US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

[casanovawa]

I know its not their problem where i live and the fact we are a long way from anywhere and the limited airlines with even more limited J offerings we are blessed with here in the West, and by and large and I am happy to try and stick within their rules if i have any inkling of what the rules are...

And if try to push it too far I'm happy for them to say "your dreamin' Mate" and i will recalibrate my expectations... But to be hit with it 4 hours into the process resembles a bit of being lead up the garden path... I just wish someone had knocked it on the head a bit earlier... It didn't help it was like 11.30pm to about 3am the whole process ran after i had summoned up the courage (and dotted the i's and crossed the t's) to call US Air... 3 hours of listening to their canned promos of flying to Montreal and Dublin whilst on hold i'm sure could have been used at Guantanamo (sp)... I was exceptionally polite the whole way through and the guy complimented me on my zen like patience when at 3am i had a headache and had to be up for work the next day... Before Mel_Traveller jumps in i accept the fault for my timing as well...

And as you say you do hear of people getting away with it and so if i could suggest that mine is not particularly one of the whackier ones just for the sake of it, and is 300 miles really a deal breaker, is there wiggle room and discretion in there or isn't there... If not, then as i said I can probably think of a few contingencies... But I woud probably be happier from now on talking to the person who makes the final decisions rather than a merry go round of operators who themselves don't seem to be in the know and whose approval apprently doesn't cound for much... Might just save a bit of time on this...

And Mel_Traveller, yes i'm sure given a clean pallette of all airlines and routes i could get to YVR under their MPM.. I think i checked and I could fly via FRA and get there for less, but there was no availability on LH in J to LAX, SFO, SEA, DEN, YVR etc, etc, etc or i would have been happy to choose the most direct routing, getting back was even more problematic and i'm sure blows the MPM ont eh way back to... So I wil have to think hard about this...

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I think you have your answer - the rate desk is the final determination of what is allowed. If they have said you exceed MPM then you exceed it and I think with a note in your booking you will need to be very lucky to get anything else.

People do get away with some long routings - but really that routing via JNB should be considered an exception rather than the norm (ie, that shouldn't give people unrealistic expectations). Has awardtravlr been of use? I generally find them pretty good with routings. Ex BKK there should be plenty of options to get to the east coast USA (and from there to somewhere in Canada - once in Canada I think domestic airfares if you needed to do an add-on for example are not as crazy high as flying USA-Canada)

 

[casanovawa]

As i explained i didn't have unrealistic expectations, i tried for a few little wrinkles that weren't totally beyond the pail or pale or however you spell it, i had alternatives prepped for when/if they said no, it just took an inordinate amount of time for the operators to send the questions round and round the loop to different supervisors... It seemed like there were cases of where they might have been accepted in the past and it would have made my trip a little more pleasant/cheaper/simpler... But there you go...

The one i had no come back for was the MPM as although i thought one existed i had no way of knowing what it was, i still don't know for any other city than YVR...

If nothing else there are a few more data points for everyone for their future endeavours...

I'll play with some routings and options again and try to have everything prepped and hope i don't get something again come out of left field at the last minute.... It might all be for nought if my shared miles don't build my account back up by midday of the 26th or i will lose the hold on the thing anyway and then the seats probably won't become available again...

I got on awardtravllr but not sure i really got it in terms of what it offered... I am at least pretty familiar with ANA... A guy last night suggest Aeroplan showed the best availability for *A and reflected USDM... I'm probably more happy to find a city in the US as the final destination point so that i can use a cheapy airline like South West which i can get a couple of flights for around $170 and don't have to pay luggage fees, maybe fly to SEA and bus or drive across to YVR for as even getting from YVR to YYC the air fares internally within Canada didn't look that cheap, and the US/Can cross border ones as you say are up there as well...

Another thought was like say get to DEN as the DESTINATION point of large redemption, maybe get a US/Can-US/Can USDM award for 25,000 miles from DEN to YVR and do SEA and maybe YCC then try and get the return leg back to DEN via LAX and just hop off in LAX and miss the last return leg back to DEN. I could then do drive around to SFO and LAS and get a cheapy South West flight back to DEN... That would add up to about $170 + $280-300 in air fares and just leave me some costs of getting SEA-YVR and maybe YYC if not too much and around the triangle of LAX/SFO/LAS...

