US Dividend Miles - post your SUCCESSFUL award bookings here.

[MEL_Traveller]

worth it to try Asiana IMO, I really enjoyed this when I went SYD-ICN last year, superb service.

I also heard only good things about them so well worth a "little" side trip. In my very personal opinion this is

i disagree. you essentially get one hour of service in a business class flight... the food service. it is not worth eight hours of flying to experience that one hour of food. unless it was a full flat bed (vs angled) I would always choose the direct flight.

 

[auriga]

i disagree. you essentially get one hour of service in a business class flight... the food service. it is not worth eight hours of flying to experience that one hour of food. unless it was a full flat bed (vs angled) I would always choose the direct flight.

I agree with MEL_Traveller. Especially for a day flight, you are just sitting there, wasting time. Plus, the lounge in ICN is a bit ordinary.

 

[Berlin]

I agree with MEL_Traveller. Especially for a day flight, you are just sitting there, wasting time. Plus, the lounge in ICN is a bit ordinary.

I guess everyone has different priorities! I for my part travel quite a bit for both work and pleasure but obviously still not enough to start seeing is as a hassle rather than a joy. Hence, for me the journey is the destination to a degree and I quite like looking out the window during my flight, enjoying a nice meal and a couple of free drinks while chatting to my partner- all things I far too rarely have time for in everyday life. And if I'm by myself on a work trip, then even more the flight is the most enjoyable part of my trip- no colleagues around, time for a movie I never had time to watch and again a nice meal. Sometimes you even start a pleasant chat with interesting people from all over the world who you'd otherwise never meet, whether it's fellow travelers or the flight crew. So yea, I truly enjoy the flight experience but everyone is different.

 

[burmans]

i disagree. you essentially get one hour of service in a business class flight... the food service. it is not worth eight hours of flying to experience that one hour of food. unless it was a full flat bed (vs angled) I would always choose the direct flight.

It seemed to go on a lot longer than 1 hour for me! More like one of those long slow lazy lunches that used to be the norm in business lunches some dacades ago (I'm meaning restaurant business lunch here, not business class). This was no normal rushed experience like most business classes, the food seemed to go on forever. And the wine seemed to go on even longer! But each to their own I guess.

 

[Berlin]

This was no normal rushed experience like most business classes, the food seemed to go on forever. And the wine seemed to go on even longer! But each to their own I guess.

Mhm. I always try to influence proceedings so that the experience drags out to at least three hours and the booze even longer. I usually do this to some success, probably because the crew is quite happy with a friendly slightly boozed up customer like me who's happy with a few refills and doesn't need anything else for his in-flight happiness

 

[Foreigner]

Oh sorry, yes- I should have mentioned this: I could have booked TG from Sydney directly to Bangkok but I've never been on Asiana before so was keen to do a little extra loop just because I could Needless to say that this earned me wildly rolling eyes from my better half who can be happy to fly business for that little money and hence had no say in this matter

Your decision was a good one, IMO. I flew back to SYD via BKK on TG last weekend and TG business class left me wanting. Food was not very impressive. The 747 had no windows on the starboard side because of the galley. Lounge in BKK had no spirits.

 

[kkwhong]

Just booked the following in August:
MEL -> BKK (1 night stopover) Thai Airways Business Class
BKK -> FRA Thai Airways First Class
FRA -> CDG Luftansa Business Class
CDG -> BKK Thai Airways First Class
BKK -> MEL Thai Airways Business Class

$US327 in taxes.

However, I was told over the phone that this would only cost 45,000 milage points. Is this correct??? I was expecting it to be 140,000.
I've even checked my account, and only 45,000 milage points have been deducted.

Any chance this reservation gets cancelled?

 

[robcuk]

Just booked the following in August:
MEL -> BKK (1 night stopover) Thai Airways Business Class
BKK -> FRA Thai Airways First Class
FRA -> CDG Luftansa Business Class
CDG -> BKK Thai Airways First Class
BKK -> MEL Thai Airways Business Class

$US327 in taxes.

However, I was told over the phone that this would only cost 45,000 milage points. Is this correct??? I was expecting it to be 140,000.
I've even checked my account, and only 45,000 milage points have been deducted.

Any chance this reservation gets cancelled?

I would of thought it should have been 150k as its an F reward to Europe. 140k in F to N America

 

[kkwhong]

I would of thought it should have been 150k as its an F reward to Europe. 140k in F to N America

Sorry I meant 150k, but regardless only 45k points were deducted.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Just booked the following in August:
MEL -> BKK (1 night stopover) Thai Airways Business Class
BKK -> FRA Thai Airways First Class
FRA -> CDG Luftansa Business Class
CDG -> BKK Thai Airways First Class
BKK -> MEL Thai Airways Business Class

$US327 in taxes.

However, I was told over the phone that this would only cost 45,000 milage points. Is this correct??? I was expecting it to be 140,000.
I've even checked my account, and only 45,000 milage points have been deducted.

Any chance this reservation gets cancelled?

