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Qantas’ popular oneworld Classic Flight Reward lets you travel overseas up to 35,000 miles on one ticket – including around the world! Many of us aspire to travel in Business Class for 318,000 Qantas Points plus taxes, with a variety of oneworld member airlines. It’s excellent value for a ticket that often retails for more than $11,000 with cash.
If you’re new to all this, catch up on the essential details in our starter guide. For many of you, that’s all you’ll need to know to book a fabulous holiday.
But if you’re interested in exploring more advanced ways to use the reward, then why not consider starting your trip overseas? You might be able to split your booking into two separate holidays, and possibly save some cash on the taxes as well.
Qantas American Express Ultimate
- Sign-up Bonus:
- Up to 100,000 bonus Qantas Points¹
- Rewards Earn Rate:
- 1.25 Qantas Points earned per $1 on eligible everyday purchases. 2.25 Qantas Points per $1 spent on selected Qantas products and services in Australia. 0.5 Qantas Point per $1 at government bodies in Australia. After a total of 100,000 Qantas Points is earned in a calendar year, the everyday earn rate will change from 1.25 to 1 Qantas Point per $1 spent.
- Annual Fee:
- $450 p.a.
- Offer expires
- 5 May 2026
- Earn 70,000 bonus Qantas Points when you spend $5,000 in the first 3 months, plus an additional 30,000 Qantas Points when you spend a minimum of $1 on your Card within 90 days of paying your second year annual Card Fee¹. (Offer ends 5 May 2026. New Amex Card Members only. T&Cs apply.) This card includes an annual $450 Qantas Travel Credit, two Qantas Club Complimentary Lounge Invitations after eligible Qantas spend each year, complimentary international travel insurance, and Qantas Wine Premium Membership (valued at $99). Earn 1.25 Qantas Points per $1 on everyday spend, 2.25 on Qantas purchases, and 0.5 on government payments. The annual fee is $450.
Two holidays, one (main) ticket
Many of us have more frequent flyer points than annual leave in which to use. Sound familiar? With busy work demands, it can be difficult to visit multiple continents over an unhurried five weeks. Let’s say you have your heart set on touring Europe, but you’d also like to spend a little while in Japan.
With some clever splitting of your oneworld Classic Flight Reward and some one-way repositioning of flights, you might be able to enjoy two separate holidays. We’ll cheers to that!
Let’s say you’re planning a simple Business Class return flight from Melbourne to London, on a Qantas partner airline. That will come to 318,000 Qantas Points (+ taxes) on partners such as Qatar Airways, Japan Airlines or Cathay Pacific. You’ll have travelled just over 22,000 miles.
But here’s the thing: a Qantas oneworld Classic Flight Reward in Business Class is also 318,000 Qantas Points – and it allows for 35,000 miles of travel. If you’re paying the exact same in points, why let those potential 13,000 flight miles go to waste?
The trick: start your Qantas oneworld ticket from overseas
With the basic example above, your ticket would end upon returning to Melbourne (or to anywhere in Australia, for that matter). So why not start your ticket in a different country and make Australia a ‘stopover’ point instead? Let’s look at starting the journey in Bali rather than Oz.
Holiday #1: Bali to Europe to Melbourne
First, you’d need to position yourself in Bali. A six-hour positioning flight from the East Coast to Bali is the way to go, with options ranging from low-cost to premium carriers. Use points or cash – it’s up to you. Just allow plenty of time between your flight connection in Bali.
Then from Bali, your oneworld reward begins. For example, you could fly:
- Qatar Airways Business Class from Denpasar to Doha to London (stopover #1)
- British Airways Business Class from London to Rome (stopover #2)
- Qatar Airways Business Class from Rome to Doha to Melbourne (stopover #3)
This would conclude Holiday #1, which covers London and parts of Europe. When you return home to Melbourne, you’re effectively taking a very long stopover. This is technically the time you’re spending at home between holidays.
Holiday #2: Melbourne to Hong Kong and Tokyo
So far, we’ve used up 21,689 miles in the oneworld reward. Bear in mind, this takes into account the positioning flight from Melbourne to Bali as well. This is important to consider because we ultimately plan to finish our ticket in Melbourne, not Bali.
