US Dividend Miles - Oneworld Award Booking Questions and General Discussion

[baggyred]

That itinerary won't be legal.

you are permitted ONE open jaw or stopover for the entire itinerary.

With your proposal you would have two open jaws (different departure and arrival cities in asia, and different arrival and departure cities in Europe).

You could fix the issue by closing the loop HKG-NRT. But you couldn't stop over in HKG which probably defeats the purpose of what you're after.

Can't you ask for you baggage to not be checked through? (i think there is a term for it)

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Can't you ask for you baggage to not be checked through? (i think there is a term for it)

yes indeed! had forgotten about that. 'Short-check' is the term. But you'd just ask for your bags to come off at HKG cause you needed to give presents to relatives or something. you'd need to book a connecting flight with sufficient time to be able to legitimately claim your bags. A 1hr connection might not cut it at check-in.

 

[anat0l]

Every time I go to book OW redemptions Australia-Asia.. I miss the easy days of *A!

Would also be so much easier if one-way travel was allowed!

Well it will be once it all goes to AA, but of course then the average costs increase and routing will tighten.

All said, *A now is not exactly the self-opening pinata that it used to be. SQ is cut short to only 14 days in advance (which only gives LM a chance, or get out your KF points). TG keeps subbing out aircraft, its J inventory is unpredictable and schedules keep changing. NZ J on award - you have better chance of finding Amelia Earhart. CA J - well if it floats your boat. Not to mention BR's shocking availability to Australia and LH's guessing game on its real *A inventory.

Frankly in the lesser of two rather unfavourable sets of conditions, I'll take oneworld.

Of course, in better old days, TG F was open like a billionaire dropping currency bills from a hot air balloon, you could get away with routing and pricing like serial murder, BA didn't levy fuel surcharges to partner award programmes, and the Lufthansa Group airlines' J and F was very much bookable.

Usually I have no problems finding availability to Asia. OK if you don't want to fly QF, MH or BA, you are likely going to struggle. But once you have a foothold in Asia most of the time CX (or KA) or MH came to the rescue. Last minute redemptions aren't exactly something you think will just fall into your lap, and sure SQ can still come to the rescue in this regard (especially when I lived in BNE - they never filled those J seats to save their lives), but so there.

Can't you ask for you baggage to not be checked through? (i think there is a term for it)

yes indeed! had forgotten about that. 'Short-check' is the term. But you'd just ask for your bags to come off at HKG cause you needed to give presents to relatives or something. you'd need to book a connecting flight with sufficient time to be able to legitimately claim your bags. A 1hr connection might not cut it at check-in.

One way to try and trick this is to book the last flight for the next day (but within 24 hours). Hopefully the timing would work and you could claim (quite legitimately) that you need to access your bags for the overnight. Some check-in agents may not be able to force the check-through on such a connection anyway, but it can't hurt to be proactive.

Short checking, in general, is still the discretion of the check-in agent.

All said and done, US DM haven't penalised anyone as such for throwaway ticketing, so to speak? All said, however, in this case it actually doesn't cost them anything (if anything, it just costs the passenger a bit more due to taxes paid that won't be utilised).

 

[whole-lotta-moxie]

I'm just wondering has the Iberia glitch been fixed? From reading previous posts and Flyer Talk when booking an IB flight the US airways booking cancels out your ticket a couple of days later.
Does anyone have any experience with this?
Does it just cancel the IB flights or all flights on the ticket?

 

[hummel]

Well it will be once it all goes to AA, but of course then the average costs increase and routing will tighten.

All said, *A now is not exactly the self-opening pinata that it used to be. SQ is cut short to only 14 days in advance (which only gives LM a chance, or get out your KF points). TG keeps subbing out aircraft, its J inventory is unpredictable and schedules keep changing. NZ J on award - you have better chance of finding Amelia Earhart. CA J - well if it floats your boat. Not to mention BR's shocking availability to Australia and LH's guessing game on its real *A inventory.

Frankly in the lesser of two rather unfavourable sets of conditions, I'll take oneworld.

Of course, in better old days, TG F was open like a billionaire dropping currency bills from a hot air balloon, you could get away with routing and pricing like serial murder, BA didn't levy fuel surcharges to partner award programmes, and the Lufthansa Group airlines' J and F was very much bookable.

Usually I have no problems finding availability to Asia. OK if you don't want to fly QF, MH or BA, you are likely going to struggle. But once you have a foothold in Asia most of the time CX (or KA) or MH came to the rescue. Last minute redemptions aren't exactly something you think will just fall into your lap, and sure SQ can still come to the rescue in this regard (especially when I lived in BNE - they never filled those J seats to save their lives), but so there.

I very much agree on everything except preferring *A A good round up though... I've noticed MH availability has tightened up a bit in the past few weeks from what I've seen.

But at the end of the day, we've all benefited greatly from these programs and can't complain too much.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

All said, *A now is not exactly the self-opening pinata that it used to be. SQ is cut short to only 14 days in advance (which only gives LM a chance, or get out your KF points). TG keeps subbing out aircraft, its J inventory is unpredictable and schedules keep changing. NZ J on award - you have better chance of finding Amelia Earhart. CA J - well if it floats your boat. Not to mention BR's shocking availability to Australia and LH's guessing game on its real *A inventory.

