US Dividend Miles - Award Booking Questions and General Discussion

[bigsleep55]

I have used this trick a few times with AV Lifemiles in Europe (LX TXL-ZHR-BEG and TK IST-SPL-DBV) where Y rev tickets were $400+ - by buying miles during a sale and redeeming it came down to about $250 with taxes. I have *A SG so there's not much point paying extra miles to fly J.

Awesome, I've been waiting for a LM promo but they haven't had anything much this year right? Hopefully 1st March brings a new promo (and hopefully a last one from DM).

I'd look at Avios for US flights as well (and for Aus domestics and Aus-NZ flights).

Thanks for the tip. I'll start researching now. Do they run promos like DM & LM? Is there a dedicated thread on AFF? I haven't come across it in my searches as yet.

Thanks all of responding!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Just to confirm...

We have a saying in this game, "If you stumble on a good deal, ticket it immediately!"

However, with USDM, we know you can hold reservations without payment for 72 hours.

Am I correct in presuming that calling back after a hold is no guarantee that you would be able to ticket the held routing?

couple of things to keep in mind...

just because it's 'on hold' doesn't mean it has been to the rate desk and been approved. It may not go, but if it does, it can be rejected.

secondly, not all holds are equal... depending on the airline you may wish (= you will want) to ticket within 24 hours to make sure it doesn't auto cancel. In this category I include the like of CA, OZ, SQ.

 

[hossein_au]

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

I posted this question on the "success" thread, but just noticed I should have posted it here... sorry! Here's the question: I am trying to get from HAM to MEL/SYD/BNE, leaving on or around 24th of October. I'm happy to fly via Asia, or long way round, via the USA. But am finding it difficult to put it all together; I'm after F, but I seem to get quite a few legs in Y or no availability at all :-( Getting back to Oz, I much prefer if the flight lands at a reasonable time as I will need to book a domestic flight to Canberra. I really don't want to arrive in the country only to have to spend one more night in a motel somewhere.

Thanks in advance for any/all help.

 

[bcworld]

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

I posted this question on the "success" thread, but just noticed I should have posted it here... sorry! Here's the question: I am trying to get from HAM to MEL/SYD/BNE, leaving on or around 24th of October. I'm happy to fly via Asia, or long way round, via the USA. But am finding it difficult to put it all together; I'm after F, but I seem to get quite a few legs in Y or no availability at all :-( Getting back to Oz, I much prefer if the flight lands at a reasonable time as I will need to book a domestic flight to Canberra. I really don't want to arrive in the country only to have to spend one more night in a motel somewhere.

Thanks in advance for any/all help.

This seems pretty straightforward IF you're prepared to spend the night in SYD.

Leave on the 23rd October.

LH HAM-FRA (it's a Thursday so you might run into the LH problem) - there are so many options in C no need to list them.

[KVS Availability Tool 7.3.4/Diamond - Awards/StarAlliance/JP-ANA-STD]

FRA  Frankfurt Metro / Intl DE = FRA HHN [EDDF]
SYD  Sydney Kingsford Smith NS AU [YSSY]
THU  23 Oct 2014 | 1 Seat


Carrier    Flight  From  Depart    To    Arrive    A/C  St  Availability
---------  ------  ----  --------  ----  --------  ---  --  -------------
TG         921     FRA   14:45     BKK   06:25 +1  380  0   FS+  CS+  YS+
 -> TG     471     BKK   07:25 +1  SYD   20:25 +1  747  0   FS+  CS+  YS+

I think is probably your option if you wish to get more F for your buck. Otherwise you are going to have to compromise on the F to get an AM arrival.

 

[smit0847]

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

I posted this question on the "success" thread, but just noticed I should have posted it here... sorry! Here's the question: I am trying to get from HAM to MEL/SYD/BNE, leaving on or around 24th of October. I'm happy to fly via Asia, or long way round, via the USA. But am finding it difficult to put it all together; I'm after F, but I seem to get quite a few legs in Y or no availability at all :-( Getting back to Oz, I much prefer if the flight lands at a reasonable time as I will need to book a domestic flight to Canberra. I really don't want to arrive in the country only to have to spend one more night in a motel somewhere.

Thanks in advance for any/all help.