This means the ‘ground sector’ distance between Melbourne and Bali needs to be included in the mileage calculations.
Never fear – we still have roughly 13,000 travel miles and two stopovers left to play with. For Holiday #2, we have enough ticket mileage left to visit Asia. So Hong Kong and Tokyo it is! After your arrival from Europe, the next flights on your continuing ticket are:
- Cathay Pacific Business Class from Melbourne to Hong Kong (stopover #4)
- Cathay Pacific Business Class from Hong Kong to Tokyo (stopover #5)
- Japan Airlines Business Class from Tokyo to Melbourne (end of the ticket)
This itinerary works because you can finish your ticket in a city you’ve previously ‘visited’ (in this case, Melbourne).
There you have it. Two Business Class holidays – one to Europe, the other to Asia – for just 318,000 Qantas Points per person, plus taxes. Not a bad way to travel, that’s for sure! And all you needed for it to happen was a single positioning flight to Bali.
If you had flown Melbourne-Europe return for 318,000 Qantas Points and then booked Melbourne-Hong Kong-Tokyo as a separate ticket, that would have cost an extra 208,800 Qantas Points in Business. Let that sink in – you saved more than 200,000 Qantas Points just by starting your oneworld Classic Flight Reward overseas.
So, is there a catch with this?
Nope, there aren’t any ‘catches’ as such. But you need to make sure you meet all the Qantas oneworld Classic Flight Reward rules, including:
- Itineraries must include at least two non-Qantas oneworld airlines.
- You can’t fly on non-oneworld carriers such as Emirates and Jetstar.
- The maximum permitted mileage is 35,000 miles.
- Bookings may have up to 16 segments, including surface segments.
- You may stop once in up to five cities, and also transit a city twice.
- A ticket finishes if you return to the city or country of origin.
- If you end your itinerary in a port other than the port of origin, the distance between your final destination and your port of origin is added to the itinerary. This is important to remember if you plan to start overseas and finish back in Australia.
Booking window and changes
You are only able to book flights with reward seat availability, which is typically about a year in advance. Your entire itinerary must be booked before you depart and, on top of that, a booking can only span over the course of one year.
In the above example, the whole trip from when you depart Bali for Europe – and when you return back to Melbourne from Tokyo – must be within 12 months.
You don’t have to lock in every single flight at the start, though we highly recommend you do if possible. If you make any changes to the booking (including adding extra legs), you may be up for a change fee of 5,000 points per change. Service fees may also apply if making changes over the phone for Economy and Premium Economy bookings.
(At the time of writing, the change fee is waived for international bookings. Check with Qantas for the latest fees).
Positioning flights
Positioning flights do add to the cost of your journey. With our main example, just one positioning flight was needed at the start, which is manageable. Consider destinations in Asia such as Bali, Jakarta and Singapore as your positioning city, as it’s usually easy to fly there on a low-cost or premium carrier.
Note that one-way flights might be quite expensive with full-service carriers. You may want to look at using low-cost carriers or redeem points for a separate reward flight for your positioning journey.
Insurance implications
Many travel insurance policies require you to have a ‘return overseas ticket’ at the time of departure, so be sure to check your booking is eligible with your insurance provider. An annual multi-trip policy may be of better value if you split your travel into multiple holidays.
What about cheaper taxes and surcharges?
Reward bookings from overseas attract different fees and charges. As discussed in our guide to minimising airport charges, these may be more (or less) than departing from Australia. Using our two-holiday example from before, here are the approximate fees and taxes departing from popular overseas ports:
| Departure airport (assuming return to MEL) | Distance flown on the oneworld reward (including positioning flight) | Taxes & Surcharges (AUD equivalent) |
|---|---|---|
| Manila | 34,029 miles | $570 |
| Hong Kong | 34,094 miles | $1185 |
| Kuala Lumpur | 33,180 miles | $1303 |
| Bangkok | 33,419 miles | $1311 |
| Denpasar | 33,182 miles | $1345 |
Note: These fees and surcharges are from 2019 and may differ from current charges. We will endeavour to update this table with the latest figures when more reward seats in 2022 become available.