Agree. In many ways the *A program through USDM/LM is coming to an end in terms of its usefulness.

TG has gone downhill dramatically and at least for now we have access to some premium oneworld carriers in CX and JL. Hopefully they won't go down the same path as LH in restricting F availability (especially not when AA is in charge).

The only thing i would counter is Air China. not so sure about the reviews of business class on their 77W (seats narrow, awkwardly positioned, and short beds), but their A332 bed is indeed extremely comfortable. Service is very short a la CX (meals belted out in less than an hour), food is not anything to write home about, but cabin crew are very friendly. Overall a solid 7/10 (compared to TG at 5/10).

 

[boomy]

The problem with OW as I see it is availability. It's still much easier to find awards from Australia to Asia on TG then on CX in J. Flying F is only possible on JL for a limited time and good luck finding availability all the way to Europe and back.

 

[anat0l]

The problem with OW as I see it is availability. It's still much easier to find awards from Australia to Asia on TG then on CX in J. Flying F is only possible on JL for a limited time and good luck finding availability all the way to Europe and back.

On average I'd say you're right... on average. Both can surprise you lots of the time: CX in terms of when there is availability, and TG in terms of when there is not.

You can also fly F on BA, yes I know there is YQ but come on - it's still not a silly option if you really want it. You could even try and dog-leg-anchor those products in some sequence along with CX out of HKG to have two different F products on the same trip. But I agree JL F to Europe is a hard one to find. The *A doppelganger NH was equally difficult to find in F to Europe. Ironically, you seem to get a better chance trying for F on North American routes.

Frankly CX can't reintroduce F to Australia soon enough, but you'd be amazed how the carrier that seems to have the best lockhold on AFF's traffic between Australia and Hong Kong (if not beyond) doesn't seem to think that operating F could be a winner. I guess they traded off that idea simply for frequency.

Even QF J to Asia is polar and surprising. Sometimes you amaze yourself how many options there are to get to SIN, HKG (even non-stop, but more often than not it's just one of the major three with the options of the day) or even NRT. Other times you tear your hair out and wonder how. It's a rich tapestry that at least in the current circumstances, doesn't all go *A's way!

The only "sure" bet as it were for availability now seems to be SQ, but they have strict timing windows for booking which would normally preclude them from selection even if US DM allowed redemption on them.

 

[Limewood]

Its worked for me in the past getting to the likes of HKG then onwards awards to USA, Europe.

 

[Swan]

Could someone let me know what the rule is regarding stopover on a trip from Canada to Mexico. Would a stopover be allowed in the US or could a stopover be allowed in MEX with the destination CUN.

 

[Limewood]

When buying USDM is there a 7.5% tax to be added on?.

 

[bcworld]

When buying USDM is there a 7.5% tax to be added on?.

Yes there is.

 

[Limewood]

Is it better if my wife gifts 80K USDM to me so we can make one booking of 160K?.

What would the cost be for her to do that?.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Is it better if my wife gifts 80K USDM to me so we can make one booking of 160K?.

What would the cost be for her to do that?.

gifts of shares?

gifting costs 3.5c per mile plus tax (creates more miles). Under a 2-4-1 promo this would be 1.75c per mile, plus tax.

Sharing costs 1c per mile plus tax (transfers existing miles, creates none).

There is no reason to transfer miles for the purpose of making two bookings. Tickets can be paid for from separate accounts.

 

[Limewood]

Thanks for all the USDM info.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Note you could just buy the miles yourself under a 2-4-1 promo and get the bonus. Not much point in someone gifting, unless you want a double bonus (which some seem to have achieved in this latest round)

 

[LordGarlic]

i was told by the us airway agent that i can only book JL flights 60days from departure. This is despite the fact that she can see availability on the JL flights. Is this a case of HUACA? or is the agent correct in her advice??

 

[bcworld]

i was told by the us airway agent that i can only book JL flights 60days from departure. This is despite the fact that she can see availability on the JL flights. Is this a case of HUACA? or is the agent correct in her advice??

60 days applies to domestic JL flights. They have also recently applied a restriction of 90 days to international JL flights. However there is evidence that HUACA can get a result with >90 day booking for JL.

I'm sure this info was in the footnotes of the award chart...although I don't see it anymore??

 

[LordGarlic]

i wish us airway was still part of *a. It is not easy finding availability on one world alliance.

 

[casanovawa]

Yep, total cough that its gone to One World, spent 2 tedious hours last night trying to get a simple SIN-HKG-DEL (stop)-DOH-AMM (stop) -DOH-SIN itinerary... AMM a OW hub I would have thought but on the BA site couldn't see any RJ flights... Eventually told I would have to book one trip from SIN-DEL-SIN and another DEL-AMM-DEL....

I can't see anything good that has come of the switch unless you're a QF fanbois, and I think its gotten even more tedious to faf around on the phone trying to book these things with no frigging capacity in any online redemtpions other than the most simplest stuff mainly involving the US.... While i imagine Lifemiles phone service is also pretty trying I could find and book some flights in 5 minutes on their site if I chose to and I imagine something similar on the AA site...