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

[kamchatsky]

I like the idea, but what kinds of things would we put in the FAQ that aren't answered in the Flyertalk thread?

I know some questions do keep coming up, but I haven't kept even a mental track of what those questions are (apart from the basics which can be found in the Flyertalk thread)...

Yes there is the FT thread but I still think the same questions are asked over and over again, and when they can just look at the first post .... And some people do not use FT.

Maybe more on Australianised content? eg Can use SQ/TG/OZ to America route rather than just UA/AC/NZ?

Again, arguments and suggestions from both sides are welcome.

 

[jcb12]

Thanks, MEL_Traveller, for your extended reply. Unfortunately, we are in London, so will have to pay the higher taxes! Hubby said maybe we should take Eurostar to Paris and start our trip from there, to save on the taxes. However, the costs of the Eurostar may negate the higher taxes.

We are thinking of a trip back to Oz to visit families either later this year or next year. So, will start planning now.

I think you can avoid the high taxes by taking an intra-Europe flight as the first leg. So, for example, if you wanted to go from London to Sydney on TG, if you went LHR-BKK-SYD you would get stung for the additional taxes, but flying LHR-FRA-BKK-SYD you would not. This is what just happened to me anyway, my wife and kids are flying back from the UK in September directly and the taxes were about $450 in J, but for me with the additional hop in FRA the taxes were $260 in F

 

[Stephen65]

Eurostar is pretty cheap if you book in advance and go in standard class plus train travel is fun. We're going to LHR in September and then catching the Eurostar to Brussels and flying back from there in part to avoid the ridiculous surcharges we would be hit with for flying LHR-BKK in J class.

 

[jcb12]

So, finally got everything ticketed this morning. All 4 of us in J (1 infant) on the outbound flights, then me coming back in F 3 weeks later (no J available, oh well ) and wife and kids 5 weeks after that in J.

All up cost about $2,700 for the wife and child (each) and $1,500 for the infant, so the overall cost for all four of us is probably about 10% more than Qantas would have charged us for economy

 

[bcworld]

I think you can avoid the high taxes by taking an intra-Europe flight as the first leg. So, for example, if you wanted to go from London to Sydney on TG, if you went LHR-BKK-SYD you would get stung for the additional taxes, but flying LHR-FRA-BKK-SYD you would not.

Sounds like your taxes were calculated incorretly then.

The stopover at FRA would have to be > 24hrs in order for the UK APD for Aus to not be charged.

 

[Stephen65]

I think you can avoid the high taxes by taking an intra-Europe flight as the first leg. So, for example, if you wanted to go from London to Sydney on TG, if you went LHR-BKK-SYD you would get stung for the additional taxes, but flying LHR-FRA-BKK-SYD you would not. This is what just happened to me anyway, my wife and kids are flying back from the UK in September directly and the taxes were about $450 in J, but for me with the additional hop in FRA the taxes were $260 in F

I'm pretty sure this will only work if you do a proper stopover (ie at least 24 hours) at FRA. Transits are ignored for the purposes of calculating where you are flying to from LHR and thus the distance band and tax that applies. So:

LHR-A-B-SYD

is treated as LHR-SYD unless you do a stopover at either A, in which case its taxed as LHR-A, or B, in which case its taxed as LHR-B.

 

[jcb12]

Sounds like your taxes were calculated incorretly then.

The stopover at FRA would have to be > 24hrs in order for the UK APD for Aus to not be charged.

Ok, thanks. Looks like it was a mistake then.

 

[smit0847]

I like the idea, but what kinds of things would we put in the FAQ that aren't answered in the Flyertalk thread?

I know some questions do keep coming up, but I haven't kept even a mental track of what those questions are (apart from the basics which can be found in the Flyertalk thread)...

Is there a full list of what F routes *A carriers fly anywhere? That would be extremely beneficial for those trying to choose between flying J and F.

 

[arraitch]

Given this information, you'd imagine [fingers crossed] that inventory will disappear as of September 14th. Presumably this is a consequence of UA launching an IAD-DOH service.

