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

[MEL_Traveller]

Okay this all sounds good however I'm not sure what you mean regarding connecting via a hub city (thought SFO was a hub and that's why we made JFK the destination as this is not a United hub??)

yes you are right - but I meant another hub city which doesn't involve a transcontinental premium serve on the p/s flights. So you could connect via ORD for example, or pick a connecting flight via somewhere else. A dummy booking should come up with something. You might even score a 777 or 747 LAX-ORD for example (travel would be in business class - but with a full flat bed)

 

[bcworld]

Okay this all sounds good however I'm not sure what you mean regarding connecting via a hub city (thought SFO was a hub and that's why we made JFK the destination as this is not a United hub??)

MEL is suggesting avoiding 3 class services if that is the issue. UA JFK to LAX & SFO is a special type of service called 'ps' - all the ps flights I see are 3 class and these are the only ps routes. So you could fly SFO-xx_-NYC to avoid a 3 class ps service and get yourself booked in so called 'F' on your C award. Even a flight to SFO- EWR would be ok if there is such a thing?

 

[points]

Thanks for the help however not looking good. Any other suggestions wold be appreciated.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks for the help however not looking good. Any other suggestions wold be appreciated.

not sure what problem you are encountering. probably wanting 4 seats on a flight - going to be hard. have you tried splitting the booking (2 parties of two) and looking for awards that way? United.com is a good way of finding seats, or even use the USDM site for seats US might offer. If using UA site, make sure you find saver award space.

dates would certainly help to be able to assist.

 

[burmans]

MEL is suggesting avoiding 3 class services if that is the issue. UA JFK to LAX & SFO is a special type of service called 'ps' - all the ps flights I see are 3 class and these are the only ps routes. So you could fly SFO-xx_-NYC to avoid a 3 class ps service and get yourself booked in so called 'F' on your C award. Even a flight to SFO- EWR would be ok if there is such a thing?

Definitely, I flew UA SFO to EWR on a 2 class flight! Internal business/first not really much but to save 30k worth it!

 

[points]

No problems finding seats for 4 and have already put on hold melb-sfo stop nyc (jfk) dest and return, but will be ticketed as first redemption x 4 due to the sfo-jfk leg.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

No problems finding seats for 4 and have already put on hold melb-sfo stop nyc (jfk) dest and return, but will be ticketed as first redemption x 4 due to the sfo-jfk leg.

and there are no flights SFO-ORD-LGA?

 

[robcuk]

I'm starting to plan next years travels. I'm looking to travel from MEL to NYC and unlike a lot of people im totally OK with travelling in UA C as opposed to plotting some route via Asia or Europe. UA can get me from MEL to JFK in a little over 22 hours and I think by the time I travel the ps flights between LAX & JFK will have the full lie flat beds in BusinessFirst - so full flat bed the whole way.

Only thing that surprises me is that connection in LAX is 70 mins...according to KVS this is the MCT for UA-UA Int to Dom.

I haven't been through the US for years but in this time wouldn't I have to collect a bag for re security checking and clear immigration and presumably change terminals? Any ideas what the success rate might be with this connection? It seems like a risky one to me! I have a feeling getting accommodated on a later flight could be tricky as well as resulting in an anti social arrival time into New York.

Id spend a lot of time worrying about the limited connection time which would stop me enjoying the flight - Im sure you have
looked into other options but could you not fly via SFO? Or perhaps fly into another NY airport?

 

[concorde70]

With the impending merger between USAirways and American Airways is there any point in continuing to accrue USAirways Dividend Miles given the number of miles required for awards and the lack of Oneworld airlines operating from Australia (other than Qantas for which awards are far too expensive)?.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

With the impending merger between USAirways and American Airways is there any point in continuing to accrue USAirways Dividend Miles given the number of miles required for awards and the lack of Oneworld airlines operating from Australia (other than Qantas for which awards are far too expensive)?.

Cathay pacific also flies to Australia. and the awards would be at the USDM level... not the qantas level (the two have no bearing).

I regularly buy the allowed maximum on AA and use them for cheap QF/CX/KA awards to Asia (90k return in F). requires a little kore planning than USDM in terms of availability and because F services are limited ex au (but there is BA out of Sydney).

I would expect you'd be able to pick up F rewards au to Europe in the 150k range if a merger was to happen.

if AA for some reason went to star alliance, then you'll still have the current availability.

the merger is not really impending... it's a potential!

 

[burmans]

With the impending merger between USAirways and American Airways is there any point in continuing to accrue USAirways Dividend Miles given the number of miles required for awards and the lack of Oneworld airlines operating from Australia (other than Qantas for which awards are far too expensive)?.

a) not sure this is going to happen quite as fast as you think, i.e. it could take a year and you'll get * Alliance bookings in the meantime (plus can effectively book nearly a year ahead).
b) Are you referring to the Qantas award redemption value here or AA Oneworld chart, you'll still be redeeming using the AA award chart!

 

[Shanye2233]

I'm confused as what is the outcome of this merger . I'm thinking on one hand it's good because I'm a AA exe plat even tho I'm not sure what that's going to do for me. Then on the other hand I have jut brought up miles with U.S airways for Au Europe redemptions and was going to wait for another sale then ticket it.
In the meantime does that mean when this merger is complete the whole award redemption will change possibly doubling a F SYD CDG to 300k ?

 

[bcworld]

In the meantime does that mean when this merger is complete the whole award redemption will change possibly doubling a F SYD CDG to 300k ?

Yes absolutely, of course...or any other numbers you care to pluck out of thin air!

 

[Shanye2233]

Seriously not helpful there .

 

[bcworld]

Seriously not helpful there .

Sure...just about as helpful pulling random, baseless numbers out of your **** to worry yourself with. Enlighten us then, where does the 300k come from?

 

[Shanye2233]

I thought SYD to Europe was 150k in F . I'm guessing if I double 150 I.e

150 + 150 = 300 Or try 150 x 2 = 300

Do you see the light there ?

 

[Flashback]

I thought SYD to Europe was 150k in F . I'm guessing if I double 150 I.e

150 + 150 = 300 Or try 150 x 2 = 300

Do you see the light there ?

I'd think more along the lines of what do AA offer, and seems to be 160k return?

American Airlines | AAdvantage® Participant Airline Award Chart | AA.com Japan

 

[k3nnis]

Is it confirmed AA won't be oneworld anymore????

 

[bcworld]

Do you see the light there ?

No. As was obvious to probably everyone else, the question was, why you would speculate that the rate for the redemption would double. Why not stay the same, x1.5, x3.0. I assumed given that you spend 25% of your life researching this stuff you had some nugget to share.

Personally I would be looking at the fact US charges 150k roundtrip and AA charges 160k roundtrip and thinking.....erm never mind. Speculate away...stay up all night worrying about it if you like.

 

[bcworld]

Is it confirmed AA won't be oneworld anymore????

Nothing is confirmed. 2 airlines have confirmed that they are investigating the possibility of merging. That is all.