US Dividend Miles - post your SUCCESSFUL award bookings here.

[MEL_Traveller]

I'd lead with 'I have a first class booking and noticed that the only flight in economy now has availability in business class - could I please change this?' or something like that. They usually waive the change fee if you are simply upgrading on the same flight, especially if you have an F reservation and you are upgrading from Y to J.

that is not recent experience for the vast majority of passengers... a change of class, even with a higher ticket, results in a $150 change fee.

you should expect the $150 charge.

 

[bcworld]

that is not recent experience for the vast majority of passengers... a change of class, even with a higher ticket, results in a $150 change fee.

you should expect the $150 charge.

Agreed...I would bank on paying the $150. What I'd be hoping to avoid is the whole cancel and rebook scenario which really shouldn't be necessary. Even more so on a special GUM itinerary!

 

[mhen]

If you are on one PNR they may need to split to two if one person is to be changed but not the other.

 

[ferni]

If you are on one PNR they may need to split to two if one person is to be changed but not the other.

We are on a single PNR... Happy to pay the $150 fee but sounds like it may be too hard if it's going to involve splitting the PNR into two as well.

 

[bcworld]

If you are on one PNR they may need to split to two if one person is to be changed but not the other.

Good point - I would say that is almost certainly the case.

 

[smit0847]

FWIW, I always call at a similar time but also am very friendly towards the agent. Perhaps tell them my plans for the trip.. anniversary, visiting my sick MIL etc It might not be all true but it can work wonders

'My cousin is in the US military based in GUM and I'm flying up there for his wedding' :shock:

 

[neon_crossing]

FWIW,Perhaps tell them my plans for the trip.. anniversary, visiting my sick MIL etc It might not be all true but it can work wonders

You could just tell them that "my mother in law is terminally ill" and they might ask 'oh, does she live in guam?' and you can simply reply, "no, but I thought it was reason enough to celebrate".

 

[zainman]

assisted a colleague at work book a european trip in J as follows for August/September 2014

MEL-BKK TG J
BKK-MUC TG J
MUC-CTA LH J

IST-FRA TK J
FRA-BKK TG J
BKK-MEL TG J

120,000 miles each + ~$250 in fees & taxes. 2 Adults and 2 Children. They are very pleased and looking forward to their first time in business class!

 

[Foreigner]

assisted a colleague at work book a european trip in J as follows for August/September 2014

MEL-BKK TG J
BKK-MUC TG J
MUC-CTA LH J

IST-FRA TK J
FRA-BKK TG J
BKK-MEL TG J

120,000 miles each + ~$250 in fees & taxes. 2 Adults and 2 Children. They are very pleased and looking forward to their first time in business class!

Which are the stopovers?

 

[stueyjones]

Hi All.
Recently had to book a last minute flight (4 days out) to Vegas, on what just happened to be a weekend of 130,000 conference attendees in the neon city. Being so last minute, and coming from Brisbane obviously not too many possibilities. After quite a bit of work, the flights I ended with were.

Brisbane>Singapore, SQ Business
Singapore>Tokyo (narita), ANA economy - :-( - but on the deamliner.
Tokyo>SFO, United first
SFO>LAS, United Business

I then did an open Jaw and left from vancouver (a $150 cash flight form LAS to YVR)
Vancouver>TPE, EVA Business
TPE>HKG, EVA Business, overnight stopover
HKG>SIN, SQ Business
SIN>BNE, SQ Business
Because of the United first it ended up 150,000 points plus about 200 US in charges. Given it was so late in the piece I ended up quite happy. It was certainly a bit of a trial as flying 42,000 k round trip for what was essentially a binge nearly killed me. 48 Yrs old, I should know better. The flights were all relatively comfortable. United first on-board was not too much different from a similar Thai flight I have been on. Quality of wine.champagne not as good, but apart form that, seat etc all very similar. On ground was awful. Lounge and boarding all pretty shabby. SQ the usual consistently good, if not spectacular. EVA would not be my first choice again for a 12+hour overnight flight, as the angled lie-flat was not great for my 1.93m frame, but far, far better than economy of course. The dreamliner in economy was ok as a day flight, but having got used to premium classes (through the medium of points!!) when the novelty of the plave wore off, 6 hours is coach is just that.
I suspect we are all nervous about the move to oneworld, possibilities of devaluation, and the amalgamation. But if there is 1 positive I am looking forward to, it being able to access internal flights from Brisbane! It just will open up more possibilities!
Cheers All

 

[travelislife]

Which are the stopovers?

Looks like an Open Jaw, so would be no stopovers allowed.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

stueyjones... I hope you only paid 140k (rather than the 150k as stated) as the SWP-USA rate for F.

as for the move to AA and access to more internal flights? lol... indeed you can get to SYD opening up lots of first class options with....