25/10 HAM-FRA LH9, 13 or 15 A321 J
25/10 FRA-BKK TG921 A380 F
26/10 BKK-SYD TG471 747 F

The LH flight is on a Sat which I believe eliminates any issues with booking LH? You will need to overnight in SYD as flights lands at 9pm. If you want to get into SYD in the morning you will need to go J BKK-SYD and have a long layover in BKK.

How would you like to get back?

 

[hossein_au]

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

This seems pretty straightforward IF you're prepared to spend the night in SYD.

Leave on the 23rd October.

LH HAM-FRA (it's a Thursday so you might run into the LH problem) - there are so many options in C no need to list them.

[KVS Availability Tool 7.3.4/Diamond - Awards/StarAlliance/JP-ANA-STD]

FRA  Frankfurt Metro / Intl DE = FRA HHN [EDDF]
SYD  Sydney Kingsford Smith NS AU [YSSY]
THU  23 Oct 2014 | 1 Seat


Carrier    Flight  From  Depart    To    Arrive    A/C  St  Availability
---------  ------  ----  --------  ----  --------  ---  --  -------------
TG         921     FRA   14:45     BKK   06:25 +1  380  0   FS+  CS+  YS+
 -> TG     471     BKK   07:25 +1  SYD   20:25 +1  747  0   FS+  CS+  YS+

I think is probably your option if you wish to get more F for your buck. Otherwise you are going to have to compromise on the F to get an AM arrival.

Thanks mate; for the sake of brevity I'll send you a PM in a sec. I'll then report back on the, hopefully, success thread

 

[hossein_au]

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

25/10 HAM-FRA LH9, 13 or 15 A321 J
25/10 FRA-BKK TG921 A380 F
26/10 BKK-SYD TG471 747 F

You will need to overnight in SYD as flights lands at 9pm. If you want to get into SYD in the morning you will need to go J BKK-SYD and have a long layover in BKK.

How would you like to get back?

Thanks mate. This IS my return (going there in April with a few nested trips in there). There is yours-truly traveling. I'm happy to have a long layover in BKK if it means I'll get an overnight flight in F (to be honest, I prefer to overnight it in BKK than in Sydney, as I'll probably consider a stay in BKK as "part" of the trip as opposed to being forced into an overnight stay "after" I arrive back in the country... hope you know what I mean)

 

[smit0847]

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

Thanks mate. This IS my return (going there in April with a few nested trips in there). There is yours-truly traveling. I'm happy to have a long layover in BKK if it means I'll get an overnight flight in F (to be honest, I prefer to overnight it in BKK than in Sydney, as I'll probably consider a stay in BKK as "part" of the trip as opposed to being forced into an overnight stay "after" I arrive back in the country... hope you know what I mean)

Unfortunately the AM TG BKK-SYD flight has F availability each day on the 24th-27th but the overnight flight getting into SYD the following morning does not. I would not go TG J overnight just to avoid a night in SYD - F is miles better.

 

[smit0847]

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

This seems pretty straightforward IF you're prepared to spend the night in SYD.

Leave on the 23rd October.

LH HAM-FRA (it's a Thursday so you might run into the LH problem) - there are so many options in C no need to list them.

[KVS Availability Tool 7.3.4/Diamond - Awards/StarAlliance/JP-ANA-STD]

FRA  Frankfurt Metro / Intl DE = FRA HHN [EDDF]
SYD  Sydney Kingsford Smith NS AU [YSSY]
THU  23 Oct 2014 | 1 Seat


Carrier    Flight  From  Depart    To    Arrive    A/C  St  Availability
---------  ------  ----  --------  ----  --------  ---  --  -------------
TG         921     FRA   14:45     BKK   06:25 +1  380  0   FS+  CS+  YS+
 -> TG     471     BKK   07:25 +1  SYD   20:25 +1  747  0   FS+  CS+  YS+

I think is probably your option if you wish to get more F for your buck. Otherwise you are going to have to compromise on the F to get an AM arrival.

BC, you and I should go into Business together - I'll handle all the GUM itineraries and you can do anything TG related xx_

 

[hossein_au]

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

BC, you and I should go into Business together - I'll handle all the GUM itineraries and you can do anything TG related xx_

BC, seems your inbox is full. Here's the gist of what I wanted to PM you:


Wow, that was quick!