Manila comes through as the most affordable point of departure, by far. This has always been the case, as Manila regulates fuel surcharges. When starting a booking overseas, your fees and taxes will usually be priced in foreign currency. You may want to consider a payment method with no overseas transaction fees.
Your airline choice will also make an impact on fees and charges. Take a look at the difference between Malaysia Airlines and Qatar Airways on a Bali-London reward seat in Business Class:
- Malaysia Airlines: Rp395,500 (AU$39) in fees for Bali-Kuala Lumpur-London
- Rp225,000 (AU$22) in taxes and fees, and Rp170,500 (AU$16.50) in carrier charges
- Qatar Airways: Rp5,909,200 (AU$569) in fees for Bali-Doha-London
- Rp368,800 (AU$35) in taxes and fees, and Rp5,540,400 (AU$534) in carrier charges
The fees for Qatar Airways are nearly 17 times more than Malaysia Airlines! Sure, you arguably get a better Business Class experience in the Qsuites. But is it worth paying Qatar Airways $530 in carrier charges?
Summing up
Once there is more certainty with overseas travel – hopefully by late 2022 and beyond – it’ll be easier to book a oneworld Classic Flight Reward starting from overseas.
With some clever planning and a dash of luck with reward seat availability, you could enjoy two holidays for the price of one. Potentially paying less in taxes and surcharges is a bonus as well!
But even if you’re not ready (or able) to book this dream trip just yet, keep this guide in mind for later. We’ll be here once the borders open up fully, ready and raring to go.
Have you successfully undertaken a Qantas oneworld Classic Flight Reward trip starting overseas? Share your experience in the comments below!
Do you have a rough idea on how much the fees will be for a rtw one world business class? I know it varies from airport etc but if there was an ideal option. Just curious if I would still be paying thousands even with using the qff points.
Hi Jess, a Oneworld Classic Flight reward going around the world in Business with Qantas Points would still likely have around $800-$2,000+ in taxes, per passenger, depending on the route and airports. Most itineraries I see are low-to-mid $1,000s.
Hi Brandon,
Do you know if this still works? Is this booked under Multi-Trip using classic rewards, as it seems to just keep adding points or does it cap out at 318,000.
The round the world seems similar except it needs you to go in one direction?
Cheers Jason
Hi Jason, this will still work as long as all the conditions are being met. If it is exceeding the cap, it means something is wrong (often using a non-oneworld airline like Jetstar or Emirates) or some other routing issue. Posting your routing in the Community forum might help if you’d like some feedback on your route.
Does this Two trips for the price of one still work? Both tickets seem to now be telling me I need tocross both the Pacific and Atlantic. Am I doing something wrong or have the conditions changed.
Thanks
Jeff
Hi Jeff, with the Oneworld Classic Flight Reward there is no requirement to cross any particular ocean. Are you doing your search on the Oneworld website instead for cash fares? That’s a completely separate product.
Hi,
Great article!
Just trying to plan my own Business class itinerary as follows:
– Hong Kong > Seoul (Cathay)
– Seoul > Los Angeles via Tokyo transit (Japan Airlines)
– Los Angeles > Melbourne via Sydney transit (Qantas)
The transit cities (Tokyo and Sydney) are booked as individual legs but leaving with 24 hours.
The total points required is only coming up as 256,200? Should it not be 318,000 given there is Qantas plus 2 other Oneworld airlines?
Can I then add an additional trip later flying out of Melbourne and end up in Hong Kong for 61,800 (318,000 less 256,200 for first trip) + 5,000 change fee? Or have I done something wrong here, as I should be using 318,000 from the start?
Thanks!
Hi Brandon,
Great article!
Using your example above, is it possible to book the first trip to Europe and then add the second trip to Asia after its been ticketed but before the trip begins?
ie. booking for availability now for trip 1 to Europe say in June 2023 and plan for Asia in Dec 2023, but obviously the Asia reward tickets will not even be available to search for at the moment.
How would that work?
cheers!
Hi Brandon, great article and tips. I’m interested to explore more on this plan. However instead of ending my trip back to Melbourne. Is it possible to do this but back to Bali? I’m based in Melbourne now. But hoping to move to Bali next year when possible.
