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

[bcworld]

Im pretty keen on a first class route in August from Europe to Sydney so im hoping to snag
FRA to NRT in F on LH and then onto BKK for an F route with TG my question is - I will not be
returning to Europe till the following summer so obviously LH wont have any seats open in F so
far in advance therefore if i booked the outbound in J could i change to F when the seats
eventually open up?

Thanks in advance.

You can't make any changes once travel has commenced...so if you have flown your outbound you will not be able to upgrade the return to F EVEN IF you have ticketed an F award (150k).

Also, LH F is now not available until 2-3 weeks prior to departure...LH's rules even applying to their own members so this will be a difficult itinerary to book.

 

[robcuk]

Oh really thats bad news! I was aware of the 2 week availability with LH so was hoping to wait for that but thought i had read on FT
that you could change your seating from C to F if you had paid for the higher class.

Oh well may just have to settle with J

Thanks BC

 

[bcworld]

Oh really thats bad news! I was aware of the 2 week availability with LH so was hoping to wait for that but thought i had read on FT
that you could change your seating from C to F if you had paid for the higher class.

You can - but only before travel commences.

 

[robcuk]

Yeah i understand :-( so it doesnt work with my return date being 11 months after departure! Shame as i was keen on sampling
first on LH. Ive had a couple of lucky upgrades on Ek on the a380 so it would have been interesting to compare the service.

 

[burmans]

Hi Anat

If you scroll up the page you'll see the itinerary they have booked leaving LHR.

I was reading up on the rules as they have an open jaw in NZ and they have a 16 day
stopover in Sydney after leaving Queenstown. I was basically searching for answers how
I was allowed to book it.

Ok yeah thats my plan book it using the full 150k mileage.

Thanks

I think your parent were just lucky. Plenty of evidence on FT that both are not normally allowed but people sometimes get away with it if not referred.

 

[Alanslegal]

You can't make any changes once travel has commenced...so if you have flown your outbound you will not be able to upgrade the return to F EVEN IF you have ticketed an F award (150k).

And that's the understanding I have. For the sake of just making it clear to potential award passengers, you cannot change anything once travel has commenced. The reason for a change has to be like super-exceptional and even in that case they make you jump hoops.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I think your parent were just lucky. Plenty of evidence on FT that both are not normally allowed but people sometimes get away with it if not referred.

I agree... the parents were lucky. probably a case of the agent not knowing their geography and thinking queenstown is a co-located airport or someone (like JFK/lga etc).

 

[JohnK]

I am reading in your case John that you want two open-jaws, ie BKK//SIN and HKG//TPE, which is not allowed. You can only have one stopover or one open jaw. You can't have both OR not allowed to have any of those more than once.

I am still not explaining it properly. What I was after was an open jaw with one stopover which would appear to not be allowed in the rules.

HKG-(BKK)-SYD
SYD-BKK/SIN-TPE

So a stopover in BKK on the outbound journey and return to TPE via either BKK or SIN but with no stopover.

No need for that now though as I have shelved the plan to redeem a VS SYD-HKG award for now.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I am still not explaining it properly. What I was after was an open jaw with one stopover which would appear to not be allowed in the rules.

HKG-(BKK)-SYD
SYD-BKK/SIN-TPE

So a stopover in BKK on the outbound journey and return to TPE via either BKK or SIN but with no stopover.

No need for that now though as I have shelved the plan to redeem a VS SYD-HKG award for now.

you are correct, you can't do that itinerary. no stopovers if you open jaw. (I think the confusion could have been so,ved by saying 'return syd-bkk or sin-tpe'

 

[QF029]

Can anyone advise on these award bookings relating to the UK APD? If your leg ex-UK is to say Geneva or Frankfurt, do you pay the the lower band of departure tax? If so I'd be interested in what the preferred routing within Europe to get the best cabin on an F ticket.

