US Dividend Miles - Oneworld Award Booking Questions and General Discussion

[travelislife]

ITA matrix (.com) is a good source to find fuel surcharges and taxes. Just type in a one way for the particular sector you are interested in, and make sure you select the right class of service.

As for rate desk pricing, I have previously read that if you have a booking 'on hold' it may still go back to the rate desk before ticketing. So a double review by the rate desk. you can also get the rate desk to review a booking after ticketing, and if they find in your favour, they will return the taxes.

For an in depth discussion, you can google something along the lines of 'fuel surcharges US Airways' and there'll be lots of discussion - you may want to look at results such as one mile at a time - but check the date of the article... the fuel surcharge discussion has moved quite a lot over the last couple of months. Fuel surcharges are only applicable to BA and IB bookings via USDM, but have been incorrectly applied on reservations including Finnair (just as an example). There have also been examples of where the entire ticket has been levied with fuel surcharges even if only one segment has been operated by BA. So you need to make sure that hasn't happened as well.

Bolded above is what sounds like has happened, YQ applies to the whole trip rather than just the BA segments. Note USDM will refund taxes, etc. where they have made a mistake so there is no rush to get it done, focus more on your other tickets and then deal with it afterwards.

 

[Doggy]

Oh I was thinking more of using USDM to get from Per-DPS. I thought Jetstar might be an option,

Honestly though, if you're happy to go with an airline like JQ, I would've thought a revenue fare makes the most sense. JQ in "business" is a waste of miles and economy is usually cheaper with a revenue fare (especially if you earn pts and status with it).

Unless you need to burn the miles quick...

 

[The Rok]

Honestly though, if you're happy to go with an airline like JQ, I would've thought a revenue fare makes the most sense. JQ in "business" is a waste of miles and economy is usually cheaper with a revenue fare (especially if you earn pts and status with it).

Unless you need to burn the miles quick...

Pay for exit rows and 1 bag each and the price in Y for two people comes to $1300+ for PER-DPS.

If you wanted to do it 2 or 3 times a year it becomes expensive. Might have to start looking at Garuda :SHOCK:

 

[Swan]

ITA matrix (.com) is a good source to find fuel surcharges and taxes. Just type in a one way for the particular sector you are interested in, and make sure you select the right class of service.

As for rate desk pricing, I have previously read that if you have a booking 'on hold' it may still go back to the rate desk before ticketing. So a double review by the rate desk. you can also get the rate desk to review a booking after ticketing, and if they find in your favour, they will return the taxes

I think I must have had the most examined award ticket ever. The ticket was combination of F and J.

PER -DOH-LON(S/O)-IAD-CLT(Dest)
CLT-DFW-NRT-SYD-PER

It correctly had hubs, 4 flights in and out and under MPM, inbound 13,000 and out bound 14,200. When booked I was quoted 150,000 miles and $400. I queried this and the agent put me on hold and had it recheck. I requested the booking be held and called the following night to get ticketed. The Agent recalculate and came up with 140,000 and $1,560. I requested a re check and he stated it had already been checked. I pushed as I did not think the $ were correct. After being on hold for a while he confirmed his numbers were what they were going to go with. The booking was then ticketed and paid for. I had another award booking on hold and we went through the same process This time the pricing was the same . I requested the two tickets be linked as it would create a transfer through the US otherwise I would do in immigration one airport and out immigration at the next. I was informed that it was not possible to do as they were two separate award bookings. We then proceeded to ticket my wife's flights, which came to a halt we he said they were recalculating my booking and he could not proceed until they had finished. To this point I had been with this Agent over an hour and during the next 40 odd minutes I was constantly put on and off hold. The only explanation I could get was that it was a complicated ticket and involved many different airlines. Clearly his indication was the $ were wrong and I was helpful of receiving a refund. Then unfortunately I was disconnected.
That's the back ground to my previous posts.
Last night US air had systems down and could not take any more calls for hours. I eventually got an Agent who examined the booking details and said it had been determined my ticket was invalid. I did not understand his explanation but their ruling was that LON was my dest and CLT the S/O, therefore I had six flights on one side of the booking which was not allowed.
I tried to get them to looking at how we could balance the ticket around LON but he informed me the ticket was cancelled and therefore the flights were no longer held and no longer available.
I requested we ticket my wife's other booking and I would develop a new itinerary to connect I was informed they had cancelled my other ticket. I asked what was wrong with it and he informed me they cancelled it because the Agent had note that I was trying to connect the flights. I told him I had been told I could not connect the flights. He agreed but could do nothing about it.
This has been huge, frustrating waste of time, with close to 10 hours on the phone and even using Skype, expensive.
How man hours must a ticket be checked by so many before someone makes a decision that none of the others could see. How can an airline cancel a validly issued and paid for ticket ?
I know I have gone on here but I do feel aggrieved. Particularly as this has come on top off my previous booking attempt a couple of months ago which I reported on the Forum. In that instance I had a booking rejected because the agent incorrectly calculated the MPM to NYC. He refused to book but agreed to put on hold. I got advice from here that confirmed that the MPM was OK. The Agent appeared to be using 100 rather than 125. When I recalled the response was they were not interested in my mileage and they would not second guess their agents calculation. The booking lapsed.
I know Div Miles can be great value but I am somehow or other going to successfully and use up our points before the rules change again and what I believe will be an eventual devaluation. Whilst more expensive AA is less of a hassle.

