Partner awards instead.

[NM]

Hi,

Sorry to sound like a complete newbie, but is booking/quoting a Oneworld RTW award done any differently to doing a standard QF award?

Thanks...

Welcome to AFF, OzziTravellers.

The answer is that it depends! If you stick to flights that are available through the on-line booking engine, then you can do it just the same as any other award redemption booking. The system will automatically determine that the multi-segment itinerary is valid for the OneWorld award and will adjust the points requirements accordingly.

If you want to include flights that are not available to book on-line (such as CX flights) then you need to call the QFF reservations number and book over the phone.

Note that the OneWorld award does not need to be an Around The World itinerary. It just has to involve at least two OneWorld airlines other than Qantas. The total distance is calculated back to the point of origin.