Oneworld Round The World Trip Assistance (Qantas)

LScottMiranda on 20/03/2025 - 22:51
Last edited 21/03/2025 - 09:27 by 1 other user

Hi all, first time posting - long time lurker. I am looking to plan my honeymoon with a Oneworld RTW trip. Now the trip won't be for another year and the flights/dates have not yet been released.

I know this can be quite time consuming (calling Qantas) and I have to be very flexible with the dates. I have also heard that it is better to book what reward seat is available and put the legs together later or when everything is booked.

My question is with this method - how does it go down to the 318k qantas points if you are booking each leg individually considering if you book them individually it may cost more points?

Follow up question: I have also seen people recommend Lauren (point whiz) or the Well connected traveler.. Is booking a rtw trip a service they provide? (I know they can search and book reward seats).

Thanks everyone! :)

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Comments

  • sumyungguy on 20/03/2025 - 23:02
    +1

    What's your status? If Bronze you won't find a 5 stopover itinerary in Business or you'll find some sectors but not all. Reward Assistance Fee: 7,700 points per passenger. Better to seek an economy itinerary and make your honeymoon more about the destination than the journey. Finding Classic Reward seats is indeed time consuming. No, you can't call Qantas and ask them to find stuff for you unless you're Platinum One or Platinum.

    • ScottMiranda on 20/03/2025 - 23:19

      Thanks sumyung,

      Honestly I dont mind it being an economy flight but since I have the time and resources to chase business rewards flights then why not.

      My question is then if I do find the sectors independently, do I just book it and once all the legs are booked, call qantas to put all the legs into the 1 itinerary (RTW ticket).

      Cheers

      • sumyungguy on 20/03/2025 - 23:23
        +1

        Do some trial 5-stopover max 16-sector itineraries without caring about dates; you'll learn how it works. Then you need to study what routes are likely to have reward seats. I spend lots of time on this and suggest you should head east via the US. You don't need to do a full circumnavigation, as long as the fare rules are met.

        • ScottMiranda on 20/03/2025 - 23:44

          Seems quite limited going from Aus to US BUT HAVE FOUND SOME ALTERNATE ROUTES VIA singapore or HK.. do you recommend any other alternative routes to there? The US is one of the spots we want to land.

          • sumyungguy on 21/03/2025 - 00:00
            +1

            @ScottMiranda: You have to use OneWorld members so that rules out Emirates; but Hawaiian is coming on board shortly. I've seen more options recently heading east than west but if you can get to Europe via SIN or HKG that's great! I've redeemed this reward five times. There's an 836 page thread over on AFF if you're prepared to get berated by Platinum and Platinum Ones.

      • djkelly69 on 21/03/2025 - 09:56
        +2

        do I just book it and once all the legs are booked, call qantas to put all the legs into the 1 itinerary (RTW ticket)

        You definitely do not do this. You (or more importantly they) cannot join separately booked tickets to make it one itinerary/booking.

        General tactic is to book as many initial flights as you can online (under one booking), and then you have to call to add additional flights. Yes you will need to pay change fees each time you add a flight or flights on.

        The system will automatically cap the booking at 318k if the booking meets all of the requirements for an OWA. (It is generally referred to as an OWA ticket rather than a RTW, since there is no requirement to 'round the world' - particularly if posting on AFF.)

    • soundboy5010 on 21/03/2025 - 15:20

      If Bronze you won't find a 5 stopover itinerary in Business

      My honeymoon next month begs to differ. It's not impossible, but it IS hard.

      • sumyungguy on 21/03/2025 - 17:02

        Great to hear! Care to share your routing?

        • soundboy5010 on 21/03/2025 - 18:33
          +3

          MEL -> DEL (QF)
          DEL -> HEL (AY)
          HEL -> AMS (AY)
          LHR -> BCN (BA)
          FCO -> HKG (CX)
          HKG -> MEL (QF)

          • sumyungguy on 26/03/2025 - 14:20

            @soundboy5010: For me DEL would be a wasted stopover but credit to you finding a way to Europe in Business, a genius hack!

