US Dividend Miles - Award Booking Questions and General Discussion

[netgrom]

330 I'm pretty sure

I think its 335 actually, but either way I would be just keep checking.

 

[Beta4Me]

Deleted...

 

[sergeyvzn]

Q: how many days in advance can USDM book flights? There are QF seats now for Jan 2016, but USDM cannot book them. Thanks!

335
today the latest in advance you can book is 28 December 2015
very easy to see it - go to Book a Flight and click on their online calendar. Bookable dates are uncrossed.

 

[Myrna]

Thank you, Eggsbenedict, netgrom and sergeyvzn, for your replies.

I asked the agent, but he kept contradicting himself, just said he could not book yet. So, may have to book a dummy return leg, then pay $150 to change it in a few days time when the desired date becomes available. Have put the outbound leg on hold. If we cancel it, then it may not go back to inventory.

 

[diningdecadence]

everyone talks about dummy bookings, i assume that's because the outbound is well within the booking timeframe whereas the inbound is the one that's the troublesome one?

 

[anat0l]

everyone talks about dummy bookings, i assume that's because the outbound is well within the booking timeframe whereas the inbound is the one that's the troublesome one?

Correct.

Dummy bookings are actually valid bookings, fully ticketed, but in this case the inbound (i.e. the one at a later date, sometimes refers to any flights which are all too early for the suited schedule) is the wrong dates. The "inbound" dates are within the period which can be booked, but are wrong for the schedule of the itinerary holder.

The idea is that after the period of booking extends to the proper dates that the itinerary holder wants, you call US DM up again and request to change your itinerary and replace the flights with the wrong dates to ones with the correct dates (now bookable). This costs USD 150 per passenger, plus (or less) any changes in fees/taxes.

The risks are mainly that you need an agent who will process a change in your booking without needing to throw out your itinerary and start again. If this happens, most likely your seats which you booked in the first place will not be returned to the pool in time (or at all) so you can use these in the new booking. In theory if your routing stays the same and all that is changing is the dates (and possibly times), then most agents should be able to process these changes without cancelling your itinerary. Class of service changes - especially those which affect the overall ticket price - can bring on a hullaballoo. If you have changes in routing, this can get problematic.

In the process of finding an agent who will fully help you, if you happen to annoy one enough to have notes put on your record, you will most likely never get what you want unless you cancel your itinerary and start all over again. So be nice to your agents - this doesn't just mean "please" and "thank you".

 

[Myrna]

Thanks, anat0l, for the clarification. Yes, it is risky in doing this. I guess we should have waited until all flights are within timeframe so don't have to go to and fro - also every time a booking is cancelled, the seats will not go back to inventory so we may miss out altogether Well, fingers crossed.

Correct.

Dummy bookings are actually valid bookings, fully ticketed, but in this case the inbound (i.e. the one at a later date, sometimes refers to any flights which are all too early for the suited schedule) is the wrong dates. The "inbound" dates are within the period which can be booked, but are wrong for the schedule of the itinerary holder.

The idea is that after the period of booking extends to the proper dates that the itinerary holder wants, you call US DM up again and request to change your itinerary and replace the flights with the wrong dates to ones with the correct dates (now bookable). This costs USD 150 per passenger, plus (or less) any changes in fees/taxes.

The risks are mainly that you need an agent who will process a change in your booking without needing to throw out your itinerary and start again. If this happens, most likely your seats which you booked in the first place will not be returned to the pool in time (or at all) so you can use these in the new booking. In theory if your routing stays the same and all that is changing is the dates (and possibly times), then most agents should be able to process these changes without cancelling your itinerary. Class of service changes - especially those which affect the overall ticket price - can bring on a hullaballoo. If you have changes in routing, this can get problematic.

In the process of finding an agent who will fully help you, if you happen to annoy one enough to have notes put on your record, you will most likely never get what you want unless you cancel your itinerary and start all over again. So be nice to your agents - this doesn't just mean "please" and "thank you".

 

[k974]

Hi All,

Sorry for probably asking a repetitive question but i'm fairly slow and limited brain wise when it comes to all this updgrade and terminology stuff!!
Previously I booked a first class return trip from Sydney to London when US Airways was part of Star Alliance, this was Dec 13 and I used Thai Airways, I booked it using the award search on KVS availability tool and rang US to book over the phone giving them the seat numbers,

I'm trying to get up to speed with all the changes since they moved to One World, I now have 400k miles in 2no accounts (myself and girlfriend) and am hoping to book 2no first class tickets from Brisbane (or Sydney) to Dublin ideally, but London is fine.

i'm thinking the way to search now is with "OneWorld Awards"? would this be correct?

The only ones showing up with availability is Emirates, and I've read that when I call US they wont be able to book these?

Also just wondering is the power search the plus/minus 7 days search feature and it looks like you need to updgrade to diamond for this?

Any tips on how to get 2no first class seats would be great.

Thanks guys.

 

[sergeyvzn]

Hi All,

Sorry for probably asking a repetitive question but i'm fairly slow and limited brain wise when it comes to all this updgrade and terminology stuff!!
Previously I booked a first class return trip from Sydney to London when US Airways was part of Star Alliance, this was Dec 13 and I used Thai Airways, I booked it using the award search on KVS availability tool and rang US to book over the phone giving them the seat numbers,

I'm trying to get up to speed with all the changes since they moved to One World, I now have 400k miles in 2no accounts (myself and girlfriend) and am hoping to book 2no first class tickets from Brisbane (or Sydney) to Dublin ideally, but London is fine.

i'm thinking the way to search now is with "OneWorld Awards"? would this be correct?

