I guess the Emerald part is not really relevant other than the Status bonus.

Paying for these tickets using Qantas Business Rewards Amex, nett points earn can be almost doubled on a Qantas Marketed and ticketed (081-) flight. My business is level 2 so gets a 30% loading on base (bronze) points; the Amex triples that.

e.g. HND-SYD in discount business, base QFF earn is 7800 points. 30% is 2340, so 8140. Paying with that card adds "triples" that, so another 4680, getting to 14,820. Being Qantas Platinum adds another 5200 ... so, for myself, 20,020 is the nett earn for a Qantas Platinum. Of course, paying with the card also earns 2 Qantas points per $paid (capped).

So the Qantas elite status bonus only applies when the ticket is issued by Qantas?

And do you need Qantas elite status to book with a Qantas Business Rewards Amex?

Getting off topic.
Benefits from QF status and using QF Amex card can stack
https://www.qantas.com/au/en/business-rewards/home.html

I don't see anything in there that provides a status member with greater benefit by ticketing with QF, though, as seems to have been suggested. Maybe it's niche. I'm not familiar with the program.

You are correct. I inferred this at the start of my prior post.... and, yes, it is not relevant. Without status, the Qantas Business Reward bonus in the above example for an 081- ticketed flight is 7020 Qantas points making a total of 14,820 base earn.

To reiterate, this 7020 point additional earn via Qantas Business Rewards requires an 081- ticket.

So in my case, it is desirable to have 081- tickets while at the same time avoiding any hassle in needing to contact Qantas.

YMMV

Qantas elite status bonus applies as per Qantas Frequent Flyer Terms and Conditions - ticketing carrier should not be relevant.

Also, no elite status, just an "ABN" is required to be eligible to join Qantas Business rewards. *

*ABN: Australian Business Number

Does the travel actually need to have any meaning (or actual travel) to the business holding the ABN
If not, could result in more profitable wandering.
Fred

No, it doesn’t. And therefore if anyone in my family doesn’t travel with an ABN in, I encourage them to use mine!

To be clear, base bonus earn is 20% for a level 1 business. A business that earns 15000 in a year becomes a level two and the base bonus earn is 30%.

Whatever the base earn is, if the entire fare is paid with a linked QBR Amex, that base earn is tripled.

With that, the minimum bonus earned for that 7800 point earning flight is 1560.

Base Currency for ONE fares
 

Are the fares filed in one specific currency, fx USD or Euro and then converted to pos currency or filed by different regions?

International fares used to be calculated based on FCUs (fare construction units), -- I don't know if anyone still uses them, and they wouldn't apply to xONEx fares anyway.. I believe that xONEx fares are priced differently for different points of origin.

They vary by where they are filed. Most are filed in local currency. A lot of the previous deals were due to currency fluctuations when the fares were filed in a local currency, so to avoid that some of those locations now have fares filed in USD or euro. You can check in expertflyer if you look at the routing rules section, which includes the fare basis.

Here is exJNB which was filed in ZAR.
Here is exSEZ in USD. SEZ had a good sale a few years back. ;)

​​​​​I encountered two very strange issues after points change. First, after I changed my ticket with Qantas, the booking reference remained the same but the ticket number changed. Because the booking reference didn’t change, the FFP number I had entered before the rebooking still appeared in the booking management. However, on the boarding passes for several flights that followed, the FFP number was missing. After reissuing, I flew two CX segments, but I initially didn't notice the absence of the FFP number on the boarding passes. It was only after flying a few domestic flights within Malaysia, where MH printed the FFP number below the name on the boarding passes, that I realized this issue. When I received my boarding passes for the remaining DONE3 segment by MH, I noticed that the FFP number was missing after the rebooking. This is likely to affect my mileage accrual, although I'm not certain yet. I had assumed that mileage accrual from CX to AA would take some time, but I only recently discovered the missing FFP number and have since submitted a request for missing miles to American Airlines. I'm currently waiting for their response. Second, I booked a DONE3 ticket, and the booking details showed KUL-PVG as booked in D class. However, the boarding pass showed J class. Since there wasn't much time before boarding when I checked in, I couldn't ask the counter staff why this discrepancy occurred. But I'm curious why the boarding pass class didn't match the booking class.

That happens sometimes during reissues, for some reason it might drop some of the extra information in the reservation. I've had it happen a few times and similarly didn't catch it until later, but it's not a big deal, always keep boarding passes until miles are posted anyway, that's a rule of frequent flying. :D Also what you noticed about your PNR not changing is normal, only the ticket number changes during a normal reissue. If you end up with a brand new PNR then it means they cancelled your old ticket and created a new one, that's definitely not the norm.

Also don't worry about your boarding pass showing J vs D. A lot of airlines print F, J, and Y as a generic designation of First, Business, and Economy, but doesn't affect your underlying booking class on your ticket.

