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oneworld Multi-Carrier Awards - sharing ideas

Old Jun 19, 2017, 9:34 pm
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Last edit by: ernestnywang
oneworld Multi-Carrier Awards Wiki v0.1

Rules
1. You need two non CX/KA carriers
2. You are allowed 5 stopovers, 2 transits (<=24hrs) and 2 open jaws. You can use your stopover allowance as a transit, possibly by asking for it to be ticketed as such (extra taxes?). [Using stopover for transit is no longer possible since 2021/22?]
3. The open-jaw points do not count towards your stopover allowance. Neither does the final city on the itinerary
4. You must start and end in the same country.
5. To determine the miles required, add up all flight sectors on your itinerary and look up the award chart (ignore the distance between open-jaw points). gcmap.com is handy, though best to go via asiamiles' calculator.
6. Co-terminals (NRT/HND, LHR/LCY) do not count as an open-jaw (takes up 1 stopover/transit allowance).

If an itinerary clears the above, it is valid, though you may have to argue a lot back and forth. Keep your patience suit on and and keep referring to the terms & conditions ("What in the T&Cs makes this invalid" tends to work).

For the examples below, x=transit, o=stopover, and capitalized alphabets represent airports.

Some valid routings that have commonly been pushed back on
1. "You cannot go through the start, destination, or enroute point more than once". A-oB-oA-oC-oD-A is a valid itinerary.
2. "An open-jaw point is a stopover". A-oB-oC-D//E-oF-G//H-oI-oJ-A is valid, as is A-oB-xC-D//E-oF-G//H-xI-oJ-oK-oL-A.


Other tips
1. Tickets are valid for 1 year from the date of issuance. Potentially a pain when planning that dream RTW trip involving LATAM/AA which release seats 330 days out, that you're trying to tee-in with CX award seats released a year out.
2. A combination of BA/AA/LATAM/QF sites works well to research availability (look for saver availability)
3. You can go crazy on the routings- A-oB-A//C-oD-C//E-A is fine if A,B,E are in country/Region # 1, and, C,D are at the other end of the world.

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oneworld Multi-Carrier Awards - sharing ideas

Old Jun 24, 2018, 12:00 am
  #721  
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: NYC/SIN
Programs: CX DM, SQ KF
Posts: 2,152
AC flight on a oneworld multicarrier award?

acutally CX+1, and that a non oneworld carrier..

interesting!!
jagmeets is online now  
Old Jun 24, 2018, 2:44 am
  #722  
 
Join Date: Jun 2018
Programs: Asiamiles, HHonor,
Posts: 8
Originally Posted by jagmeets
AC flight on a oneworld multicarrier award?

acutally CX+1, and that a non oneworld carrier..

interesting!!
Oh sorry ... I should have posted this elsewhere ..... not a Oneworld multicarrier award ( a CX+1 Asiamiles award )
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Old Jul 2, 2018, 4:47 am
  #723  
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Join Date: Sep 2003
Programs: BA Silver, EY Gold, HH Diamond, IHG Plat
Posts: 12,200
If I booked a Multi carrier award starting in Brazil with stops in the USA and UK will the flights on BA attract YQ? Technically they shouldn't as it would be one ticket and no YQ is allowed on tickets issued from Brazil.
onlysuites is offline  
Old Jul 2, 2018, 9:52 am
  #724  
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: SIN
Programs: JL GC | Marriott LT Silver | Global Entry | SQ Silver
Posts: 6,818
Originally Posted by onlysuites
If I booked a Multi carrier award starting in Brazil with stops in the USA and UK will the flights on BA attract YQ? Technically they shouldn't as it would be one ticket and no YQ is allowed on tickets issued from Brazil.
I'm assuming it would since you need to transit LHR, hope someone who have done this redemption before.
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Old Jul 2, 2018, 10:26 am
  #725  
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: TPE / HSZ
Programs: CX GO (=SPH), IHG Diamond Amb, Hertz 5*, Accor, Hilton, National
Posts: 6,435
Originally Posted by onlysuites
If I booked a Multi carrier award starting in Brazil with stops in the USA and UK will the flights on BA attract YQ? Technically they shouldn't as it would be one ticket and no YQ is allowed on tickets issued from Brazil.
I tried to price AA to the US and then BA to UK then HKG, validating that to CX, and there does not appear to be any YR or YQ.

