US Dividend Miles - post your SUCCESSFUL award bookings here.

[NDiddy]

Very nice! Particularly interesting to see the backtracking from Samui...enjoy the airport there!

Definitely keep an eye on FRA as it is likely to be seeing either the 747 refitted with all new F (920/921) or A380 by then.

Thanks bcworld - As we were going to Europe, the Mrs was adamant that the stopover had to be a warm beach place. We had initially thought of the Canary's but with SpanAir's demise and some other routing issues it was just too difficult to coordinate.

We settled on Asia as the stopover and narrowed it down to Colombo, Samui and Bali after reviewing the list of destinations that Thai flew to.
However our first attempt to call US Airways resulted in a slow but helpful person being timed out of the system without saving the first half of the routing. What that meant was the day we wanted to fly out of SYD-BKK showed up as having no avail in F after trying again (assuming here it thinks we have the seats) and as a result with the infrequent scheduling to Colombo from BKK we couldn't make it work.

Bali was close but we were slightly concerned with the frequency and arrival times of flights that would make our connection. There is only one daily flight which would have given us a 4 hour layover in BKK before heading off the CDG so no issues there but we had some recent bad experiences with flight delays and missed connections which still stings. USM you could say won by default

Will def be keeping my eye out from CDG/FRA to BKK direct flights and am even happy to pay the $150? fee to change the flights if need be.

 

[anat0l]

First time I ever redeemed miles with US DM was completed successfully today.

Nice helpful staff member who helped me through the process; a nice break from the ICC of BD (sorry, not meant to be racist there, but really it was a more pleasant experience dealing with US DM).

Itinerary (origin SYD destination LCY stopover AKL):

• Outbound
  • TG SYD-BKK a/c 346 cls F
  • OZ BKK-ICN a/c 333 cls J
  • OZ ICN-FRA a/c 744 cls F
  • LH FRA-LCY a/c E90 cls J
• Inbound
  • LH LCY-FRA a/c E90 cls J (21h "transit")
  • LX FRA-ZRH a/c 322 cls J
  • LX ZRH-PEK a/c 343 cls F
  • NZ PEK-AKL a/c 772 cls J (stopover)
  • NZ AKL-SYD a/c 772 cls J

Cost was 150,000 points with ancilliary charges coming to a total of $217.95

Itinerary has been confirmed and showing up in US MMB. The pre-assignment system has given me a nice selection of seats for a just-booked itinerary. All the classes of service say "Unknown" but from the class codes in brackets next to them I know that my classes are coming up correctly (I for *A award Business and O for *A award First).

Availability was all checked on ANA only before calling. As expected there was no availablity on LH A380 F, but I'm happy to go with the secondary option of LX F via ZRH (even if old LX F, which I managed to enjoy last year). I still manage to squeeze in LH FCT in all of that, so it's all good.

 

[kpc]

I should post that I have booked:
1) TG F: Syd-Bkk-Lhr (dest)-Bkk (stopover)-Syd for my parents: 150K US miles + USD 472.63 each (damn Lhr premium tax!)
2) SA J: Cpt-Jnb-Vfa (dest)-Jnb (stopover) - Cpt for the 2 of us: 50K US miles + USD183.08 each (not the best use of US miles but still cheaper than buying the flights in Y)

 

[Alanslegal]

First time I ever redeemed miles with US DM was completed successfully today.

Nice helpful staff member who helped me through the process; a nice break from the ICC of BD (sorry, not meant to be racist there, but really it was a more pleasant experience dealing with US DM).

Itinerary (origin SYD destination LCY stopover AKL):

• Outbound
  • SYD-BKK a/c 346 cls F
  • BKK-ICN a/c 333 cls J
  • ICN-FRA a/c 744 cls F
  • FRA-LCY a/c E90 cls J
• Inbound
  • LCY-FRA a/c E90 cls J (21h "transit")
  • FRA-ZRH a/c 322 cls J
  • ZRH-PEK a/c 343 cls F
  • PEK-AKL a/c 772 cls J (stopover)
  • AKL-SYD a/c 772 cls J

Cost was 150,000 points with ancilliary charges coming to a total of $217.95

Nicely done anat0l!

 

[Alanslegal]

Back OT

Booked, SYD-xBKK-CDG-VIE-xBKK-SYD, in riff-raff class , 120K + $238 taxes.

 

[anat0l]

Back OT

Booked, SYD-xBKK-CDG-VIE-xBKK-SYD, in riff-raff class , 120K + $238 taxes.

Is that pretty much all TG (except for CDG-VIE)?

BKK-CDG would've been (or should've been) featured with new product (F at least; not sure about J).

 

[Alanslegal]

Is that pretty much all TG (except for CDG-VIE)?

BKK-CDG would've been (or should've been) featured with new product (F at least; not sure about J).

