oneworld4u, thank you for your effort. To be honest I am quite happy with finding out about this before I travel - I've now joined BAEC and I guess there will be no turning back

Dear Oneworld4u,
I have followed this discussion in the AY Plus Forum. It seems that the problem is that AY is NOT classifying Qantas' Premium as an Economy fare

QF Economy booking class Y B H K L M S: 100 % AY Plus points
QF Cheap economy booking class G N O Q V: 50 % AY Plus points

but
QF Premium Economy: 0 AY Plus point.

So AY treats QF Premium Economy as an Extremely cheap Economy class giving zero points.

BTW it is very nice and helpful that OW has a lurker here.

nordic, thank you. You managed to summarize my long writings with a few words. ^ I need to learn that myself

AY's problem is that they give 50 % of points when flying in QF's discounted economy but 0 % when flying in Premium Economy.

nordic and vulle: Thanks for your input... As I said, AY are looking at this. Hopefully it is something that can be resolved. If so, it would be communicated through regular AY FFP channels. Happy and safe flying! oneworld4u

Hi there, just a quick question for you. I have taken a lot of One World flights over the last 24 months, and read all the blurb about OW being the "leading quality alliance" etc. Now, as a member of the highly secretive secretariat in Vancouver, maybe you can advise if there is a certain operating standard to which airlines in the alliance have to adhere? With the exception of Malev I have flown on all the member carriers in the last 18 months and have to say that there is such a huge difference in the quality of service offered that it is hard to believe that there can be any required operating standard in place. (and I am not comparing one airlines 45 minute commuter flight to another airlines 16 hour transcontinental service).
Further, is there a central OW customer service desk to which I can write - as I have written to a couple of member airlines expressing dissatisfaction at service on their planes to which I have needless to say received no response. The exception was Finnair who did respond - around 5 months after I mailed them, promising to follow up and get back to me - well a year later I am still waiting, but hardly suprising after the horrific experience of flying Finnair.

Belated welcome to Flyer Talk wijibintheair

Did you follow up with Finnair? I'm not excusing them but it's possible your issue was on someone's desk/to do pile and got mislaid or the person no longer works there.

Thanks for the belated welcome. re follow up with Finnair - no, to be honest after a few months of not hearing anything further I just deleted their mail and decided it was a lost cause, and likelihood of me ever chosing to fly them again minimal so...

Dear oneworld4u - another question for next time you visit. Why is it that only Ghana/Nigeria/Kenya/Uganada/Tanzania are allocated 2 intercontinental arrival/departures through Europe? As it is impossible to get to North or South America without going through Europe in at least one directions from any African country, why is the 2 permitted transits in Europe restricted to only those 5 countries?

The northern African countries are defined as part of Europe for xONEx. The southern African countries have routing options to Asia & Australia. Thus it is the middle African countries that the OW network is insufficient and backtracking is required.

ok thanks for that - but what about countries such as say Angola - which also only have the option of starting with London? Just curious as to how this is all determined.

I guess this question is similar to above posters: BA's new addition of MLE as a destination is flawed on a RTW because the only OW carrier that flies there is BA's LGW-MLE. But with MLE being in Asia, one cannot include MLE on a RTW unless there is a specification to backtrack back to Europe (LGW).

How is that any different to PPT?

Dear oneworld4u,

are there any definete dates when Mexicana will join OW ?

Cheers,
S

SkywalkerLAX: A few us from the central oneworld team were actually in MEX last week to discuss this very point with MX. The good news is that its implementation is firmly on track. We expect to be able to confirm in a month or two its joining date, which will be later this year. I cannot give publicly a precise date at this stage although we have our own confidential schedule. A key step was successfully passed a few weeks ago when MX cut over its reservations and distribution IT platform to Amadeus. We'll announce on oneworld.com its joining date as soon as we can confirm it publicly. All the best, oneworld4u

I'm currently planning a xone5 for next year, one section of the trip is south africa and I need to get from DUR to JNB on June 10th, and from JNB to SYD June 12th. The oneworld itiniary planner can't seem to find any flights (even though I know BA and QA have flights on these dates). Is this because of a block on RTW's during the FIFA World cup that kicks of June 11th, or should I try my luck again in a couple of days?

cheers,