Or is it the other way around? If I already based in Bali next year, better to start the trip in Melbourne or Singapore so I can have a long break in Bali?
Hi Ron, that’s right. Essentially, you should start the trip outside of your home country, wherever that may be.
Thanks Brandon. is it possible to get both Europe and US using this tips?
Something like
holiday#1 Singapore – London – Bali
holiday#2 Bali – LA – Bali/Melbourne
and I have another question, can we visit same city twice? for example
holiday#1 Singapore – London – Bali
holiday#2 Bali – Tokyo – Bali
holiday#3 Bali – HK – Bali/Melbourne
thank you
Hi Ron, your first plan seems to work well. Your second plan probably wouldn’t work because you can only go ‘through’ Bali once and finish the trip there, but not go on a third trip.
Hi Brandon
Will the round world trip if I fly Syd to AKL. Then start the round world trip from AKL to LDN to USA return to Sydney. Will 5his work
Hi Paul, this could certainly work in theory as NZ counts as a different country to AU.
So I can fly to NZ then start RW trip from there.
Which airline from AKL as I am QF FF? To London to start my RW trip.
Can I go via SYD wait 2 months then start again SYD to LDN?
Hi Paul, you wouldn’t be able to go to Europe twice on one ticket as you’ll exceed the maximum mileage of 35,000 miles.
Say you flew Qatar Airways Auckland-Doha-London [stop 1], and then Qantas or BA London-Singapore [stop 2] and Singapore-Sydney [stop 3/break the trip]. Including your positioning flight from SYD-AKL, which need to be included in the mileage calculation, you’ve flown 24,309 miles. So you only have 10,609 miles left to use.
That’s when Asia could be a good second trip. You could do Qantas Sydney-Bangkok [stop 4], then Cathay Pacific Bangkok-Hong Kong [stop 5] and Hong Kong-Sydney [finish]. That comes to 34,601 miles in total.
I was going to ask the same question.
PS Be careful you don’t end up in Nepal.
Hi Daniel, your article has gotten me very excited about traveling again! However I’m wondering if Qantas/OneWorld has changed their rules?? I tried an itinerary starting Singapore > London > Melb > Tokyo > Seoul > Melb
However I had two issues:
1) it won’t let me go to Melb from London. I get an error that says “80. Your intinerary must proceed in a continuous direction: either east bound or west bound. Back tracking between two continental regions is not permitted.”
I can fix that by adding in somewhere in the USA, so I added Honolulu. The trip then becomes Singapore > London > Honolulu > Melb > Tokyo > Seoul > Melb
2) But then I encounter another issue for the remainder of the trip: Melb > Tokyo > Seoul > Melb
It won’t let me return to Melbourne, stating “100: You may have only one intercontinental departure and arrival in each continent. Change your route or your flight choice.”
But this is the same idea using Melb as a ‘stopover’ in your article, but isn’t working for some reason?
Unless I’m missing something it seems like their rules have changed?
My comment was targeted at a comment from Daniel, but I meant to say thank you Brandon for writing the article 🙂
Hi Bianca, you need to use the Qantas Multi-City booking tool to book a oneworld round the world trip using Qantas Points. It sounds like you’re using a different platform that uses cash, not points.
Hi Brendan
How would it work in the reverse?
I’m looking to do a trip to Japan first and then a trip to Italy afterwards?
Cheers!
Hi I’m wondering how long you can be travelling for with this one world ticket?
Hi Robert
Classic Flight Rewards (which include oneworld Classic Flight Rewards) will be valid for one year from the original ticketed departure date, unless otherwise specified.
Thank you for the great article, David!
I am planning and testing below journey in a business class from the Qantas website.
SIN-DOH-BCN-(Stop)-CDG-LHR-HKG-SYD-(Stop)-BNE-NRT-GMP-(Stop)-ICN-TPE-(Stop)-HKG-SYD-SIN
The problem is, as soon as the last itinerary, TPE-HKG-SYD, is added, the points go above 280,000, although the total mileage is still less than 35,000.
Can you give me an idea what the issue is?
Thank you!