 

[neon_crossing]

Ok I am looking to pull the trigger on booking some flights for some dates in October but wondering if it is worth doing now or will the availability of reward flights improve closer to the date? It would be convenient to do it now because I could put it on hold and buy some extra points to pay for it during the current promo without having to dig into my current stockpile of points.
A tricky itinerary, I am looking to fly in J:
ADL to MSP (Minneapolis)
Up 21/22 Oct (there by the 23rd)
Return 26/27 Oct (back by the 29th)

Have not seen a single Qantas seat on any route, I thought oneworld would give me an advantage from Star Alliance being in Adelaide and only having Singapore or Auckland as a first point of call with no domestic options available but it is looking like ADL to KUL/HKG is my first departure point out at this stage.

The only real routes I can find are something like ADL-KUL-HKG-YYZ-ORD-MSP / ADL-HKG-ORD-MSP
Return via Europe MSP-ORD-YYZ-LHR-KUL-ADL / MSP-DFW-DOH-KUL-ADL

Anyone got any other ideas of getting to the US mainland on the way up or off the US mainland on the way back, I feel like I have tried every avenue without much success.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I think I must have had the most examined award ticket ever. The ticket was combination of F and J.

PER -DOH-LON(S/O)-IAD-CLT(Dest)
CLT-DFW-NRT-SYD-PER

It correctly had hubs, 4 flights in and out and under MPM, inbound 13,000 and out bound 14,200. When booked I was quoted 150,000 miles and $400. I queried this and the agent put me on hold and had it recheck. I requested the booking be held and called the following night to get ticketed. The Agent recalculate and came up with 140,000 and $1,560. I requested a re check and he stated it had already been checked. I pushed as I did not think the $ were correct. After being on hold for a while he confirmed his numbers were what they were going to go with. The booking was then ticketed and paid for. I had another award booking on hold and we went through the same process This time the pricing was the same . I requested the two tickets be linked as it would create a transfer through the US otherwise I would do in immigration one airport and out immigration at the next. I was informed that it was not possible to do as they were two separate award bookings. We then proceeded to ticket my wife's flights, which came to a halt we he said they were recalculating my booking and he could not proceed until they had finished. To this point I had been with this Agent over an hour and during the next 40 odd minutes I was constantly put on and off hold. The only explanation I could get was that it was a complicated ticket and involved many different airlines. Clearly his indication was the $ were wrong and I was helpful of receiving a refund. Then unfortunately I was disconnected.
That's the back ground to my previous posts.
Last night US air had systems down and could not take any more calls for hours. I eventually got an Agent who examined the booking details and said it had been determined my ticket was invalid. I did not understand his explanation but their ruling was that LON was my dest and CLT the S/O, therefore I had six flights on one side of the booking which was not allowed.
I tried to get them to looking at how we could balance the ticket around LON but he informed me the ticket was cancelled and therefore the flights were no longer held and no longer available.
I requested we ticket my wife's other booking and I would develop a new itinerary to connect I was informed they had cancelled my other ticket. I asked what was wrong with it and he informed me they cancelled it because the Agent had note that I was trying to connect the flights. I told him I had been told I could not connect the flights. He agreed but could do nothing about it.
This has been huge, frustrating waste of time, with close to 10 hours on the phone and even using Skype, expensive.
How man hours must a ticket be checked by so many before someone makes a decision that none of the others could see. How can an airline cancel a validly issued and paid for ticket ?
I know I have gone on here but I do feel aggrieved. Particularly as this has come on top off my previous booking attempt a couple of months ago which I reported on the Forum. In that instance I had a booking rejected because the agent incorrectly calculated the MPM to NYC. He refused to book but agreed to put on hold. I got advice from here that confirmed that the MPM was OK. The Agent appeared to be using 100 rather than 125. When I recalled the response was they were not interested in my mileage and they would not second guess their agents calculation. The booking lapsed.
I know Div Miles can be great value but I am somehow or other going to successfully and use up our points before the rules change again and what I believe will be an eventual devaluation. Whilst more expensive AA is less of a hassle.