Update regarding Qatar Airways inventory returning in UA and AwardTravelr search results; from https://www.united.com/CMS/en-US/tr...EF961CCE99F4D0A&v_ctrk=HHLN$0-772-2045-1-1156 (link courtesy of The End of United’s Qatar Partnership Announced, and the Effect on Ultimate Rewards Transfer Options - View from the Wing):

​Notice regarding Qatar Airways​
Effective June 15, 2012, United will terminate its codeshare agreement with Qatar Airways. Reservations booked through United for Qatar Airways-operated flights scheduled to depart on or before September 14, 2012, will be honored as ticketed. Customers booked through United on Qatar Airways-operated flights scheduled to depart on or after September 15, 2012, will be accommodated on their scheduled flights with new flight numbers. Customers will be able to accrue mileage on Qatar Airways codeshare and interline flights until September 14, 2012. Award travel ticketed on or before September 14, 2012, will be honored as ticketed and valid for one year.

Presumably QR inventory will no longer be returned after 15th June?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Is there a full list of what F routes *A carriers fly anywhere? That would be extremely beneficial for those trying to choose between flying J and F.

yes but you can't use LH F and LX F is rare if non existant. As is NH F.

Leaves you with UA/CA/OZ/TG F.

Of those, only UA and TG are exAU (SYD for all intents and purposes except for the one UA flight from MEL, and UA availability from AU is almost non existent).

Not that hard to work out which flights offer F - any award search engine will show an F cabin if it is available.

 

[JohnK]

Nice to see but not so good that you apparently have to do it via points.com again rather than just directly from the airline.

Not good if this is the case. I did not notice any reference to points.com in my email and I thought it would be as simple as purchase 50,000 miles and receive 50,000 bonus miles.

 

[jcb12]

Not good if this is the case. I did not notice any reference to points.com in my email and I thought it would be as simple as purchase 50,000 miles and receive 50,000 bonus miles.

It is as simple as that, bonus points post with the bought points. Came through in 2 days for me, which seems about standard at the moment.

 

[JohnK]

I have spent the last couple of hours getting my head around this whole US Dividend miles thing, including using the ANA tool.

I only have one question, from Australia what is the best way for us to book a redemption?

Are you thinking of using US Dividend miles to get to Thailand? The cost of the trip would be over $2,000 and not really worth it in my opinion. If you want to get to Europe or the USA then it would be a good use of money to purchase US Dividend miles.

Your original suggestion to get status on QFF for trips to Thailand is probably a better idea and much better use of money. For me it is a no brainer as that option costs ~AUD1,500 and will yield 270 SCs and ~20,000 QFF points.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Not good if this is the case. I did not notice any reference to points.com in my email and I thought it would be as simple as purchase 50,000 miles and receive 50,000 bonus miles.

ALL transactions to buy miles have always been organised through points.com. It was just the last promo was a two-stager where points.com was obviously trying to get more people to sign up so teamed with US to do the half now half later.

For all other promos the bonus has come through at the same time. But it was still done through points.com.

 

[JohnK]

ALL transactions to buy miles have always been organised through points.com. It was just the last promo was a two-stager where points.com was obviously trying to get more people to sign up so teamed with US to do the half now half later.

I understand. BMI was the same with miles purchases as well.

What I object to is having to sign up to points.com to get my additional bonus points. I am quite happy doing everything via the US Airways website without having to go to other websites.

 

[Myrna]

Thanks, all - particularly Anat0l, Mel_Traveller, Stephen65 and jcb12, for further replies on the taxes - appreciated your views and time in replying. As hubby will not have a lot of time off at the end of the year, so we may just grin & bear and pay the taxes out of LHR, instead of taking Eurostar to Paris and leaving from CDG. We have not bought the miles yet but will do so after we transfer £ into US$ accounts, but we are doing the planning.

 

[JohnK]

I have been thinking about whether to update the first post of this thread with all the info required (like FAQ or sticky) so that people don't ask the same questions again and again. However, the contrary is that in order for people to take advantage of this, they should do their own research. Let me know what you all think over the next 7 days. Opinion from everyone are welcome.

