US Dividend Miles - Award Booking Questions and General Discussion

[Beta4Me]

It is based on the simple point-to-point distance.

MEL-JFK is counted as a single segment. As is LHR-MEL. The distances cannot be changed. On that itinerary, LHR will always be the destination.

If you changed it to another European city (slightly closer to MEL) you might be ok.

however, the difference between JFK and LHR as transits/stopover is something like 300 miles. So it might scrape through unnoticed.

Oh OK. In that case it makes sense why many have succeeded before. Crossing my fingers for a couple months from now when I have to book

 

[Kangol]

I think that's why some people use BOS as their destination which just pips out LHR...

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Oh OK. In that case it makes sense why many have succeeded before. Crossing my fingers for a couple months from now when I have to book

when USDM was star alliance, London was not a star hub, although it was a US destination... but not so many people were using LHR as a stopover... whereas somewhere like FRA or ZRH was more common (for TG connections back to Asia).

FRA is closer to MEL than JFK, so it would be the actual stopover, not the destination.

if you transit Europe only,rather than stop, it is fine to route via wherever.

 

[Flippantflyer]

If you have trouble with mel-lhr-jfk, hba-txl-jfk works (at least it did for me) and you avoid ba fuel surcharges by flying air Berlin. Pretty cheap to position to Hobart... Might be a back up option.

 

[smit0847]

I'm planning Nov/Dec '14 and July '15 trips. I plan to book ASAP with dummy flights back within 330 days of the booking date and then ring to change those flights once they are bookable for July '15.

Looking at stacking two USDM awards:
MEL-hkg-yvr-JFK-LHR-dxb-MEL
and
STT-mia-LAX-HKG-lax-mia-STT
for 230K USDM.

This gives me a MEL-hkg-yvr-JFK//STT-mia-LAX-HKG trip with an AA award to get me HKG-MEL in J, a LifeMiles award for JFK-MIA, an Avios award for MIA-BGI and a rev fare for BGI-SXM-STT to get me to the next award. By the by, I'm stacking a HKG-icn-ROR-icn-HKG LifeMiles award too. All for the Nov/Dec 2014 trip which will ultimately be: MEL-hkg-yvr-JFK-MIA-BGI-SXM-STT-mia-LAX-hkg-icn-ROR-icn-HKG-MEL all in J/F over a month

For July 2015, the plan is AA award MEL-HKG then start USDM award 2 again for HKG-lax-mia-STT then Avios to MIA and LifeMiles to JFK picking up USDM award 1 for JFK-LHR, side trip to Belgium for Tomorrowland, back to London and home: LHR-dxb-MEL. This over the course of close to 3 weeks.

The plan is all flights to be in J except for the AUS-USA-EUR-AUS award where all will be F except for MEL-HKG in J.

I'm excited for what will be my first overseas trips!

Well I'm confused.

I've pretty much given up on USDM unless I'm booking 330 days out or willing to fly MH. The availability is so limited that if you are booking 6-9 months out and not travelling alone you usually need to find very creative routings which are usually just shut down because of MPM/most direct route/agent cant see flights. It was great while it lasted in *A where you could pick whatever route you wanted and I know a lot of people were looking forward to the move into 1W but there's not much value for me in the program anymore.

 

[Beta4Me]

And I've just realised I can't book the USDM awards until 365 days before the 29th of July 2015. Damn!

Am I best to book the Nov/Dec part of my awards now and then cancel on the 29th of July and rebook the exact same flights plus the newly available July 2015 flights. Will all seats be released back? Will that work? (All provided I'm willing to pay the 2x$150 in cancellation fees.)

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Am I best to book the Nov/Dec part of my awards now and then cancel on the 29th of July and rebook the exact same flights plus the newly available July 2015 flights. Will all seats be released back? Will that work? (All provided I'm willing to pay the 2x$150 in cancellation fees.)

there is no guarantee seats will be released back into award inventory.

 

[Beta4Me]

there is no guarantee seats will be released back into award inventory.

Damn and blast.

 

[Beta4Me]

So I really have to sit back for 3 months and hope my prospective award seats don't evaporate?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Damn and blast.

the other issue is the release dates for the July award seats.... bearing in mind partner airlines often release seats only 331 days out (giving their own members a 30 day advance pick). So make sure the seats you want will actually be there when you want to book

 

[Kangol]

So I really have to sit back for 3 months and hope my prospective award seats don't evaporate?

Can't you just book the first set as a one way when they become available, then three months later add on the remaining flights when they become available - just as a change (with the $150 fee)?

 

[legroom]

Can't you just book the first set as a one way when they become available, then three months later add on the remaining flights when they become available - just as a change (with the $150 fee)?

I'd prefer a dummy return date.

Maybe, just maybe, it is simpler to change cf. to add the desired return date.

 

[get me outta here]

Moving this question to the appropriate thread. I have dropped the idea of AKL.

So, is it out of the question to get to JFK and SFO for 10 days in each - hoping there's a way around it but from what others have said, maybe a non allowed open jaw or stop/destination problem.

If JFK is too many miles, just BOS.

I don't mind whether I go via EU if that's more achievable. If so, should I search for via EU, or can I go straight to BOS as slightly fewer miles?

I realise I need to build an itinerary, would appreciate a few hints and dead ends to avoid please.