Code:
 1 AA 950Y 01AUG 3 GRUJFK SS1  2130  0615   02AUG 4 /DCAA /E    
 2 BA 178Y 01SEP 6 JFKLHR SS1  0755  1945  /DCBA /E             
 3 BA  31Y 01OCT 1 LHRHKG SS1  1840  1340   02OCT 2 /DCBA /E    
9MVD.9MVD*A01 1124/02JUL18                                      
WPACX                                                          
PSGR TYPE  ADT - 01                                             
     CXR RES DATE  FARE BASIS      NVB   NVA    BG              
 SAO                                                            
 NYC AA  Y   01AUG Y1NFFSN5              01AUG 01P              
 LON BA  Y   01SEP Y1US                  01AUG 02P              
 HKG BA  Y   01OCT Y1US                  01AUG 02P              
FARE  USD   7904.00 EQUIV TWD    241069                         
TAX   TWD       868BR TWD       173YC TWD      5597XT           
TOTAL TWD    247707                                             
ADT-01  Y1NFFSN5 Y1US                                           
 SAO AA NYC3060.00BA LON BA HKG Q NYCHKG10.00M4834.00NUC7904.00 
 END ROE1.00                                                    
XT TWD214XY TWD121XA TWD171AY TWD3143GB TWD1810UB               
XT TWD138XFJFK4.5                                               
TKT/TL10JUL18/2359                                              
RATE USED 1USD-30.49956356TWD                                   
ATTN*CX-NO VALID TICKETING AGREEMENT-CHANGE VALIDATING CARRIER  
ATTN*VALIDATING CARRIER SPECIFIED - CX                          
ATTN*BAGGAGE INFO AVAILABLE - SEE WP*BAG                        
.                                                               
WPDF                                                           
WPDF                                                            
PSGR TYPE ADT                                                   
FARE  USD   7904.00 EQUIV TWD    241069                         
TAX   TWD       868BR TWD       173YC TWD      5597XT           
TOTAL TWD    247707                                             
SAO AA NYC3060.00BA LON BA HKG Q NYCHKG10.00M4834.00NUC7904.00EN
D ROE1.00                                                       
XT TWD214XY TWD121XA TWD171AY TWD3143GB TWD1810UB               
XT TWD138XFJFK4.5                                               
RATE USED 1USD-30.49956356TWD                                   
/////////////// TRAFFIC DOCUMENT ISSUED IN TPE ///////////////  
PU -FARE BASIS-CUR  NUC AMT ELEMENT DESCRIPTION ----------- GI  
01 Y1NFFSN5    USD  3060.00 SAO-NYC AA /OW  0M              WH  
               USD    10.00 NYC-HKG MISCELLANEOUS SURCHARGE     
02 Y1US        USD  4834.00 NYC-HKG BA /OW  0M              AT  
                    7904.00    -    TOTAL NUC                   
-TAX AMT/TWD/-- CUR  CODES  DESCRIPTION-----TAX TYPE/SEQUENCE-- 
         868        BR/BR4 EMBARKATION FEE INTERNATIONAL        
            868:BRL   109.74 *GRU* *AA*          004   174355   
        3143        GB/GB  AIR PASSENGER DUTY APD               
           3143:GBP    78.00 *LHR* *BA*          001   304960   
        1810        GB/UB  PASSENGER SERVICE CHARGE DEPARTURES  
           1810:GBP    44.91 *LHR* *BA*          001  2182490   
         171        US/AY  PASSENGER CIVIL AVIATION SECURITY SE
MD                                                             
            171:USD     5.60 *JFK*               001   738212  
         121        US/XA  APHIS PASSENGER FEE PASSENGERS       
            121:USD     3.96 *GRU* *AA*          001   112500   
         214        US/XY2 IMMIGRATION USER FEE                 
            214:USD     7.00 *GRU* *AA*          002   130000   
         173        US/YC  CUSTOMS USER FEE                     
            173:USD     5.65 *GRU* *AA*          001   115000   
         138        US/XF  PASSENGER FACILITY CHARGES           
            138:USD     4.50 *JFK*                              
-IATA RATES OF EXCHANGE USED IN FARE CALCULATION -------------- 
 1.0000000000  USD-ROE  EFF 01JAN18*INDEF                       
-BSR USED IN FARE CALCULATION --------------------------------- 
 1USD:30.49956356TWD                                            
-BSR USED IN TAX CALCULATION ---------------------------------- 
 1BRL:7.91004812TWD                1GBP:40.29300512TWD          
 1USD:30.49956356TWD                                            
-PRICING UNIT TRIP TYPE --------------------------------------- 
  PU 01 - NORMAL  ONE WAY                                       
  PU 02 - NORMAL  ONE WAY
ernestnywang is offline  
Old Jul 2, 2018, 4:22 pm
  #726  
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Thumbs up