Hi Chris
Can you confirm with me that all the airlines within the itinerary are oneworld airlines and not partner airlines like Emirates?
Also, what are you using to calculate the mileage? We recommend using http://www.gcmap.com/dist.
The itinerary itself doesn’t look like it is breaking any of the oneworld classic flight terms and conditions.
Hi Daniel. Thank you for your response!
Yes, they are all oneworld airlines and the below is what I did.
Flight 1. SIN – DOH – BCN on 28/01/2020 with QR945 – QR145
Flight 2. CDG – LHR – HKG on 25/02/2020 with BA319 – BA31
Flight 3. (Connection with the Flight 2) HKG – SYD on 26/02/2020 with QF128
Flight 4. SYD – BNE – NRT on 03/03/2020 with QF502 – QF61
Flight 5. (Connection with the Flight 4) NRT – GMP on 04/03/2020 with JL91
Flight 6. ICN – TPE on 12/03/2020 with CX421
Flight 7. TPE-HKG-SYD on 18/03/2020 with CX467 – QF128
The points are capped at 280,000 until Flight 6, but it jumps to 433,000 when I select the Flight 7…
The total mileage according to the gcmap is 33,777.
Really do not understand what the problem is…
Hi Chris
Just want to confirm with you how you calculated the mileage of 33,777 miles. I think what might be going on is one of 2 things:
The 33,777 miles calculation is based only on the flight distances. It doesn’t include the ground distance between BCN and CDG between Flights 1 and 2, as well as the distance between GMP and ICN between flights 5 and 6, both of which must be included.
Aside from that, the actual itinerary doesn’t appear to be breaking any transit/stopover rules.
Hi Daniel,
This is how I calculated the 33,777 from GCM website.
http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=SIN-DOH-BCN-CDG-LHR-HKG-SYD-BNE-NRT-GMP-ICN-TPE-HKG-SYD-SIN&PM=b:disc7%2b%22%25U%2212
As you can see, the ground distance is also included in the calculation.
I also tried below calculator from the Qantas website as we can see the mileage calculated by Qantas.
https://www.qantas.com/fflyer/do/dyns/InitialPointsRedeemed
I found Qantas calculates the BCN-CDG routes as BCN-LHR-CDG, which is 931 instead of 533.
As you mentioned, Qantas’ distance is generally more than GCM website.
I could not find GMP (Gimpo) from the Qantas list and therefore I used the GCM calculation for the NRT-GMP-ICN route. the distance between GMP and ICN is only 20, so I do not think it would make a huge difference.
Even though the first and second point above add extra mileage, it is still 34,239 miles, which is less than 35,000.
Should I contact directly Qantas? I am afraid it would be difficult to understand this. 🙂
Hi Chris
It is looking like the issue is distance related. I would advise giving Qantas a call and getting them to work with you to verify that this is the issue, and if so, to find alternative routings that put the distance under 35,000 miles based on their calculations (which is the one that counts).
I’ve found the Customer Service Agents to be pretty good, but make sure that you do find one who is familiar with oneworld Classic rewards.
Hi Daniel. We are planning a RTW trip using Qantas points for either Premium Economy or Business, but we cannot leave until October 2020, meaning that we would be subject to the higher point requirement. I wondered about booking in early September for a proposed trip in September 2020, and then changed the dates in October. I understand that there would be a 5000 points penalty – but is that for each leg of the booking or overall? Depending on the answer it might make ut worthwhile to go through such an exercise. Your thoughts?
Thanks
George
Hi George Werther
The 5,000 points penalty is to cover the re-issuing of a new ticket, so if you make a number of changes in one go, then it is just 5,000 points penalty. It is based on a per booking per person basis, rather than per sector.
But note that if you book your oneworld award ticket before 18 September 2019 and are subject to current rates, but then change even just 1 flight after 18 September 2019, then your entire oneworld award ticket will need to be reissued and it will all be priced at the new more expensive rates.