CDG-VIE-BKK is on OS, with the rest of TG. The BKK-CDG is on the 773 with herringbone layout flat J seats.

I like the 'path of least resistance' booking method and again the process took no more than 20 minutes from start to finish, so happy with that. I read on FT some dude tried 90+ different agents to get something booked. People like that ... [well if its not nice, then better not say it at all].

 

[anat0l]

CDG-VIE-BKK is on OS, with the rest of TG. The BKK-CDG is on the 773 with herringbone layout flat J seats.

I think you'll find OS J not spectacular, but "home style" (i.e. I've been told that the Austrian hospitality is quite nice, even if you won't get a full flat seat. The typical LOTFAPer, of course, would immediately denounce the service as "lacking a fully flat seat" in the same way they denounce a hotel as "lacking free wifi").

I like the 'path of least resistance' booking method and again the process took no more than 20 minutes from start to finish, so happy with that. I read on FT some dude tried 90+ different agents to get something booked. People like that ... [well if its not nice, then better not say it at all].

My session of a few days ago took me about 40 minutes or so, probably due to the complex routing and also when they tried to get the taxes/fees/surcharges the agent's computer crashed. I didn't really care as I was trying to burn through mobile credit anyway (and still didn't end up burning off "quite enough", but it helps...)


LOTFAPers really don't give up. You'd think that after that many agents they'd already put a black mark on their name (not PNR, name). Yes I agree with your non-expressible sentiments.

 

[NDiddy]

Just put this on hold this morning:

SYD -> BKK F TG - Forced layover for 23hr 50mins
BKK -> USM J TG Stopver
USM ->BKK J TG
BKK -> CDG F Suite (thanks for confirming this again bcworld) TG - Destination

CDG -> MUC J LH
MUC -> BKK F TG
BKK -> SYD F TG

Sigh* What a debacle this has been over the last 3 days.
Rang up on the 11th only to be told that taxes could not be generated for this ticket as it was an invalid routing. Fair enough - The US Airways person said the USM leg was the issue and mentioned that it had to be a *A hub for stopovers. No problem - kind of knew that anyway so lets chose coughet.

Sure he says and keeps it all on the same itin and most importantly same PNR with just the change to the stopover leg BKK -> HKT -> BKK. All other flights are the same. Now interestingly he says that we have another 72 hours of holding this booking and since we chose HKT on a whim we thought yep lets hold this and come back in the next day or so to confirm and ticket this.

Ring back on the 13th with booking conf number and tell the lovely lady we'd like to book the trip. Was politely told that because the miles were coming out of 2 accounts that 2 bookings would need to be created....seriously? Wish they mentioned that to begin with as we could have at least locked in the flights instead of having to go through the process again which meant releasing our flights we had already secured. To make things worse she also claimed that we were outside of our 72 hour window period (system based this on the original booking and not the amended itin).

Then the clincher - we can get one of you in F all the way but availability issues mean that the second person cannot get F all the way and most long haul will have to be down in Y :shock:. Anyway long story short 2 days of calls with the final call lasting 3 hours and a date change either side of what we wanted, we're booked on the following itin:

SYD -> BKK F TG - Forced layover for 23hr 50mins
BKK -> HKT J TG Stopver
HKT ->BKK J TG
BKK -> CDG F Suite TG - Destination

CDG -> MUC J LH
MUC -> BKK F TG
BKK -> SYD F TG

Miles now deducted from the account - 150K as expected and taxes and booking fees now deducted from the Visa. Taxes were 186.83AUD after conversion and booking fee was $46.90 so the total was $233.73AUD

Still stoked about this despite the stuffing around that we had to go through. Not sure if the "separate booking because it's being deducted from separate accounts" has been experienced by others but to those attempting this be mindful of this.

Now it's off to find an apartment in Paris

 

[bcworld]

Not sure if the "separate booking because it's being deducted from separate accounts" has been experienced by others but to those attempting this be mindful of this.

Yup. Some friends of mine had to do this. 1 PNR per pax.

When I mentioned it on Flyertalk the consensus was that this was the norm although I'm sure others have had a single PNR for 2 pax booked from 2 accounts.

 

[NDiddy]

Yup. Some friends of mine had to do this. 1 PNR per pax.

When I mentioned it on Flyertalk the consensus was that this was the norm although I'm sure others have had a single PNR for 2 pax booked from 2 accounts.

Thanks bc - I guess from reading most of the info on here I was under the impression (maybe mistakenly) that all bookings could be on one PNR. Anyway in hindsight it's no biggie but it really would have saved a lot of time if I went into the booking process knowing this as I would have directed the person on the other end to create 2 bookings and hold both rather than just 1.