Originally Posted by ernestnywang
I tried to price AA to the US and then BA to UK then HKG, validating that to CX, and there does not appear to be any YR or YQ.
Thank you for doing this.
ernestnywang likes this.
onlysuites is offline  
Old Jul 21, 2018, 10:01 pm
  #727  
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 2
Sharing an itinerary I booked for 240,000 miles, all business and maxing out the 50,000 miles allowed

CX HKG-EWR Openjaw 1 (start trip 1)
AA MIA-DFW Transit 1
AA DFW-SCL Stopover 1
BA SCL-LHR Stopover 2
BA LHR-HKG Stopover 3 (end trip 1)
CX HKG-SEA Stopover 4 (start trip 2)
CX SEA-HKG Stopover 5 (end trip 2)
QR HKG-DOH Transit 2 (start trip 3)
QR DOH-NRT Openjaw 2
CX TPE-HKG Destination (end trip 3)
Total: 49,859 miles

Took a few nights on CX/AA/BA sites to find all the available flights. I like knowing all my options and once I had the flights it was easy to tell the CX agent exactly what I wanted - makes their job easier and saves me hours on the phone. As a lowly silver I was surprised my calls were connected instantly these days, whether 2pm or 2am.

On trip 1 I had wanted to fly to Cuba, which AA's site shows availability and CX agent was able to see and book as well. However she was unable to issue the ticket. Turns out any Cuba flights cannot be booked as an award with any other AA flights. I quickly figured this out and called back to another agent to cut the Cuba flights, while the original agent called me at the same time to follow up as she also found this out. Pretty good service I'd say.

Originally I booked trip 1 for 210k miles. Then I realised I had only flown 27k of the 35k miles allowed, and for 30k Asiamiles more I could fly up to 50k miles. That's where I plugged in trips 2 and 3. HKG-SEA route has just launched so was easy to find seats. Trip 3 is just so I can check out the QR Qsuites. That's 2 more holidays solved for just 30k miles more - huge bargain. Lesson learnt: always count the miles and maximize the value!
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Old Sep 1, 2018, 9:20 am
  #728  
kkl
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 1,023
Trying to squeeze 2 trips into 1 award and would like your help. (CX/QF/JAL)

PER- HKG(transit)-BKK//MLE-HKG(transit)-PER-SYD-NRT//KIX-HKG-PER

from my calculations im 1 flight too many?

is this correct?
Minus the open jaw leg of BKK-MLE, 185K in J?
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Old Sep 6, 2018, 2:23 am
  #729  
 
Join Date: May 2018
Location: HOU/IAH
Programs: NH Platinum; UA Silver; Marriott Titanium; Hilton Diamond; Hyatt Explorist
Posts: 63
Whew! Just finished booking a pretty maxed-out award, with all 5 stopovers, 2 transfers, and 2 open jaws. Today must be my lucky day, because I managed to get this done over the phone in just 50 minutes, on my very first call without needing to HUCA at all! And I'm not even a Marco Polo Club member, not even a lowly green

240k miles, all confirmed into business:

Trip #1 :
IAH-DOH on QR: Transit 1
DOH-MLE on QR: Stopover 1
MLE-DOH on QR: Transit 2
DOH-IAH on QR: Open Jaw 1

Trip #2 :
DFW-SYD on QF: Stopover 2
SYD-HBA on QF: Stopover 3
MEL-KUL on MH: Open Jaw 2
KUL-HKG on KA: Stopover 4
HKG-LHR on BA: Stopover 5
LHR-IAH on BA: END
Total: 45,749 mi

