US Dividend Miles - Oneworld Award Booking Questions and General Discussion

[zainman]

Read the successful bookings thread. They have booked one and they are impacted due to less options to get there with OW.

I am sorry I could not find the booking you refer to, I meant to ask successful bookings with *O not old *A bookings. (I've been to GUM myself using *A).

By 'changes' I meant yesterdays devaluation. Apparently it only impacts travel on US airways metal and not partners, so looks like GUM is still possible in F for 40k except for Poor availability on *O

 

[anat0l]

There's no wonderful awardtravelr where you simply plug in your destination and date and it returns dozens of routing options. You have to think about your route, then find each flight individually and double check it on various different airline search engines. Its very time consuming, and very frustrating, because it was so easy on *A.

We'll have to agree to disagree on this one.

The real fly in the soup for availability on ow is the phantom availability which appears on a few carriers. If it weren't for that, the tools at current would be quite sufficient.

While not impossible, it is 10x harder to book a GUM trip on OW than *A.

I think 10x is a bit too generous

I wonder what premium availability is like on this route with JL. I don't know what reputation JL has for releasing premium inventory overall, but I'd imagine given it's the only ow service to GUM (let alone in the Micronesia area), it can't be fantastic availability in J, let alone in Y anyway.

 

[smit0847]

I wonder what premium availability is like on this route with JL. I don't know what reputation JL has for releasing premium inventory overall, but I'd imagine given it's the only ow service to GUM (let alone in the Micronesia area), it can't be fantastic availability in J, let alone in Y anyway.

It's not so much that there is no availability, its that there's no way to check it. You cant just call up USDM and say 'here are my dates' and they'll magically pull together an itinerary for you - you need to have each segment ready (search individually through multiple search engines) and then ask if the NRT-GUM-NRT segments are available, or are being held for JL FF members. If they are not, you need to start the entire thing again with different dates.

If QF still flew to NAN on their own metal I imagine it would be a popular replacement.

 

[smit0847]

We'll have to agree to disagree on this one.

The real fly in the soup for availability on ow is the phantom availability which appears on a few carriers. If it weren't for that, the tools at current would be quite sufficient.

AA won't show CX.
BA shows phantom availability and won't link many connections.
JL won't distinguish JL metal held for JL FFers vs partners.

And they're just the problems with the 3 search engines I've actually used.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

AA won't show CX.
BA shows phantom availability and won't link many connections.
JL won't distinguish JL metal held for JL FFers vs partners.

And they're just the problems with the 3 search engines I've actually used.

agree on all those!

and BA mainly seems to show MH availability if you search sector by sector. Very few married segments.

and QF is annoying for multiple searches because it keeps asking you to enter in 'show partner availability'.

Why on earth do they do that? Surely simpler to just list all cities, partner or not? (I mean it's not like QFi actually flies anywhere these days)

 

[anat0l]

It's not so much that there is no availability, its that there's no way to check it. You cant just call up USDM and say 'here are my dates' and they'll magically pull together an itinerary for you - you need to have each segment ready (search individually through multiple search engines) and then ask if the NRT-GUM-NRT segments are available, or are being held for JL FF members. If they are not, you need to start the entire thing again with different dates.

Can KVS help with this? I realise that KVS is not a free service (and I don't have a subscription).

Apart from that, maybe time to give up on the GUM awards now.

If QF still flew to NAN on their own metal I imagine it would be a popular replacement.

It would be for a cheap holiday for sure, but no Asian stopover, which is what most GUMmers were doing the route for.

Otherwise, there's always NOU. Or, PPT, but the latter requires you to go via South America. I doubt they will let you argue that "Well, that's the only way to get from Australia to Tahiti, so I should be charged intrazone only to go via SCL!"

 

[smit0847]

I am sorry I could not find the booking you refer to, I meant to ask successful bookings with *O not old *A bookings. (I've been to GUM myself using *A).

By 'changes' I meant yesterdays devaluation. Apparently it only impacts travel on US airways metal and not partners, so looks like GUM is still possible in F for 40k except for Poor availability on *O

No change to SWP-SWP redemptions - still 25/30/40.

Yes you could book GUM in F for 40k but the only possible F routes are SYD-HKG on QF and HKG-NRT/HND on JL. Unless travelling alone and booking 333 days out QF F is going to be extremely difficult to find (I've checked) but HKG-NRT/HND CX F availability is quite good, noting its a pretty short flight.

 

[smit0847]

Can KVS help with this? I realise that KVS is not a free service (and I don't have a subscription).

Otherwise, there's always NOU. Or, PPT, but the latter requires you to go via South America. I doubt they will let you argue that "Well, that's the only way to get from Australia to Tahiti, so I should be charged intrazone only to go via SCL!"

bcworld can correct me but I believe KVS may have the same issue as searching CX.com or JL.com - it doesn't distinguish between seats held for that carriers own FF members, and those seats given to partners.

