US to exit STAR 30th March & join ONEWORLD 31st

[robcuk]

I think this arvo is a bit ambitious! There's still 6 hours of the 30th left in Tempe!

I'd let things settle down for a few days personally and let some anecdotes start coming through re how things are going.

Another fair point - guess its a good time to keep an eye on the blogs and FT

 

[anat0l]

Obviously with USDM the flexibility of openjaw or stopover was enjoyed by all - was/is this the case with AA? I ask as ideally id like to book an award into Perth & out of Sydney.

As said, USDM will likely continue in its current incarnation for the time being as far as can be seen, except now with oneworld carriers instead of Star Alliance (barring the short term agreements with some Star Alliance carriers).

Redemptions with AA are not as generous as USDM - no stopovers allowed (unless going through North America, when one stopover allowed at the international gateway), routings must be reasonably direct (needs to be a published routing and MPM+25% enforced strongly), fixed dictated rules of which zones or ports may be transited in the cases of interzonal travel that may span across more than one zone.

On the other hand, AA awards are booked as one-ways rather than enforcing a return journey, so open jaws are easy to create (you can even have double open jaw if you wish). AA also has the oneworld Explorer awards which can cost a bit but depending on routing can be very lucrative with as many stopovers as you can fit in the ticket.

 

[robcuk]

As said, USDM will likely continue in its current incarnation for the time being as far as can be seen, except now with oneworld carriers instead of Star Alliance (barring the short term agreements with some Star Alliance carriers).

Redemptions with AA are not as generous as USDM - no stopovers allowed (unless going through North America, when one stopover allowed at the international gateway), routings must be reasonably direct (needs to be a published routing and MPM+25% enforced strongly), fixed dictated rules of which zones or ports may be transited in the cases of interzonal travel that may span across more than one zone.

On the other hand, AA awards are booked as one-ways rather than enforcing a return journey, so open jaws are easy to create (you can even have double open jaw if you wish). AA also has the oneworld Explorer awards which can cost a bit but depending on routing can be very lucrative with as many stopovers as you can fit in the ticket.

Thanks again for the info - A double open jaw would be of interest to some im sure especially those wishing to avoid the airport passenger duty from the Uk, although it is being slightly reduced & combining a European break.

 

[casanovawa]

Tried for one last USDM redemption to Guam - 12pm Perth time was midnight 30th over wherever the call centre was...

The agent was faffing about saying it was going to be 100K miles and all and it ticked over to 12 here but she was still trying to do somethign but then my skype call dropped out so didn't bother calling back...

So yes, now to see what the lay of the land is now with USDM...