[h=2][/h]

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Moving this question to the appropriate thread. I have dropped the idea of AKL.

So, is it out of the question to get to JFK and SFO for 10 days in each - hoping there's a way around it but from what others have said, maybe a non allowed open jaw or stop/destination problem.

If JFK is too many miles, just BOS.

I don't mind whether I go via EU if that's more achievable. If so, should I search for via EU, or can I go straight to BOS as slightly fewer miles?

I realise I need to build an itinerary, would appreciate a few hints and dead ends to avoid please.

JFK and SFO is possible on a single itinerary, as was mentioned before.

you could fly SYD-LAX (QF)- SFO (AA) - JFK (AA) - LAX- (AA/QF) - SYD (QF)

you could also fly SYD-HKG-SFO-JFK-HKG-SYD (with SYD-HKG on CX J, the rest on CX F and AA transcon F)

Plenty of options.

The problem is availability. Short notice and CX should be fine (say booking a couple weeks in advance)

 

[wchiri]

Looking for flights Istanbul to Perth, dates flexible between sept 21-23. Business class. Struggling to find anything in business except Turkish airlines from ist to kul then will fly air Asia back. Any help?

 

[bismarck]

Looking for flights Istanbul to Perth, dates flexible between sept 21-23. Business class. Struggling to find anything in business except Turkish airlines from ist to kul then will fly air Asia back. Any help?

Have tried a few possibilities on KVS but can only see Y back to Australian ports. You may have luck with CX releasing some more seats closer to the day if you can risk it.

 

[bcworld]

Looking for flights Istanbul to Perth, dates flexible between sept 21-23. Business class. Struggling to find anything in business except Turkish airlines from ist to kul then will fly air Asia back. Any help?

How about an 'interesting' other (non OW) partners award. Not sure what you'll do in Angola for 9 hours but it seems that TWOV is possible. It's under MPM.

[KVS Availability Tool 7.3.7/Diamond - Awards/StarAlliance-7D]

IST  Istanbul Metro / Ataturk TR = IST SAW [LTBA]
LAD  Luanda 4 De Fevereiro AO [FNLU]
SUN  21 Sep 2014 | 1 Seat


Carrier    Flight  From  Depart    To    Arrive    A/C  St  Availability
---------  ------  ----  --------  ----  --------  ---  --  -------------
TK         555     IST   00:05     LAD   06:00     332  0   FS/  CS+  YS+

[KVS Availability Tool 7.3.7/Diamond - Awards/StarAlliance/JP-ANA-STD]

LAD  Luanda 4 De Fevereiro AO [FNLU]
PER  Perth WA AU [YPPH]
SUN  21 Sep 2014 | 1 Seat


Carrier    Flight  From  Depart    To    Arrive    A/C  St  Availability
---------  ------  ----  --------  ----  --------  ---  --  -------------
SA         55      LAD   14:45     JNB   19:00     346  0   FS/  CS+  YS+
 -> SA     280     JNB   22:30     PER   13:25 +1  343  0   FS/  CS+  YS+

 

[get me outta here]

I'd prefer to book as far out as possible and be in NYC for start of 2015 spring, the itinerary looks good if a little simple, but I'd be happy w' that.

SYD-LAX (QF)- SFO (AA) - JFK (AA) - LAX- (AA/QF) - SYD (QF)

you could also fly SYD-HKG-SFO-JFK-HKG-SYD (with SYD-HKG on CX J, the rest on CX F and AA transcon F]

To maximise the trip how about something a little more complicated ... CBR SYD/MEL HKG/KUL EU (stopover) JFK YYZ or SFO (destination) JFK EU (stopover) HKG/KUL SYD/MEL CBR

 

[bcworld]

To maximise the trip how about something a little more complicated ... CBR SYD/MEL HKG/KUL EU (stopover) JFK YYZ or SFO (destination) JFK EU (stopover) HKG/KUL SYD/MEL CBR

You can only have one stopover. And SFO cannot be your destination with an EU stopover.

 

[Flippantflyer]

I'd prefer to book as far out as possible and be in NYC for start of 2015 spring, the itinerary looks good if a little simple, but I'd be happy w' that.

SYD-LAX (QF)- SFO (AA) - JFK (AA) - LAX- (AA/QF) - SYD (QF)

you could also fly SYD-HKG-SFO-JFK-HKG-SYD (with SYD-HKG on CX J, the rest on CX F and AA transcon F]

To maximise the trip how about something a little more complicated ... CBR SYD/MEL HKG/KUL EU (stopover) JFK YYZ or SFO (destination) JFK EU (stopover) HKG/KUL SYD/MEL CBR

You can only have one stopover unfortunately, so if you want to visit both SFO and JFK they'll be the only places you can stop (more than 24 hours). You know what, if it were me and I was going for an 'interesting mix' of F flights (as I suspect you are) I'd try for (not having properly looked at all though):

CBR-SYD (or MEL)-DXB-LHR-JFK (dest) - QF J (CBR flight), QF F, BA F (but you'll pay fuel surcharges for that)
JFK-SFO (stopover) - AA F
SFO-HKG-SYD-CBR - CX F, CX J, QF J (CBR flight)

but again, I haven't actually looked. that's what I'd shoot for though.