US Dividend Miles - Award Booking Questions and General Discussion

[noviceFF]

Hi,

I'm about to take the plunge and make my first award booking. Eekkkkk. In 2 separate itineries, got mostly what I wanted. The only glitch is not able to find a J seat for SYD-HKG on Mon 27th Apr (Anzac day holiday) for 1. This flight is for Mrs noviceFF so it's important that I achieve this for all the time I'm here instead of doing housework. Should I go ahead and book and wait for a seat to open then change?? Also, what are my chances?? Cheers.

Also, I've been using the QF and Nexus search tool. Both returned 1 J seat avail on the 27th April but USDM can't find it. What should I do? Call in daily to find out??

 

[hossein_au]

Hi,

I'm about to take the plunge and make my first award booking. Eekkkkk. In 2 separate itineries, got mostly what I wanted. The only glitch is not able to find a J seat for SYD-HKG on Mon 27th Apr (Anzac day holiday) for 1. This flight is for Mrs noviceFF so it's important that I achieve this for all the time I'm here instead of doing housework. Should I go ahead and book and wait for a seat to open then change?? Also, what are my chances?? Cheers.

Also, I've been using the QF and Nexus search tool. Both returned 1 J seat avail on the 27th April but USDM can't find it. What should I do? Call in daily to find out??

QF does indeed show some phantom availability. I just checked BA and JL for you (using KVS), and I'm afraid I don't have any good news for you: there are up to 4 seats in Y but nothing in J. The best I could find for you is on the 28th:

[KVS Tool 7.7.3/Diamond - Awards/BA-OneWorld]


SYD Sydney Kingsford Smith NS AU [YSSY]
HKG Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok Intl HK [VHHH]
TUE 28 Apr 2015 | 1 Seat


Carrier Flight From Depart To Arrive St Award Availability
--------- ------ ---- -------- ---- -------- --- -- ------------------
QF 504 SYD 07:05 BNE 08:35 CS1 WS/ YS0
-> QF 97 BNE 10:50 HKG 18:00 CS+ WS/ YS-

 

[noviceFF]

Thanks for looking into it hossein_au

What are my chances of booking and waiting for a J seat to open then change? I've not done this before and would do it if I had a 50% or above chance.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks for looking into it hossein_au

What are my chances of booking and waiting for a J seat to open then change? I've not done this before and would do it if I had a 50% or above chance.

you will not be allowed to change the class of travel for a partner award. USDM will want to cancel and start again.

As CX allows its members to waitlist, as soon as the seat(s) are cancelled they are likely to be snapped up automatically before you get a chance to rebook them.

If you are booking with QF you may have slightly more luck, but the rest of the ticket will need to be cancelled and you start again. No guarantees.

 

[hossein_au]

Thanks for looking into it hossein_au

What are my chances of booking and waiting for a J seat to open then change? I've not done this before and would do it if I had a 50% or above chance.

I'm not certain. There are others here far more experienced in these trends (how awards seats are released).

 

[noviceFF]

you will not be allowed to change the class of travel for a partner award. USDM will want to cancel and start again.

As CX allows its members to waitlist, as soon as the seat(s) are cancelled they are likely to be snapped up automatically before you get a chance to rebook them.

If you are booking with QF you may have slightly more luck, but the rest of the ticket will need to be cancelled and you start again. No guarantees.

I booked 4 segments, SYD-HKG-ICN-HKG-SYD. All 3 segments (except SYD-HKG) are in J, so essentially I used a J award redemption. The 1 segment in Y (SYD-HKG): I asked the USDM operator that if a J seat opened can I change it and I was lead to believe I can without fees etc. Or did I misunderstand??

 

[Beta4Me]

I booked 4 segments, SYD-HKG-ICN-HKG-SYD. All 3 segments (except SYD-HKG) are in J, so essentially I used a J award redemption. The 1 segment in Y (SYD-HKG): I asked the USDM operator that if a J seat opened can I change it and I was lead to believe I can without fees etc. Or did I misunderstand??

There will be the $150 fee. From my experience you won't have a problem, but it seems most others haven't been that lucky.

 

[noviceFF]

There will be the $150 fee. From my experience you won't have a problem, but it seems most others haven't been that lucky.

Thx. To quote you and clarify

"From my experience you won't have a problem"-meaning to change if J seat opens?

"but it seems most others haven't been that lucky"-meaning unlikely a J seat will open?

Sorry to be troublesome.

 

[Beta4Me]

Thx. To quote you and clarify

"From my experience you won't have a problem"-meaning to change if J seat opens?

"but it seems most others haven't been that lucky"-meaning unlikely a J seat will open?

Sorry to be troublesome.

Yes to the first no to the second. With the latter I meant that you may hit the agent saying they can see the J seat but have to cancel and rebook for you to get it which could cause you to lose seats you already have if they don't go back into the pool (and someone doesn't grab them before you do again). I did a clean upgrade from a J to F when there was already F in that half of the booking but others have hit roadblocks. As always YMMV and please post your results here!