The only ones showing up with availability is Emirates, and I've read that when I call US they wont be able to book these?

Also just wondering is the power search the plus/minus 7 days search feature and it looks like you need to updgrade to diamond for this?

Any tips on how to get 2no first class seats would be great.

Thanks guys.

Search for OW availability on Qantas (not all airlines shown) or British Airways (almost all) or American Airlines (only a few but will show Qantas and BA) sites. There is a thread here devoted to OW seat search. When you search best do it sector by sector or on the AA site which is pretty good in marrying up segments (those airlines they can do online)

start with American, it's got a handy calendar, QF has a decent F class availability to London, mostly from Melbourne but two seats out of Sydney are also possible.

Emirates are not part of OW, you can't use them

 

[k974]

Hi,

Hey,

thanks for the reply its very much appreciated I will read that thread now tonight from start to finish, but I get confused with a lot of the codes!!

just wondering when I go to the award search I have,

Awards/ OneWorld
Awards/ BA-Oneworld
Award/ JL-Oneworld
Awards/CX-Onweworld

I don't have a Qantas search. when I try to use one of the above airline specific ones it asks for my frequent flyer number for that airline, does that mean you need to join each airline frequent flyer number to search?

i'll also look up the American airlines website.

Thank you again

 

[sergeyvzn]

Hi,

Hey,

thanks for the reply its very much appreciated I will read that thread now tonight from start to finish, but I get confused with a lot of the codes!!

just wondering when I go to the award search I have,

Awards/ OneWorld
Awards/ BA-Oneworld
Award/ JL-Oneworld
Awards/CX-Onweworld

I don't have a Qantas search. when I try to use one of the above airline specific ones it asks for my frequent flyer number for that airline, does that mean you need to join each airline frequent flyer number to search?

i'll also look up the American airlines website.

Thank you again

you don't need to use KVS
i was talking about using respective airlines websites. They will allow you use their search engines, I think only BA requires you to have a BA EC number

 

[anat0l]

you don't need to use KVS
i was talking about using respective airlines websites. They will allow you use their search engines, I think only BA requires you to have a BA EC number

If k974 has a KVS account, they might as well use that, since they paid for it.

All said, I have never used KVS so I have no idea where to start (it'd probably come to me if I used it, but anyway I don't have an account). The KVS representative is always lurking around here; perhaps they can point this member into the right direction.

If you want to conduct searches for oneworld availability for free, you can use various airlines' websites and their award availability search engines to achieve this. There is a thread on this forum group which explains the use of these tools. It's more coughbersome than KVS, but it is a free method.

 

[sergeyvzn]

of course if one has paid for KVS why not use it
I don't use it because I'm a Mac person and KVS doesn't have a Mac version but if they did I might use it
I do use AwardNexus but the free version that comes with the Flyertalk membership
however, all these tools do is using the same database that respective airline search engines use , consolidate finds and present them in a more palatable way....there isn't anything on KVS that you can't find on AA/JL/QF or BA sites

 

[KVS]

Previously I booked a first class return trip from Sydney to London when US Airways was part of Star Alliance, this was Dec 13 and I used Thai Airways, I booked it using the award search on KVS availability tool and rang US to book over the phone giving them the seat numbers,

I'm trying to get up to speed with all the changes since they moved to One World, I now have 400k miles in 2no accounts (myself and girlfriend) and am hoping to book 2no first class tickets from Brisbane (or Sydney) to Dublin ideally, but London is fine.

i'm thinking the way to search now is with "OneWorld Awards"? would this be correct?

Yes, but please see the table at http://Help.KVSTool.com/#OneWorld for carrier-specific guidance.

Also just wondering is the power search the plus/minus 7 days search feature and it looks like you need to updgrade to diamond for this?

The [Power Search] feature supports OneWorld Award Availability searches of up to 30 days -- please see http://Help.KVSTool.com/#PowerSearch for details.

just wondering when I go to the award search I have,

Awards/ OneWorld
Awards/ BA-Oneworld
Award/ JL-Oneworld
Awards/CX-Onweworld

I don't have a Qantas search.

That would be the [Awards/OneWorld] Method.

when I try to use one of the above airline specific ones it asks for my frequent flyer number for that airline, does that mean you need to join each airline frequent flyer number to search?

That is correct -- please click the small [?] button and follow the sign-up links:

http://Help.KVSTool.com/#FFP

you don't need to use KVS

They also "don't need to" fly First Class (but it does make the experience much more pleasant)

If k974 has a KVS account, they might as well use that, since they paid for it.

Indeed.

 

[sergeyvzn]

There's no link between flying first class and using KVS. Just saying

 

[Beta4Me]

There's no link between flying first class and using KVS. Just saying

Then you missed the point(y end).

 

[Limewood]

I tried to get KVS working on my iMac was a disaster, gave up in frustration, they need a real Apple version.

As said use the various Airlines to search awards, find flights on 2 or more then spoon feed the USDM operator.

 

[sergeyvzn]

Then you missed the point(y end).

Haven't flown economy for 3 years

 

[Beta4Me]

Haven't flown economy for 3 years

Still not getting it...

 

[sergeyvzn]

Still not getting it...

Don't appreciate this comment at all. Borderline offensive