US Dividend Miles - post your SUCCESSFUL award bookings here.

[thehound]

I got my parents into USDM last year and just helped them book the following:

PER-BKK - TG J
BKK-LHR - TG F 380
LHR-ORD - UA F
YYZ-LHR - AC J
LHR-BKK - TG F 380
BKK-PER - TG J

She tried a couple of agents trying to go one way via Asia (to enjoy the 14-hour flight in the Asiana F suite to/from New York) and one way via Europe, but they wouldn't allow it. Total cost was ~$415 in taxes (seemed high to me) and 120,000 points - my Mum repeatedly told the agent it should be 140,000 points, but they kept telling her it was correct and even checked with the rates desk. What more could she do?!

In any event they're very excited about the itinerary, particularly those Thai first flights on the A380.

 

[Flashback]

I got my parents into USDM last year and just helped them book the following:

PER-BKK - TG J
BKK-LHR - TG F 380
LHR-ORD - UA F
YYZ-LHR - AC J
LHR-BKK - TG F 380
BKK-PER - TG J

She tried a couple of agents trying to go one way via Asia (to enjoy the 14-hour flight in the Asiana F suite to/from New York) and one way via Europe, but they wouldn't allow it. Total cost was ~$415 in taxes (seemed high to me) and 120,000 points - my Mum repeatedly told the agent it should be 140,000 points, but they kept telling her it was correct and even checked with the rates desk. What more could she do?!

In any event they're very excited about the itinerary, particularly those Thai first flights on the A380.

You can blame LHR-ORD and LHR-BKK for the high taxes. Very lucky to land that itinerary in this day and age.. well done.

I was much the same. Had a trip in F to Aus that should have been 150k return, but the stopover in SIN for some reason gave the agent the idea that SIN was the destination and only charged 110, even after mentioning it should be 150. You take the good with the bad ..

 

[smit0847]

MEL-SIN SQ J
SIN-NGO SQ J (stopover 8 days)
NGO-GUM UA J (destination)
GUM-KIX UA J
KIX-BKK TG J
BKK-MEL TG J

30,000 points + $200 taxes and fees pp.

W.T.F.

I booked the above 10 months out from the trip (Jan/Feb 2014). I now see that there is F availability on TG SYD-BKK-KIX-BKK-SYD as well as UA F availability SIN-NRT-SIN (to which I could easily tack-on SQ J flights. So I'm considering whether I should be trying to change this into a South Pacific to South Pacific F award.

I recognise I was incredibly lucky to manage a stopover in Japan when it's clearly not allowed (it took 5 HUACA's before an agent would event agree that any route through Japan would be considered a SP to SP award).

I *might* be able to swing either:

MEL-SIN SQ J
SIN-NRT UA F (stopover)
NRT-GUM UA J (dest)
GUM-KIX UA J
KIX-BKK TG F
BKK-SYD TG F

or

SYD-BKK-KIX TG F (stopover)
KIX-GUM UA J (dest)
GUM-KIX UA J
KIX-BKK-SYD TG F

as a 40,000 pp SP-SP award F booking however I am extremely wary than drawing any attention to my original booking may result in the operator realising the error and correcting it by either repricing it to 90K or not allowing the stopover. It's a tricky award to pull off because you are getting so much bang for your buck and it would entirely come down to the mood and intuition of the opertor.

To be honest I would rather have my free stopover than be able to change to an F redemption with no stopover but I'm also conscious that this is my 'last hurrah' trip with USDM before it heads to OW so I should also be trying to max it as much as I possibly can.

Would an option be to call up to make a completely new res, and if I can get a F redemption with a stopover I put it on hold (saying I need to buy the miles and making no mention of my J booking), then cancel my J, get my points back then recall to ticket my F booking? It's a bad idea to put SQ on hold isn't it because they're released back almost immediately? Is there any chance an incorrectly priced reservation on hold will be corrected when you ring up to pay for it?

I'm not sure whether to just be content with what I've got or to go for gold....

 

[Alanslegal]

as a 40,000 pp SP-SP award F booking however I am extremely wary than drawing any attention to my original booking may result in the operator realising the error and correcting it by either repricing it to 90K or not allowing the stopover. It's a tricky award to pull off because you are getting so much bang for your buck and it would entirely come down to the mood and intuition of the opertor.

