US Dividend Miles - Oneworld Award Booking Questions and General Discussion

[bcworld]

This leads me to believe that at least the routing to the stopover point (if you choose to have a stopover) must also comply with the MPM (or 25M as it were). That said, as with anything US DM, how consistently this is applied could be anyone's guess. Furthermore, my proposal may be incorrect anyway, albeit MPM is being taken rather seriously at the moment, if not from here on in.

I think coughulative MPM is definitely important, and it's also the reason some people are having specific itineraries denied. For example a routing like MEL-DOH-LHR-JFK (no stopover) might be less than the 25M for MEL-JFK...but coughulative MPM cannot be calculated for the routing, so the agent deems it invalid, which may well technically be true. Another agent might stick MEL-JFK into whatever tool they use and OK the routing.

 

[_TheTraveller_]

MPM is calculated for travel in each direction. So your outbound could be fine and your inbound not. It will never be calculated from destination to some point on the return segments.

Sorry, I was trying to understand the issue that anat0l ran into with USDM agent saying that the route he chose between BNE-NRT(his stop) exceeded the MPM between those 2 places thus they wouldn't approve his ticket even though the coughulative mileage between BNE-ZRH-BNE was within the MPM. Unless I've misunderstood what he/she has written?

Edit: Just read your earlier response. Sorry, didn't see that.

 

[bcworld]

Sorry, I was trying to understand the issue that anat0l ran into with USDM agent saying that the route he chose between BNE-NRT(his stop) exceeded the MPM between those 2 places thus they wouldn't approve his ticket even though the coughulative mileage between BNE-ZRH-BNE was within the MPM. Unless I've misunderstood what he/she has written?

Edit: Just read your earlier response. Sorry, didn't see that.

The issue (I think) is basically this:

[KVS Availability Tool 7.4.2 - Reference: Maximum Permitted Mileage [MPM]: BNE-LHR/US]

         GI       M      5M     10M     15M     20M     25M     
MPM      TS   12799   13438   14078   14718   15358   [B]15998[/B]     
MPM      EH   13161   13819   14477   15135   15793   16451     
MPM      AP   14740   15477   16214   16951   17688   18425

Great Circle Mapper = 13114 miles ...looks OK then?

BUT...


[KVS Availability Tool 7.4.2 - Reference: Maximum Permitted Mileage [MPM]: BNE-SIN-NRT-LHR/US]

CTY   DC   TPM   cough   MPM  DC SUR  HGL   LWL   25M  XTRA       
BNE 3                                                           
SIN 3 EH  3818  3818  4581  EH  0M   763     0  5726     0      
TYO 3 EH  3312  [COLOR=#ff0000][B]7130[/B][/COLOR]  5342  EH [COLOR=#ff0000][B]EXC[/B][/COLOR]     0   453  [COLOR=#ff0000][B]6677[/B][/COLOR]     0      
LON 2 TS  6214 13344 12799  TS  5M    94   545 15998     0

...when the agent sees EXC...it's a dead deal!

It's effectively enforcing the stopover on most direct route rule.

 

[travelislife]

Thanks. Its weird because when you use the USDM partner award travel search, it comes up as 270000 points which is more than double what the award chart states.

You can't search for partner award availability online so not sure where you are getting 270k from. All USDM partner award bookings need to be done over the phone with the mileage as per the award charts.

 

[Questor]

Time for another stupid question - on the Oneworld award chart it seems to suggest that all awards to/from Europe have to go via the Atlantic - yet I've seen several itineraries that don't seem to - are they just not consistent at applying their own rules?

 

[baggyred]

Time for another stupid question - on the Oneworld award chart it seems to suggest that all awards to/from Europe have to go via the Atlantic - yet I've seen several itineraries that don't seem to - are they just not consistent at applying their own rules?

I asked the same question a little while ago myself when trying to work it out.

That rule assumes you are flying from the US. ie - you can't do JFK-HKG-LHR

 

[Questor]

I asked the same question a little while ago myself when trying to work it out.

That rule assumes you are flying from the US. ie - you can't do JFK-HKG-LHR

Ah, that makes sense.

 

[anat0l]

We all know that the rules say travel between Europe and South Pacific is not allowed via North America (amongst other similar restrictions).

Question is, is it really not possible (i.e. agents enforce this rule rigidly)?

Yes, I could give it a go, and ideally should prepare a backup plan. It's funny because from Europe, in some cases the difference between going via Eurasia versus North America is not all that great. The main difference is availability, which even without the rule in place already predisposes the idea to inherently difficult anyway.

 

[anat0l]

Thanks. Its weird because when you use the USDM partner award travel search, it comes up as 270000 points which is more than double what the award chart states.

If the stopover occurred after the dest, which way do you think the MPM would be calculated from? Dest-stop or origin-stop?

I have a feeling that anna2103 used the US Airways website to search for (and possibly book) an award. There is an option to search for "US Airways and partner airlines", however the only partner airline that can be booked on US Airways online is American Airlines, and American Airlines sectors booked online are charged at the partner rate, not the US Airways rates (the latter are lower only if the lowest mileage-cost seats are booked).

The seats that anna2103 has found are likely the US Airways higher charge seats, which don't represent standard availability but are priced higher for those who really want to get the seat and prepared to pay more miles for it. (Think Qantas Any Seat Award not at the Classic Award level). 270,000 miles is the High Level 1 mileage for round-trip travel on US Airways between North America / Hawaii and Europe in Business or First Class. (The Low Level mileage for the same travel on US Airways is 100,000 miles round-trip).

 

[anna2103]

I have a feeling that anna2103 used the US Airways website to search for (and possibly book) an award. There is an option to search for "US Airways and partner airlines", however the only partner airline that can be booked on US Airways online is American Airlines, and American Airlines sectors booked online are charged at the partner rate, not the US Airways rates (the latter are lower only if the lowest mileage-cost seats are booked).

