US Dividend Miles - post your SUCCESSFUL award bookings here.

[anat0l]

CSR didn't say anything with my proposed trip !

CSR didn't say anything because you're perfectly entitled to make one-way bookings. It's just that they cost the same as a return booking.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

What you could do to get more bang for your buck is in order fly:

a) SYD/SGN on outbound leg of gift voucher

b) SGN/SYD on outbound leg of US DM ticket

c) SYD/SGN on inbound leg of US DM ticket

d) SGN/SYD VN return leg of QF gift voucher

This way you get two return trips to Asia but you need to lock in the dates of the US DM ticket as once the forward journey has commenced you can't make changes to the return.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Better still use your QF gift voucher for something else & use your US DM ticket
SYD/SGN/SYD all in J.

If time is running out to use the QF voucher don't waste the return, fly back on VN then you still have your 90K US DM points in the mileage bank.

Finally, why not be super adventurous & book a return US DM ticket to GUM with a stopover in SGN in one direction for only 30K return.

If SGN too tricky on US DM, make BKK the stopover & just buy a separate ticket BKK/SGN/BKK.

 

[legroom]

To be honest, that what I thought it was - for one way trip only.

Man, reading the USDM chart didn't give me that piece of pearl at all !

CSR didn't say anything because you're perfectly entitled to make one-way bookings. It's just that they cost the same as a return booking.

Ozbeachbabe,

You hit the nail on the head !

QF voucher is running out of time (chocker of 2014 bookings already).

Looks like I would admit to having a case of bad blood rushing to my head and will aim for a retrieval of the 90K USDM.

Really, I have no time for GUM, sorry.

If time is running out to use the QF voucher don't waste the return, fly back on VN then you still have your 90K US DM points in the mileage bank....

 

[Alanslegal]

90,000 points, even at a 100% buy promotion, cost around USD$1720. Booking an one way award from SGN-SYD is clearly not worth it from that cost perspective. What I would do? I would just cancel the USDM award, use it for next time - and just utilise the QF voucher in full by getting to SGN and back, even if it means stuck in Y.

 

[legroom]

I will nominate myself for the snafu of the week !

A combination of voucher fever and mileage overflow.

Without the good friends' comments here 'where is the return sector?' I wouldn't have known any better.

And that is from someone who has been reading this thread for months !

I cannot thank you guys enough for the kind, friendly and knowledgeable feedbacks.

90,000 points, even at a 100% buy promotion, cost around USD$1720. Booking an one way award from SGN-SYD is clearly not worth it from that cost perspective. What I would do? I would just cancel the USDM award, use it for next time - and just utilise the QF voucher in full by getting to SGN and back, even if it means stuck in Y.

 

[Fifa]

This is my third booking with USDM to the US via Europe.
I spent hours and hours researching and planning flights to maximise our stopover, destination, airlines and aircraft. Availability in J and F on the transatlantic and within the US was a lot scarcer than my previous bookings.
There was no availability from BKK to either FRA or CDG on the A380 a few days either side of my preferred dates.
After a couple of false starts (my first attempt included 6 sectors to the destination :shock: and I just couldn't reduce them without flying Y. The second attempt I thought I would resort to making the stopover LHR as, even with the higher taxes, it was convenient, however it is not a hub so that was a no go!)

So, today I spent 1 hr and 46 minutes on the phone with a very helpful agent. There were a few hiccups - her computer crashed and we had to go through all the sectors a second time, then the rates desk said the route home from SEA was too long. They then said it looked like it was the stopover in ZRH that was causing a problem and it was a round the world which was invalid. Finally the agent came back and said my original routing was booked and would I like to put it on hold or pay now. No way was I giving this one up so I gave my cc details straight away!

The booking for myself and my +1 (departing early September and returning October):

SYD-BKK TG F
BKK-ZRH TG F stopover
ZRH-YUL LX J (22 h transit)
YUL-YVR AC J
YVR-SEA AC Y (only a 50 min flight) destination
SEA-NRT NH J (Dreamliner) (19 h transit)
NRT-BKK TG J (A380)
BKK-SYD TG F

140,000 miles each
Taxes: $215.82 pp
Booking fee: $50 pp


I do not yet have the booking ref nos. for TG or NH but will chase them up next week.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

FIFA. you want to make sure you have the booking references and confirmation from each airline that they have a ticket number against the booking within 48 hours (reserving a seat or booking the cook does not mean the airline has a ticket number )

keep an eye out for availability in F on the NRT-BKK leg. It can open up at anytime.

 

[anat0l]

This is my third booking with USDM to the US via Europe.
I spent hours and hours researching and planning flights to maximise our stopover, destination, airlines and aircraft. Availability in J and F on the transatlantic and within the US was a lot scarcer than my previous bookings.
There was no availability from BKK to either FRA or CDG on the A380 a few days either side of my preferred dates.
After a couple of false starts (my first attempt included 6 sectors to the destination :shock: and I just couldn't reduce them without flying Y. The second attempt I thought I would resort to making the stopover LHR as, even with the higher taxes, it was convenient, however it is not a hub so that was a no go!)

So, today I spent 1 hr and 46 minutes on the phone with a very helpful agent. There were a few hiccups - her computer crashed and we had to go through all the sectors a second time, then the rates desk said the route home from SEA was too long. They then said it looked like it was the stopover in ZRH that was causing a problem and it was a round the world which was invalid. Finally the agent came back and said my original routing was booked and would I like to put it on hold or pay now. No way was I giving this one up so I gave my cc details straight away!