I'm weighing up whether it's work jumping on the Eurostar and flying out of CDG to save on taxes but that potentially removes the option of a stopever.

 

[serfty]

APD applies:

• <UK port>-<Destination> (e.g. MAN-DXB)
• <UK port>-x<Transit point>-<Destination> (e.g. UK-xFRA-SYD)

APD does not apply:

• <Non UK Origin>-x<UK Port>- ... <Destination> (e.g. AMS-xLHR-SYD)

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/downloadFile?contentID=HMCE_CL_000505


http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/pbr2008/pbrn20.pdf

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Can anyone advise on these award bookings relating to the UK APD? If your leg ex-UK is to say Geneva or Frankfurt, do you pay the the lower band of departure tax? If so I'd be interested in what the preferred routing within Europe to get the best cabin on an F ticket.

I'm weighing up whether it's work jumping on the Eurostar and flying out of CDG to save on taxes but that potentially removes the option of a stopever.

as serfty says,the uk passenger departure tax is based on your final destination. so routing via fra will not reduce your tax unless fra is a stopover (more than 24 hours I think)

 

[Stephen65]

I'd definitely do an open jaw flying into LHR, train to CDG and then fly home from there.

 

[anat0l]

I'd definitely do an open jaw flying into LHR, train to CDG and then fly home from there.

If you need the stopover, you can also just go to CDG as your destination.

I did a dummy search on Eurostar and found Paris Gare du Nord - London St Pancras return fares at lowest GBP 80 (i.e. GBP 40 each way) for one person, add GBP 4 for credit card fee.

Return RER B fares from CDG to Gare du Nord costs about EUR 20 for one person.

All in all, still probably lower than the highest bracket of UK APD.

 

[Flashback]

If you need the stopover, you can also just go to CDG as your destination.

I did a dummy search on Eurostar and found Paris Gare du Nord - London St Pancras return fares at lowest GBP 80 (i.e. GBP 40 each way) for one person, add GBP 4 for credit card fee.

Return RER B fares from CDG to Gare du Nord costs about EUR 20 for one person.

All in all, still probably lower than the highest bracket of UK APD.

9.25 each way, did it 2 weeks ago

 

[Mrmaxwell]

Still no 100% bonus promo this year? The demand is building

 

[Stephen65]

There have been two so far this year. In January it was buy up to 50,000 points at half price (which is not quite as good as 100% bonus) and this month its an offer for holders of US Airways credit cards.

 

[bcworld]

There have been two so far this year. In January it was buy up to 50,000 points at half price (which is not quite as good as 100% bonus) and this month its an offer for holders of US Airways credit cards.

Both were targeted of course, as the first one was for previous purchasers - no generally available promos.

 

[Alanslegal]

hi folks i have a very quick question and im rushed to not actually do some research myself

so here's the question, I fly into bkk in TG F and depart 6 hours later in TG J .... I assume a buggy and PA will meet n greet and take me to a lounge, which one will it be? and secondly, depending on the lounge access I assume the spa treatment will be based on that ie 30m for J, 90m for F

And another one, I land into FRA with OZ F and depart hours later in LH J to a land with lots of canals and 'coffee shops' ... again which lounge/s will I have access to?

Oh and I'm flying tomorrow and can anyone guess my above routing? hehehe Drinks on me to the first correct guess-or, hopefully in the QF F lounge sometime this year

 

[NDiddy]

Hey Alan,

Well I'm not sure I have all the info you're after but hopefully this should help:
THAI Services - On Ground : Royal Orchid Spa

Not sure about the buggy but I would have assumed that it would as you are an arriving F passenger which is what the service is for. You have access to the Royal Orchid Spa but only have the 30 min of either a Neck/Shoulder massage OR a Foot Massage.

As for FRA, from what I can gather you'll only have access to the LH J lounge as your onward ticket class determines lounge access:

Asiana - Reviews - First & Business Class Lounges - Analysis & opinions with pictures

Hope that helps