How many people actually go back to the first post in a long running thread such as this one?

I like to do my own research but occassionally would like to read other people's experiences. I know it may get boring for some but it is unavoidable.

 

[Terryi02]

All,

I have been thinking about whether to update the first post of this thread with all the info required (like FAQ or sticky) so that people don't ask the same questions again and again. However, the contrary is that in order for people to take advantage of this, they should do their own research. Let me know what you all think over the next 7 days. Opinion from everyone are welcome.

Cheers,

Edison

That would be great!!! Just to avoid asking the dumb questions!!
I enjoy reading the posts and leaning stuff I didn't know I wanted to know.

 

[wafliron]

I'm trying to wrap my head around my first Dividend Miles purchase / redemption and am looking for some assistance please - I'm sure the answers to the below questions are buried in this thread, which I am working my way through, but it's 110 pages long and I'm only up to page 20! And yes, I already have the required DM accounts open so the 11-days-open-before-you-can-buy rule is taken care of.

So... here goes:

1) I'm interested in using this promo to book J/F flights for myself and my partner to get to the USA and back next May. We're going to start on the east coast and finish on the west coast. It looks like going to the east coast of the USA via Europe is quite common, but does this mean we'd also have to return from the west cost via Europe (so the return is the opposite direction to the outbound)? Or can we get to the east coast via Europe (going west) and then get home from the west cost via Asia (so the return continues travelling west - the same direction as in the outbound)?

2) It looks like most trips require some rather creative routings to find availability - is there a maximum number of transits that is allowed per direction / round trip? Maximum number of different airlines?

3) I believe you can either have one stopover or an open jaw per round trip - can someone confirm that this is correct?

4) Assuming yes to #3, quite possibly we'll go open jaw arriving in NYC and departing from LAX, which means no stopovers. However, another option is to arrive and depart from NYC and use a stopover. If we want to do the latter, we'd probably try to fly all the way to MIA on the outbound leg with a stopover in NYC - is that valid, given it's an even longer routing than NYC-via-Europe already is.

5) Is SQ F (F on 777-300 / 777-300ER - not suites) available for redemption via US Airways?

6) Are there any *A carriers other than TG, SQ and UA which offer an F cabin to/from Australia?

7) I know most people despise UA's trans-Pacific service, but does this opinion extend to their F cabin - i.e. is their trans-Pacific F product as bad as their Y and J?

8) Is there a particular reason most people heading to the USA via Dividend Miles are going via Oz-Asia-Europe-USA, rather than via Oz-Asia-USA? Is it just because of availability of seats? Or something else?

9) Given we're starting from a base of 0 miles each, my partner and I will each need to acquire 110k / 140k. Obviously we'll get 100k each via buying 50k miles and receiving the 100% bonus. For the remaining 10k/40k, it looks like there's a 100% bonus for gifting miles at the moment too - does anyone know if this can be combined with the buy miles promo, so we can just gift each other 5k / 20k to make up the extra required?

Thanks all, apologies for the big list of questions and sincerely appreciate any responses.

 

[bcworld]

1. No you don't have to return via Europe.
2. As a general rule a maximum of 4 segments per direction.
3. Yes. 1 stopover OR 1 openjaw is correct.
4. Stopovers should typically occur somewhere along the most direct routing to your destination. I'm pretty sure you could find numerous options direct from Europe to MIA. BUT, you should realise that you are very unlikely to be able to book LH or LX F therefore your only transatlantic choice in F is likely to be UA...maybe the only available routing will take you via another city to MIA?
5. No - pretty much forget about SQ F.
6. Only TG, SQ & UA.
7. I think UAs J product looks OK...I think it's generally the soft product that is criticised rather than the seats.
8. Maybe they want a stopover there...or to maximise flying time!
9. I'm not sure this is answered anywhere...there is a thread on Flyertalk about the current promo...some recent promos have specifically ruled out benefitting from both buy & gift.