US Dividend Miles - Post Your SUCCESSFUL oneworld bookings here

[MEL_Traveller]

That would suggest flying to America via Asia is the best value J award, if it can be had for 110,000 miles seeing as Aus-Asia, e.g. CX MEL-HKG would be 90,000 miles.

Is there a limit on how long the stopover in HKG can be?

yes.... but only by the total validity of the ticket

you could fly to HKG, spend 362 days there, then fly to USA and return. Arriving back within one year total

 

[curtainbounce]

So exciting, my first ever USDM redemption! Just booked:

SYD-KUL-CDG (MH) - stopover
ORY-MAD-JFK (IB) - destination
JFK-LHR (BA) -HKG-SYD (CX)

All in J for 2 pax in March next year
130k per person (got charged the Europe rate but didn't want to press my luck) + $650 ea in taxes and fees (fuel surcharges on BA and IB stung but no other availability).

Took 4 actual conversations with USDM agents though I had it on hold after the first call. I was trying to go Paris to NYC via Helsinki which shows up on AA and you get a 23 hour stopover but the MPM on that flight seemed to keep triggering them to say it was an illegal routing so after 3 HUACA attempts I went back to the IB flights which I knew had availability, ticketed immediately!

Also have an extra overnight in London and around 16 hours during the day in HK on the way home so it doesn't feel like 3 days of constant flying.

 

[anat0l]

All in J for 2 pax in March next year
130k per person (got charged the Europe rate but didn't want to press my luck) + $650 ea in taxes and fees (fuel surcharges on BA and IB stung but no other availability).

The European rate for J from the South Pacific is 120k, not 130k, per passenger. (USA is 110k for J per passenger). For 130k per passenger you should have been flying to Africa. I hope one of your agents isn't that geographically challenged.

I'll leave it up to you if you wish to chase 10k points back per passenger.

 

[bcworld]

So exciting, my first ever USDM redemption! Just booked:

SYD-KUL-CDG (MH) - stopover
ORY-MAD-JFK (IB) - destination
JFK-LHR (BA) -HKG-SYD (CX)

All in J for 2 pax in March next year
130k per person (got charged the Europe rate but didn't want to press my luck) + $650 ea in taxes and fees (fuel surcharges on BA and IB stung but no other availability).

Took 4 actual conversations with USDM agents though I had it on hold after the first call. I was trying to go Paris to NYC via Helsinki which shows up on AA and you get a 23 hour stopover but the MPM on that flight seemed to keep triggering them to say it was an illegal routing so after 3 HUACA attempts I went back to the IB flights which I knew had availability, ticketed immediately!

Also have an extra overnight in London and around 16 hours during the day in HK on the way home so it doesn't feel like 3 days of constant flying.

I would babysit your reservation very carefully.

There are many reports on FT of IB segments just cancelling 'themselves' after a few days. People rebook them, they auto cancel again.

 

[curtainbounce]

Thanks bcworld for the heads up, will monitor it carefully - that's a bit of a worry though!

@ anat0l just tried calling to chase back the 10k/person - agent immediately started getting confused as to why I was going to US via Europe - went to go get a Supervisor, I hung up immediately. Perhaps not worth it in case they start questioning the award too much??

 

[anat0l]

@ anat0l just tried calling to chase back the 10k/person - agent immediately started getting confused as to why I was going to US via Europe - went to go get a Supervisor, I hung up immediately. Perhaps not worth it in case they start questioning the award too much??

Hence why I said that I would leave it up to you.

Hanging up immediately... hopefully no damage has been done. Now I'd be really checking your reservation frequently. At the very least now or soon, check with all airlines on the itinerary to see if PNRs are married with your e-ticket.

 

[curtainbounce]

Hence why I said that I would leave it up to you.

Hanging up immediately... hopefully no damage has been done. Now I'd be really checking your reservation frequently. At the very least now or soon, check with all airlines on the itinerary to see if PNRs are married with your e-ticket.

I think I'm ok, I've just called up and reserved all of my seat assignments and everything seems to be in order still. Will monitor it closely though.

 

[bcworld]

I think I'm ok, I've just called up and reserved all of my seat assignments and everything seems to be in order still. Will monitor it closely though.

We have this discussion a lot but a confirmed reservation / selecting meals / selecting seats does not equal ticketed. However everything is probably fine...just wait a few days then check that ticketing has all happened properly.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks bcworld for the heads up, will monitor it carefully - that's a bit of a worry though!