It was originally just going to be Trip #2 for 210k miles...but then the StR Maldives OWV award pricing error happened a couple weeks ago, where I was able to snag a week in March for those insane points prices! So tacking on the IAH-MLE RT in QR J to the beginning of this redemption for an additional 30k + ~$1300 seemed worth it to me.
Overall this was pretty decent value for miles, although it's a bit of a pity that YQ was rather high for Trip #1 and LHR-IAH in Trip #2 . There were no viable alternatives for either trip though (and yes, it has to be London. No, I don't have time to fly in elsewhere and take positioning flights/trains), so I'm still happy with the end result
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Old Sep 8, 2018, 8:54 am
  #730  
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SIN
Programs: CX DM, SQ KF Gold
Posts: 975
Hello fellow Ft'ers,

I have got three questions, hope you can help me shed light on these issues:

1) I currently have a return booked SIN-HKG-JFK/EWR-HKG-SIN on CX in J under the old mileage redemption rates, i.e. 145k rtn. I would like to now effectively convert this into a longer OW multi-carrier and break up the ticket, so that the outbound is operated by QR instead (SIN-DOH-JFK) and the CX return flights EWR-HKG-SIN stay intact. Will this be possible, or do I risk losing my confirmed award space on EWR-HKG-SIN if I ask AM to fiddle with the ticket to make it a part of a bigger OW multi-carrier award?

2) Provided the above conversion is possible, I would like to book the following multi-carrier award:
SIN(QR)-xDOH(QR)-oJFK/ERW(CX)-xHKG(CX)-SIN//FRA(QR)-xDOH(QR)-oSIN(CX)-xHKG(CX)-AKL//CHC(QF)-xSYD(QF)-SIN
That should come out as 39,431 miles and therefore cost me 240,000 miles per person. I am counting 2 stop-overs, 5 transits and 2 open-jaws. Is there any reason why this itinerary would not fly and I could get push-back on it? Such as having too many transits as opposed to stop-overs?

3) Ideally I would like to fly from Europe to SIN on AY. However, as one-way awards are not an option using AM, how do I best search for availability these days?

4) For the final two segments CHC-SYD-SIN on QF, should I best use the BA website or QF's own to check availability? What is most reliable nowadays?

Many thanks for your kind advice!
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Old Sep 8, 2018, 10:07 am
  #731  
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: NYC/SIN
Programs: CX DM, SQ KF
Posts: 2,152
Revert on the others later, but #1 is definitely possible with a competent agent. My one similar experience was with an MPC agent holding particular LA sectors while reissuing a multicarrier award to a straight partner redemption- yours should be easier since its holding CX inventory that were talking about..mine was years back, and unsure if things have changed, but was one of my CX vs SQ deciding points back then. (Different ticket, SQ agent had professed to an inability to hold a A-B sector, whilst I changed from a return to a oneway award).
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Old Sep 9, 2018, 4:41 am
  #732  
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SIN
Programs: CX DM, SQ KF Gold
Posts: 975
Originally Posted by NetJets Germany
Hello fellow Ft'ers,

I have got three questions, hope you can help me shed light on these issues:

1) I currently have a return booked SIN-HKG-JFK/EWR-HKG-SIN on CX in J under the old mileage redemption rates, i.e. 145k rtn. I would like to now effectively convert this into a longer OW multi-carrier and break up the ticket, so that the outbound is operated by QR instead (SIN-DOH-JFK) and the CX return flights EWR-HKG-SIN stay intact. Will this be possible, or do I risk losing my confirmed award space on EWR-HKG-SIN if I ask AM to fiddle with the ticket to make it a part of a bigger OW multi-carrier award?

2) Provided the above conversion is possible, I would like to book the following multi-carrier award:
SIN(QR)-xDOH(QR)-oJFK/ERW(CX)-xHKG(CX)-SIN//FRA(QR)-xDOH(QR)-oSIN(CX)-xHKG(CX)-AKL//CHC(QF)-xSYD(QF)-SIN
That should come out as 39,431 miles and therefore cost me 240,000 miles per person. I am counting 2 stop-overs, 5 transits and 2 open-jaws. Is there any reason why this itinerary would not fly and I could get push-back on it? Such as having too many transits as opposed to stop-overs?

