US Dividend Miles - Award Booking Questions and General Discussion

[trixydoza]

Trixydoza [...] he got lucky

Not a "he", but yes, got lucky. I think there might be a bit of luck going around in the final days of the existing awards.

 

[Swan]

Gday

Swan the cut off for pushing back USDM award redemption's is a maximum of 1 year from the date you originally booked it.

Pele.

Thanks for the info Pele and Ms Trixydoza. Whilst I cant get the exact same itinerary, start and finish is the same and the within the one year so I will give the change a go.

Hopefully not too many huaca.

 

[smit0847]

Ok, bit of a strange situation here.

I made an award booking through USDM in March on CX/KA. About 2 months ago logged into CX.com and did the seat selection. Everything fine.

I had misplaced the CX PNR so called CX yesterday to obtain it. I gave them the flight details and the surname and they looked it up and said 'I can see both of you on this flight but your reservation is not active. It looks like it has been cancelled - I would contact the airline you ticketed it through'. In a state of panic I looked up the reservation on usair.com and the reservation is still showing as active and there is a ticket number showing for each passenger.

I tried entering my US PNR on CX.com and it says invalid PNR, same when I tried it on the AY and RJ websites. I called US/AA last night and the AA agent tried looking it up for a very long time, couldn't and tried transferring me to USDM 'as this was booked under USDM not AA' but the wait times were horrendous so I gave up. I got the distinct impression from the AA agent that there was something wrong with the booking.

Im not completely freaking out because the bookings are still valid on usair.com and most importantly there is a 10 digit ticket number. I can't remember how I logged onto CX.com to select seats previously - I'm guessing I obtained the CX PNR which I have now misplaced. The CX agent telling me she could see the booking but its not 'active' does make me worried. Flight is in 6 weeks - very simple routing.

Other than sit on hold with USDM for a long time, does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[bcworld]

Im not completely freaking out because the bookings are still valid on usair.com and most importantly there is a 10 digit ticket number.

Other than sit on hold with USDM for a long time, does anyone have any suggestions?

I wouldn't take much comfort from seeing the ticket number, doesn't mean much really. You should still be able to plug the ticket number into the Saudia website and see what it says.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Ok, bit of a strange situation here.

I made an award booking through USDM in March on CX/KA. About 2 months ago logged into CX.com and did the seat selection. Everything fine.

I had misplaced the CX PNR so called CX yesterday to obtain it. I gave them the flight details and the surname and they looked it up and said 'I can see both of you on this flight but your reservation is not active. It looks like it has been cancelled - I would contact the airline you ticketed it through'. In a state of panic I looked up the reservation on usair.com and the reservation is still showing as active and there is a ticket number showing for each passenger.

I tried entering my US PNR on CX.com and it says invalid PNR, same when I tried it on the AY and RJ websites. I called US/AA last night and the AA agent tried looking it up for a very long time, couldn't and tried transferring me to USDM 'as this was booked under USDM not AA' but the wait times were horrendous so I gave up. I got the distinct impression from the AA agent that there was something wrong with the booking.

Im not completely freaking out because the bookings are still valid on usair.com and most importantly there is a 10 digit ticket number. I can't remember how I logged onto CX.com to select seats previously - I'm guessing I obtained the CX PNR which I have now misplaced. The CX agent telling me she could see the booking but its not 'active' does make me worried. Flight is in 6 weeks - very simple routing.

Other than sit on hold with USDM for a long time, does anyone have any suggestions?

The ticket number in the US booking means little - it means USDM have issued the ticket - not that they have transmitted that ticket number to CX/KA.

Without that, CX hasn't received payment, and the booking is not good for travel.

Having said that however - I haven't heard of a similar situation where USDM (or any other airline) has failed to transmit ticket numbers to CX. It happens with airlines like SQ and TG, but this particular case is uncommon.

I'd get it sorted one way or the other asap. Did CX still have a PNR for their booking even though it was 'inactive'?

 

[smit0847]

All sorted thank god. Called CX and they said they can see both reservations - they are valid, confirmed and have a valid ticket number and I don't need to do anything else. I (and they) had no idea why the woman told me yesterday it was not active.

