Originally Posted by
Gardyloo
I have a hearing-impaired friend who I helped book a rather elaborate AA Oneworld award itinerary, all in J (F for US domestic) for him and his wife, to wit:
MIA-xBOS-MAD-ATH-xAMM-BKK-HKG-PVG-xHKG-CMB-SIN-PER-BNE-LAX-xORD-BOS-MIA
Resources deployed in order to see availability, all online:
Expert Flyer for AA segments
Iberia FF program for IB segments
BA Exec. Club for RJ segments
Qantas FF for QF segments
Asiamiles/MPC for CX/KA segments
I couldn't see RJ or CX sectors on the QF site, nor any but their own on the CX, IB or AA sites. But put them all together and I hit 100% - if the flight was shown as available on the other airlines' sites, the AA rep had no trouble booking them on the phone. (She was rather shocked that I could walk her through a 16 segment, 6 carrier itinerary in rapid fire pace - the whole thing took 15 min. on the phone once I had everything lined up.)
QF has improved dramatically in seeing other segments lately, but I agree that it is still not great. No prizes for guessing why there is a lack of CX availability which mysteriously becomes available when you speak to an agent.
The other option for the OP is his BA account as BA's new online award booking engine is pretty good. BA picked up their act fairly recently and you can now see most OW availability using their tool.