I can't see anything wrong with the itinerary per se... technically it looks to be fine. As you say, it is within MPM, and CLT is clearly the destination, not London.

However... why might they be rejecting it? i had a quick look at the oneworld booking tool for flights CLT-PER. Most flights route via LAX to BNE/SYD and then on to Perth. They also offer a CX flight ORD-HKG-PER.

None of the suggested routings (at least on the couple of dates i checked) include routing via Japan.

So... that leaves me to think that they are imposing their rule of direct routing. In this case you are kinda backtracking NRT-SYD-PER.

If you could get around that, i think it might be worth another shot.

The return is a fairly ambitious itinerary from CLT as it stands via NRT.

Skype is a free call to USDM: if you have access to wi-fi that should make it cheaper.

As for the cancellation - I wonder if any of the tickets were actually issued? under DOT regulations, airlines cannot cancel tickets once issued, even if there has been a mistake on behalf of the airline.

I am confused however over the issue around the 'connecting' of flights/tickets and what that means (ie what you were trying to achieve etc)

 

[Swan]

I can't see anything wrong with the itinerary per se... technically it looks to be fine. As you say, it is within MPM, and CLT is clearly the destination, not London.

However... why might they be rejecting it? i had a quick look at the oneworld booking tool for flights CLT-PER. Most flights route via LAX to BNE/SYD and then on to Perth. They also offer a CX flight ORD-HKG-PER.

None of the suggested routings (at least on the couple of dates i checked) include routing via Japan.

So... that leaves me to think that they are imposing their rule of direct routing. In this case you are kinda backtracking NRT-SYD-PER.

If you could get around that, i think it might be worth another shot.

The return is a fairly ambitious itinerary from CLT as it stands via NRT.

Skype is a free call to USDM: if you have access to wi-fi that should make it cheaper.

As for the cancellation - I wonder if any of the tickets were actually issued? under DOT regulations, airlines cannot cancel tickets once issued, even if there has been a mistake on behalf of the airline.

I am confused however over the issue around the 'connecting' of flights/tickets and what that means (ie what you were trying to achieve etc)

As you can imagine I have an in depth discussion with the Agent so as to understand what was occurring. He put me on hold for 15 minutes to clarify the situation and confirmed that the decision had been made that in the itinerary made LON the destination and therefore the routing was invalid. There was never any mention of the out bound itinerary. I actually asked if he would devise for me an itinerary from Per with a S/O in Europe heading west to Perth and he came to the conclusion based on my previous ticket it is not possible, therefore I think I would be wasting my time trying to come by Asia. The Agent actually had a go but could not get availability he managed to get to PVG in J but could not get to PER . I am sure I have seen routings like mine posed on this Forum.

The issue of NRT was availability, there were no in F and J to Aust, HKG, PVG, the only availability into Aust was through NRT. It was the most direct route possible. There is not much difference in latitude between DFW and NRT and the backtracking via Sydney really is minor. The out bound route is less miles than the in bound. In any event none of these were raised as the reason.

The Skype I am using is on a mobile to an Aust number but it is wiping out the minutes of my monthly plan and thereby costing.

The connecting flights came about because I wished to stopover in LON and EZE. It is not possible to include those locations on one award booking. So I needed to create two. The first got me to CLT and the second had a connecting flight to EZE. Because I was entering and leaving the US I would go through immigration twice unless the tickets could be linked so I was seen to be in transit. When I look up the confirm of the EZE booking it is now marked invalid, and the Agent confirmed it had been cancelled. I was informed the basis of cancellation was a note on the booking that I had requested a link. I was told they could not be link and the bookings remained separate. Therefore there is no doubt the second booking was valid.