Im assuming there's nothing more I need to do?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

All sorted thank god. Called CX and they said they can see both reservations - they are valid, confirmed and have a valid ticket number and I don't need to do anything else.

Im assuming there's nothing more I need to do?

Nope. That's it. As long as you can see a ticket number in the CX booking (or they read it back to you - either way is fine).

Not sure what happened.

 

[smit0847]

Nope. That's it. As long as you can see a ticket number in the CX booking (or they read it back to you - either way is fine).

Not sure what happened.

Thanks - I feel a lot better than I did at this time yesterday!

And a silver lining - the aircraft type scheduled for our HND-HKG CX flight has changed from a 747 with coffin-class J to a 77W with the flagship 1-2-1 J. I know CX are notorious for aircraft swaps on intra-Asian flights but I'll keep my fingers crossed it sticks and we get the 77W (they sell F on this flight so there's only a few different config options anyway).

 

[Limewood]

I have USDM booking, like to change departure city but guess that wont happen without beginning all over again.

Can see all booking/flights and airline seat allocations on QF and QR sites but can see nothing on CX even using PNR or E-ticket its weird.
update,

For some reason all showing now on CX so good.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks - I feel a lot better than I did at this time yesterday!

And a silver lining - the aircraft type scheduled for our HND-HKG CX flight has changed from a 747 with coffin-class J to a 77W with the flagship 1-2-1 J. I know CX are notorious for aircraft swaps on intra-Asian flights but I'll keep my fingers crossed it sticks and we get the 77W (they sell F on this flight so there's only a few different config options anyway).

The 747 upper deck with coffins is actually a lot of fun... the beds are longer, and when fully flat, align directly with the window... so you can lie on your stomach and watch the scenery fly by below! It's pretty cool

If it's a 77W - snag the seats immediately behind Fist in the mini-cabin.

 

[smit0847]

The 747 upper deck with coffins is actually a lot of fun... the beds are longer, and when fully flat, align directly with the window... so you can lie on your stomach and watch the scenery fly by below! It's pretty cool

If it's a 77W - snag the seats immediately behind Fist in the mini-cabin.

I'll be perfectly happy with either - both have their benefits. Its part of a much longer 13 flight extravanganza with my cousin - its his very first time not flying Y, so Im hoping to wow him wherever possible. I think the 77W will just edge our the 747 on that front - I cannot fault that hard product.

 

[hossein_au]

I have a USDM ticket from Aus to Europe in September. In their continual timing change, MH has changed the MEL-KUL flight so much that I will miss the connecting MH flight (KUL-HKG). Now the KUL-HKG flight has disappeared from the ticket altogether! :-(

I called MH number in Australia, but was told the issuing airline should look after this. I am on hold with AA number in Australia, and they are baffled why the KUL-HKG leg has disappeared from the ticket.

Any idea how to proceed? I believe MH should create award space in alternative flights, and then AA re-issue the ticket (that is what used to happen with USDM and Thai, when they were still part of *A). But MH seem to think it is entirely AA's problem now. And MH has only one contact number nationally (with Thai, one could try different offices in difference capitals). Any ideas?

 

[sergeyvzn]

I have a USDM ticket from Aus to Europe in September. In their continual timing change, MH has changed the MEL-KUL flight so much that I will miss the connecting MH flight (KUL-HKG). Now the KUL-HKG flight has disappeared from the ticket altogether! :-(

I called MH number in Australia, but was told the issuing airline should look after this. I am on hold with AA number in Australia, and they are baffled why the KUL-HKG leg has disappeared from the ticket.

Any idea how to proceed? I believe MH should create award space in alternative flights, and then AA re-issue the ticket (that is what used to happen with USDM and Thai, when they were still part of *A). But MH seem to think it is entirely AA's problem now. And MH has only one contact number nationally (with Thai, one could try different offices in difference capitals). Any ideas?