@ anat0l just tried calling to chase back the 10k/person - agent immediately started getting confused as to why I was going to US via Europe - went to go get a Supervisor, I hung up immediately. Perhaps not worth it in case they start questioning the award too much??

once ticketed USDM cannot cancel your ticket (the only exception to this - and this is pure speculation - might be if a passenger calls 10 agents to eventually find an agent to do the wrong thing).

in your case just call them and ask for the 10k miles back. you're already paying the Europe level rather than the usa level. the ticket can't be cancelled. nothing to lose.

 

[anat0l]

once ticketed USDM cannot cancel your ticket (the only exception to this - and this is pure speculation - might be if a passenger calls 10 agents to eventually find an agent to do the wrong thing).

in your case just call them and ask for the 10k miles back. you're already paying the Europe level rather than the usa level. the ticket can't be cancelled. nothing to lose.

Are you suggesting that US DM has little compunction to cancel due to fear of DOT? I guess "illegal tickets" don't really come into it...

Of course, finding the right agent to hand back the miles might be a small challenge.

 

[boomy]

All the talk about mistake fares and ticket cancellations made me wonder, did anyone here on AFF had their ticket canceled by US after their booking was finalised?

 

[Aussie_flyer]

Anyone managed an oz-gum booking since the oneworld change? Award tix nrt-gum on jl look scarce

 

[MEL_Traveller]

All the talk about mistake fares and ticket cancellations made me wonder, did anyone here on AFF had their ticket canceled by US after their booking was finalised?

mistake fares and USDM bookings are different scenarios.

some have had their accounts audited by USDM with regards to redemption issues, but IIRC that's around the sold/barter provisions.

 

[boomy]

mistake fares and USDM bookings are different scenarios.

some have had their accounts audited by USDM with regards to redemption issues, but IIRC that's around the sold/barter provisions.

Mistake fares was not a right choice of words, I meant mistake charge of miles or taxes for award bookings.
I was wondering if anyone had their ticket cancelled due to not reporting such a mistake done by a USDM agent.
I was thinking how would I react if quoted half the real amount of miles needed for an award redemption and I honestly don't know what I would do.

 

[burmans]

I was wondering if anyone had their ticket cancelled due to not reporting such a mistake done by a USDM agent.
I was thinking how would I react in if quoted half the real amount of miles needed for an award redemption and I honestly don't know what I would do.

I've seen lots of people sugesting US "could" cancel but have yet to see anyone actually report it happening to them.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Mistake fares was not a right choice of words, I meant mistake charge of miles or taxes for award bookings.
I was wondering if anyone had their ticket cancelled due to not reporting such a mistake done by a USDM agent.
I was thinking how would I react if quoted half the real amount of miles needed for an award redemption and I honestly don't know what I would do.

you would risk the itinerary being repriced if you needed to call and say have the ticket reissued because of a schedule change. (A revalidation on its own shouldn't trigger a price adjustment)

the moral issue is something we all need to deal with on an individual basis. We know how much it is supposed to cost, we're already getting premium fares for pennies... why not pay them what they're due?

 

[travelislife]

There is one infamous member on here who has had tickets cancelled after having accounts audited and blocked but his run of behaviour was very outside the norm (abusing the program) and not something anyone treating the program normally should come across.

 

[burmans]

There is one infamous member on here who has had tickets cancelled after having accounts audited and blocked but his run of behaviour was very outside the norm (abusing the program) and not something anyone treating the program normally should come across.

Yes, while the member would never admit it the most likely reason would appear to have been sale of tickets to a "friend". On FT you hear reports of people being stopped and questioned at the airport, the main question of relevance would appear to be "how much did you pay for this ticket", i.e. was a sale involved.

 

[anat0l]

On FT you hear reports of people being stopped and questioned at the airport, the main question of relevance would appear to be "how much did you pay for this ticket", i.e. was a sale involved.

Come to think of it, a blogger who operates an award booking service has possibly "accounted" for this by providing his clients with answers to some questions (e.g. on a paper info sheet).

I book for my family; they haven't been stopped yet, and I hope it won't come to that. If it is any consolation, at least we share the same surname.

 

[burmans]

Come to think of it, a blogger who operates an award booking service has possibly "accounted" for this by providing his clients with answers to some questions (e.g. on a paper info sheet).

I book for my family; they haven't been stopped yet, and I hope it won't come to that. If it is any consolation, at least we share the same surname.

Well given US advertises the share with a friend promo, allows someone else to have authority on your account and allows you to add up to 8 additional passengers (on the booking preferences page) I don't agree with the view that its against the rules to book for others. But I accept it's a flag that may raise questions but in my view probably only in conjunction with other behaviours.

These might include multiple accounts, extensive patterms of buying/sharing with others (rather than just a few times). While it's not totally clear what people get up to the indications are some behaviours are pretty extreme.