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

[NDiddy]

US Airways | Dividend Miles membership guide

Under Redeem Miles and Partner Travel:
"One en route stopover per itinerary is permitted for select international travel awards."

Sadly it doesn't define stopover and destination that I could see

Thanks Bofter - Just found this myself. There is even a whole Stopover section in the MG but you're right nothing about the distinction between a stopover/destination that I could see (not that it should matter though). Sigh* anyway I'll try again after tea and see if I can get someone who know what they're doing.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Hey guys,

Having a bit of an issue with US Airways when trying to book our second redemption. Does anyone have a link to the T&C's for *A award redemption with particular reference to the stopover that is allowed? Many thanks for the help - thought this one would be easy but alas I think it might be a case of HUACA - just want to be armed with the info this time.

FWIW I'm trying to book the following:
SYD-LAX UA J (Destination)
LAX-ICN OZ F
ICN-BKK TG J (Stopover)
BKK-SYD TG F

Apparently I'm not allowed 2 stopovers and no matter how many times I tried to explain myself I got the "system won't allow us to ticket this". It's still on hold so haven't lost the booking but a bit frustrating that this is causing a problem. Given all the MPM discussion I was expecting to potentially have that conversation but they're adamant that 2 stopovers (even though it's clearly just 1) are not allowed.

Anyway I think a quick ref to the T&C's with the supervisor should sort this out.

I believe this is actually because it is outside MPM. BKK will push it over the limit for LAX for Australia. ICN in itself is fine. As always YMMV, but if the agent has not said they're going to disallow it you might need to pray hard for another to overrule it.

If you can route without BKK you might be ok.

USDM agents can sometimes get a bit confused as to why they are not allowing something - so it could be MPM.

Alternatively... sometimes the system will automatically force a stopover if the routing is not a direct flight. Even if the stay is under 24 hours, it will be considered a stopover. Try the following - if you plug LAX-SYD for the day you need, does it route via ICN AND BKK as a valid routing? If it doesn't, then putting in the BKK could force a second stopover. (In my case, PVG-BKK-ZRH was a forced stopover because the star tool didn't have that as a valid route for the day i wanted.)

 

[NDiddy]

I believe this is actually because it is outside MPM. BKK will push it over the limit for LAX for Australia. ICN in itself is fine. As always YMMV, but if the agent has not said they're going to disallow it you might need to pray hard for another to overrule it.

If you can route without BKK you might be ok.

USDM agents can sometimes get a bit confused as to why they are not allowing something - so it could be MPM.

Alternatively... sometimes the system will automatically force a stopover if the routing is not a direct flight. Even if the stay is under 24 hours, it will be considered a stopover. Try the following - if you plug LAX-SYD for the day you need, does it route via ICN AND BKK as a valid routing? If it doesn't, then putting in the BKK could force a second stopover. (In my case, PVG-BKK-ZRH was a forced stopover because the star tool didn't have that as a valid route for the day i wanted.)

MEL_Traveller as always your insight into these things never fails to impress or astound me. Thanks for the explanation and if it's violating MPM then I have no issue. Your query about a valid routing from LAX to SYD does not show any valid asian transits except for SIN and ICN using the *A flight planner here: Flight Search - Star Alliance

However there is something that concerns me in that we recently flew SYD - CDG with a stopover in HKT and neither HKT or BKK is showing as a valid routing on the planner - glitch or am I missing something? In fact no thai airways flight shows on a SYD-CDG route but some weird and wonderful options come through with connecting through multiple cities in the US to get back to SYD.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

MEL_Traveller as always your insight into these things never fails to impress or astound me. Thanks for the explanation and if it's violating MPM then I have no issue. Your query about a valid routing from LAX to SYD does not show any valid asian transits except for SIN and ICN using the *A flight planner here: Flight Search - Star Alliance

However there is something that concerns me in that we recently flew SYD - CDG with a stopover in HKT and neither HKT or BKK is showing as a valid routing on the planner - glitch or am I missing something? In fact no thai airways flight shows on a SYD-CDG route but some weird and wonderful options come through with connecting through multiple cities in the US to get back to SYD.

it only sometimes comes into play when booking a circuitous flight. The example i gave above (PVG-BKK-ZRH) wasn't allowed outbound but was allowed on the return because on the return it appeared on the star tool as a valid routing. The agent said if I wanted to route via BKK on the outbound they would do it but treat it as a stopover. So I suspect that may be one factor. The more likely one however is MPM. BKK is a known potential trouble spot for MPM going to LAX. I've had several friends with a denied routing via asia that includes bkk, but as you point out - ICN/SIN is fine.

Stopovers are different - so your HKT would have been searched as two separate legs - AU-HKT (and whatever the star tool throws up for that) followed by HKT-Europe (and whatever the star tool throws up for that).

As always - YMMV. I had a CDG-FRA-BKK-SIN-MEL denied because the star tool didn't allow 4 sectors CDG-MEL. It depends on the agent.

 

[NDiddy]

it only sometimes comes into play when booking a circuitous flight. The example i gave above (PVG-BKK-ZRH) wasn't allowed outbound but was allowed on the return because on the return it appeared on the star tool as a valid routing. The agent said if I wanted to route via BKK on the outbound they would do it but treat it as a stopover. So I suspect that may be one factor. The more likely one however is MPM. BKK is a known potential trouble spot for MPM going to LAX. I've had several friends with a denied routing via asia that includes bkk, but as you point out - ICN/SIN is fine.

Stopovers are different - so your HKT would have been searched as two separate legs - AU-HKT (and whatever the star tool throws up for that) followed by HKT-Europe (and whatever the star tool throws up for that).