To be honest I would rather have my free stopover than be able to change to an F redemption with no stopover but I'm also conscious that this is my 'last hurrah' trip with USDM before it heads to OW so I should also be trying to max it as much as I possibly can.

If this was me, I would just keep the existing reservation because it's already such a great bang for your buck ticket (ableit flying in J).

With going for gold, with big rewards = big risks, so you have to take the gamble with agent roulette, let alone whether the routing is bookable again, whether you get a stopover and so on etc etc.

I know USDM is moving to OW soon but those surplus points will transfer to AA and then you can fly try out F on a range of other carriers who, unless you're travelling solo probably not QF though

 

[seritonin]

I booked the above 10 months out from the trip (Jan/Feb 2014). I now see that there is F availability on TG SYD-BKK-KIX-BKK-SYD as well as UA F availability SIN-NRT-SIN (to which I could easily tack-on SQ J flights. So I'm considering whether I should be trying to change this into a South Pacific to South Pacific F award.

I recognise I was incredibly lucky to manage a stopover in Japan when it's clearly not allowed (it took 5 HUACA's before an agent would event agree that any route through Japan would be considered a SP to SP award).

I *might* be able to swing either:

MEL-SIN SQ J
SIN-NRT UA F (stopover)
NRT-GUM UA J (dest)
GUM-KIX UA J
KIX-BKK TG F
BKK-SYD TG F

or

SYD-BKK-KIX TG F (stopover)
KIX-GUM UA J (dest)
GUM-KIX UA J
KIX-BKK-SYD TG F

as a 40,000 pp SP-SP award F booking however I am extremely wary than drawing any attention to my original booking may result in the operator realising the error and correcting it by either repricing it to 90K or not allowing the stopover. It's a tricky award to pull off because you are getting so much bang for your buck and it would entirely come down to the mood and intuition of the opertor.

To be honest I would rather have my free stopover than be able to change to an F redemption with no stopover but I'm also conscious that this is my 'last hurrah' trip with USDM before it heads to OW so I should also be trying to max it as much as I possibly can.

Would an option be to call up to make a completely new res, and if I can get a F redemption with a stopover I put it on hold (saying I need to buy the miles and making no mention of my J booking), then cancel my J, get my points back then recall to ticket my F booking? It's a bad idea to put SQ on hold isn't it because they're released back almost immediately? Is there any chance an incorrectly priced reservation on hold will be corrected when you ring up to pay for it?

I'm not sure whether to just be content with what I've got or to go for gold....

I have just booked 2 pax travelling Christmas/New years:

MEL- SIN SQ J
SIN-NGO SQ J
NGO-GUM (dest) UA J
GUM-TPE BR J
TPE- HKG (20hr layover) BR J
HKG - BKK (stopover 8 days) TG J
BKK- MEL TG J

30,000 miles + $180 taxes
Bargain! It only took 30 mins on the phone!

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Booked the folks the following flights a few months ago for travel in September although I'm not sure whether OZ & successful should be in the same sentence. :shock: :shock:


SYD
x/BKK TG472 (744)
CPH TG950 (773)

LHR
x/SEL OZ522 (77W)
SYD OZ601 (772)

120K points plus taxes USD478.00pp plus USD50.00pp booking fee.

 

[Timba-Jet]

I have just booked 2 pax travelling Christmas/New years:

MEL- SIN SQ J
SIN-NGO SQ J
NGO-GUM (dest) UA J
GUM-TPE BR J
TPE- HKG (20hr layover) BR J
HKG - BKK (stopover 8 days) TG J
BKK- MEL TG J

30,000 miles + $180 taxes
Bargain! It only took 30 mins on the phone!

Well done on getting a stopover included. I'm looking at booking a GUM trip myself, was looking at long overnight transits, but might give a stopover a try and hope (but not expect) based on this.

BTW, what approach did you take with the agent: give them a list the flights upfront or wait until they ask you if you had any specific flights in mind?

 

[gunzel2]

I've just booked my first redemption flight for October/November 2013.

Going over:
OZ602 SYD-ICN B772.
A few days in ICN.
OZ103 ICN-NRT B744.
NH1078 NRT-SEA B788.
UA1495 SEA-ORD B739.