Hi,
this is about cancellation.
I still have about 9 segments to go,
KUL-NRT 11SEP
HND-GMP 19SEP
ICN-KUL 22SEP
US segments in Dec
I would still want to fly the Asia segments, but cancel the US segment.
can I cancel the US segments now, before taking the Asia segments?

I am traveling now, I am afraid if I call QF on roaming, it will be hefty bill, as it normally takes more than 30 minutes

We’ll need more info to help you.

what was the original routing? Which segments are flown? Why do you want to “cancel” just some segments? (This isn’t allowed since it would turn it into a multi-segment trip and not a RTW and you’re usually just better no-showing)

I am afraid that you cannot add any Asia segments now. If you are flying with ex-CAI ticket, Qantas made some additional restrictions. Such as you cannot visit a city(kul) twice and less maximum segments you can fly in one continent than the one world rules. Your existing Asia segments is already exceed the limit since the airport changing in a same city(nrt-hnd & gmp-icn) will count as one segment. If not flying with ex-CAI ticket, these segments just fit with the one world rules which means you cannot add any Asia segments unless you change them to a same airport in a same city.

The above is the original routing.
My issue was, the ICN-KUL got cancelled because of MH trimming some routes. And my US segments are not as intended, earlier was just to put up a working routine, then optimize later, unfortunately, QF put up lots of restriction thus I have to stick to this routing.

When the above 2 combine, I am thinking to start a new RTW ex-TYO, then I can combine with this RTW from NRT and cancel the rest. But, I am afraid I can't get the new RTW effective if I only start to buy it after I done KUL-NRT in first RTW

Of course you can buy a new RTW wihout regard to any current itinerary which may be in progress. (People here sometimes report having two RTWs underway simultaneously, one 'inside the other' as it were.) If you want to cancel all remaining segments on your first ticket after reaching NRT, you need to refer to the Rules. (You do have a copy of the Rules, don't you?)

Section 16: Voluntary changes / rerouting / penalties
Part (b): Cancellations and Refunds
Paragraph 3: For partially used transportation the refund if any will be the difference between the fare paid and the fare for the transportation used less the fee specified in (1) above.

The reference to (1) specifies that there is a penalty of 10% for L or 5% for D and A

A surface segment counts as one of the 16 allowed but does NOT count in any particular continental zone.
Otherwise my 6 ticketed NA segments plus a surface segment would have made my ticket invalid.
Keep wandering
Fred

Qantas made up rules aside, the OP's Asia segments do not exceed Asia's maximum of 4. Per the oneworld rules 4 (h) shown below (bolding of "flight" is from oneworld Explorer rules) and per my personal experience, surface sectors DO count against one's total 16 segments but do NOT count against each continent's maximum free number of flight segments within each continent.

"A minimum of 3 and maximum of 16 segments, including surface segments between any 2 airports, are permitted for the entire journey. Free flight segments within each continent are limited as follows:"

So in the case of the Asia flight segments shown by the OP, on a non-CAI ticket one could add one more segment assuming there wasn't another Asia segments prior to KUL-NRT 11SEP and the 16 total segments limit isn't exceeded.

yup, my current segments are totally valid.
may be i didnt make my question clear, my initial question was, say,
i am now at segment 4
i still have segment 5-16 to fly
i want QF to cancel my remaining segment from 8-16 now, while keeping my 5-7 valid.

I got reply from QF, they suggested for me to complete segment 7 first, then only proceed to cancel. They cant price the refund as of now.

This makes sense to me.
To cancel earlier than after the 7th segment has been flown would result in an invalid RTW itinerary (since it is no longer round-the-world).
Cancelling after the 7th segment has been flown is a simple cancellation of all remaining segments.

I expect any refund after cancelling would be very small.
So the easiest option is just to no-show for segment 8.

Earlier I got a quote from refund of 3.8k from 5.3k
That's after flown 4 segments, inclusive of 1 Europe to Asia
I will update once I got the refund quote after 7 segments

Do you have access to wi-fi? Call on Skype and it's pennies.

Requirements for booking through AA desk
 

Hi all, I'm planning an ex-Tokyo DONE5 that only has 1 transcon leg on AA (JFK-SFO). Would anyone know if the AA desk might be willing to ticket it? Or would I need to have an intercontinental leg on AA to book through AA?
Thanks!

Not even pennies, call the US number on Skype and it's totally free.

Generally reports have been that they are unwilling to book it without an AA coded inter-continental segment. Generally people have said TPAC or TATL, but someone recently posted (within this year) a segment to Chile that was allowed and kept their TPAC and TATL on other codes.

I don't know if your PPro status would make any difference to the intercontinental requirement or not, but I wouldn't hold my breath. Is South America in your plans anyway? If so it could work since only Brazil has non-AA codes available, everything else would be an AA code regardless.

I'll try my luck by calling, thank you so much! Generally, for an itinerary that's has JL and QR as intercontinental carriers, what's the consensus on the best place to book?