 

[Beta4Me]

What about SYD-NRT-ICN? I can see availability in J on Apr 27 for 2 in JL or 1 in QF for SYD-NRT. Can also go SYD-KUL-HKG-ICN. I can see that whole lot open in J on MH/CX/CX on that date. Does any of that work for you? Unfortunately making it NRT-HKG-ICN will break the MPM but not by much. You may get away with it but the backtrack is pretty obvious. If you did get away with it, it's the best option if no NRT-ICN open up. Can always open jaw and buy that leg if you don't need a stopover.

 

[Beta4Me]

if no NRT-ICN open up

Speaking of that. Almost every day has J availability for that JL flight up until Apr 23 which is 98 days from now. Maybe you just need to wait 4 days and it will show up? Availability drops off to 0 from that date so it could be a JAL peculiarity (I checked through BA) or it could be just busyness for weeks but I doubt that. Someone with more knowledge care to chime in?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thx. To quote you and clarify

"From my experience you won't have a problem"-meaning to change if J seat opens?

"but it seems most others haven't been that lucky"-meaning unlikely a J seat will open?

Sorry to be troublesome.

As always with USDM, there are exception to the norm (some people just 'get lucky'!)

However, the current standard for most people is that changes to class of service are not permitted, and this has been widely reported. (Used to be no problem, but not recently.)

The trouble is, unless you get the 1 in 100 agent willing to make the change on your first call, they will often put notes in your booking meaning any subsequent agent will also refuse to make the change without cancelling.

The USDM Membership guide specifically excludes changes to class of service for partner awards (my bolding):

Travel on airline partners

Changes are not permitted once travel has begun. Before travel begins, you can change the point of origin, destination, airline carrier and stopover for a fee if the new itinerary is allowed with the original award redeemed. A fee applies if you change flight times and dates before travel begins. Changes are subject to award seat availability. Paper tickets may need to be reissued at an authorized US Airways ticketing facility.

Airline partners cannot change Dividend Miles award reservations or tickets and will accommodate members only in the cabin for which the ticket was issued, including instances in which a member accepts an award ticket for a cabin class lower than intended for the award redeemed.

Compare that to the rules concerning travel on US Airways metal which includes class of service:

Travel on US Airways

Changes are subject to award seat availability. Changes to the point of origin, destination, stopover, class of service and award level are permitted if the new itinerary is within the travel areas allowed by the original award. A service fee applies for these changes and changes to flight times, dates and connecting points.

 

[Limewood]

Travel on US Airways

Changes are subject to award seat availability. Changes to the point of origin, destination, stopover, class of service and award level are permitted if the new itinerary is within the travel areas allowed by the original award. A service fee applies for these changes and changes to flight times, dates and connecting points.

Does this mean a change could be made from say HKG/NRT/CDG to HKG/LHR/CDG and upgrading from J to F is allowed for a $150 fee + extra miles,?.

 

[bcworld]

Travel on US Airways

Changes are subject to award seat availability. Changes to the point of origin, destination, stopover, class of service and award level are permitted if the new itinerary is within the travel areas allowed by the original award. A service fee applies for these changes and changes to flight times, dates and connecting points.

Does this mean a change could be made from say HKG/NRT/CDG to HKG/LHR/CDG and upgrading from J to F is allowed for a $150 fee + extra miles,?.

You've highlighted the section relating to 'Travel on US Airways'.

In any case, upgrading class of service has never been possible by paying the mileage difference, you would always need to have paid for the more expensive award at the outset.

 

[Limewood]

Ah yes must be same class as original award.

 

[get me outta here]

I think the only time I achieved a change of class was when a flight time changed and I had to call and was able to put up a very polite argument that as I was on a J / F award, I will now opt for x flight and get the same class as the rest of the ticket.

 

[Alanslegal]

Does anyone know if USDM tickets flying Air China entitle one to their chauffeur service?

https://www.airchina.com.au/AU/GB/booking/chauffer/

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Does anyone know if USDM tickets flying Air China entitle one to their chauffeur service?

https://www.airchina.com.au/AU/GB/booking/chauffer/

funnily enough in the link you provided it says the following (my emphasis)

3. The product is applicable only to passengers ticketed on Air China ticket stock and flights operated by Air China (including BSP ticket with “999”). It is not applicable to non-Air China ticket stock and codeshare flights. But PhoenixMiles Platinum members who fly in First Class/Business Class (F, A, C, D, Z, J) on Air China-operated European/American/Australian routes qualify for the service, including those who fly on the codeshare flights of foreign airlines and on tickets issued by foreign airlines.

 

[Alanslegal]

funnily enough in the link you provided it says the following (my emphasis)

hehe I should have read further

 

[Beta4Me]

It really would be good if we could have a mod move all the OW-related posts to their OW thread and keep this for *A...