The savings in getting to NOU would be eaten up by the very high living costs there I would imagine - GUM is dirt cheap in comparison.

I don't think PPT would be an option - availability to SCL would be the first problem....

 

[bcworld]

Can KVS help with this? I realise that KVS is not a free service (and I don't have a subscription).

KVS just scrapes data from these sources...so if the sources are wrong, so is KVS. And there is no useful 7 day method like with ANA/*A.

BTW, if you are a KVS user and are considering signing up for JL to use that method, do not sign yourself up in Oceania region as for some reason Oceania accounts cannot be used with KVS...sign up in North America.

 

[Alanslegal]

I don't think PPT would be an option - availability to SCL would be the first problem....

Assuming SYD-xSCL-PPT was bookable, I am sure there will always be whY availability on the SYD-SCL sector. Would not be very comfortable on that long flight though (having flown that sector in J once).

 

[zainman]

No change to SWP-SWP redemptions - still 25/30/40.

Yes you could book GUM in F for 40k but the only possible F routes are SYD-HKG on QF and HKG-NRT/HND on JL. Unless travelling alone and booking 333 days out QF F is going to be extremely difficult to find (I've checked) but HKG-NRT/HND CX F availability is quite good, noting its a pretty short flight.

Good to know the rates remain the same.. how about CX MEL-HKG J availability? or BA SYD-SIN in F? Those are options, and then connect SIN-NRT on JL (do they have F product on those flights?) or SIN-HKG (CX, again not sure if they have F). I know 40k will only get me 1 or 2 F legs but I am happy with that, the 10k difference is minimal to me.

 

[diningdecadence]

is there a new "best tool" to use to search for availability these days given awardtravlr has gone and also that it is now oneworld... or does it depend on which airline wishing to fly etc?

 

[burmans]

is there a new "best tool" to use to search for availability these days given awardtravlr has gone and also that it is now oneworld... or does it depend on which airline wishing to fly etc?

Actually that was the question I asked when I created this thread. the somewhat snide response was

The same tools that we currently use to search of AAwards.

Each of AA.com, Qantas and Asiamiles have been suggested but all have their issues it appears, I have yet to find a "best" tool.
Oh and BA Exec is the other mentioned.

 

[anat0l]

Actually that was the question I asked when I created this thread. the somewhat snide response was

Each of AA.com, Qantas and Asiamiles have been suggested but all have their issues it appears, I have yet to find a "best" tool.
Oh and BA Exec is the other mentioned.

Snide as you might have found it, the answer was right.

The fact of the matter is that if you're looking for an Awardtravlr style tool for oneworld, there isn't one. You could "speed" up the process with KVS. I'm unsure if AwardNexus can also help.

Basically, QF, BA and AA cover quite a bit already. AA has the usefulness of searching its own, BA and IB quite well. QF does many at a fair rate but may miss some seats. BA does most quite well but lacks month search. If not for the phantom availability problem, JL may not be necessary, and even then. Searching for availability of an airline's seats is usually best on the same airline's tool. Use one of the tools first and check others for double-checking or if one doesn't show availability (to confirm it was not there).

None of those tools can effectively do routing for you, so effectively point to point searches. Most of the network is hub and spoke so this usually isn't a big deal. Mind, Awardtravlr missed some routings in searches which you could only find by playing with the origin or destination, or going back to point to point searches.

 

[TKK]

Are they now strictly enforcing MPM? I've talked to 3 agents all refused to accept the routing I already have on hold.

 

[anat0l]

Are they now strictly enforcing MPM? I've talked to 3 agents all refused to accept the routing I already have on hold.

MPM is randomly enforced. At one point, it seemed to be really important, but then died off. No reason why it could become more mainstream again.

What kind of routing did you have?

 

[TKK]

SYD-MNL-HKG-SFO. No SYD-HKG direct for the dates I'm looking for.

 

[anat0l]

SYD-MNL-HKG-SFO. No SYD-HKG direct for the dates I'm looking for.

Try again. And again? Did they all give you the same reason?

Have you potentially considered SYD-BNE-HKG, SYD-MEL-HKG, or SYD-SIN-HKG?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Are they now strictly enforcing MPM? I've talked to 3 agents all refused to accept the routing I already have on hold.

If the booking was on hold, then Agent 1 would have put a note in your booking. Agents 2 and 3 would have repeated that message. Unless agent 1 has made an error, subsequent agents or supervisors are unlikely to overrule.

Best bet - either change routing, or secondly, completely cancel your current booking. Then ring back and create a brand new one. No notes then

 

[TKK]

Yup 3 agents all refer to MPM rule. No BNE or MEL availability on the dates I'm looking for. I can see availability for ADL-HKG on CX but the agent can't see it. Might try again tomorrow.