  • capslock on 21/03/2025 - 07:08
    +4

    1. This August the price will increase from 318,000 points to 365,800 points.

    2. Do not book each leg as a separate booking. You cannot combine separate bookings into one. What you have to do is book one flight and then add flights to that booking and paying a 5,000 point change fee everytime you do so.

    3. Points booking services are quite expensive. Their fees run into the thousands of dollars. They can't make availability appear. If there are no seats available then there are no seats available.

    4. Availability is limited. Don't expect to be able to get the dates and destinations you want, if at all.

    5. If you end up doing it yourself, be prepared for it to consume your life. It will take hours, days, weeks and months to research routes, destinations and the constant checking of availability.

    • bbinc on 21/03/2025 - 10:27

      I echo what you have said! Your point 5 is spot on, but there are people who enjoy doing that, and doubly enjoy the fruits of the exercise. It can take a year to put one together, and I usually end up going places I did not expect, and filling in flights I can’t get with alternative transport using ‘open-jaw’ rules if needed.

    • itx on 21/03/2025 - 11:57

      Point #1 is very important - if you progressively add more sectors onto a booking and you do this after August, the whole itinerary will bump up to the new 366K price level

  • [Deactivated] on 21/03/2025 - 08:41
    -1

    Wasting the 'honey' in the air! goodness me! Better doing it, for example, in the 'jammoon'!

  • bbinc on 21/03/2025 - 10:16

    What you are doing is a challenge, but it can be done. I’ve booked five of them successfully, and had some great trips. Flexibility is essential, as is following the rules. It’s rare to get your entire trip on first go. You start, then add legs as you go, incurring change fees each time. Once you complete the last leg, if the rules apply, it will auto change to the OneWorld classic rate. Having extra point available in the interim can be handy. You may need to fill in part of your journey with other transport, or a few connecting budget flights for cash (google ‘open-jaw’).
    Rule 1 is OneWorld metal only, so that rules out some Qantas partners like Jetstar or Emirates.
    A helpful tool is the OneWorld planner at OneWorld.com. It can help you find tricky routes you might not have thought of. There is a comprehensive thread on Australian Frequent Flyer, and they also have some training modules (paid).
    An example of flexibility - I wanted Mel-HKG-LHR-Frankfurt-USA(various)-Mel. Ended up flying Mel-HKG-JNB(South Africa)-VFA(Victoria Falls) -LHR -USA-and home. Enjoyed an unplanned two week African safari as a result. Points cost was the same as the original plan.
    It can be hard to get the last leg home - last booking to get home from USA, used Chicago-Tokyo (with a stopover of course) - Mel. You may need to return to a different AU city on the international leg, with a domestic connection - done that a few times, included on the OW points.
    Beware short connection times, leave plenty of time. If you miss a flight (other than a delay caused by the airlines on your Qantas ticket), you can lose all of your remaining flights. Eg. Don’t rely on a train arriving in say, Denver, on the morning of a flight on your ticket (experience, train was 12hrs late. Luckily we had scheduled a few days there so all was good).
    If you enjoy challenges you’ll have fun putting it together. If you don’t it’ll be as Capslock said above - a time consuming frustration.

  • try2bhelpful on 26/03/2025 - 13:17

    If you end up booking economy class it might be worth looking at overall flight costs and pocketing your current points, and the newly accrued points, for business flights in the future. Last trip to Europe we did Velocity points Qatar Qsuites over to Paris. Home was Qantas points economy Vienna to Dubai and then First/business Dubai to Sydney. Then Virgin credit card bonus money for domestic to Melbourne with Virgin. We couldn’t get two business on the same flight back but First wasn’t a lot more points and no more in fees. We also had over 12 hours in the First class lounge at Dubai. Well worth the look.

    Best of luck with everything.

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