'your flight Sydney to Dubai will be in economy class'

 

[stueyjones]

Mel_Traveller, good spot. Its my ageing brain and it was 140k. And to be honest, the trip was 1.5 weeks ago and I'm not sure I have got over it. far, far too old for that sort of thing.....
As to the other, I always had the impression it was easier to snag J out of Sydney to Europe, the states etc. From what you say, not true? Purely an impression on my behalf, no research at all, so I am sure you are right. A bad move for us hands down then. Time to burn more miles.

 

[bcworld]

As to the other, I always had the impression it was easier to snag J out of Sydney to Europe, the states etc. From what you say, not true? Purely an impression on my behalf, no research at all, so I am sure you are right. A bad move for us hands down then. Time to burn more miles.

I think the main issue with Aus-US with AA miles is that your routing must be transpacific ONLY. That means you can't do SYD-HKG-USA. Or SYD-KUL-USA. Or SYD-NRT-USA. Or you can do these routings but it must be ticketed as 2 awards at a substantially higher number of miles.

Your only transpac options are QF (horrible availability) or whatever Pacific island based partners AA has...most of them have pretty poor onboard products.

I think the Aus-Europe story is much better.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Mel_Traveller, good spot. Its my ageing brain and it was 140k. And to be honest, the trip was 1.5 weeks ago and I'm not sure I have got over it. far, far too old for that sort of thing.....
As to the other, I always had the impression it was easier to snag J out of Sydney to Europe, the states etc. From what you say, not true? Purely an impression on my behalf, no research at all, so I am sure you are right. A bad move for us hands down then. Time to burn more miles.

Flying Qantas you might as well write off premium cabins unless you can book at 365 days. EK has lots of availability - but not available as far as I'm aware through AA.

 

[Foreigner]

Looks like an Open Jaw, so would be no stopovers allowed.

Agree...not a smart question!

If it weren't for open jaw, a stopover in addition to turnaround point is allowed.

 

[tm.smile]

AA has Etihad as a partner...do they release much award Space?

 

[anat0l]

Mel_Traveller, good spot. Its my ageing brain and it was 140k. And to be honest, the trip was 1.5 weeks ago and I'm not sure I have got over it. far, far too old for that sort of thing.....
As to the other, I always had the impression it was easier to snag J out of Sydney to Europe, the states etc. From what you say, not true? Purely an impression on my behalf, no research at all, so I am sure you are right. A bad move for us hands down then. Time to burn more miles.

MEL_Traveller is having a go at Qantas, which has a rather iffy award engine, which can spit out options with domestic connections onto longer flights, where the longer flight is in Y but the shorter domestic is in J, and of course due to the rules your entire itinerary is priced up in J.

Naturally, when US moves to AA, such silliness doesn't happen with AA (unless you are silly enough to book it).

Going to Europe, don't forget that whilst QF is an option (though getting QF J seats can be a challenge, especially at particular times), you have other options, e.g. BA (if you can put up with paying fuel surcharges), CX, MH and QR (relatively soon). Not sure how easy availability would be on all of those, except for CX, which I hear is almost always available. EY, an AA but non-oneworld partner, is also an idea.

North America / USA will always be a challenge on the direct, especially with QF being the only direct option. It was challenging enough with US DM to get UA direct across the Pacific (not impossible, but certainly one of the most challenging), but US DM did allow you to route via Asia without an increase in the cost in points. The only consolation is that if you're happy to settle for J, you have some extra options via DFW.

Apart from Transpacific, I don't see why so many rail at QF for availability. They aren't a self-opening pinata like TG and OZ, and of course in F it is a dead-set challenge, but for J, it isn't completely unreasonable. It can be quite a game, however, with availability changing at random times (seats released for no reason, even though found not be there before), but I managed to book DFW/BNE in J within 30 days of departure, with a bit of latitude of date choice to boot. It is far easier to book QF J long haul than it is to book NZ J long haul!

 

[bcworld]

Not sure how easy availability would be on all of those, except for CX, which I hear is almost always available.

Not sure I agree with that. CX availability isn't great and they seem to be one who often releases seats within a few weeks of departure.

From my recent forays with KVS both MH and QR seem to offer good availability.

 

[bigsleep55]

Hi all, so I've been trying to sort out a trip for a couple of months now and I just wanted to see peoples thoughts/experiences.

Trying to get PER-RAR return in J from 18/19 April to 25/26 April 2014. No luck. I tried some weird routing PER-SIN-SYD-RAR almost got that ticketed but then last minute it got denied.

So basically thinking of doing a GUM trip - heaps of flights and availablity. So far got a 23hrs stop over in HKG my tentative plan:

PER-BKK-HKG-GUM - in J
GUM-NRT-SIN-PER - in J

but thinking if others have either/both:

- Other great south pacific destinations for that time of year (we've done Palau already)
- Other better stopover / routing options

Thanks in advance.