As the question of ticketing there is no doubt on this, the number was 0372367093315 . I viewed the reservation on a number of other airline sites, the miles came out of my account and I have the cost as a transaction on my credit card account. In fact my card company called me to ensure they were not fraudulent transactions.

Obviously US Airways don't give a damm what DOT thinks.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Re: Rumour:[Denied by RR] Qantas to ban JQ SYD-MEL pax from F lounges & send to J lou

As you can imagine I have an in depth discussion with the Agent so as to understand what was occurring. He put me on hold for 15 minutes to clarify the situation and confirmed that the decision had been made that in the itinerary made LON the destination and therefore the routing was invalid. There was never any mention of the out bound itinerary. I actually asked if he would devise for me an itinerary from Per with a S/O in Europe heading west to Perth and he came to the conclusion based on my previous ticket it is not possible, therefore I think I would be wasting my time trying to come by Asia. The Agent actually had a go but could not get availability he managed to get to PVG in J but could not get to PER . I am sure I have seen routings like mine posed on this Forum.

The issue of NRT was availability, there were no in F and J to Aust, HKG, PVG, the only availability into Aust was through NRT. It was the most direct route possible. There is not much difference in latitude between DFW and NRT and the backtracking via Sydney really is minor. The out bound route is less miles than the in bound. In any event none of these were raised as the reason.

The Skype I am using is on a mobile to an Aust number but it is wiping out the minutes of my monthly plan and thereby costing.

The connecting flights came about because I wished to stopover in LON and EZE. It is not possible to include those locations on one award booking. So I needed to create two. The first got me to CLT and the second had a connecting flight to EZE. Because I was entering and leaving the US I would go through immigration twice unless the tickets could be linked so I was seen to be in transit. When I look up the confirm of the EZE booking it is now marked invalid, and the Agent confirmed it had been cancelled. I was informed the basis of cancellation was a note on the booking that I had requested a link. I was told they could not be link and the bookings remained separate. Therefore there is no doubt the second booking was valid.

As the question of ticketing there is no doubt on this, the number was 0372367093315 . I viewed the reservation on a number of other airline sites, the miles came out of my account and I have the cost as a transaction on my credit card account. In fact my card company called me to ensure they were not fraudulent transactions.

Obviously US Airways don't give a damm what DOT thinks.

The USA doesn't have transit ability. Every passenger arriving will go through immigration. Is it cheaper (tax wise) for a transit?

Yes, well... regarding the main bit... welcome to the world of USDM. It is fairly common for an agent to not know or understand the real reason why they are rejecting a ticket. So they'll make something up that sounds plausible. Most people might accept that.

But as you know from here, there is absolutely no way LHR was your destination, it is closer than CLT so it is a stopover.

So then my analysis went to potential other reasons. Most direct routing doesn't mean 'most direct routing because there is no other availability'... it means 'you are not flying the most direct route'. Regardless of availability or not.

This is might be a possible reason why NRT was rejected.

If the ticket was issued, you can file a complaint with the DOT. But generally airlines are pretty careful when it comes to avoiding DOT action... so I'm thinking there must have been some good reason why it was cancelled. Linking tickets is not a reason.

 

[sergeyvzn]

As you can imagine I have an in depth discussion with the Agent so as to understand what was occurring. He put me on hold for 15 minutes to clarify the situation and confirmed that the decision had been made that in the itinerary made LON the destination and therefore the routing was invalid. There was never any mention of the out bound itinerary. I actually asked if he would devise for me an itinerary from Per with a S/O in Europe heading west to Perth and he came to the conclusion based on my previous ticket it is not possible, therefore I think I would be wasting my time trying to come by Asia. The Agent actually had a go but could not get availability he managed to get to PVG in J but could not get to PER . I am sure I have seen routings like mine posed on this Forum.

The issue of NRT was availability, there were no in F and J to Aust, HKG, PVG, the only availability into Aust was through NRT. It was the most direct route possible. There is not much difference in latitude between DFW and NRT and the backtracking via Sydney really is minor. The out bound route is less miles than the in bound. In any event none of these were raised as the reason.

The Skype I am using is on a mobile to an Aust number but it is wiping out the minutes of my monthly plan and thereby costing.