It should be ok - others have reported similar mileage shortfalls and I haven't seen a report yet of a ticket being cancelled.

However, it pays to check the correct classes have been issued (one friend thought they'd got a bargain and they'd been booked in economy). Depending on how ethical you are you might also consider alerting them to the shortfall. I correct them instantly if they give me an incorrect mileage quote. It seems a fair thing to do.

 

[travelislife]

Sorry I meant 150k, but regardless only 45k points were deducted.

Enjoy it! You will see others on here who have had trips ticketed at lower mileage amounts with no issues at all.

 

[Alanslegal]

Sorry I meant 150k, but regardless only 45k points were deducted.

It should be ok - others have reported similar mileage shortfalls and I haven't seen a report yet of a ticket being cancelled.

My friend and her daughter is in the middle of a 35K F SYD-CDG round trip. They fllew out a couple of weeks ago, no issues at all, though she was 'worried' for last two or so weeks prior to her SYD departure thinking what happens if the tickets get cancelled and I have all these hotels/tours booked in Europe. Anyway, she texted me whilst at the airport to let me know everything went smoothly.

 

[jgm]

MEL-SIN SQ J
SIN-ICN SQ J
ICN-SFO OZ J
SFO-DEN UA J (destination)
DEN-ORD UA J
ORD-CPH SK J (stopover)
CPH-SIN SQ J
SIN-MEL SQ J

110,000 $175 x 2

Tried to get CPH-MEL via IST & BKK but agent said it was coming up as illegal.

SWMBO wasn't too keen on travelling via Korea, so I paid the US$150 change fee & moved the outgoing to

MEL-LAX UA J
LAX-PHX US F
PHX-DEN US F

 

[NDiddy]

SWMBO wasn't too keen on travelling via Korea, so I paid the US$150 change fee & moved the outgoing to

MEL-LAX UA J
LAX-PHX US F
PHX-DEN US F

Nice and v good to get availability on UA in J - Just out of curiosity what dates are your outbound flights?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

SWMBO wasn't too keen on travelling via Korea, so I paid the US$150 change fee & moved the outgoing to

MEL-LAX UA J
LAX-PHX US F
PHX-DEN US F

Absolutely the best option, and you could replace Korea with any other Asian transit point. It's just not worth 30 hours (by the time you include transit) vs 14 hours on the non-stop UA flight. UA availability seems to open up closer to departure time and I would recommend the change fee without hesitation.

 

[jgm]

Nice and v good to get availability on UA in J - Just out of curiosity what dates are your outbound flights?

Feb 5 2014. UA J availability seemed to be fairly good for days early in the week. The only downside is having to transit both SYD & LAX.

 

[tm.smile]

Just booked RT to the US in F for the xmas holidays

SYD-LAX UA F
LAX-SFO UA F
SFO KIX UA F
KIX BKK TG J
BKK SYD TG F

140,000 points (from 100% bonus) and about $200 in taxes and fees

 

[NDiddy]

Feb 5 2014. UA J availability seemed to be fairly good for days early in the week. The only downside is having to transit both SYD & LAX.

Thx jgm - On the phone with US Airways now to see if I can make a couple of class changes as availability has opened up for my upcoming trip in July

 

[NDiddy]

Just booked our second redemption for July/August this year for 2 pax:

SYD - LAX UA J (Destination)
LAX - ICN OZ F
ICN - BKK TG Y (Stopover)
BKK - SYD TG F

Originally I had ICN - BKK in J but when I tried to ticket it last night there was an issue. So we held the booking till today but had to re-book the whole routing as they had ticketed Mrs Diddy under her maiden name. In between all of this we lost the J availability but I wasn't too fussed for the flight duration. Taxes were $165.11 + $50 booking fee so $215.11USD in total.

Happy that it all worked out in the end and looking forward to our next trip on USDM

Well - inspired by the recent posts on people changing their flights I've now managed to secure the following:

SYD - LAX UA F (Destination)
LAX - ICN OZ F
ICN - BKK TG J (Stopover)
BKK - SYD TG F

Now the interesting thing is they didn't ask for my cc details and from checking the UA and TG website's all the changes seem to have been applied with the appropriate class changes reflected accurately. Already allocated my seats on UA and will ring TG over the weekend (if they're open) and confirm the seats for our ICN-BKK leg.

Extremely happy with the result

 

[travelislife]

Well - inspired by the recent posts on people changing their flights I've now managed to secure the following:

SYD - LAX UA F (Destination)
LAX - ICN OZ F
ICN - BKK TG J (Stopover)
BKK - SYD TG F

Now the interesting thing is they didn't ask for my cc details and from checking the UA and TG website's all the changes seem to have been applied with the appropriate class changes reflected accurately. Already allocated my seats on UA and will ring TG over the weekend (if they're open) and confirm the seats for our ICN-BKK leg.

Extremely happy with the result

That's great work! Just double check the ticket has been reissued using the saudi website and that you travel classes are correct. I had a recent one with changes and even thought the segments had changed they hadn't reissued the ticket.