As always - YMMV. I had a CDG-FRA-BKK-SIN-MEL denied because the star tool didn't allow 4 sectors CDG-MEL. It depends on the agent.

Definitely makes it very hard to get to the States in premium cabins (v hard to get F) if those are the only transpacific valid routings available but at least I understand and have some insight into the inner workings now thanks to you. On hold at the moment but was wondering if know whether LAX-ICN-SIN-SYD would be invalid. Can't see this in the planner and assume this to be violating MPM but was hoping anyway. Any idea? Otherwise it looks like I'll have to re-evaluate going to the US via EU to the West Coast and taking a paid flight to LAS (which is where I wanted to go anyway).

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Definitely makes it very hard to get to the States in premium cabins (v hard to get F) if those are the only transpacific valid routings available but at least I understand and have some insight into the inner workings now thanks to you. On hold at the moment but was wondering if know whether LAX-ICN-SIN-SYD would be invalid. Can't see this in the planner and assume this to be violating MPM but was hoping anyway. Any idea? Otherwise it looks like I'll have to re-evaluate going to the US via EU to the West Coast and taking a paid flight to LAS (which is where I wanted to go anyway).

LAX-ICN-SIN-SYD might actually be ok.

The main problem is LAX (and I guess SFO) for MPM. Once you somewhere else the MPM is much more generous, allowing routings via BKK/PVG/PEK etc.

 

[NDiddy]

LAX-ICN-SIN-SYD might actually be ok.

The main problem is LAX (and I guess SFO) for MPM. Once you somewhere else the MPM is much more generous, allowing routings via BKK/PVG/PEK etc.

Still on hold so happy to play AFF IM if you're up for it When you say "somewhere else" (excluding LAX/SFO) would that be other cities on the eastern seaboard. I really just wanted to get to LAS and was keen to drive from LA but for the headache avoidance I'm happy to forgo that if it makes life easier. Any suggestions?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Still on hold so happy to play AFF IM if you're up for it When you say "somewhere else" (excluding LAX/SFO) would that be other cities on the eastern seaboard. I really just wanted to get to LAS and was keen to drive from LA but for the headache avoidance I'm happy to forgo that if it makes life easier. Any suggestions?

no - talking further east such as ORD for example. Then if you go to JFK (etc) you can route via Europe.

 

[NDiddy]

Just a quick update - Waited on hold for about an hour last night and gave up. Tried this evening and explained to the lady (who was very helpful) that there were some issues ticketing the our currently held booking. She took a quick look at it and said "Well doesn't seem to be any problem to me and I have the taxes showing on the screen". However there was a small mistake that was made last night where the lady ticketed Mrs Diddy under her maiden name so she had to release the booking and re-book it all again.

In the end all worked a treat and our original routing held firm. Not sure what happened and I'm even more confused how US Airways are running things but I'm happy with the outcome.

 

[travelislife]

So you got the itinerary via BKK? So hit and miss it is amazing!

 

[NDiddy]

So you got the itinerary via BKK? So hit and miss it is amazing!

Yep - Our itin is:

SYD - LAX UA J
LAX - ICN OZ F
ICN - BKK TG Y
BKK - SYD TG F

It really is so hit and miss and I'm massively confused about what can/can't be done. I did find alternative routings but wanted to go through BKK to get F back to SYD. ICN to SYD had no availability and the only other option I was going to try was ICN - SIN - SYD.

I spent a bit of time last night trying to get to ORD via EU and found some great flights however it was chewing up a lot of our travel time and I'm glad this worked out in the end.

 

[robd]

Just received targeted email using link for purchase or gift 100% bonus up to 50,000 miles. Must purchase before 31st Jan. Only 1 account out of 3 got it, which is a bugger.

Jnr#1 just checked email and got 1 too.

So 2 out of 3 (No.3 account didn't purchase anything last year).

 

[Grooba]

nothing here for my two accounts, nor the folks two.

 

[Solid]

Both myself and the better half got it. It says its targeted and we received it because we bought last year. Purchases must be via the link on the email (or so it says)

 

[hummel]

I didn't get the email but my other half did. Both accounts bought miles last year however we shared from her's to mine.

 

[Flashback]

Just received it myself also.

 

[mhen]

You don't need the email. Just log in and try to buy and you will get a pop-up asking for your name and number. If you are eligible you will then be offered the miles with 100% bonus.

It seems to be more broadly targeted than it appears. We have 8 accounts for family members but so far have only got 3 emails. But on checking the website all 8 accounts are able to buy or gift with bonus. Not all of these accounts bought miles last year. However all did participate in the share miles in some way. Even the account that was only a recipient of shared miles is able to participate in this offer.

 

[robd]

I'm checking the wording on the email and it says "Buy up to 50,000 Dividend Miles and get 100% more in bonus miles" and it further says "The maximum number of Buy and Gift Bonus miles that can be received by one member for this offer is 50,000 bonus miles".

So, can I buy 50,000 miles for myself AND gift 50,000 to someone else and get the bonus on both transactions?

 

[anat0l]

I'm checking the wording on the email and it says "Buy up to 50,000 Dividend Miles and get 100% more in bonus miles" and it further says "The maximum number of Buy and Gift Bonus miles that can be received by one member for this offer is 50,000 bonus miles".

So, can I buy 50,000 miles for myself AND gift 50,000 to someone else and get the bonus on both transactions?

Correct - the limit is counted based on bonus miles received.

 

[robd]

Correct - the limit is counted based on bonus miles received.

Thanks for that