“Two other important points for this guide include:
A ticket finishes if you return to the city or country of origin; and
If you end your itinerary in a port other than the port of origin, the distance between your final destination and your port of origin is added to the itinerary
I believe you will find that neither of these are true, especially if you book online. For instance I have a ticket that starts is Cairns to Melbourne, onto Sri Lanka and then back to Perth, so I’ve been able to return to the country of origin without the ticket finishing. In fact I’ve started another ticket in Melbourne in the past through to the UK, back to Perth and then onwards to Japan, once again the ticket didn’t finish.
To the second point, the current ticket starts in Cairns and is 34,700 miles finishing in Perth. If you added Perth to Cairns it would be a touch under 37,000 miles, over the 35,000 allowed
Hi Daniel
I am thinking of flying BA1 from LCY-JFK. If the flight prior is CDG-LHR, and the total time is <24 hrs, will LHR-LCY be considered a transfer for the Qantas Oneworld classic flight reward or as a stopover in London? I couldn’t find any airlines that fly CDG-LCY direct.
Hi Josh
LHR-LCY would be considered a transit as it is less than 24 hours. Also remember that the distance between LHR and LCY will be included as part of your 35,000 mile limit.
Hi Daniel great article and one that, along with related articles, I have read and re read many times to get my head around it. I thought i had it worked out but after another read today im not so sure. The background is -Im getting very close to having the 1.12mil points required for a business one world classic reward for the family of 4 and im at the mocking up stage for potential itineraries. I plan to book in feb 2020. I live in Perth and am considering two options at this stage, being either 1 single direction round the world ski trip UK/EU – USA- JPN , over dec jan feb, 2020/21 (easy enough to deal with I think and looking less complicated) or a series of 3 separate trips on the one booking using some positioning flights, with the 3 holidays being – UK in April 2020, Melbourne in July/Aug 2020, JPN in Jan 2021 (this potential itinerary is the basis of my question).
What has thrown me for the 3 trip option is your comment “A ticket finishes if you return to the city ‘or country’ of origin”
My intent was to use positioning flights for Perth – Adelaide, Melb -Per and Per – Melb with an itinerary as follows
positioning flight perth – adelaide then
Adelaide – london (via doha transit)
London to perth (via doha transit)
Per – Melb for a holiday
(then positioning flights back to perth at end of Melbourne holiday then again back to melb for the JPN trip)
Melb – Tokyo
Tokyo – perth (via HK transit)
I realise it might seem strange to use positioning flights to and from melbourne, just to achieve a melbourne holiday but if it did work then it means only 3 positioning flights, plus one of the melb legs is business, where as if I drop the melbourne holiday from the reward and just do 2 holidays (UK and JPN), and i try to use say bali or sing as positioning i end up needing 4 poistioning, so it kind of made sense to me. Also adelaide and melbourne open up more availability i assume.
So i mocked up this booking (random dates and economy to keep it simple to test the rules and point cap ) and it all worked, in particular it didnt stop me from adding more flights after i returned to Perth from UK (even though im returning to Aus). Then today i noticed your comment that a ticket finishes if you return to the country of origin.
So after all that my question is –
Will my flights after returning from Uk to Perth end up cancelled if i book the above mock up and if so, why do you think it would let me book it like that, only to cancel my remaining flights?
Hi Anthony
My understanding from reading section 14.5 Classic Flight Rewards – oneworld Classic Flight Reward booking conditions is that this type of reward is charged as a return itinerary, and if you return back to your port of origin, being Perth, then the ‘oneworld’ reward flight will ‘technically’ (but not actually) end there.
This is because you still will be able to book the above itinerary, it just won’t be priced as a oneworld Classic Flight Reward, as you won’t be meeting all the requirements.
I recommend that you call Qantas to check out whether starting your reward in say, Adelaide or Melbourne instead of Perth, and then completing your itinerary as proposed will be ok. I’m just not sure if the definition of ‘port’ means city or indeed country. The T&Cs doesn’t define ‘port’.
Awesome article Daniel! Just have a few questions and confirmations.
1. rule about 1 stop per city and max 2 transits per city: this excludes the country of the originating flight
2. If you live on the east cost of Australia, do you agree NZ would be a good place to position your first flight to get most of the deal so you can come back to Australia as a stop-over before your subsequent major trips? Especially if u want to cover off South America (via Chile on LATAM)
3. If you aren’t able to book all the segments to qualify for the Qantas Oneworld Classic reward ticket but over time something becomes available then you can amend the ticket (at a cost of 5k points per person) to achieve the result? So if you find your first trip then you should lock it in first?
