US Dividend Miles - post your SUCCESSFUL award bookings here.

[whole-lotta-moxie]

Good point. I should actually put in what my successful flights are now

Mel-Hong Kong - CA - business
Hong Kong - Doha - CA - business
Doha - cdg - qr - f

Cdg - Doha - qr - f
Doh - DXB - - qr - f
Dxb - Hong Kong- ca - business
Hgk - adl - ca - business
Adl - mel - qf - business

 

[_TheTraveller_]

Good point. I should actually put in what my successful flights are now

Mel-Hong Kong - CA - business
Hong Kong - Doha - CA - business
Doha - cdg - qr - f

Cdg - Doha - qr - f
Doh - DXB - - qr - f
Dxb - Hong Kong- ca - business
Hgk - adl - ca - business
Adl - mel - qf - business

Nice! Is DOH-CDG on the A380? I guess you got in before they withdrew all the availability!

 

[whole-lotta-moxie]

Yes. On The way over only as this was booked months ago. I was originally on the A380 both ways but then they lost my return booking. I am now booked on the return leg that isn't the A380 but I'm very happy we have it at least 1 way.

 

[Flashback]

Good point. I should actually put in what my successful flights are now

Mel-Hong Kong - CA - business
Hong Kong - Doha - CA - business
Doha - cdg - qr - f

Cdg - Doha - qr - f
Doh - DXB - - qr - f
Dxb - Hong Kong- ca - business
Hgk - adl - ca - business
Adl - mel - qf - business

How were you able to mix a partner award with an OW award?

Edit: ah, CX not CA..

 

[Limewood]

Our USDM booking is similar 2 x pax in J

BNE/HKG/CDG stop then CDG/DOH/PER/BNE

Have overnights in HKG & PER with early departure from DOH.

 

[sergeyvzn]

repeating from the other thread (successful OneWorld bookings) - mods, maybe it's time to merge them in one? Just saying

Made a quick booking for my partner last night, it was all very last minute as he unfortunately needs to go to a funeral of an old good friend in the UK next week

SYD-DXB-LHR on QF1 in F
LHR-SIN-SYD on BA15 in F
150K + USD723.07 in taxes (bloody UK APD is alone about USD300 however still happy with the amount as I thought the fuel surcharge will be more than that)
The whole thing took about 10 minutes on the US DM Gold line, a very competent agent (male) who knew what he was doing, booked and ticketed straight away, a email confirmation came through 5 minutes later and the Qantas PNR proactively given on the phone by the agent. Overall, very happy with the service

A few things to note

1) the flight back was originally planned to go like that; LHR-FRA(on BA)-NRT-SYD(on JL), the first two legs in J and the last one in F. BA showing one F seat on the JAL flight from NRT to SYD, the agent could see as well but when he went to book it he said it returned a "closed for the airline" (sic) error message meaning that while this award seat did exist it could not be used by US Airways as it was reserved for either JMB itself of BA exclusively.
2) there were other ways to get back from LHR e.g. LHR-DOH-KUL-MEL-SYD (a combination of QR and MH) but this was quickly dismissed by the partner who did not like the idea of taking 4 flights so we had to part with cash for the BA F
3) lots of seats open out of LHR to both HKG and NRT/HND but absolutely nothing out of HKG on either CX or QF anywhere in Oz, we tried SYD, MEL, BNE, ADL and even PER and there was zero seats in J and even Y. There were a couple of JL seats to SYD here and there but this involved a stopover in Tokyo and partner was not too keen

 

[coolkid101]

not sure if the guam flight is still bookable - Syd - Narita - guam and back again
been trying for the last 3 nights, 2-3 calls per night, each time they can see the flight and request the seats but once it gets to the rates desk it gets rejected as a illegal route
intending to keep trying...

 

[smit0847]

not sure if the guam flight is still bookable - Syd - Narita - guam and back again
been trying for the last 3 nights, 2-3 calls per night, each time they can see the flight and request the seats but once it gets to the rates desk it gets rejected as a illegal route
intending to keep trying...

That's because it's getting tun through MPM and exceeding it each time. The only way you'll get it is if the agent doesn't think to check MPM.

I doubt anything has changed recently.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

not sure if the guam flight is still bookable - Syd - Narita - guam and back again
been trying for the last 3 nights, 2-3 calls per night, each time they can see the flight and request the seats but once it gets to the rates desk it gets rejected as a illegal route
intending to keep trying...

a straight through without stopovers? that should be ok, despite MPM.

 

[coolkid101]

not having problems with the agent themselves, i've only had 1 of the 5 agents actually pick up/check MPM and say it exceeded. the others were all happy to get the taxes calculated by rates desk only to come back and say it was rejected by the rates desk, either for MPM or most often they just said "you can't route through japan to go intra-zone"
no issues with the tokyo stopover either when requested through the agent. oh well. going to keep trying

 

[MEL_Traveller]

not having problems with the agent themselves, i've only had 1 of the 5 agents actually pick up/check MPM and say it exceeded. the others were all happy to get the taxes calculated by rates desk only to come back and say it was rejected by the rates desk, either for MPM or most often they just said "you can't route through japan to go intra-zone"
no issues with the tokyo stopover either when requested through the agent. oh well. going to keep trying

the stopover is an easy item to reject the itinerary. stopovers aren't allowed on intra-zone awards... which i suspect is the reason behind 'you can't route through japan'. I doubt many agents actually realise it's an intra-zone until it gets to the rate desk.

i know the proposed itinerary, excluding stopovers, was good as of a week ago.