The booking for myself and my +1 (departing early September and returning October):

SYD-BKK TG F
BKK-ZRH TG F stopover
ZRH-YUL LX J (22 h transit)
YUL-YVR AC J
YVR-SEA AC Y (only a 50 min flight) destination
SEA-NRT NH J (Dreamliner) (19 h transit)
NRT-BKK TG J (A380)
BKK-SYD TG F

140,000 miles each
Taxes: $215.82 pp
Booking fee: $50 pp


I do not yet have the booking ref nos. for TG or NH but will chase them up next week.

This is an excellent booking. Not only is it underpriced (by only 10,000 miles, but oh well), but it is a triumph to get LX J (longhaul) and AC J (transcon). May have been nice to squeeze in one more F going back to Asia, but then you might push the distance mileage a bit - luckily the SEA/NRT 788 has plenty of availability in J (indeed, I booked my sister on that flight next February).

Well done Fifa.

 

[Fifa]

FIFA. you want to make sure you have the booking references and confirmation from each airline that they have a ticket number against the booking within 48 hours (reserving a seat or booking the cook does not mean the airline has a ticket number )

keep an eye out for availability in F on the NRT-BKK leg. It can open up at anytime.

Thanks for the heads up - I'll phone them tomorrow.

I'll definitely keep checking NRT-BKK for F - it would be great to snag it as the flight is 6h 30m.

 

[Fifa]

This is an excellent booking. Not only is it underpriced (by only 10,000 miles, but oh well), but it is a triumph to get LX J (longhaul) and AC J (transcon).

My last two bookings have also been 140,000 as the destination is USA.
I was thrilled when I saw the LX J and AC J when checking on AwardTravelr and kept my fingers crossed when I made the booking.

May have been nice to squeeze in one more F going back to Asia, but then you might push the distance mileage a bit - luckily the SEA/NRT 788 has plenty of availability in J (indeed, I booked my sister on that flight next February).

I did the OZ F flight to ICN earlier this year but it is so much easier to overnight in NRT and I was keen to try NH and the 787.

It really is worth doing all the leg work as there is no way the agent/s would have found the same routing. I also like to have time to digest where I'm stopping and what I will do there instead of being put on the spot to make the booking.

 

[anat0l]

My last two bookings have also been 140,000 as the destination is USA.

No such luck when I made my parents' booking of similar (South Pacific - Europe (stop) - USA (destination)) - they were "correctly" charged 150,000 miles apiece in F.

No matter, we take whatever wins we can.

It really is worth doing all the leg work as there is no way the agent/s would have found the same routing.

In the words of our generation, "Du'h!" :mrgreen:

 

[ferni]

USDM no longer provides TG PNRs. SQ IIRC always had to call SQ for.

Both airlines can retrieve your booking with name and flight details.

FYI - The TG & SQ PNR are now the same from the last USDM booking I did that had both TG and SQ included.

 

[Voodz]

Finally got South America ticketed.

SYD-ICN J
ICN-JFK F
EWR-GRU J

MIA-PHL F
PHL-LAX F
LAX-ICN J
ICN-SYD J

Will book a one way Avianca redemption to get to Miami probably out of Quito. Would have preferred to depart out of South America but was getting to hard to find decent flights.

Booked for Sep / Oct next year.
150k points pp
$145 taxes
$50 booking fee.

Quite happy!

 

[smit0847]

My last two bookings have also been 140,000 as the destination is USA.

I thought SWP to US was 140,000 miles for F whether there was a stopover in Europe or not?

 

[smit0847]

Thanks for the heads up - I'll phone them tomorrow.

I'll definitely keep checking NRT-BKK for F - it would be great to snag it as the flight is 6h 30m.

I've been checking this often and this is one route I have NEVER seen TG release an F award seat. The only seem to release one in total for KIX-BKK and thats not even an A380.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I thought SWP to US was 140,000 miles for F whether there was a stopover in Europe or not?

no - it depends where your destination is (which might actually be Europe rather than USA) but also a stopover 9rather than transit) in a higher zone often attracts the higher level. As always, YMMV depending on the agent.

 

[zainman]

MEL - BKK - FRA TG J
FRA - TXL LH J

ZAG - FRA OU Y
FRA-BKK-MEL TG J

Booked two. 120,000 points + $220.70 USD fees/taxes. Booked for June/July 2014.

 

[smit0847]

MEL - BKK - FRA TG J
FRA - TXL LH J

ZAG - FRA OU Y
FRA-BKK-MEL TG J

Booked two. 120,000 points + $220.70 USD fees/taxes. Booked for June/July 2014.

Nice work. Set your expectations as low as you possible can for the OU Lounge at ZAG. And they keep lowering them.

I did like Zagreb as a city though.

 

[DTM1]

Just booked (x2):

MEL - SIN J
SIN - MLE J
MLE - SIN J
SIN - MEL J

90,000 points each and $149pp in taxes.

At the prices I purchased/transferred miles between accounts, this works out to each MEL - SIN - MLE - SIN - MEL ticket costing me approx $1,750 (inc taxes). Not bad compared to the SQ price of $6,500 for the same itinerary or $1,400 for a ticket in Y.....