Now that you and smith0847 have found a very good set of flights, let's talk about a 1st-world problem ;-) Is there any availability via ICN or other ports in Asia? I wouldn't mind sampling Asiana, or ANA, etc. Also, is there any availability via USA (let's say, destination YYZ, and then back via LAX or SFO)?

Thanks heaps.

 

[bcworld]

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

BC, seems your inbox is full. Here's the gist of what I wanted to PM you:


Wow, that was quick!

Now that you and smith0847 have found a very good set of flights, let's talk about a 1st-world problem ;-) Is there any availability via ICN or other ports in Asia? I wouldn't mind sampling Asiana, or ANA, etc. Also, is there any availability via USA (let's say, destination YYZ, and then back via LAX or SFO)?

Thanks heaps.

I thought I virtually emptied it the other day...no longer paying for membership you see!

OZ from ICN-SYD...no, no, no, no! I don't mean it isn't available, I haven't checked...just I think it's a really bad option. Poor hard product and in my limited experience, poor service, F&B too...others will disagree.

I'm not sure what you mean by destination YYZ, where does HAM now fit into this plan?

 

[bcworld]

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

BC, you and I should go into Business together - I'll handle all the GUM itineraries and you can do anything TG related xx_

OK...it's a deal, not sure about being tarred with the TG brush though...imagine all the schedule changes I'd have to work around! Full time job!

 

[hossein_au]

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

I thought I virtually emptied it the other day...no longer paying for membership you see!

OZ from ICN-SYD...no, no, no, no! I don't mean it isn't available, I haven't checked...just I think it's a really bad option. Poor hard product and in my limited experience, poor service, F&B too...others will disagree.

I'm not sure what you mean by destination YYZ, where does HAM now fit into this plan?

I wasn't thinking of ICN-SYD, but more along the lines of FRA-ICN-BKK-SYD...

I already have the SYD-HAM in April. As this is a return USDM redemption Oz-Europe in F, I thought maybe I can squeeze a USA on the way back? So, the whole thing instead of being SYD-BKK-...-HAM-...-BKK-SYD, would be something along the lines of SYD-BKK-...-HAM-...-YYZ-...-LAX-...-BKK-SYD.

 

[anat0l]

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

I'm surprised to find anything for GUM right now for the dates I'm looking for, for two people, but hell - if you don't like flying around much, it's a nightmare on paper! (Something I wouldn't mind at all, but newbies to the entire FF game might take issue at)

How's everyone going with getting to the US DM call centre with the adverse East US weather? I keep getting the automatic "please call back later" message; not even a Telstra-esque queue where I have to wait an hour or so.

 

[bcworld]

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

I wasn't thinking of ICN-SYD, but more along the lines of FRA-ICN-BKK-SYD...

I already have the SYD-HAM in April. As this is a return USDM redemption Oz-Europe in F, I thought maybe I can squeeze a USA on the way back? So, the whole thing instead of being SYD-BKK-...-HAM-...-BKK-SYD, would be something along the lines of SYD-BKK-...-HAM-...-YYZ-...-LAX-...-BKK-SYD.

Technically it would break the rules because:

travel between Europe and Japan/North Asia/South Asia/Australia/New Zealand is not permitted via North America.

...but YMMV.

 

[hossein_au]

Technically it would break the rules because:



...but YMMV.

But wouldn't that be travel to the USA (Canada actually) via Europe?

 

[bcworld]

But wouldn't that be travel to the USA (Canada actually) via Europe?

No. HAM is your destination. You are then looking to travel from Europe to Australia via NA on the return.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

But wouldn't that be travel to the USA (Canada actually) via Europe?

if you use great circle mapper, enter in your main stops. whichever is father will be your destination.

it seems to me that HAM is your destination, whether you come pack via YYZ or LAX.

if HAM is your destination... that means you are flying back via... Usa.

swp->Europe is not allowed via.... USA.

 

[smit0847]

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

OK...it's a deal, not sure about being tarred with the TG brush though...imagine all the schedule changes I'd have to work around! Full time job!

Because you know more about Thai Airways than anyone on this site. You're the only one who actually reads about their scheduling and product changes!

 

[diningdecadence]

from reading thread, and booking last night (hope i don't jinx it), they don't seem to be enforcing alot of the rules at present. e.g. i have stops in USA & Europe but only paid 140k miles and am coming home via asia.