US Dividend Miles - Award Booking Questions and General Discussion

[Flippantflyer]

BTW I really don't think you should underestimate just how much award seat availability will need to influence the route you can get.

 

[get me outta here]

Thanks bc and flippant. Yes, an interesting mix of F is an aim, and this looks good. I guess CX will be a problem / hens teeth though?

CBR - SYD/MEL (J)

SYD/MEL -DXB - LHR - JFK (dest) - QF F (or BA F w' fuel surcharges)

JFK - SFO (stopover) - AA F

SFO - HKG - SYD/MEL - CBR on CX F, CX J

 

[Flippantflyer]

Thanks bc and flippant. Yes, an interesting mix of F is an aim, and this looks good. I guess CX will be a problem / hens teeth though?

CBR - SYD/MEL (J)

SYD/MEL -DXB - LHR - JFK (dest) - QF F (or BA F w' fuel surcharges)

JFK - SFO (stopover) - AA F

SFO - HKG - SYD/MEL - CBR on CX F, CX J

All the F flights will be pretty tricky - QF F will be really hard I suspect. You will definitely need to let that determine your timings, if you can get it at all. You will need both QF F (Aus-LHR) AND BA F (LHR-JFK) not one or the other.

 

[bcworld]

All the F flights will be pretty tricky - QF F will be really hard I suspect. You will definitely need to let that determine your timings, if you can get it at all. You will need both QF F (Aus-LHR) AND BA F (LHR-JFK) not one or the other.

Don't forget the possibility of taking AA LHR>JFK. The (BA) surcharge will be steep!

 

[burmans]

BTW I really don't think you should underestimate just how much award seat availability will need to influence the route you can get.

Agree with this totally, even when we had *A there really was a limited availability choice and while Oneworld offers some better routse availability is definitely an issue. At the end of the day for me USDM provides a means of getting cheap premium cabon flights, availability is the most important factor, choosing stopever points (i.e. route) and airline choice comes into the nice to have category.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks bc and flippant. Yes, an interesting mix of F is an aim, and this looks good. I guess CX will be a problem / hens teeth though?

CBR - SYD/MEL (J)

SYD/MEL -DXB - LHR - JFK (dest) - QF F (or BA F w' fuel surcharges)

JFK - SFO (stopover) - AA F

SFO - HKG - SYD/MEL - CBR on CX F, CX J

I'm just not sure it's going to happen. A single seat maybe... but with QFFF members already having a 30 day advance booking window, QF F is going to be hard. CX is sporadic, but much better close in to departure. Lining up so many different carriers, with F space will be a pretty big task.

 

[get me outta here]

Ok, I'd be happy w' just the US route then to my aims SFO and JFK. I only need 1 seat and will try for around 01 May with lotsa flexibility, any other observations please eg search on QF and CX (don't have KVS):

CBR - SYD-LAX (QF)

LAX - SFO - JFK (AA)

JFK - LAX - (AA/QF)

LAX - SYD – CBR (QF)



OR

CBR - SYD - HKG (CX J) – SFO (CX F)

SFO – JFK (AA F)

JFK - HKG (CX F)

HKG - SYD (CX J)

I'm just not sure it's going to happen. A single seat maybe... but with QFFF members already having a 30 day advance booking window, QF F is going to be hard. CX is sporadic, but much better close in to departure. Lining up so many different carriers, with F space will be a pretty big task.

 

[netgrom]

I'm just not sure it's going to happen. A single seat maybe... but with QFFF members already having a 30 day advance booking window, QF F is going to be hard. CX is sporadic, but much better close in to departure. Lining up so many different carriers, with F space will be a pretty big task.

Any data points on being able to hold a dummy award booking on QF when they are released, cancelling it after USDM have access to it and (immediately) booking through USDM? This assumes you have enough points sitting around in QF.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Ok, I'd be happy w' just the US route then to my aims SFO and JFK. I only need 1 seat and will try for around 01 May with lotsa flexibility, any other observations please eg search on QF and CX (don't have KVS):

CBR - SYD-LAX (QF)

LAX - SFO - JFK (AA)

JFK - LAX - (AA/QF)

LAX - SYD – CBR (QF)



OR

CBR - SYD - HKG (CX J) – SFO (CX F)

SFO – JFK (AA F)

JFK - HKG (CX F)

HKG - SYD (CX J)

There are plenty of dates now available in May for MEL-LAX in F on QF. Just be a question of whether USDM can see those already! If so I'd grab them

(I'm using the QF booking engine)

 

[get me outta here]

If I grab them, how long will they hold whilst I work out the rest - just up to 3 days still? Looking at QF April-May has less availability CBR - JFK F than I originally thought.

 

[get me outta here]

Just got though immediately to USDM agent and now have a 72 hour hold on QF 93 MEL - LAX, F but she could not see a conn to JFK, I wonder why(?) What if it doesn't show in the next 72 hours?

Now to work out the rest.

If I grab them, how long will they hold whilst I work out the rest - just up to 3 days still? Looking at QF April-May has less availability CBR - JFK F than I originally thought.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Just got though immediately to USDM agent and now have a 72 hour hold on QF 93 MEL - LAX, F but she could not see a conn to JFK, I wonder why(?) What if it doesn't show in the next 72 hours?

Now to work out the rest.