 

[lmere12]

SEA and bus or drive across to YVR .

I took the bus SEA to YVR, wasn't a good experience, would fly or drive if I did it again.

 

[casanovawa]

I think i can do an overnight bus Vancouver to Calgary return for about $114 but looked like about 14 hours both way from memory... I have probably done worse, but if i fly everywhere i will be looking at probably another $1000+ so wouldn't mind minimising that if possible... How long is it between Seattle and Vancouver if i wanted to hire a car, are we talking 3-4 hours or so or less or more??? If not taking topic to far off topic....

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I took the bus SEA to YVR, wasn't a good experience, would fly or drive if I did it again.

there is also the train... Amtrak. offers two classes of service, I think 'business class' was around usd50. train takes 4 hours.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

I took the bus SEA to YVR, wasn't a good experience, would fly or drive if I did it again.

The Air Canada dash 8 is fun on the route. 30 minutes and you even get a free orange juice and pretzels!

Aussie Flyer: A Short Hop on Air Canada Express from Vancouver to Seattle

 

[lmere12]

... How long is it between Seattle and Vancouver if i wanted to hire a car, are we talking 3-4 hours or so or less or more??? If not taking topic to far off topic....

from memory I think the bus was 4-5 hrs incl a break , Amtrak sounds good.

 

[Flashback]

casanovawa, you're experiencing the same issues I had when trying to do US via Europe. In the end I just gave up! It just 'aint as easy as it used to be.

 

[spudwa]

Singapore cancelling direct J to Newark
Singapore Airlines to End World

If demand is low does it increase chance of getting tickets through *A or will we remain blocked. Seems stupid to me but what do I know ;-)

 

[anat0l]

If demand is low does it increase chance of getting tickets through *A or will we remain blocked. Seems stupid to me but what do I know ;-)

If SQ flies with an almost empty R cabin, does it increase the chance of getting tickets through *A?

LOL.... nup!

Don't see much change with SQ budging on the premium inventory, unless it boosts capacity on a route or something and messes up with GDS loading, possibly opening up a small avenue of premium availability of seats (either for cash or awards). It's happened at least once (during the last SQ system upgrade, I believe some I and O capacity opened for a small window during SQ's downtime but clearly visible on other carrier's award inventory visibility).

SQ are also cancelling the all-J 345 service direct to LAX.

 

[spudwa]

If SQ flies with an almost empty R cabin, does it increase the chance of getting tickets through *A?

LOL.... nup!

Don't see much change with SQ budging on the premium inventory, unless it boosts capacity on a route or something and messes up with GDS loading, possibly opening up a small avenue of premium availability of seats (either for cash or awards). It's happened at least once (during the last SQ system upgrade, I believe some I and O capacity opened for a small window during SQ's downtime but clearly visible on other carrier's award inventory visibility).

SQ are also cancelling the all-J 345 service direct to LAX.

Thinking about this whole thread in relation to SQ. Does anyone know how many dollars an airline actually gets for a F or J redemption with say a 150k route. Does it actually cover costs?

 

[bcworld]

Many report the A345 services being quite full - they just don't make any money!

 

[smit0847]

What some people do with SQ which I think is really clever is monitor very, very closely, the SQ routes that are currently 777-300 non ER or 777-200s but may be 'upgraded' to 77W or A380 routes in the near future. They then book regional J on *A redemptions and keep their fingers crossed the route is upgraded before they travel. If so, they get the product everyone is after.

Obviously the route might not get upgraded and you're stuck with a regional seat but some people get lucky.

 

[k3nnis]

Are the J and F seats the same for the 777-300 refitted and the 77W?

 

[bcworld]

Are the J and F seats the same for the 777-300 refitted and the 77W?

No. 777-300 refitted is what people sometimes refer to as regional. 77W has the A380 style J seats.

 

[k3nnis]

Thanks how about the F seats ?

 

[bcworld]

Thanks how about the F seats ?

The F seats are the same = you're not getting to book them!

 

[k3nnis]

What a pity! Lol

The F seats are the same = you're not getting to book them!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Even when i have found a regional J showing availability on ANA to FCO they say they can't see it!

it seems SQs 772ERs are going to get the same seats as their A380/77Ws - and this has been reflected with the zero-ing out of award availability for those flights. Saw another report of someone trying to get SIN-FCO but couldn't because of this change.