The seats that anna2103 has found are likely the US Airways higher charge seats, which don't represent standard availability but are priced higher for those who really want to get the seat and prepared to pay more miles for it. (Think Qantas Any Seat Award not at the Classic Award level). 270,000 miles is the High Level 1 mileage for round-trip travel on US Airways between North America / Hawaii and Europe in Business or First Class. (The Low Level mileage for the same travel on US Airways is 100,000 miles round-trip).

Thanks anat)01, and you are right that is what I was doing. Info for others - the BA website availability in no way matched what US airways had. Took ages to sort something out. Also, AU number went to AA call centre!! US number kept disconnecting, rang UK call centre, much better response

 

[sergeyvzn]

Thanks anat)01, and you are right that is what I was doing. Info for others - the BA website availability in no way matched what US airways had. Took ages to sort something out. Also, AU number went to AA call centre!! US number kept disconnecting, rang UK call centre, much better response

anna2103, not sure what AU number you're talking about as there is no Australian number to call US Airways. There's only one number to call and this is 1800-428-4322 in the US. Well, there are other numbers (direct lines for higher status members) but they are probably not relevant
The BA availability normally matches what US Airways agents can see quite well apart from CX phantom seats and some other minor glitches. Are you looking them up online on the BA site?

 

[bigsleep55]

Can anyone advise if you can upgrade from economy to business (and how many miles it will cost) from Aus to Asia on a OW partner (Malaysian Airlines) through USDM? If so, I'd assume you need to book the revenue ticket through US Airways?

 

[bcworld]

Can anyone advise if you can upgrade from economy to business (and how many miles it will cost) from Aus to Asia on a OW partner (Malaysian Airlines) through USDM? If so, I'd assume you need to book the revenue ticket through US Airways?

This was possible in the *A days but I don't think it exists any longer. Besides, in order to do it you had to buy a super expensive B or Y economy fare.

MH will sell you a standby upgrade to J for $400 (o/w) at the airport.

 

[bigsleep55]

MH will sell you a standby upgrade to J for $400 (o/w) at the airport.

On a similar note then, if I bought a revenue ticket on MH (MH Basic Y) could I use my Enrich points (handballed from AMEX) to upgrade for 25k? Do they restrict which fares can be upgraded?

(Off Topic - researching through the oneworld.com it tells me the MH72 & MH73 between KUL & HKG are on A380 yet on the MH website, it says they are on 777. I really want to get on the A380 in J.)

 

[bcworld]

On a similar note then, if I bought a revenue ticket on MH (MH Basic Y) could I use my Enrich points (handballed from AMEX) to upgrade for 25k? Do they restrict which fares can be upgraded?

Yes I believe they do have a long list of ineligible fare classes...e.g. my recent $500 return on MEL-KUL in Q class...not eligible.

 

[_TheTraveller_]

Is this routing permitted? HKG-BKK-DOH-CDG(stop)-JFK(dest)-HKG ?

 

[bcworld]

Is this routing permitted? HKG-BKK-DOH-CDG(stop)-JFK(dest)-HKG ?

Looks good...I can't think of any rule it breaks...CDG being a US Airways destination.

[KVS Availability Tool 7.4.2 - Reference: Maximum Permitted Mileage [MPM]: HKG-BKK-DOH-CDG-JFK/US]

CTY   DC   TPM   cough   MPM  DC SUR  HGL   LWL   25M  XTRA       
HKG 3                                                           
BKK 3 EH  1049  1049  1258  EH  0M   209     0  1572     0      
DOH 2 EH  3277  4326  4694  EH  0M   368     0  5867     0      
PAR 2 EH  3082  7408  7936  EH  0M   528     0  9920     0      
NYC 1 AT  3635 11043 12049  AT  0M  1006     0 15061     0

 

[_TheTraveller_]

Looks good...I can't think of any rule it breaks...CDG being a US Airways destination.

Thanks for that. Just a question when you look at point to point eg: SYD-CDG, for the DC, generally you only look at the most direct route? Eg: SYD-CDG would be EH?

 

[bcworld]

Thanks for that. Just a question when you look at point to point eg: SYD-CDG, for the DC, generally you only look at the most direct route? Eg: SYD-CDG would be EH?

Often there is only 1...if there are more, I tend to err on the lowest one, regardless of what the actual routing is. When you specify the actual routing KVS picks the appropriate indicator.

 

[_TheTraveller_]

Often there is only 1...if there are more, I tend to err on the lowest one, regardless of what the actual routing is. When you specify the actual routing KVS picks the appropriate indicator.

Yeah, I generally look at the lowest but with my routing I'm pretty sure I'm passing the limit on the MPM from EU-US-HK-AUS

[KVS Availability Tool 7.4.2 - Reference: Maximum Permitted Mileage [MPM]: CDG-SYD/US]

         GI       M      5M     10M     15M     20M     25M     
MPM      EH   12993   13642   14292   14941   15591   16241     
MPM      TS   13268   13931   14594   15258   15921   16585     
MPM      AP   15238   15999   16761   17523   18285   19047

VS

[KVS Availability Tool 7.4.2 - Reference: Maximum Permitted Mileage [MPM]: CDG-JFK-HKG-SYD/US]

CTY   DC   TPM   cough   MPM  DC SUR  HGL   LWL   25M  XTRA       
PAR 2                                                           
NYC 1 AT  3635  3635  4362  AT  0M   727     0  5452     0      
HKG 3 PA  8055 11690 13575  AP  0M  1885     0 16968     0      
SYD 3 EH  4595 16285 15238  AP 10M   476   286 19047     0

I guess EH will take precedence?