3) Ideally I would like to fly from Europe to SIN on AY. However, as one-way awards are not an option using AM, how do I best search for availability these days?

4) For the final two segments CHC-SYD-SIN on QF, should I best use the BA website or QF's own to check availability? What is most reliable nowadays?

Many thanks for your kind advice!
I have started reading the first 31 pages of this thread now, bear with me while I try to get through to the end, and forgive me if the answer to the next question is on page 32 or beyond... Okay, so someone asked about this on page 39, but I have not seen any clear answer to it:

5) I will need to buy infant tickets for all of the award flights booked for myself and MrsNJG, so that our daughter can join us on these trips. Has anyone done this for their own offspring in the past or know how to do this? I presume I would have to buy all infant tickets via CX / MPC hotline, so that the revenue infant ticket can be tied to the award tickets for the parents?

Last edited by NetJets Germany; Sep 10, 2018 at 12:35 am Reason: Read some more
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Old Sep 9, 2018, 7:27 am
  #733  
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Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 288
Anyone able to tell me approximately how much fuel surcharges are going to be on this route?
AUS-ORD is on AA business
All international flights on Qatar QR business
AUS-ORD-DOH-CDG (stopover in DOH)
MAD-DOH-ORD-AUS
If I can sneak in another intra Europe flight, I would add that something like PRG-MAD. I know it's long route but covers QR QSuite and I see award availability for my dates.

I want to make sure of the amex 20% transfer bonus and this trip will fall under 20-25K miles, I believe.
Also, will Asia Miles put award on hold until the transfer completes?
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Old Sep 11, 2018, 4:14 am
  #734  
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SIN
Programs: CX DM, SQ KF Gold
Posts: 975
Hi,

I am very sorry, but I really ought to book my itinerary soon, so could any friendly soul with enough time and insight kindly help me understand how to tackle questions 2), 4) and 5) (And if you are feeling generous, question 3), too)?

Essentially I need to find out:
- How to find reliable inventory in J on QF and AY online? Currently I am seeing nothing on the CX and BA websites in terms, not even on CX itself, which I find odd, given that we are looking at dates in Aug 2019 and I am a CX DM...
- I am having terrible difficulties finding any availability to and from NZ. In fact, any l/h flights ex-SIN appear to be only waitlisted to me. Is this normal, given my status??
- If the MPC is the right contact point to book the infant ticket with, even though it would involve airlines different to CX and KA?
- Is my proposed itinerary valid? I assume it is, especially if - as per up-thread - stop-overs and transits can be used interchangeably provided the MPC agents are instructed to enter them in the system the "legal" way.

Thank you so much for any help given!
NetJets Germany is offline  
Old Sep 11, 2018, 10:16 am
  #735  
 
Join Date: May 2018
Posts: 35
Originally Posted by NetJets Germany
Hi,

I am very sorry, but I really ought to book my itinerary soon, so could any friendly soul with enough time and insight kindly help me understand how to tackle questions 2), 4) and 5) (And if you are feeling generous, question 3), too)?

Essentially I need to find out:
- How to find reliable inventory in J on QF and AY online? Currently I am seeing nothing on the CX and BA websites in terms, not even on CX itself, which I find odd, given that we are looking at dates in Aug 2019 and I am a CX DM...
BA website is still the most reliable one to search for QF/AY award. If you use QF site, they'll probably show spaces not available to partners. Try searching segment by segment. I'm assuming you're booking for 2 people. Is there also no availability for one?
- I am having terrible difficulties finding any availability to and from NZ. In fact, any l/h flights ex-SIN appear to be only waitlisted to me. Is this normal, given my status??
Not sure about this.
- If the MPC is the right contact point to book the infant ticket with, even though it would involve airlines different to CX and KA?
You can try to ask them, but I'm afraid the infant ticket won't we cheap. My guess is that you have to contact each operating airline to add infant ticket.
- Is my proposed itinerary valid? I assume it is, especially if - as per up-thread - stop-overs and transits can be used interchangeably provided the MPC agents are instructed to enter them in the system the "legal" way.
I think you itinerary is valid. Stopovers can be used as transit but not vice versa.

Thank you so much for any help given!
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