US Dividend Miles - Award Booking Questions and General Discussion

[kpc]

Thanks for the clarifications guys - USDM virgin here - will soon be trying to book MEL-ZRH / FRA-MEL for Aug 2014 - hopefully will all come together.

Bear in mind my concerns below:

What would happen to your star alliance flights (booked with USDM) if they need to be changed post merger with AA, eg due to TG's infamous schedule changes?

US/AA wouldn't have much control over that.

When bmi exited *A people had a lot of difficulties in this type of scenario. Sometimes they had to deal directly with operating airlines to try and get themselves re-accommodated and then call bmi to ask for the ticket to be re-validated. Sometimes they only (non)solution was cancellation.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Bear in mind my concerns below:

Thanks kpc for your input - your concerns noted.

Yesterday I did indeed secure Suite Savers on SQ both ways - but laying in bed last night just thought as I know exact dates why not burn some of those 200K USDM pts I bought - if indeed it all falls apart re-deposit of pts to UA or AA or whoever no biggie - if all works out I can cancel the SQ flts anytime up to 24hrs prior to departure and cost is only USD30 each flt.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Bear in mind my concerns below:

just make sure you choose flights with a little bit of thought. isn't it always the second sydney flight that seems to get cut? well, whichever it is, make sure you pick the one that's not going to change.

for other star routes, pick those with high frequency rather than just one plane a day for example.

 

[Flashback]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

Some interesting info regarding booking LH: Diagnosing a Problem: Booking Lufthansa Award Space with US Airways Dividend Miles - Live and Let's Fly

 

[EuroFlyer]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

Hi all,
Hoping someone might be able to help.
I am looking to go one way from Dub - Mel (any route) in J or F next July. It is for 2 passengers and I have 150000 miles, im just wondering if that amount of miles will be enough for that kind of redemption, iv not booked a reward with Us airways before. Is there a route like that available in peoples experiene, i can easily get a flight to LHR and start my journey there.

Is my best option to simply ring the reward line?

Any help would be great, many thanks

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

Hi all,
Hoping someone might be able to help.
I am looking to go one way from Dub - Mel (any route) in J or F next July. It is for 2 passengers and I have 150000 miles, im just wondering if that amount of miles will be enough for that kind of redemption, iv not booked a reward with Us airways before. Is there a route like that available in peoples experiene, i can easily get a flight to LHR and start my journey there.

Is my best option to simply ring the reward line?

Any help would be great, many thanks

mileage is 120,000 miles in J or 150,000 miles in F per person. a one way award via USDM costs the same as a return.

 

[auriga]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

Hi all,
Hoping someone might be able to help.
I am looking to go one way from Dub - Mel (any route) in J or F next July. It is for 2 passengers and I have 150000 miles, im just wondering if that amount of miles will be enough for that kind of redemption, iv not booked a reward with Us airways before. Is there a route like that available in peoples experiene, i can easily get a flight to LHR and start my journey there.

Is my best option to simply ring the reward line?

Any help would be great, many thanks

They don't do one way awards, or rather, one way will cost the same as return.
So 150K miles will not be enough for two persons.

 

[EuroFlyer]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

Thanks for the heads up

 

[EuroFlyer]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

Thanks for the reply, il use the miles for another trip again some time myself and try a different option for the trip in question,many thanks

 

[phantompharter]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

Hi,

Not sure if this has been touched on or not - I have scrolled through about a dozen pages in this thread and in the "US Dividend Miles Successfull bookings post" and couldn't see any mention of it.

It seems as if everyone is interested in booking F or J fares only. Is this because people prefer travelling in style or do these tickets have more inherent value?

I am most interested in getting to and from Europe from Perth as cheaply as possible so that I can afford more travel later - and thus would have thought booking economy would be the way to go.
Do US Dividend Mile redemptions for economy class fares not make sense financially?

Any explanations would be much appreciated as I am just starting to get my head around australian frequent flyer.

Regards,
Casper

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

Hi,

Not sure if this has been touched on or not - I have scrolled through about a dozen pages in this thread and in the "US Dividend Miles Successfull bookings post" and couldn't see any mention of it.