4. Assuming I am lucky enough to book all the segments of a Qantas Oneworld Classic Rewards flight, and have the 280k points deducted from my account, would it be possible to book my positioning flights also using qantas reward points under a separate new booking? Would they link it?
Thanks Kev, hope it’s been useful to you.
1. Any stops or transit taken on your way out of the country of origin would count towards the limit, for example, if you originated in Perth, stopped in Melbourne then flew overseas a few days later. But you can only leave your country of origin once, i.e. if you flew Overseas back to Sydney, you couldn’t then do Sydney to New Zealand, but could stay in Sydney before transiting back to Perth.
2. I think NZ is a good starting place as it is just about the closest place to most East Coast cities. Try to spend as many miles as possible on flights, rather than the dead leg at the end!
3. You can change a booking as long as you haven’t departed on the trip yet, and you’re correct that there is a change fee. I’d suggest checking the relevant page on the Qantas website for the current rate as it has changed in my time looking into these awards.
4. I am uncertain if you’ll be able to link the bookings, but you could certainly book a separate reward to position yourself. Qantas may also refuse to through-check luggage on separate tickets, so just be cautious about leaving sufficient time to collect your luggage just in case.
Hope this helps!
Hi Daniel,
Any idea if Fiji Airways counts towards “two non-Qantas oneworld airlines”?
Thinking this could be a useful stopover when adding a US leg to a redemption!
Cheers,
A
Fiji Airways is not a oneworld alliance member, so unfortunately you cannot include their flights in this redemption.
Thanks Daniel, however I’ve just tried the route you’ve described in the one world mapper and it’s coming up with melbourne as incompatible as it’s hitting the rule “must be continuous in a east / west bound direction and only cross the pacific / atlantic ocean once”
Any ideas or work arounds? Or am I just doing something wrong?
Cheers,
Nick
Hi Nick, the various oneworld paid round-the-world ticket uses slightly different rules to the Qantas Oneworld Classic Reward we’re describing in this article. Qantas Oneworld Classic Reward tickets have no limitations about east/west travel, for example. I’d recommend using Great Circle Mapper instead to calculate your mileage.
Looking a this as a possible itinerary will it work?
DPS-DOH(transit)-MAD-BCN-DOH(transit)-ADL-MEL
SYD-NRT-KIX-HKG-SYD
BNE-DPS.
Hi Neil,
Great choice to start overseas, though you’ll need to ensure it meets the other requirements (mileage limit, max of 5 stops, max 16 segments, includes two oneworld airlines, max 1 stop and 2 transits per city, etc).
At a glance it seems ok, depending on where you plan to stop, but I’d recommend checking the mileage limit in Great Circle Mapper and then posting any follow up questions over on the Point Hacks Community Q&A page where you might get some extra advice too!
One final note, while the BNE-DPS mileage will count towards your mileage limit, you may be able to avoid needing to actually fly that leg, and instead fly back to your home city, to save you some time.
Hi Daniel,
This is such a valued information. Thanks for sharing it.
I have tried to design my route, however, it got stuck when I tried using multi-cities to check the flight on the Qantas website.
Here is my route:(T: transit; S: stop)
AKL-HKG(T)-TPE(S)-HKG(T)-BNE(S)-KUL(T)-LHR, CDG-DOH(T)-SYD(T)-BNE
I got stuck between TPE-HKG where it wouldn’t show any flights.
Do you think this route is workable?
Also, I have a question:
Do I still have 2 transits in a city where I stop earlier?
Many thanks.
Regards,
Hi Liz, glad you found it valuable!
It looks like a good itinerary, just check the total mileage over at Great Circle Mapper that it’s under the limit.
I’d recommend searching for Taipei through to Brisbane, rather than as separate legs. Cathay Pacific sometimes link segments (called ‘married segments’) where awards aren’t available as individual flights but can be redeemed in pairs with a transit of less than 24hrs in Hong Kong. If this doesn’t work, head over to the Point Hacks Community Q&A, someone from the community might be able to help you find an alternative routing!