Sadly QF is the easiest one from the online tool, but comes with it's downfalls for certain. JL would probably book it but has a service charge in addition to any change fees you would normally incur.

I'd say in your case a travel agent would be your best bet and ticket on QF stock (assuming you have any substantial AA segments) as in my experiences QF ticketed RTWs have AA segments credited as distance while my CX ticket did not (credited as revenue at about 1/3 the rate I should have got on a distance credit).

BA apparently does still do ticketing by phone call, but not sure their requirements for BA codes on the ticket. Unfortunately on an ex-Japan, going with CX is likely not an option if you're using JL for your overwater (can't return to the country of origin until you wrap up the ticket). The way I got around that was taking CX to Oceania and a QF code from there to the US.

I've heard also that UL provides a decent experience on these tickets, but that's from someone else in this forum. I haven't flown them for about 10 years, so no firsthand experience at all. Their own coded flights credit the worst of any OW D fare in the network (to AAdvantage), so I have little motivation to fly them.

You can transit the country of origin, no stopover unless wrapping up the ticket. You cannot transit the city of origin. I started my current Done4 HND-JFK and will finish it in a couple of months with LAX-KIX-xBKK-HND. Ticketed by AA RTW desk.

Ah hah, yeah that's it then. I remember having that problem on one I was building last year where I would have needed to transit TYO. It didn't even occur to me to depart from NGO or KIX instead.

Huh? You started with an eastbound trans-pacific flight (HND-JFK) and then near the end you have a westbound trans-pacific flight (LAX-KIX)??
That's against rule 4(a) Travel must be via the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and only one crossing of each ocean is permitted.
And also there's rule 4(f) Only one international departure and one international arrival from/to the country of origin permitted.
Care to share your full itinerary?

First time booking a RTW fare. Booked a DONE3 ex-Japan using the Oneworld website and then ticketed with JAL.
Overall, good experience.

Lessons learned:

• The booking will disappear from JAL MMB almost immediately, but remain accessible on all other OW airlines. As soon as it's ticketed, you can access it again and select JAL seats, etc.
• Cancellation seems to be possible online, but not changes (unsurprisingly).
• Ticketing through JAL was painless. when I called the local English-language reservations desk, I was connected immediately. The agent knew exactly what a Oneworld Explorer fare was and how to ticket it. I needed to wait an hour for a call back, but she confirmed the price was exactly as quoted online. I was not charged a booking fee– a pleasant surprise!
• Payment was through a web portal sent via SMS. I could not receive the SMS while on the phone. Ideally, have a separate phone ready to receive the text. Otherwise, they payment link remains valid for an hour and doesn't need to be used while on the phone.
• Ticket needed to be paid by the passenger.

Unfortunately, I lost my opportunity to fly new JL business class (A350) because I was worried about ticketing my first booking after it failed to load on JAL MMB. I waited ~28 hours for it to auto-cancel and then booked again, but the OW tool no longer offered the necessary feeder flight. Probably could have tried discussing with the agent, but given this is my first time, I was a bit nervous about messing it all up.

The OW web tool is functional but not ideal. For example, originating from Osaka, there was mysteriously no availability returning to Tokyo at the end of the trip, but loads via Tokyo to Osaka. Does anyone have experience doing the complete booking through JAL reservations rather than through the website?

Interesting and great data point. I like that it still requires you to use a payment link after pushing the reservation to JL. That is the same as CX and you have time to make adjustments on some segments that the online tool can't do (like using codeshares instead of prime flight numbers). I like the idea of building the whole thing online and pushing it to the airline for ticketing, but still able to fine tune before payment and ticketing.

Shame about losing the A350 flight, but you may be able to get it back if you keep an eye on inventory and pay the change fee. I got a chance to fly it last month, the new seat is definitely very nice, a night and day improvement over the old seat. The FAs definitely weren't used to doors on the suites yet and didn't always close it, but the seat itself is great.

I once tried to price out a DONE4 ex TYO on the phone and the agent kept pushing me to the oneworld online tool. She seemed potentially open to the idea if the first segment was JL metal,but I didn't feel confident in her ability to do it right...so I hung up.
YMMV

If you are thinking of booking a xONEx fare and paying in USD, I suggest ticketing sooner rather than later. You only need the first segment to be perfect.. the rest can change later w/o repricing the whole ticket.

On a separate note, there has been a recent price increase for some origination points. As of today, ex-OSL DONE4 is actually cheaper than ex-TYO.

Is this just due to FX movements?

Looking in EF the base fares appear unchanged
ex-Norway DONE4 is NOK57,959
ex-Japan DONE4 is JPY780,400

Yes JPY has appreciated against the USD.
About 160 JPY = 1 USD in early July versus just over 140 JPY = 1 USD now
Good timing helps wandering
Fred

The Norway vs Japan might be due to FX but ex US is up by 10%. Not all carriers have followed through on the increase (look at AY vs AA/IB, for example).