It doesn't sound good that a whole lot of agents are getting told GUM is not valid from australia

 

[smit0847]

the stopover is an easy item to reject the itinerary. stopovers aren't allowed on intra-zone awards... which i suspect is the reason behind 'you can't route through japan'. I doubt many agents actually realise it's an intra-zone until it gets to the rate desk.

i know the proposed itinerary, excluding stopovers, was good as of a week ago.

It doesn't sound good that a whole lot of agents are getting told GUM is not valid from australia

I still think its possible, its just a matter of how much time you want to invest trying to book it. There's no fool-proof method about how to get it, it just comes down to luck and persistence. I suspect even the odd illegal itinerary gets through the rates desk too.

When I booked mine recently I was literally put on hold for 30 minutes and was about to hang up because my theory is, the longer the hold, the more chance of a problem (as the higher up it goes). She then randomly came back and said 'that's all fine - CC number please?'.

 

[smit0847]

Indeed. One week ago, first call, approved. (no stopovers)

?! Route/carrier/cost?

(Whats the point without a stopover?!)

 

[MEL_Traveller]

i know the proposed itinerary, excluding stopovers, was good as of a week ago.

I still think its possible...

Indeed. One week ago. Approved first call. But no stopovers.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

?! Route/carrier/cost?

(Whats the point without a stopover?!)

you might actually want to go to Guam!! And you get a forced night in Tokyo each way anyway. it's a nice break - Fcl to NRT (eat and (mostly) sleep), night out in Tokyo, R&R in GUM.

I'm not convinced multiple calls, with increasing numbers of agents and rate-desk agents knowing these are pushing the envelope/likely to be denied, is a good thing.

It could kill the award (based on MPM if they want to get picky) for those who actually want to fly it.

 

[smit0847]

you might actually want to go to Guam!! And you get a forced night in Tokyo each way anyway. it's a nice break - Fcl to NRT (eat and (mostly) sleep), night out in Tokyo, R&R in GUM.

I'm not convinced multiple calls, with increasing numbers of agents and rate-desk agents knowing these are pushing the envelope/likely to be denied is a good thing.

It could kill the award (based on MPM if they want to get picky) for those who actually want to fly it.

Apart from once or twice (out of literally dozens and dozens of calls) having the agent say 'I just spoke to you five minutes ago' I've never had an agent say 'no we've been told we can't book that'.

Let's be honest, I'd be surprised if anyone outside of this forum/thread is trying to book GUM itineraries on USDM and based on the questions/success stories there's probably only one person trying to book one every fortnight. Even in the heyday of 12-18 months ago when we realised what was possible and it was open slather there was less than one report per week of someone booking one. US is not a small airline (I know they're not as big as AA) and I dont think one person calling a few times a week is going to set off alarm bells. If there was an issue with this routing they would simply rezone GUM as North Asia like it should be. For all we know USDM could be making just as much money from Japanese people booking poor value Japan/Korea to Guam (Nth Asia to SWP) awards as they as losing money from the few people on this forum booking SWP-SWP awards.

My theory with GUM is, if Im trying to book an itinerary I know breaks one rule (ie MPM or backtracking) then I may as well push the envelope as much as I can (ie stopover). I figure if the agent will let me break one rule they're likely to let me break another.

I've been to GUM twice and heading back there later this year. It's certainly not my favourite destination and I wouldnt go there without a stopover but if you've never flown J/F and want to go somewhere unusual I guess it has its appeal.

It's all going to be finished in a few months when the programs officially merge anyway. Make hay while the sun shines I say.

 

[appaz]

I still think its possible, its just a matter of how much time you want to invest trying to book it. There's no fool-proof method about how to get it, it just comes down to luck and persistence. I suspect even the odd illegal itinerary gets through the rates desk too.

When I booked mine recently I was literally put on hold for 30 minutes and was about to hang up because my theory is, the longer the hold, the more chance of a problem (as the higher up it goes). She then randomly came back and said 'that's all fine - CC number please?'.

I have the same trip booked for late march but I'm going to struggle to get away for it.

Do you think I'll have any issues calling up and changing dates? I'm happy paying the $150 change fee per passenger.... I just don't want issues with rebooking it and potentially losing the booking

 

[smit0847]

I have the same trip booked for late march but I'm going to struggle to get away for it.

Do you think I'll have any issues calling up and changing dates? I'm happy paying the $150 change fee per passenger.... I just don't want issues with rebooking it and potentially losing the booking

I *think* the general rule with date changes is that its treated as a new booking in terms of checking it against MPM, routing etc (so they won't necessarilly approve the same route with different dates just because someone previously did so I wouldnt be touching it) but someone else please correct me if Im wrong.

 

[appaz]

I *think* the general rule with date changes is that its treated as a new booking in terms of checking it against MPM, routing etc (so they won't necessarilly approve the same route with different dates just because someone previously did so I wouldnt be touching it) but someone else please correct me if Im wrong.

damn, might have to HUACA a fair few times then >_<

 

[hummel]

Please stop talking about this... I have an orphaned 30k miles in the wife's account that I could use..