US Dividend Miles - post your SUCCESSFUL award bookings here.

[bcworld]

What is the difference in the Expertflyer image between a blue seat and a blue seat with an 'x'?

The X seat is blocked but not necessarily taken...given there are 6 seats available they are probably not taken. They might not free up til the day of travel or they will give them to an ROP high level member before then. Or you can try and talk them into it!

 

[ferni]

Thanks bcworld and ferni!

Looks like 2E/F it is.

What is the difference in the Expertflyer image between a blue seat and a blue seat with an 'x'?

And sorry - last OT question: Flightstats shows the following with at least 6 available??

View attachment 22314

The x means the seat is blocked... blue without X means it's taken. Theoretically you should be able to get 3E/3F assigned if you get the right TG agent to do it

Yep 6 Available F seats matches the 6 available on the screenshot (if you count blocked seats).

 

[Fifa]

I rang up again to request 1A/K because that did sound amazing...

You can now select seats on-line:
ROYAL e-booking - my trips

 

[phantompharter]

You can now select seats on-line:
ROYAL e-booking - my trips

Thanks - but it still shows unavailable

 

[davem]

Just wanted to share now that I'm back from the trip

Booked 2x people on BNE-SIN-SGN-TPE-GUM(DEST)-KIX-TPE-SGN(STOP)-SIN-BNE
& 1x BNE-SIN-SGN-TPE-GUM(DEST)-KIX-TPE-SGN(STOP)-BKK-BNE

30,000 in business on the first phone call

 

[hummel]

Just wanted to share now that I'm back from the trip

Booked 2x people on BNE-SIN-SGN-TPE-GUM(DEST)-KIX-TPE-SGN(STOP)-SIN-BNE
& 1x BNE-SIN-SGN-TPE-GUM(DEST)-KIX-TPE-SGN(STOP)-BKK-BNE

30,000 in business on the first phone call

Wow...how was GUM?

 

[davem]

Guam was surprisingly good, however we treated it as a joke, and had 0 expectations.

We had 3 nights there (originally only wanted 1). It is a country stuck in the 90's, you walk into the mall there and it is dead set what you would expect at an Australian suburban mall in 1995. During the day you have the beaches which are similar to the Caribbean with reefs etc. At night however, if you are in the tourist part there is nothing to do (we saw 2 movies over the 3 nights). The breakup of visitors is about 90% Japanese Families.

Also, if booking accommodation, check out some japanese links, many of the properties we saw were not even on expedia / agoda.


Vietnam during winter (this was my 4th trip, all others during summer) sucked. There was so much pollution that after a week it had a real impact on everyones health and mood.

The only upside is that there were a ton of tourists, so lots of people to meet and have a good time with.

 

[smit0847]

Guam was surprisingly good, however we treated it as a joke, and had 0 expectations.

We had 3 nights there (originally only wanted 1). It is a country stuck in the 90's, you walk into the mall there and it is dead set what you would expect at an Australian suburban mall in 1995. During the day you have the beaches which are similar to the Caribbean with reefs etc. At night however, if you are in the tourist part there is nothing to do (we saw 2 movies over the 3 nights). The breakup of visitors is about 90% Japanese Families.

Also, if booking accommodation, check out some japanese links, many of the properties we saw were not even on expedia / agoda.


Vietnam during winter (this was my 4th trip, all others during summer) sucked. There was so much pollution that after a week it had a real impact on everyones health and mood.

The only upside is that there were a ton of tourists, so lots of people to meet and have a good time with.

Thanks for the report - I'll be there in just over 2 weeks. We have 5 nights there which I think will be a bit long but oh well. We are coming from skiing in Japan so just want to thaw out and rest our battered and bruised bodies for a few days.

Are there any activites you would recommend doing there? We're planning a day driving around exploring the island (won't take long!), a day at the beach, a day at the malls and a day at the hotel pool. I expect to run out of things to do by about day 4.

I've booked an F Guam trip for later this year and have an entire 26 hours in GUM lol.

I understand the entire island is duty free - what were the prices on spirits like on the island? Lower than DF in Australia?

If you think SGN is bad in winter you should try HAN - absolutely freezing in Jan.

 

[davem]

I did HAN/DAD/SGN - It wasn't the cold (in fact I went swimming, the cold doesn't bother me) it was all the **** in the air. Coughing up black 3 days after getting back.


Prices in Guam vary drastically, Spirits are in the 12-17$ a bottle range for most things (Captain Morgans is $12.99). Wine is about the same price. Beer ranges in price from $3 to $15 a 6 pack. (we had stienlager for $3.60 because I figure no one was buying it), craft beers are in the $9-15 range.

Was great sitting in the 29 degree still water and drinking through 2 cartons of beer between the 3 of us Great day.


Shopping is a joke, there are 2 main malls, Micronesia is the better one. The "outlet" shops are an embarrassment, only about 12 of them, the only one with any stock was levis.

Plan your whole days around the beach, if you know how to dive i'm told that guam is excellent. However we dont have dive tickets and were not motivated enough to get them.

