US Dividend Miles - post your SUCCESSFUL award bookings here.

[jgm]

Just had schedule change on our flight PER x HKG x JFK x YVR in Jan with CX. The HKG - JKF leg has changed to a later flight so we now have a nearly 8 hr layover in HKG instead of at JFK. The only issue is we have just under 2 hrs now in JFK, still over the MCT, but not by much. It looks like the same plane is used for both flights, so as long as we can get through US immigration in a reasonable time we should be OK.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Just had schedule change on our flight PER x HKG x JFK x YVR in Jan with CX. The HKG - JKF leg has changed to a later flight so we now have a nearly 8 hr layover in HKG instead of at JFK. The only issue is we have just under 2 hrs now in JFK, still over the MCT, but not by much. It looks like the same plane is used for both flights, so as long as we can get through US immigration in a reasonable time we should be OK.

Is there any way you can leverage the schedule change to get on a HKG-YVR non-stop? Not sure which day you are looking to fly (or which class), but CX might be more than happy to do that for you.

 

[jgm]

There isn't any award availability in any class on the direct flights (we're in J), & we haven't been out of the airport at HKG, so we're reasonably happy with the change. Also, I can't be bothered with the hassle of trying to get CX to open up availability & then getting US to make the change. It looks like the flight we were on CX830 has been dropped on Tuesdays (the day we were on it). If award availability does open up on the direct flight, I will think about changing it then & sucking up the added US$150.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

There isn't any award availability in any class on the direct flights (we're in J), & we haven't been out of the airport at HKG, so we're reasonably happy with the change. Also, I can't be bothered with the hassle of trying to get CX to open up availability & then getting US to make the change. It looks like the flight we were on CX830 has been dropped on Tuesdays (the day we were on it). If award availability does open up on the direct flight, I will think about changing it then & sucking up the added US$150.

8 hours in HKG should give you a good 5 hours of time in the city which is just enough to do the Peak, Star Ferry, and a quick ride on the tram.

However, you'd have a reasonably good case to have the $150 waived given the schedule change if availability opens up. (They'll have a record of the schedule change when you call.)

 

[Timba-Jet]

8 hours in HKG should give you a good 5 hours of time in the city which is just enough to do the Peak, Star Ferry, and a quick ride on the tram.

Agree, perfect for a nice venture into HK city, alternative is to do a massive lounge hop - but 7 hours may be a tad OTT.

 

[ferni]

Just ticketed the following for 2 pax for July...

MEL-HKG CX J
//overnight transit in HKG
HKG-HND CX F
//overnight transit in TYO
HND-LHR BA F
LHR-ZRH BA J
//Destination
ZRH-HKG CX F
// 3 day stopover in HKG
HKG-MEL CX J

150k Points + 530USD Taxes + 50USD Booking fee per person.

Had trouble piecing together the itin, took me a while to find seats/routing... going with a mate who has never been in J or F, and wanted to try J (I helped send his wife and her friend to Paris earlier this year in TG F)... I did a lot of searching with KVS, the general consensus is that USDM see the CX seats that JAL engine sees and that's what I found out as well, plenty of times QF could see seats (that were there on CX and website as well, and sometimes BA website...). Sometimes BA/QF would show FS2, JAL FS1, and USDM could only see the 1 seat matching JAL website...

Was trying to avoid BA because I've heard their F product isn't great plus the YQ that gets charged but now it's booked I'm half looking forward to trying it out to cross it off the list... plus will get CX F 747 as well...

The 3 day stop over in HKG on the way home wasn't wanted, but was the only availability I could find... plans are to keep an eye on seats and hopefully at T-14 which is 2-3 days before we leave some CX J will open up HKG-MEL to connect with the ZRH-HKG leg. I confirmed with the operator when i was ticketing it that if this happened would it be a simple change, ie not need to cancel and rebook the whole thing, he said yes very simple, no need to cancel and rebook... every other time i've tried to make a change they've wanted to cancel and rebook the whole thing so i give up... Also considering if a direct HKG-ZRH opens up I could change to that as well and get a couple of hundred $ refund in YQ from the BA legs.... i'll think about it.

First operator I tried to put this on hold with was friendly but said no because HKG-HND was backtracking... i gave her alternative of MEL-SYD-NRT on QF/JL and she was ok with that but then said LHR-ZRH was back tracking as well which was harsh, then proceeded to offer me DOH-MAD-ZRH (with DOH-MAD in Y!), isn't that backtracking as well?

I said no thanks, called again next morning and no issues getting it put on hold with a different operator...

I'm going to miss USDM when it's gone... as great as AA miles are, in this instance to get this booking it would have cost me a lot more AA miles...

Now I can see eticket numbers on checkmytrip with the BA/CX PNR, should I still ask CX and BA directly if they can see them?

 

[smit0847]

The old dog might be severely disabled, but it's not dead *just* yet!

