Rhonda Bracey: At Random

This post is for me to connect the dots with why I can sometimes see some airlines via the Qantas booking site, but not on the OneWorld website, or vice versa. It’s all a little confusing!

So, here’s the problem. A friend asked me for help to book flights from Perth (PER) to Marrakech (RAK), return, using her Qantas Frequent Flyer (QFF) points. She’d found that there are flights from PER to Doha (DOH) on Qatar, and then on to RAK, either direct from DOH or through Madrid (MAD) on Iberia. Sounds easy, right? Not so much…

There are some issues we’ve encountered, and that I called the QFF customer centre to find out about. Here’s what I learned from the helpful Frank:

• Qantas is a member of OneWorld
• Qatar is a member of OneWorld
• Iberia is a member of OneWorld
• Emirates is NOT a member of OneWorld
• Despite not being a member of the OneWorld alliance, Qantas has a codeshare partnership with Emirates (this means you can book Emirates flights via the Qantas website and redeem and earn QFF points for Emirates flights booked via the Qantas website; however, you can’t earn QFF Status Credits [SCs] on Emirates flights booked through Qantas, as summarised here: https://www.qantas.com/au/en/frequent-flyer/earning-points/flights/emirates.html)
• Even though they are both part of the OneWorld alliance, Qantas does NOT have a codeshare partnership with Qatar (this means you can see Qatar flights from the Qantas website if you try to book using QFF points only [because they are both part of OneWorld], but you CAN’T see Qatar flights if you try to PAY for a flight, as summarised here: https://www.qantas.com/au/en/frequent-flyer/earning-points/flights/qatar-airways.html; you can also earn QFF points and Status Credits [SCs] on Qatar)
• I haven’t checked much for Iberia, but according to the Qantas website it’s not a codeshare partner with Qantas either, so I expect the same rules apply as for Qatar (https://www.qantas.com/au/en/frequent-flyer/earning-points/flights/iberia.html)

It’s a mess!

The other thing Frank told me is that about 10% of seats in all classes are kept aside for points bookings, though that varies between airlines, which means even six months out, you may not find a seat in the class you want to travel for a particular day or flight. Once they’re gone, they’re gone.