I would search the AA website or even QF website. JFK flagship transcons may be hard to get award inventory, but you should be able to find connections via say DFW, or maybe even flights into LGA.

 

[anat0l]

Everyone:

Can I make two suggestions / iotas of wisdom for the collective...

1) Don't keep commenting or being put off by the fact that availability is thinning. You probably have an idea of where you want to travel and, more importantly, when. So jump onto the availability tools and have a look. Whether your venture results in a success or failure is nearly irrelevant, as you will nearly always need to do this activity anyway before you proceed to the next step of calling US to book your itinerary.

For those of you who have little experience checking availability, there's no better opportunity to give them a go. For those of you who already have good experience searching for availability, you should know better anyway. So, jump in.

2) Whilst BA (and IB) does levy fuel surcharges (which can vary from about a hundred to a few hundred bucks) on redemptions, don't completely rub them out. If BA are the only ones with availability on the routes and/or date that you want, find out how much the fuel surcharges are. Even if it were $300 or so for say, an F redemption, why is that so terrible when a revenue fare (let alone those Euro trick fares) is still substantially more than what you'll end up paying?

BA may not be preferable for the reason of YQ (or service), but I would not relegate them to black plague / small pox status.

 

[Flippantflyer]

Everyone:

Can I make two suggestions / iotas of wisdom for the collective...

1) Don't keep commenting or being put off by the fact that availability is thinning. You probably have an idea of where you want to travel and, more importantly, when. So jump onto the availability tools and have a look. Whether your venture results in a success or failure is nearly irrelevant, as you will nearly always need to do this activity anyway before you proceed to the next step of calling US to book your itinerary.

For those of you who have little experience checking availability, there's no better opportunity to give them a go. For those of you who already have good experience searching for availability, you should know better anyway. So, jump in.

2) Whilst BA (and IB) does levy fuel surcharges (which can vary from about a hundred to a few hundred bucks) on redemptions, don't completely rub them out. If BA are the only ones with availability on the routes and/or date that you want, find out how much the fuel surcharges are. Even if it were $300 or so for say, an F redemption, why is that so terrible when a revenue fare (let alone those Euro trick fares) is still substantially more than what you'll end up paying?

BA may not be preferable for the reason of YQ (or service), but I would not relegate them to black plague / small pox status.

Excellent advice IMO - thanks so much for sharing it. I would never have pulled together a usdm booking without just playing (and playing and playing),around with award searches. And I would never have gotten a first class rtn to JFK stopping over in Berlin without a ba flight. For me the fuel surcharge was well worth it for a great itinerary.

 

[bismarck]

Everyone:

Can I make two suggestions / iotas of wisdom for the collective...

1) Don't keep commenting or being put off by the fact that availability is thinning. You probably have an idea of where you want to travel and, more importantly, when. So jump onto the availability tools and have a look. Whether your venture results in a success or failure is nearly irrelevant, as you will nearly always need to do this activity anyway before you proceed to the next step of calling US to book your itinerary.

For those of you who have little experience checking availability, there's no better opportunity to give them a go. For those of you who already have good experience searching for availability, you should know better anyway. So, jump in.

2) Whilst BA (and IB) does levy fuel surcharges (which can vary from about a hundred to a few hundred bucks) on redemptions, don't completely rub them out. If BA are the only ones with availability on the routes and/or date that you want, find out how much the fuel surcharges are. Even if it were $300 or so for say, an F redemption, why is that so terrible when a revenue fare (let alone those Euro trick fares) is still substantially more than what you'll end up paying?

BA may not be preferable for the reason of YQ (or service), but I would not relegate them to black plague / small pox status.

Very well said. I think the same applies to ex-LHR bookings. Sometimes it just has to be done, and you can sleep well at night knowing you're taking a $10-15k flight for ~$2-3k. My last *A booking had to go ex-LHR to get flatbeds back to Asia (LHR-ICN) as the only alternative was multiple intra-EU connections (no go with SWMBO) or Air China (not preferable for me). I felt like it was worth it but YMMV.

Don't write things off.....get all the info in front of you and then make an informed choice.

I would also advise, if you're at the point of almost making a booking, to invest in something like KVS/awardnexus/expert flyer or one of the other booking tools. You will likely make yourself the money back ten-fold in the one time you manage to avoid BA or LHR.

 

[get me outta here]

Anyone got an app that tells you when 330 days is out to 05 May 15?

 

[bismarck]

Anyone got an app that tells you when 330 days is out to 05 May 15?

Monday 9 June. (Not including 5 May)

 

[anat0l]

Anyone got an app that tells you when 330 days is out to 05 May 15?

If you have Excel or similar, put 05/05/2015 into cell A1, then in another cell, type =A1-330, which will spit out the answer (09/06/2014, or 9 June 2014).

Otherwise, you can use this: Calculator: Add to or subtract from a date

Can't think of an app on the top of my head, but I suppose you could use the multitude of countdown apps (to a certain date), then just look when the number of days counts down to 330.

 

[Flippantflyer]

Anyone got an app that tells you when 330 days is out to 05 May 15?

Just Google "330 days from today" and work from there

 

[legroom]

Anyone got an app that tells you when 330 days is out to 05 May 15?

Timeanddate.com

One of the calculator functions

Subtract : Add various days (330,355,361 etc)