You are right, MH must create an award space on an alternative flight (maybe a day earlier and you'll get a stopover in KUL?) and then AA will re-issue the ticket.
MH's reluctance to do it may be coming from incompetence of a particular staff, you should try again and if it doesn't work, ask for a supervisor. AA will easily re-issue your ticket but if there's an alternative seat that they can access - if MH can't do it, another (but a very risky) option would be to wait 3 days before you flight when CX list their unsold inventory as award seats and go direct MEL-HKG. As a rule, there are always seats opening 36-72 hours prior to the departure

 

[hossein_au]

You are right, MH must create an award space on an alternative flight (maybe a day earlier and you'll get a stopover in KUL?) and then AA will re-issue the ticket.
MH's reluctance to do it may be coming from incompetence of a particular staff, you should try again and if it doesn't work, ask for a supervisor. AA will easily re-issue your ticket but if there's an alternative seat that they can access - if MH can't do it, another (but a very risky) option would be to wait 3 days before you flight when CX list their unsold inventory as award seats and go direct MEL-HKG. As a rule, there are always seats opening 36-72 hours prior to the departure

Thanks. I'm still on hold with AA to see if they can contact MH directly and sort it out. But the CX option at around T-72 is also good. I will keep that in mind.

 

[smit0847]

Rather than trawling through 100 pages on FT is there a general consensus on the current state of making changes to USDM bookings? Do USDM rules still apply or are some people finding AA rules are applied. Im especially interested to know if I can utilise AA's fabulous 'no change fees if origin and destination remain the same' rule for a USDM booking which is by far my favourite AA rule.

 

[QF029]

Rather than trawling through 100 pages on FT is there a general consensus on the current state of making changes to USDM bookings? Do USDM rules still apply or are some people finding AA rules are applied. Im especially interested to know if I can utilise AA's fabulous 'no change fees if origin and destination remain the same' rule for a USDM booking which is by far my favourite AA rule.

I was unable to change mine in June. When calling AA each time I was transferred to the dividend miles desk. As an aside I'm not sure that awards on partner Airlines qualify for free changes but I could be wrong.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Rather than trawling through 100 pages on FT is there a general consensus on the current state of making changes to USDM bookings? Do USDM rules still apply or are some people finding AA rules are applied. Im especially interested to know if I can utilise AA's fabulous 'no change fees if origin and destination remain the same' rule for a USDM booking which is by far my favourite AA rule.

If you can find a former USDM agent to make changes (and from reading it seems a bg 'if' these days), then you'll apply USDM rules. However, seems more common that changes will now follow AA rules, which might mean the pricing of your award in AA's chart. This could be advantageous depending on where you're going, or negative if your flights require the pricing of two awards.

 

[smit0847]

If you can find a former USDM agent to make changes (and from reading it seems a bg 'if' these days), then you'll apply USDM rules. However, seems more common that changes will now follow AA rules, which might mean the pricing of your award in AA's chart. This could be advantageous depending on where you're going, or negative if your flights require the pricing of two awards.

Do you mean changing a USDM award through an AA agent may mean its repriced as an AA award even if the routing doesnt change?

The reason Im asking is my HND-HKG flight is a 4 class flight and Im booked in J. There's at least 4 F seats still for sale so Im wondering if its worth trying to upgrade to an F award (same flights).

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Do you mean changing a USDM award through an AA agent may mean its repriced as an AA award even if the routing doesnt change?

The reason Im asking is my HND-HKG flight is a 4 class flight and Im booked in J. There's at least 4 F seats still for sale so Im wondering if its worth trying to upgrade to an F award (same flights).

They're all one and the same now... although there have been anecdotal reports of people wanting to make changes to USDM tickets being transferred to former USDM agents who have been able to make changes as per the old rules.

However - change of class under USDM required the cancellation of the existing ticket, and a reissue. So you'd be out of luck wanting to upgrade anyway.

If you go to AA rules, you'd have to pay the $150 redeposit miles fee, then go to a 60K one way award (for awards incl Japan, Korea and Mongolia), which will include the F sector.

 

[burmans]

They're all one and the same now... although there have been anecdotal reports of people wanting to make changes to USDM tickets being transferred to former USDM agents who have been able to make changes as per the old rules.

However - change of class under USDM required the cancellation of the existing ticket, and a reissue. So you'd be out of luck wanting to upgrade anyway.

If you go to AA rules, you'd have to pay the $150 redeposit miles fee, then go to a 60K one way award (for awards incl Japan, Korea and Mongolia), which will include the F sector.

Not sure what you mean by the first statement, yes agents are all AA but by all reports they still are on different systems and an ex-US agent would therefore be more helpful in making the change.