It seems as if everyone is interested in booking F or J fares only. Is this because people prefer travelling in style or do these tickets have more inherent value?

I am most interested in getting to and from Europe from Perth as cheaply as possible so that I can afford more travel later - and thus would have thought booking economy would be the way to go.
Do US Dividend Mile redemptions for economy class fares not make sense financially?

Any explanations would be much appreciated as I am just starting to get my head around australian frequent flyer.

Regards,
Casper

you can see from the award chart that return economy to Europe is 100,000 miles.

return business class is 120,000.

at a 100% offer, the difference is about $350 to fly business class. that's on a return basis. for $175 each way no one would ever consider flying economy.

but lets look at the math... at 100% bonus your miles would cost you (at .94c to the USD) around $2001. you then need to add taxes of $150-200 or so.

you can get an early bird to europe on Singapore airlines for $1500 at the moment, including a free stopover (well, for $1 extra including transfers and hotels).

it doesn't make sense to use dividend miles for a Europe trip in economy unless you are really in peak season when airlines are charging $2500-2600. even then, to save a coupe hundred dollars? might as well fly business.

but on a business class award you're saving many thousands of dollars (around $2700 via USDM compared to minimum $5000-7000 on a mid range airline). even the cheapest business classes on someone like Garuda or royal Brunei are going to be in the region of $4000 give or take.

 

[EuroFlyer]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

you can see from the award chart that return economy to Europe is 100,000 miles.

return business class is 120,000.

at a 100% offer, the difference is about $350 to fly business class. that's on a return basis. for $175 each way no one would ever consider flying economy.

but lets look at the math... at 100% bonus your miles would cost you (at .94c to the USD) around $2001. you then need to add taxes of $150-200 or so.

you can get an early bird to europe on Singapore airlines for $1500 at the moment, including a free stopover (well, for $1 extra including transfers and hotels).

it doesn't make sense to use dividend miles for a Europe trip in economy unless you are really in peak season when airlines are charging $2500-2600. even then, to save a coupe hundred dollars? might as well fly business.

but on a business class award you're saving many thousands of dollars (around $2700 via USDM compared to minimum $5000-7000 on a mid range airline). even the cheapest business classes on someone like Garuda or royal Brunei are going to be in the region of $4000 give or take.

Thanks MEL_Traveller for the response. I absolutely agree award travel only makes sense for J or F travel, iv used many J and F redemption's with one world and VA but didnt know how the US one worked.

Thanks again

 

[phantompharter]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

Thanks for the response.
I will have to look at the award chart myself.
I think I would use an USDM award flight if I was up around the $2k mark for a flight - then the minimal extra cost would be worth it like you said.

I guess the reason there is such a large differential between the fare classes in cash cost versus miles cost is that the company wants you to burn your miles as they do not bring any extra cash in to the company - so only a slight increase to get into business or first will encourage you to spend them rather than save up for a second flight. In simplistic terms, one first class award flight is cheaper for a company to provide than two economy class award flights... Is this right?

Now I just need to find how to get to Europe for cheaper than even the Singapore early birds (thanks for the suggestion BTW) ... I'll keep on scouring the forums. Any suggestions where I might find some gems?

Thanks

 

[Alanslegal]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

I guess the reason there is such a large differential between the fare classes in cash cost versus miles cost is that the company wants you to burn your miles as they do not bring any extra cash in to the company - so only a slight increase to get into business or first will encourage you to spend them rather than save up for a second flight. In simplistic terms, one first class award flight is cheaper for a company to provide than two economy class award flights... Is this right?

There's no simple answer however if I was a frequent flyer program, I would want flyers to book into economy seats, not premium cabins In fact, I would want my flyers to not even book flights but redeem for gift cards, magazine subscriptions, toasters and vacuum cleaners where I can make more profit from those points. The smart flyers know the best value generally lies in premium cabin awards, so thus to the passenger this is the best benefit, and to the program, the less benefit.