Going back:
UA507 ORD-SFO. A320.
UA853 SFO-NRT. B744.
A few days in NRT.
TG677 NRT-BKK. A380.
Approx 20 hours in BKK
TG475 BKK-SYD. B744.

All in J. Mileage 110,000 points all purchased at 100% bonus promo rate. Taxes $188 and $50 US Air booking fee.

Very easy to book. Rang a few minutes after midnight Australian time. No wait on hold. Efficient operator who had it finished and emailed to me within 8 minutes.

DW

 

[Jaymez]

I'm mainly posting to thank the forum for the instructions on how to make bookings. It made the task so much easier. This was my first attempt and though quite straight forward, I still had great trepidation, but having prepared as instructed, with the flights picked out made it over and done in less than 10 minutes once I got past the robot which couldn't recognise Perth as a departure point. I got the direct flights I wanted and the times I wanted. Fee and charges $106.89, booking fee $50.00. Having looked at the miles tables, it isn't particularly efficient to use these dividend miles on short hops like this when I could get to London return for about 120,000 points, but I wanted an easy run for my first go. I have a US and Europe trip planned soon too. These tickets have cost me about $2,000 all up. The best price I could get direct with Thai was $3,500 with the same ticket terms. I could get a Southern China one stop flight taking twice the travel time for $2900. I happen to like Thai.
[TABLE="width: 100%"]
[TR]
[TD]Thai Airways 482 [/TD]
[TD]Depart: 4:45 PM Perth, Australia (PER)
Arrival: 10:45 PM Bangkok, Thailand (BKK)[/TD]
[TD="align: center"][/TD]
[TD="align: center"][/TD]
[TD="align: center"][/TD]
[TD="align: center"][/TD]
[TD="align: center"][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Thai Airways 481[/TD]
[TD]Depart: 7:50 AM Bangkok, Thailand (BKK)
Arrival: 3:35 PM Perth, Australia (PER)

[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

 

[kamchatsky]

My sister has put the following itinerary on hold to fly off mid next week!

TG F SYD-BKK
TG J BKK-FRA (A380)
LH J FRA-TXL

LH J AMS-FRA
TG F FRA-BKK (A380)
TG F BKK-SYD

I just told her to reroute to TG F BKK-ZRH (A340), LX J ZRH-TXL instead. Even though J BKK-FRA is A380, F is still F.

Have to say after US merge with AA, I will miss the award availability of Star Alliance Awards. It beats OW Awards hands down!

My sister had to do something else in Sydney and ended up not ticketed the original itinerary. So she only just ticketed the following itinerary 3 DAYS AGO for travelling TOMORROW:

TG476 F SYD-BKK (8 hours transit)
TG970 F BKK-ZRH (A346)
LX976 J ZRH-TXL

TG931 F CDG-BKK (A380) (13 hours transit)
TG475 F BKK-SYD

I had to do quick search on ANA for her as the days she wanted to travel is 1) very little lead time 2) coming back in peak season. Not that much availability so had to look around, especially she want to try latest and greatest F on A380. Now she has to figure out the best way to travel from AMS-CDG (plane, trains or automobiles) either on the day of travel back or the day before. I hope TG A380 F is worth it (and no last minute plane swaps).

She also want to have long transit for the BKK F lounge with spa/massage/food. She never tried F before so hopefully she will enjoy the trip.

Still amazed with the availability on TG F/J though, especially such short lead time. We are lucky and spoiled here in Australia.

 

[hummel]

All booked for easter next year.

MEL-SIN SQ J
SIN-KIX SQ J
KIX-GUM UA J

GUM-KIX UA J
30 Hour stop over
KIX-SIN SQ Y
SIN-MEL SQ J

60,000 miles + $396 in taxes/fees.

Thanks for everyone's help, pretty happy with that.. even with a Y flight!

 

[hummel]

Is that for 2 people?

Knew I forgot something.. sure is.

Confirmation codes check out on SQ/UA as well so all good.

 

[Solid]

Back to the purpose of this thread. Recently booked for 90k + $172 in taxes.

BNE-BKK TG J
BKK-ICN TG J
ICN-NRT OZJ

destination

NRT-XMN ANA J
XMN-BKK TGJ
BKK-BNE TG J

couldnt get single layover in J so thought I would go to airports I haven't been before in ICN and XMN. The agent gave up trying to pronounce Xiamen after I said "I'm not completely sure but pretty sure its not pronounced "X-Men".

thanks again to the originator of the USDM thread!