SYD-NRT JL 787 J
NRT-GUM JL 767 J
(Dest 2 days)
GUM-NRT JL 767 J
(Stopover 11 days)
HND-SYD QF 747 J

30k + $180 pp.



I miss *A.

 

[hummel]

The old dog might be severely disabled, but it's not dead *just* yet!

SYD-NRT JL 787 J
NRT-GUM JL 767 J
(Dest 2 days)
GUM-NRT JL 767 J
(Stopover 11 days)
NRT-SYD QF 747 J

30k + $180 pp.



I miss *A.

Well played. How many calls?

 

[smit0847]

Well played. How many calls?

5.

Call #1 - 'you can have it for 30k if you remove the stopover'
Call #2 - 'exceeds MPM'
Call #3 - 'no availability'
Call #4 - 'I just spoke to you - there's no availability'
Call #5 - put me on a long hold (15 mins) so I was fully expecting her to come back and say no but she back and said 'what's your credit card number?'. She also said 'thats a lot of taxes for such a short trip'...

Unfortunately I think this route is the only possible option for GUM these days.

 

[coolkid101]

Well played. How many calls?

when are you flying? looks like a great iti that we'll look to try for too.

that's an amazing way to get to japan for only 30k? the only downside being we have to go to guam? but i assume we can just stay for a day and make the "stopover" in NRT extra long? it's amazing that they'll let you go aus - japan then back down to guam? when going to japan costs 3x more miles from aus direct

still new to all this, been buying miles like crazy but i'm starting to regret as i have no idea how to find itis like this except for direct routes

 

[boomy]

The old dog might be severely disabled, but it's not dead *just* yet!

SYD-NRT JL 787 J
NRT-GUM JL 767 J
(Dest 2 days)
GUM-NRT JL 767 J
(Stopover 11 days)
HND-SYD QF 747 J

30k + $180 pp.



I miss *A.

That's a good itinerary, you should be more happy about it. I would try to book one myself but I already got a pretty special fare to Japan for next year.

 

[coolkid101]

That's a good itinerary, you should be more happy about it. I would try to book one myself but I already got a pretty special fare to Japan for next year.

care to share? looking for something to japan... can you really get something better than 30k to japan? lol

 

[anat0l]

The old dog might be severely disabled, but it's not dead *just* yet!

Well done.

I miss *A.

Get over it whilst I commission the player of the world's smallest violin.

Once the whole system ports to AA, assuming no other changes it's all going to be a lot more "honest" than you think it is right now.

 

[boomy]

care to share? looking for something to japan... can you really get something better than 30k to japan? lol

Can't get any better then 30k AFAIK.
I got a good deal in F when it was just introduced and there was some confusion about the fares but it's all fixed now on the USDM side. The GUM deal is definitely the best in town if you want to visit Japan.

 

[smit0847]

when are you flying? looks like a great iti that we'll look to try for too.

that's an amazing way to get to japan for only 30k? the only downside being we have to go to guam? but i assume we can just stay for a day and make the "stopover" in NRT extra long? it's amazing that they'll let you go aus - japan then back down to guam? when going to japan costs 3x more miles from aus direct

still new to all this, been buying miles like crazy but i'm starting to regret as i have no idea how to find itis like this except for direct routes

I wouldn't recommend buying miles without a trip planned - the miles are never going to get more valuable, especially with the exchange rates as bad as they are right now.

I also wouldnt recommend this itinerary for a first timer - I was very lucky.

 

[coolkid101]

I wouldn't recommend buying miles without a trip planned - the miles are never going to get more valuable, especially with the exchange rates as bad as they are right now.

I also wouldnt recommend this itinerary for a first timer - I was very lucky.

we're wondering if it'll be worth us trying for this at all... mind sharing your travel dates?

 

[smit0847]

we're wondering if it'll be worth us trying for this at all... mind sharing your travel dates?

Late Sep. You need to be INCREDIBLY flexible (even 9-10 months out, on some routes there was 1 flight per fortnight available).

 

[get me outta here]

I though Guam was def worth a couple of days if you can spare the time. Check out the GUM trip reports on AFF. Try smit0847's itin to test it so that you get a feel for searching for USDM friendly skies.

when are you flying? looks like a great iti that we'll look to try for too.

that's an amazing way to get to japan for only 30k? the only downside being we have to go to guam? but i assume we can just stay for a day and make the "stopover" in NRT extra long? it's amazing that they'll let you go aus - japan then back down to guam? when going to japan costs 3x more miles from aus direct

still new to all this, been buying miles like crazy but i'm starting to regret as i have no idea how to find itis like this except for direct routes

 

[coolkid101]

thanks heaps guys. will def try for it then

 

[chrisbris]

Had the following reservation held yesterday and just tried to ticket- they advised that is over the milage going to AMS and cancelled the whole booking!! grrrrr
BNE-HKG-AMS|STOP|AMS-LGW~LHR-DFW-LAX|Destination|LAX-HKG-BNE

No other flights to get across the Atlantic at that time....

What am I missing?

Just checked the PNR and all the flights are gone