postnobills

I will be traveling from SYD to JFK. I have an F award ticket on CX from BKK-HKG-JFK, but no award tickets are available to get from my origination in SYD to BKK. So it looks like I will need to buy a ticket from SYD-BKK.

The best option in terms of both timing and price is a QF marketed flight that is operated on EK metal. As I understand OW rules, if the first flight is delayed for any reason resulting in a missed connection, even if on a separate ticket, the first carrier is responsible for getting me to my final destination as long as all flights are on oneworld airlines.

I realize EK is not part of OW, but the ticket is issued by QF as a codeshare operated by EK. If I were to miss my award flight connection in BKK, would QF be responsible to rebook me through to JFK? And if the answer is yes, does the obligation extend to same class of service?

BTW, I have contacted QF several times over the past few weeks to try to get this question answered, but get no response from them.

jridge

Where did you get this understanding from? I think you will find that there is an *AA* policy to that effect, but not a *OW* policy.

Recent discussion in QF section:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/qanta...rotection.html

jridge

Also, unless I'm mistaken, no OW airline offers F on the SYD-BKK route. So it's not just a question of availability/buying a ticket - you in fact would *have* to travel on a non-OW carrier, or take a connection, or fly in J.

postnobills

Hmmm, I guess I did read this in re: AA and OW and maybe misunderstood it to apply to any OW carrier.

The BKK-HKG-JFK ticket, was booked via an AA reward redemption and in fact there is a final little segment on AA from JFK-DCA. Would that have any bearing on AA's protection policy for a misconnect in BKK?

And yes, the plan is to fly J from SYD to BKK. I can get a F award redemption on Thai, but it would lead to a pretty tight connection to CX in BKK especially since I don't think I'd be able to through-check the baggage from SYD-HKG. Plus I guess I'd be more at risk combining travel with *A and OW segments.

jridge

I don't think the JFK-DCA segment is going to help you - AA is willing to become involved in connections to/from other OW airlines.

If you're not actually wanting to stop in BKK, you could (for example) fly BA SYD-SIN, CX SIN-HKG, or (depending on travel date) QF SYD-HKG (changes from 388 to 747 at end of September, and F goes away, except for some limited dates). Did you check availability for those options?

postnobills

I have checked OW award availability out of SYD and even BNE and MEL via every OW permutation I can think of over for many weeks now, all to no avail. Timing of trip doesn't help either - flying in late December and I consider myself lucky to have snagged CX to JFK in F. If I could find another way to get to HKG I could drop the BKK-HKG leg from the CX ticket, but there's nothing to be found on OW.

jridge

Ah yes, that is a very tough ask. You've probably checked SYD-KUL-HKG (MH J SYD-KUL, CX J KUL-HKG) then.

postnobills

yup, checked that option too. I think at this point the best option may be to stick with a *A award ticket I found for the SYD-BKK leg that provides about a 10 hour connecting window for the CX flight to HKG and hope for the best. Also, I believe CX often releases extra award seats 24-48 hours before flight departures so I can keep my fingers crossed that something opens up last-minute on one of their SYD-HKG flights which would allow me to adjust the OW award reservation and get the whole trip home on one ticket.

Thanks for helping me sort this out, jridge!