US Dividend Miles - Award Booking Questions and General Discussion

[PapaRubbery]

Managed to get through and got a new itinerary, and scored 2xF from LAX-ICN. It's no OZ suites, but it's the only F product across the pacific, so I'm excited!

 

[bcworld]

Managed to get through and got a new itinerary, and scored 2xF from LAX-ICN. It's no OZ suites, but it's the only F product across the pacific, so I'm excited!

This is for Dec right? There's a chance the OZ A380 will be operating to LAX by then. Delivery is in Q2 I think and LAX is slated to be the first long haul route.

 

[bcworld]

Apparently TG 787 may* be coming to PER.

THAI Proposes Boeing 787 Operation from July 2014 | Airline Route

*this is TG remember!

 

[PapaRubbery]

This is for Dec right? There's a chance the OZ A380 will be operating to LAX by then. Delivery is in Q2 I think and LAX is slated to be the first long haul route.

Ahh no this is for very early Jan 2015. So even more of a chance, woo hoo! Cheers for the heads up!

Going MEL-BKK-CDG-YYZ-LGA in J,F-A380,J,Y
LAX-ICN-HKG-BKK-MEL in F,J,F,J

The odd routing back is because the flight into ICN gets in at night - only connection is in Y that night, so fiancee has decreed we are overnighting as she refuses to fly Y for anything more than an hour (I knew there was a reason I loved this woman!). Then rather than waiting all day in BKK for the MEL flight home - might as well go via HKG, to get the HKG-BKK leg in F. Still gives us a few hours in the F lounge in BKK to get that massage, and try out the F lounges in HKG, too.

It's all on hold at the moment, as the BKK-MEL leg hadn't opened up by last night, so I'll call back today, pay and get this show on the road.

I'm going to do one more hunt to see if I can find a better CDG-NYC route for the 17th-Dec, but otherwise AC J it is.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Ahh no this is for very early Jan 2015. So even more of a chance, woo hoo! Cheers for the heads up!

Going MEL-BKK-CDG-YYZ-LGA in J,F-A380,J,Y
LAX-ICN-HKG-BKK-MEL in F,J,F,J

The odd routing back is because the flight into ICN gets in at night - only connection is in Y that night, so fiancee has decreed we are overnighting as she refuses to fly Y for anything more than an hour (I knew there was a reason I loved this woman!). Then rather than waiting all day in BKK for the MEL flight home - might as well go via HKG, to get the HKG-BKK leg in F. Still gives us a few hours in the F lounge in BKK to get that massage, and try out the F lounges in HKG, too.

It's all on hold at the moment, as the BKK-MEL leg hadn't opened up by last night, so I'll call back today, pay and get this show on the road.

I'm going to do one more hunt to see if I can find a better CDG-NYC route for the 17th-Dec, but otherwise AC J it is.

don't forget the BKK-MEL is full flat beds on the ~0800 departure. Otherwise angled.

overnighting and itinerary padding probably a good idea where possible. Any schedule changes in the itinerary (highly likely in the next year) and the whole itinerary could come undone (probably no recourse other than cancellation and refund).

F lounges in HKG? Not that I'm aware of (at least there is nothing on the scale of the CX lounges. I think the TG lounge has a roped off area which is pretty much the same as the main lounge). As for the spa in BKK - you may or may not get access to F massage services since you are connecting to J. Likely to only get the 30 minute.

 

[smit0847]

Apparently TG 787 may* be coming to PER.

THAI Proposes Boeing 787 Operation from July 2014 | Airline Route

*this is TG remember!

I wish they'd put an A380 on SYD like they originally planned to and move that 747 down to MEL!

 

[Alanslegal]

Sorry to be a party-pooper for most people but with bookings this advance out and with US departing *A at the end of next month .... any timetable changes is going to be a hassle to get resolved (and likely to end up being cancelled) down the track.

 

[PapaRubbery]

don't forget the BKK-MEL is full flat beds on the ~0800 departure. Otherwise angled.

Cheers, was going on the 0810 anyway, but didn't know about the fully flats though!

overnighting and itinerary padding probably a good idea where possible. Any schedule changes in the itinerary (highly likely in the next year) and the whole itinerary could come undone (probably no recourse other than cancellation and refund).

Yeah this is why I'm not chasing like 90 minute connections - giving us a few hours each stop, and trying to stick to major/flagship product routes.

F lounges in HKG? Not that I'm aware of (at least there is nothing on the scale of the CX lounges. I think the TG lounge has a roped off area which is pretty much the same as the main lounge). As for the spa in BKK - you may or may not get access to F massage services since you are connecting to J. Likely to only get the 30 minute.

My understanding was that disembarking F passengers get F lounge if transiting to a J flight assuming its a 2-class cabin?

Sorry to be a party-pooper for most people but with bookings this advance out and with US departing *A at the end of next month .... any timetable changes is going to be a hassle to get resolved (and likely to end up being cancelled) down the track.

Gotta take what I can get at the moment - I'd be shocked if big routes got cancelled though - and again, that's why we are leaving big gaps between flights. If the miles get cancelled and reimbursed then I'll fly CX

 

[bcworld]

My understanding was that disembarking F passengers get F lounge if transiting to a J flight assuming its a 2-class cabin?

At BKK you would be taken to the F lounge and be able to use J class spa services. At other airports you will be limited to J class lounges.

Gotta take what I can get at the moment - I'd be shocked if big routes got cancelled though - and again, that's why we are leaving big gaps between flights. If the miles get cancelled and reimbursed then I'll fly CX

A few hours isn't necessarily a big gap if an entire daily service is canned. It probably happens on 'big routes' as often as it happens on any other. When I first started playing TG operated 3 daily BKK-SYD for example, now that's down to something less than 14 a week. Dramatic TG schedule changes which don't seem to be gracefully handled by US are probably the biggest gotcha people here have experienced...I know people who have rocked up to the airport for flights which were cancelled months before (they know better now)!