 

[seritonin]

I had really great pizza when I was in GUM at 'California Pizza' restaurant, about the only non Japanese restaurant on the island. The local brew is quite delicious as well, can't remember the name but I think it has sugar cane taste to it...

 

[netgrom]

Although late to the party, jumped on the share promotion and thought good use of points would be a dive trip in Palau. After a false start trying to route through MNL to ROR apparently even though a UA 192 flight was showing award availability it was a code share flight to which US agents couldn't access. Changed my plan to route though KIX so 2 x BNE-BKK-KIX-(stopover 2 nights)-GUM-xYAP-ROR. No big issues other then the MNL false start.

30,000pp mostly in J however couple of shorter legs have to be Y, so be it. $288.20 taxes + $100 USD booking fee

 

[thehound]

Although late to the party, jumped on the share promotion and thought good use of points would be a dive trip in Palau. After a false start trying to route through MNL to ROR apparently even though a UA 192 flight was showing award availability it was a code share flight to which US agents couldn't access. Changed my plan to route though KIX so 2 x BNE-BKK-KIX-(stopover 2 nights)-GUM-xYAP-ROR. No big issues other then the MNL false start.

30,000pp mostly in J however couple of shorter legs have to be Y, so be it. $288.20 taxes + $100 USD booking fee

Return the same route? 10 segments in total is nice

 

[netgrom]

Return the same route? 10 segments in total is nice

Yes, same going back, except return the without the YAP stop UA 158 leaves at the lovely time at 2am in the morning from ROR :/

 

[burmans]

Although late to the party, jumped on the share promotion and thought good use of points would be a dive trip in Palau. After a false start trying to route through MNL to ROR apparently even though a UA 192 flight was showing award availability it was a code share flight to which US agents couldn't access. Changed my plan to route though KIX so 2 x BNE-BKK-KIX-(stopover 2 nights)-GUM-xYAP-ROR. No big issues other then the MNL false start.

30,000pp mostly in J however couple of shorter legs have to be Y, so be it. $288.20 taxes + $100 USD booking fee

Hadn't thought of going to Raratonga via Asia and Guam, we are looking for trip to RAR in July, maybe that's the go!

 

[Foreigner]

Rarotonga is RAR whereas previous poster(s) referred to ROR for Koror, Palau.

I understand NZ goes to RAR, maybe direct from SYD (seasonal?) but definitely via AKL.

 

[carwashhair]

Rarotonga is RAR whereas previous poster(s) referred to ROR for Koror, Palau.

I understand NZ goes to RAR, maybe direct from SYD (seasonal?) but definitely via AKL.

Just on RAR, what have people's experiences been with award bookings and availability (Y or J), from SYD, direct or indirect? I'm reading this thread and thinking a simple Pacific destination might be a good practice booking before some more complex itineraries (Hello GUM

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Just on RAR, what have people's experiences been with award bookings and availability (Y or J), from SYD, direct or indirect? I'm reading this thread and thinking a simple Pacific destination might be a good practice booking before some more complex itineraries (Hello GUM

If you want to check availability you can hop on United.com and check for award tickets... look for saver awards. That will give you an idea of what's out there.

 

[sergeyvzn]

Just on RAR, what have people's experiences been with award bookings and availability (Y or J), from SYD, direct or indirect? I'm reading this thread and thinking a simple Pacific destination might be a good practice booking before some more complex itineraries (Hello GUM

J is never available. Y is ok...last year I could see J seat available on direct Air New Zealand services SYD to RAR on united.com and ANA but US Airways agents could not see them in their system, Air New Zealand does not make J seats available to US. I ended up booking using my United Miles that was considerably more expensive

 

[Fifa]

I didn't want to miss out on the Guam experience so booked tonight...
2 x pax departing November:

SYD-BKK TGF (o/n)
BKK-HKG TGF
HKG-TPE-GUM BRJ (destination - 3 nights)
GUM-TPE-HKG BRJ (stopover - 3 nights)
HKG-BKK TGF (o/n)
BKK-SYD TGF

40,000 miles each
$131.29 taxes plus $50 fee

Total time on Skype - 20 minutes and confirmation was emailed within 5 minutes

 

[hummel]

I didn't want to miss out on the Guam experience so booked tonight...
2 x pax departing November:

SYD-BKK TGF (o/n)
BKK-HKG TGF
HKG-TPE-GUM BRJ (destination - 3 nights)
GUM-TPE-HKG BRJ (stopover - 3 nights)
HKG-BKK TGF (o/n)
BKK-SYD TGF

40,000 miles each
$131.29 taxes plus $50 fee

Total time on Skype - 20 minutes and confirmation was emailed within 5 minutes

Looking like I'll have to cancel the Wifes & I trip to GUM around easter as won't be able to get the time off.

Instead thinking of flying out Thurs night/Friday morning and doing a couple of long layover instead in BKK and maybe TPE. However looks like I'd have to land at 3am in GUM then depart at 6am... thinking that may raise some suspicions.