Lesson learned and I'm sure a Royal Orchid Spa treatment will wash away any residual built up booking tension

 

[travelislife]

Even if in the original reserving of an itinerary you have it all saved under the one PNR it is very easy for the agent to split it in to 2 PNR's so that the miles can then come out of 2 different accounts. There is no reason for them to cancel the original itinerary to do this.

I have just returned from my first trip using dividend miles and am thoroughly satisfied!

 

[NDiddy]

Even if in the original reserving of an itinerary you have it all saved under the one PNR it is very easy for the agent to split it in to 2 PNR's so that the miles can then come out of 2 different accounts. There is no reason for them to cancel the original itinerary to do this.

I have just returned from my first trip using dividend miles and am thoroughly satisfied!

Oh I wish I you could have heard me ask for the exact same thing only to be told that it can't be done. Nevertheless all's well that ends well in this case.

TR for your recent trip? Would be a great read!

 

[Alanslegal]

Sigh* What a debacle this has been over the last 3 days.
Rang up on the 11th only to be told that taxes could not be generated for this ticket as it was an invalid routing. Fair enough - The US Airways person said the USM leg was the issue and mentioned that it had to be a *A hub for stopovers. No problem - kind of knew that anyway so lets chose coughet.

Still stoked about this despite the stuffing around that we had to go through. Not sure if the "separate booking because it's being deducted from separate accounts" has been experienced by others but to those attempting this be mindful of this.

At the end of the day, you are still getting super bang for your buck and getting to Europe and back - with a stopover in sunny coughet - for bargain basement prices. Yes it was a hassle at times but I am sure you (and most of us) will be ready, willing and able to go through all the cough again, to book your next First Class flight for not much more than an economy one.

 

[Stephen65]

Not sure if the "separate booking because it's being deducted from separate accounts" has been experienced by others but to those attempting this be mindful of this.

What you were told is correct. If points are coming out of separate DM accounts there will be one PNR per passenger DM account. So for example, in our family I, my wife, my 6 yo and my 3yo each have our own DM account. To date when we travel we each get our own PNR because we have all paid using our own DM points. However, what you can do when you are organising seat allocation with the carrier is tell them that you are travelling as a group even though on different PNRs and they can add a notation on their system that links your PNRs.

As others have said the best thing to do when booking is to tell the agent at the outset that there will be X people travelling and that each of them will be paying for the award flights out of their own DM account. The agent then knows to set it up from the start as separate PNRs. Otherwise they will book it as one PNR covering X people and when you come to pay with separate DM accounts there will be the hassle of them having to split the PNR.

The whole process is more of a trial than say booking QF award flights online but the savings are so considerable its really worth it.

 

[NDiddy]

At the end of the day, you are still getting super bang for your buck and getting to Europe and back - with a stopover in sunny coughet - for bargain basement prices. Yes it was a hassle at times but I am sure you (and most of us) will be ready, willing and able to go through all the cough again, to book your next First Class flight for not much more than an economy one.

Hey Alanslegal,

You're absolutely right. This was an absolute steal for the route/F cabin class travel as well. I would have easily spent weeks on the phone if need be to secure this so no complaints and I guess in hindsight my disappointment was more in the lack of proactive-ness from US Airways staff (so hit and miss as has been reported).

Given this was my first booking using Dividend Miles there were a few lessons learnt and I hope I get to take advantage of this in the future.

I can't thank the AFF community enough for putting me onto this and a special mention to casanovawa and to you Alan for all the assistance you've provided me

 

[NDiddy]

Agreed Stephen6 and thanks for the tip. Will be sure to to use that for the next booking.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

just booked Australia to india and return... all of 12 minutes on the phone from answering to ticketing!! one of the 4 sectors is serviced by sq with an F cabin (the rest are two class only). will keep an eye out for F availability and change if it comes up.

 

[anat0l]

just booked Australia to india and return... all of 12 minutes on the phone from answering to ticketing!! one of the 4 sectors is serviced by sq with an F cabin (the rest are two class only). will keep an eye out for F availability and change if it comes up.

So have you a confirmed F or are you booked into J?

Note that if you current hold a J ticket charged as a J award, if you want to change your ticket to F, this will change your award and you'll have to be careful when it is reprocessed. You will likely have to pay a change fee. Some won't even touch it unless you basically do a cancel and (re)book (not guaranteed that your 'released' inventory will be available for the next booking).

 

[MEL_Traveller]

So have you a confirmed F or are you booked into J?

Note that if you current hold a J ticket charged as a J award, if you want to change your ticket to F, this will change your award and you'll have to be careful when it is reprocessed. You will likely have to pay a change fee. Some won't even touch it unless you basically do a cancel and (re)book (not guaranteed that your 'released' inventory will be available for the next booking).

it's booked in j now. f only offered on one sector, the outbound from Melbourne, but currently no award seats left. if one comes up will cost $150 and 30k miles to change. a good agent should be able to do the change without cancelling everything.