Now I just need to find how to get to Europe for cheaper than even the Singapore early birds (thanks for the suggestion BTW) ... I'll keep on scouring the forums. Any suggestions where I might find some gems?

Yeah generally quite simple, if you're on the east coast try flying Scoot, Air Asia or Jetstar to Asia. From there, book into a middle eastern airline to Europe, maybe like Egypt Air or Qatar or something. That's just from a dollar perspective only.

 

[cove]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

From Perth you can go Thai in business class to BKK and then choose business or first on Thai to LHR. Business runs 120k miles and First runs 150k miles on USDM for the return trip. This satisfied my friends last month.

 

[Nizar]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

Now I just need to find how to get to Europe for cheaper than even the Singapore early birds (thanks for the suggestion BTW) ... I'll keep on scouring the forums. Any suggestions where I might find some gems?

It will be hard to beat SQ early birds which are in the $1,400-1,600 range.
If willing to pay more to fly in J perhaps can get a cheap positioning flight to DPS and then get on QR return to CDG is about US$3,300.

But for cheap economy deals it will be tough to find <$1,400. Mind you a couple of years ago GA had $999 return from MEL-AMS which I got my aunty onto. Got that deal through Zuji. May be worth subscribing to their offers (free).

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

Thanks for the response.
I will have to look at the award chart myself.
I think I would use an USDM award flight if I was up around the $2k mark for a flight - then the minimal extra cost would be worth it like you said.

I guess the reason there is such a large differential between the fare classes in cash cost versus miles cost is that the company wants you to burn your miles as they do not bring any extra cash in to the company - so only a slight increase to get into business or first will encourage you to spend them rather than save up for a second flight. In simplistic terms, one first class award flight is cheaper for a company to provide than two economy class award flights... Is this right?

Now I just need to find how to get to Europe for cheaper than even the Singapore early birds (thanks for the suggestion BTW) ... I'll keep on scouring the forums. Any suggestions where I might find some gems?

Thanks

the mileage requirements reflect earning capacity.

in general, you earn 100% miles flying economy, 125% miles for flying business class, and 150% miles for flying first. the award redemption charts reflect that (although in these days earning miles is slightly skewed with bonus miles here and there).

this is going off topic but the cheapest fares ex Australia to Europe are on china southern, for around $1200 return to Europe. you probably won't find anything cheaper, even combining with a cheap flight to Asia first.

 

[Nizar]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

It will be hard to beat SQ early birds which are in the $1,400-1,600 range.
If willing to pay more to fly in J perhaps can get a cheap positioning flight to DPS and then get on QR return to CDG is about US$3,300.

But for cheap economy deals it will be tough to find <$1,400. Mind you a couple of years ago GA had $999 return from MEL-AMS which I got my aunty onto. Got that deal through Zuji. May be worth subscribing to their offers (free).

EY have deals right now MEL-AMS $1199 and MEL-CDG for $1249.
Not too shabby on a top airline.
Great Deals on Europe Airfares | ZUJI Australia

But they're not for next year, they are for travel in oct-nov this year.
Still I've not seen prices that good from EY/EK/QR/CX/SQ or any of the other top airlines at any time of the year. Ever.

 

[burmans]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

EY have deals right now MEL-AMS $1199 and MEL-CDG for $1249.
Not too shabby on a top airline.
Great Deals on Europe Airfares | ZUJI Australia

But they're not for next year, they are for travel in oct-nov this year.
Still I've not seen prices that good from EY/EK/QR/CX/SQ or any of the other top airlines at any time of the year. Ever.

I agree, thats a VERY good price for such a good airline.

 

[phantompharter]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

EY have deals right now MEL-AMS $1199 and MEL-CDG for $1249.
Not too shabby on a top airline.
Great Deals on Europe Airfares | ZUJI Australia

But they're not for next year, they are for travel in oct-nov this year.
Still I've not seen prices that good from EY/EK/QR/CX/SQ or any of the other top airlines at any time of the year. Ever.

Yeah I saw them come out today. Thats pretty amazing value. Except the specials don't fly out of Perth