Secondly, my understanding of the rules is that yes, you’re allowed two transits plus a stop in a city.
Hope this helps.
Great information Daniel. You mentioned that ‘unless your first leg includes two oneworld airlines (which Melbourne – Doha – London does not), your itinerary will not convert into a oneworld ticket until your second trip to Japan is added on’. My question is do you have any instruction on how a booking converts from what I presume would be a Classic Reward booking to a Oneworld ticket once all the sectors have been booked if this occurs over several months? My understanding was that a Oneworld award had to be booked at the same time through a different site to the usual QFF site. Hope you can shed some light as I completely understood your article until I got to that bit. Many thanks
Hi Neil, to construct the above itineraries I used the Qantas multi-city booking tool, on their website under “Book > Multi-City”. What I’m referring to there is that the price adjusts to 280k points once you meet all of the eligibility criteria for a oneworld classic award (in this case, including more than two oneworld airlines other than Qantas).
Let’s say for example you find availability on your MEL-DOH-LHR return leg, which prices at 278k points, and book it. Later, you call to add a fifth flight, paying the change fee of 6k points per passenger. If that fifth flight is on a oneworld airline other than Qantas, the price will cap at 280k. If it’s on Qantas, it may jump above 280k, as you haven’t yet met the requirements of two oneworld airlines other than Qantas.
But then, as in the article, when you add a sixth flight on another oneworld airline (JAL in the article’s case) you meet the requirements, so the price drops back to 280k.
Hi Daniel,
Amazing article to digest! Thanks for the progressing adding Tokyo trip and also NZ step by step.
Got three questions if you might get any idea, thanks!
First, you have mentioned we can book the first trip on the itinerary, then add the second and third trip later by modifying it. So would the one-year limit to the ticket still count on the “first itinerary booking date(I am guessing it is this)” or “last modification on the itinerary before the first trip”, or “first trip departure date”?
Second question, my base is at Sydney. If I plan to visit NZ, South Africa and South America, planning my itinerary as, (positioning flight SYD-NZ), then CHC-SYD, SYD-JNB-MEL, MEL-Santiago or Buenos-SYD. In the last section, can I still pick AKL as a transfer point but not layover? NZ has already been picked up as the starting country.
Third question, if the answer is NO to the above, how if book on a same flight e.g.LA801 Santiago-AKL-SYD? Do you know if this would be treated as one flight also ignore AKL?
Thanks a lot!
Thanks Allen! Glad to help.
Correct that a one year ticket limit still counts – i.e. the last flight on your trip can’t be more than 364 days after the first.
On questions two and three – once you return to the country from which you departed, the ticket will end, so you can’t travel to or via New Zealand if Christchurch is your point of departure.
Perhaps you could do your itinerary in a different order – first visit NZ, then travel to South America and back to Australia, and South Africa on your later leg.
Plus you’d still have another 7,000 miles to use so perhaps you could add on some more destinations or flights within South America while you’re away.
Great article Daniel! So helpful.
I am just wondering if below routing would be allowed under the oneworld classic award.
MEL-DOH-FCO (Stopover)-DOH-SYD (Stopover)-HKG (Stopover)-NRT (Stopover)-SYD
The total distant would be 31,843 miles, but not sure if I am allowed to stopover in SYD although I start the journey from MEL.
Thank you.
Glad it’s helpful to you Chris.
Unfortunately your ticket will end if you return to the country of departure. Therefore, if you want to include a return to Australia, such as your stopover in Sydney, you won’t be able to first depart from Melbourne.
Have a look at Part Two of this guide which shows the approximate costs for some different departure destinations close to Australia – other than your stop in Rome, the guide’s sample itinerary is quite close to what you’re planning!
Been commencing long haul J award flights to USA & Europe out of HKG for years, and saved many thousands of $ in fees and charges and so easy to find seats too. Just completed HKG/JFK/HKG. We reuse to pay QF’s outrageous fees ever.
Thanks for commenting Keith. Hopefully the recent changes at HKG don’t impact this too much!