The connecting flights came about because I wished to stopover in LON and EZE. It is not possible to include those locations on one award booking. So I needed to create two. The first got me to CLT and the second had a connecting flight to EZE. Because I was entering and leaving the US I would go through immigration twice unless the tickets could be linked so I was seen to be in transit. When I look up the confirm of the EZE booking it is now marked invalid, and the Agent confirmed it had been cancelled. I was informed the basis of cancellation was a note on the booking that I had requested a link. I was told they could not be link and the bookings remained separate. Therefore there is no doubt the second booking was valid.

As the question of ticketing there is no doubt on this, the number was 0372367093315 . I viewed the reservation on a number of other airline sites, the miles came out of my account and I have the cost as a transaction on my credit card account. In fact my card company called me to ensure they were not fraudulent transactions.

Obviously US Airways don't give a damm what DOT thinks.

You were unlucky of course but
if you feel like the conversation isn't going in the direction you'd like it to, you just hang up and ring again. The magic abbreviation called HUACA.
there is absolutely no point wasting your time and money explaining the rules to an agent who at 2 am local time has very little interest learning geography and their own redemption rules - if they say you cannot do it, HUACA

 

[Swan]

You were unlucky of course but
if you feel like the conversation isn't going in the direction you'd like it to, you just hang up and ring again. The magic abbreviation called HUACA.
there is absolutely no point wasting your time and money explaining the rules to an agent who at 2 am local time has very little interest learning geography and their own redemption rules - if they say you cannot do it, HUACA

I agree with your comment, however in this situation the Agent who made the booking had no problem with it and the other Agent who ticketed had no problem with it other than the tax calculation. There was no argument with the third Agent I was trying to understand why the ticket was invalid, the ticket was done and dusted, availability gone. Who ever made the decision to invalidate the ticket never spoke to me. So in this circumstance there was no reason to hang up and call again.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I agree with your comment, however in this situation the Agent who made the booking had no problem with it and the other Agent who ticketed had no problem with it other than the tax calculation. There was no argument with the third Agent I was trying to understand why the ticket was invalid, the ticket was done and dusted, availability gone. Who ever made the decision to invalidate the ticket never spoke to me. So in this circumstance there was no reason to hang up and call again.

i admit I'm still not entirely clear on the linked tickets issue (purpose or benefit). Is it possible the request to link the tickets somehow resulted in an agent trying to combine your tickets and get the whole routing on a single ticket for you? and in the process mucking everything up?

 

[Swan]

Re: Rumour:[Denied by RR] Qantas to ban JQ SYD-MEL pax from F lounges & send to J lou

The USA doesn't have transit ability. Every passenger arriving will go through immigration. Is it cheaper (tax wise) for a transit?

Yes, well... regarding the main bit... welcome to the world of USDM. It is fairly common for an agent to not know or understand the real reason why they are rejecting a ticket. So they'll make something up that sounds plausible. Most people might accept that.

But as you know from here, there is absolutely no way LHR was your destination, it is closer than CLT so it is a stopover.

So then my analysis went to potential other reasons. Most direct routing doesn't mean 'most direct routing because there is no other availability'... it means 'you are not flying the most direct route'. Regardless of availability or not.

This is might be a possible reason why NRT was rejected.

If the ticket was issued, you can file a complaint with the DOT. But generally airlines are pretty careful when it comes to avoiding DOT action... so I'm thinking there must have been some good reason why it was cancelled. Linking tickets is not a reason.

Thanks for your comments. I did not realize you could not transit through the USA as I have never flown through it before. This makes the cancelling of the EZE booking more irrational.

Had I had the opportunity to rework the ticket I may have been able to rejig it. If Sydney was the problem I could have re routed HKG-KUL-PER. The PER would have been Y, but I would have taken the chance on an opening up. If NRT was the problem then I could have used PVG and then the proposed new itinerary.

I must admit I would like to know the correct reason as to why the tickets were cancelled.

 

[Swan]

i admit I'm still not entirely clear on the linked tickets issue (purpose or benefit). Is it possible the request to link the tickets somehow resulted in an agent trying to combine your tickets and get the whole routing on a single ticket for you? and in the process mucking everything up?

I thought I may be able to by- pass immigration, I am only passing through, not leaving the airport. As I stated I did not know this could not be done. In any event the Agent said immediately that it could not be done as there were 2 separate bookings and the had to remain as such. I accepted this.