 

[smit0847]

Back to the purpose of this thread. Recently booked for 90k + $172 in taxes.

BNE-BKK TG J
BKK-ICN TG J
ICN-NRT OZJ

destination

NRT-XMN ANA J
XMN-BKK TGJ
BKK-BNE TG J

couldnt get single layover in J so thought I would go to airports I haven't been before in ICN and XMN. The agent gave up trying to pronounce Xiamen after I said "I'm not completely sure but pretty sure its not pronounced "X-Men".

thanks again to the originator of the USDM thread!

That's a strange itinerary. Was BNE-SIN-HND on SQ, BNE-SIN (SQ) then SIN-NRT on ANA or BNE-BKK-NRT on TG unavailable? I didn't know TG even flew to XMN....

 

[travelislife]

Okay, I got it!

TG MEL-BKK (16 hour layover)
TG BKK-NRT (TGA380) (6 day stopover)
UA NRT-GUM (3 days destination)

UA GUM-NRT
SQ HND-SIN
SQ SIN-MEL

2 people in business class, 30,000 miles each, plus $151.50 in taxes, plus $50 processing fee each. What is even better is the 30,000 miles are 'freebie' miles from a miss priced first class award we did earlier in the year, so it is a dam cheap trip!

Also I was actually calling up to cancel but when the agent said 'your itinerary MEL-GUM-MEL' I thought I had a chance. So I got her to split the booking for me for the miles to come from two accounts and then she said to me, oh that will be 90,000 miles each and you only have 30,000 in your account. I then said, oh, I thought it would be 30,000 for SWP-SWP. So she had a look at it and said, yep your correct someone has mistakenly put in the wrong amount in your booking, I'll fix it up for you.

So even though it went to the rates desk and I was told it was an illegal itinerary, then priced at 90,000 I somehow managed to come out a winner. Geeze I am going to miss these guys.

 

[MaxLaughton]

Success, on my second call!

All in Business, in late March/early April:

SYD-PEK
PEK-HND (stopover, 6 days)
HND-IAD
IAD-CLT
CLT-MSY (destination, 2 weeks but I'll fly around in the interim on non-DM flights)
MSY-SFO
SFO-SYD

 

[Alanslegal]

Success, on my second call!

All in Business, in late March/early April:

SYD-PEK
PEK-HND (stopover, 6 days)
HND-IAD
IAD-CLT
CLT-MSY (destination, 2 weeks but I'll fly around in the interim on non-DM flights)
MSY-SFO
SFO-SYD

Well done.

I see you joined not too long ago, so its very good to see you get some nice benefits from knowledge found on this site thus far.

 

[Alanslegal]

I just placed on hold an itinerary for my girlfriend's BFF a simple F award SYD-xBKK-ZRH//LHR-xBKK-SYD for departure in in 9 days time. Taxes were $468.xx + $50.

Spoke to Lisa who was fantastic, friendly, and knew what she was doing. I listed out the four flights, she wrote it down, told me she would double check if they were available whilst I was placed on hold, waited 45 seconds, all flights were available and we finalised the passenger details and its on hold. Total call time would have taken no more than 10 minutes.

 

[travelislife]

I just placed on hold an itinerary for my girlfriend's BFF a simple F award SYD-xBKK-ZRH//LHR-xBKK-SYD for departure in in 9 days time. Taxes were $468.xx + $50.

Spoke to Lisa who was fantastic, friendly, and knew what she was doing. I listed out the four flights, she wrote it down, told me she would double check if they were available whilst I was placed on hold, waited 45 seconds, all flights were available and we finalised the passenger details and its on hold. Total call time would have taken no more than 10 minutes.

Great work. Those LHR APD is a killer isn't it! Pity she won't get to try TG's A380 First which was absolutely brilliant a few weeks ago.

 

[Blackswan]

So with the bonus, I decided to bite the bullet and join in on all the fun. Off Stateside for NYE.

PER - SIN (SQ)
SIN - TPE (SQ)
TPE - SFO (BR) Destination
SFO - ICN (UA) Stopover
ICN - SIN (SQ) Transit stopover - overnight for 19 hours
SIN - PER (SQ)

110,000 points and $179.50 USD in taxes and fees. All in J.