Or if you follow airlineroute.net for Star Alliance you'd see lots of scheduled cancellations on prime routes like SIN-LHR etc.

 

[Alanslegal]

Gotta take what I can get at the moment - I'd be shocked if big routes got cancelled though - and again, that's why we are leaving big gaps between flights. If the miles get cancelled and reimbursed then I'll fly CX

I agree with you there. You have a contingency plan and that's what I was trying to get people to be prepared for. With bookings 330 or + days ahead and with US' departure from *A very shortly, any forward booking that involves changes / invalid connections etc means its going to be a tough ask to get it sorted [other than cancellation of the existing booking, and re-starting with *O] so a Plan B is a good idea to be thinking/planning for.

FWIW I will probably lock in something next month anyway. That way, once the merger is complete, there is a new bucket of carriers to possibly redeem with and if I do find better flights, I would pay the cancel fee and re-book Worst case is I'd have the original booking anyway (unless something changes).

 

[hedge]

Ahh no this is for very early Jan 2015. So even more of a chance, woo hoo! Cheers for the heads up!

Going MEL-BKK-CDG-YYZ-LGA in J,F-A380,J,Y
LAX-ICN-HKG-BKK-MEL in F,J,F,J

The odd routing back is because the flight into ICN gets in at night - only connection is in Y that night, so fiancee has decreed we are overnighting as she refuses to fly Y for anything more than an hour (I knew there was a reason I loved this woman!). Then rather than waiting all day in BKK for the MEL flight home - might as well go via HKG, to get the HKG-BKK leg in F. Still gives us a few hours in the F lounge in BKK to get that massage, and try out the F lounges in HKG, too.

It's all on hold at the moment, as the BKK-MEL leg hadn't opened up by last night, so I'll call back today, pay and get this show on the road.

I'm going to do one more hunt to see if I can find a better CDG-NYC route for the 17th-Dec, but otherwise AC J it is.

Didn't know arular is that picky!

 

[PapaRubbery]

Didn't know arular is that picky!

Man another OCAU nerd! Hiding behind multiple usernames

Finally nailed down a complete itinerary and booked and paid for. Will update relevant thread now. Yay!

 

[appaz]

just got off the phone with them, they weren't seeing any of the ANA flights i was trying to book... maybe ANA is doing an SQ or something else is a miss????

 

[hummel]

Has anyone done the UA CNS-GUM flight?

When searching just for that flight I get Y availability but if I connect through to HKG/TPE it shows up as J. This is using awardtravlr?

Any ideas? Thinking I could try CNS-GUM-NGO-BKK-MEL ??

 

[MEL_Traveller]

just got off the phone with them, they weren't seeing any of the ANA flights i was trying to book... maybe ANA is doing an SQ or something else is a miss????

award visibility for ANA through USDM can be patchy... air Japan flights are not bookable, and mainline flights can sometimes be unavailable for no apparent reason. this has been going on since at least 2011.

 

[Myrna]

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

Changes to flight schedules have caused us some problems - particularly by TG. Our USDM bookings at Easter time have got 2 changes by TG since we booked flights in June last year - messing up the connections. New flights which US rebooked us on (automatically by their system!) always arrive after the next flight leaving. Then no F seat released by TG, so we ended up on J seats. We were looking forward to doing F

 

[MEL_Traveller]

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

Changes to flight schedules have caused us some problems - particularly by TG. Our USDM bookings at Easter time have got 2 changes by TG since we booked flights in June last year - messing up the connections. New flights which US rebooked us on (automatically by their system!) always arrive after the next flight leaving. Then no F seat released by TG, so we ended up on J seats. We were looking forward to doing F

did you ask TG to release F seats and they said 'no'? or was it a case of waiting and TG just didn't release any?

 

[Myrna]

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

did you ask TG to release F seats and they said 'no'? or was it a case of waiting and TG just didn't release any?

I did not know that TG would release F seats? US said since we booked using USDM, we could only contact them (ie US). Should I phone TG (number?) I know there are 6 F seats available on revenue! - when I tried to make a fake booking.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

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

I did not know that TG would release F seats? US said since we booked using USDM, we could only contact them (ie US). Should I phone TG (number?) I know there are 6 F seats available on revenue! - when I tried to make a fake booking.

if it was a TG schedule change that caused subsequent issues there is a possibility TG could have created additional award inventory for you. That would have been held as a separate booking, which USDM would then have had to have taken over and ticketed for you.

if it was not TG's schedule change then they wouldn't be willing to help you.

it's not a particularly easy process, and you would need to find someone in TG willing to do it for you. But... given you now have a new ticket, and you have accepted the change... even it if was TG's problem they probably won't want to touch it.

The best you can hope for now is F awards to show up on their own accord, and then you'll be able to change that free of charge via USDM to the higher class.

 

[Myrna]

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

if it was a TG schedule change that caused subsequent issues there is a possibility TG could have created additional award inventory for you. That would have been held as a separate booking, which USDM would then have had to have taken over and ticketed for you.

if it was not TG's schedule change then they wouldn't be willing to help you.

it's not a particularly easy process, and you would need to find someone in TG willing to do it for you. But... given you now have a new ticket, and you have accepted the change... even it if was TG's problem they probably won't want to touch it.

The best you can hope for now is F awards to show up on their own accord, and then you'll be able to change that free of charge via USDM to the higher class.

Thanks, MEL_Traveller, for this explanation.

I should have tried TG first and see if I was in luck. I did not know so I accepted the J seats offered by USDM. Now, I will keep my fingers crossed that F seats will open up for the new flight and ask USDM to change at the cost of $150 each.