I don't see how this could have resulted in the cancellations as the tickets continued to be shown as two separate reservations on all the airline sites

 

[anat0l]

I thought I may be able to by- pass immigration, I am only passing through, not leaving the airport. As I stated I did not know this could not be done. In any event the Agent said immediately that it could not be done as there were 2 separate bookings and the had to remain as such. I accepted this.

I don't see how this could have resulted in the cancellations as the tickets continued to be shown as two separate reservations on all the airline sites

As said, there is no point "linking" bookings in the USA to try and avoid immigration during a transit, as you will need to go through immigration anyway. Note also that there is no "outbound immigration" from the USA (it is sort of done when you check in for the applicable flight).

In any case, linking bookings only usually adds notations and doesn't (technically) offer you any protections associated with flights on a single itinerary. It may be nice to have it, though in a context like this it would be mostly a waste of time.

My guess is that it was not the act of linking that caused the problem but rather has simply brought more attention to the bookings, which were then investigated and perhaps that is when a problem was found. It may also have something to do with one of the agents trying to process the instructions to "link" bookings and thus trying to achieve something which is or ended up being impossible (and then was subsequently cancelled).

Anyway that's my guess. Time to check availabilities, formulate new tickets and get another agent. Don't forget that if you're going nowhere with an agent, hang up and call again, but do so politely. Once notes are made on a booking record to negative effect, you will never get what you want (unless you cool down and start all over again).

Skyping USDM should be free of charge - Skype calls to toll-free USA numbers do not require Skype credit; only cost is mobile data if that is how you are connected to the internet (as opposed to wifi...)

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I thought I may be able to by- pass immigration, I am only passing through, not leaving the airport. As I stated I did not know this could not be done. In any event the Agent said immediately that it could not be done as there were 2 separate bookings and the had to remain as such. I accepted this.

I don't see how this could have resulted in the cancellations as the tickets continued to be shown as two separate reservations on all the airline sites

If you still want the EZE ticket, you need to call USDM and ask why it was cancelled, and by whom. DOT may be able to assist you if you lodge a complaint. (Although it might be helpful to have a look at your full itinerary for the EZE ticket to ascertain if there was any reason why it was cancelled.)

by now, if all the bookings have been cancelled, you should be able to start 'fresh', free from any notes in the booking. That should make things a lot easier.

 

[Swan]

If you still want the EZE ticket, you need to call USDM and ask why it was cancelled, and by whom. DOT may be able to assist you if you lodge a complaint. (Although it might be helpful to have a look at your full itinerary for the EZE ticket to ascertain if there was any reason why it was cancelled.)

by now, if all the bookings have been cancelled, you should be able to start 'fresh', free from any notes in the booking. That should make things a lot easier.

The ticket was a straight forward J booking. CLT-GRU(S/O)-EZE(Dest)-GRU-CLT.

The problem I have with calling again is the time and cost involved to end up talking to an Agent. I have never have been able to get past them. In this problem I did not accept the Agents explanation for either cancellations and in both occasion was put on hold for 15 minutes while he consulted. In both instances the Agent stated the reason he had been told and could not explain it ant further. The Dot approach may be more fruitful, though I will end up with an explanation nothing more.

My wife's bookings have lapsed so I am having a fresh attempt, though I am sure availability for the period will not have improved.

As an aside I am looking at a itinerary LON and CDG, but are now confused about the rules. Ideally if I can fly to CDG as the dest. and then fly from there to LON as the S/O the UK taxes as I understand will be much less. However each way I look at it it breaks the rules. I cant S/O CDG and make LON my dest as it is not a hub city. If I fly to LON and then CDG, then LON cant be the S/O because its further away and I also would be back tracking to CDG. What am I missing here?

 

[tm.smile]

S/O rules about hubs aren't really that well enforced if at all. I recently made a booking to Europe for a friend that had a S/O in Bangkok on the way and there was absolutely no issue raised.

 

[lmere12]

The Skype I am using is on a mobile to an Aust number but it is wiping out the minutes of my monthly plan and thereby costing..

Swan I use Aussie phonecard, found this to be the best option

 

[tm.smile]

Swan I use Aussie phonecard, found this to be the best option

Just entering the 800- reservation number is free on skype. Select the United States as the country code and dial the US number.

 

[Swan]

Just entering the 800- reservation number is free on skype. Select the United States as the country code and dial the US number.

Thanks to both of you for the advice the advice. I have been using Skype to Go where I get STD rate but it using up my monthly allowance at a$1 a minute.