Mar 30, 2014, 12:53 pm
Last edit by: JDiver
WIKI POST: Using US Dividend Miles for oneworld Award Flights
As further details become available, please fill in this wikipost.
As further details become available, please fill in this wikipost.
N.B. Booking opportunities for new Dividend Miles awards of all kinds ended 11:59 PM Wednesday, 25 March 2015. Please continue using this thread for trips booked or in progress through 24 March 2016.
Changes on USDM oneworld award tickets
This is the only official statement about changing issued USDM award tickets:
If I need to make changes to a Dividend Miles award reservation, which program’s rules will apply?
Minor changes such as date/time can be made provided seats are available without requiring a new award to be claimed. More substantive changes such as changes to stopovers or origin/destination may result in the need to reinstate the previously claimed Dividend Miles award, then claiming a new AAdvantage award under the existing AAdvantage program rules.
The old membership rules do 'generally' still appy to USDM tickets.
For awards ticketed / reticketed on 001- ticket stock, go to the AA Refunds site with your ticket number at hand (unsure if it works with 037- stock at this time)to:
- Print a receipt with ticket number (instead of Request a refund)
- See total fees, taxes, etc. attached to your ticket
- See applicable detailed fare rules
- Request a refund (may not be useful for awards)
- Some were able to change their ticket without beeing charged the USD 150.- changing fee.
- No chance to change a ticket after the first flight segment has been flown.
- ...
Old stuff
oneworld member airlines - airberlin, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LAN, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian, S7 Airlines (Sibir), SriLankan Airlines, TAM Airlines, US Airways and their affiliates.
Award Chart for oneworld awards using US Dividend Miles:
http://shopping.usairways.com/en-US/...wardtravel.pdf
You can use the American Airlines, British Airways, JAL, or Qantas sites to search for oneworld award inventory. AA and QF also allows you to search for award inventory using a handy 30 day calendar view. However, availability on the calendar is dependent on site coverage (e.g. QF does not include JL or MH, AA does not include CX and others). Also, the calendar view may not be completely accurate on all partners, so use it as a guide but do not rely on it fully.
One of the easiest ways to search for oneworld availability is through the use of an outside tool such as Award Nexus, ExpertFlyer, KVS Tool, or The Wandering Aramean oneworld Search.
Award Nexus has a free community membership for flyertalk members, and award email alert with premium membership. ExpertFlyer has email alerts and direct GDS access to select oneworld award inventories, such as AA, QF, and US. ExpertFlyer can also search J class certificate upgrade inventory. With KVS Tool, you can search QF, BA, JL and CX's search engines, in addition to other alliances, on your PC (Mac / Linux with CrossOver). You can also set up an alert via The Wandering Aramean oneworld Search. This tool will automatically search on QF for your alert once per day with a free account and four times per day with a paid account.
N.B. With all of the above tools, it is best to search one segment at a time. Most oneworld search engines have difficulty marrying segments.
For route searching with itinerary information, use the interactive oneworld map and timetable.
For searching Intra-North America availability, the best tool is AA.com. Unlike the other oneworld engines, AA is pretty good at marrying segments, so you can search origin to destination.
Regarding availability, the strategy that has been most effective for people looking to book award travel on oneworld is to start searching right at 330 days prior to departure. This is generally when availability is at its best. After that, availability tends to be sporadic until starting 8 weeks prior to departure where some airlines open up availability, and will vary all the way up until the day of departure.
If you're having trouble finding availability, it may be best to look at alternate airports (JL, for example, serves SAN, YVR, and BOS, in addition to the larger markets of SFO, LAX, YYZ, ORD, and JFK).
(N.B. Although US was not adding fuel surcharges to awards, there are reports that they have started doing this for awards containing BA flights.) With the exception of BA & IB, no oneworld carriers require you to pay a fuel surcharge for awards. With BA, be aware that you may have to pay both a fuel surcharge as well as the UK Air Passenger Duty departure tax for intercontinental J and F flights out of UK. These fees vary with class of service and length of flight and are determined by BA; the Air Passenger Duty (see specific thread) is due for all UK departures not under 24 hour connecting flights. APD applies to coach tickets, too, but at a reduced rate. The fuel /YQ surcharge with IB is generally considered minimal.
Known Problems / Workaround:
- Dep 00:00AM : Some agents have difficulty finding flights leaving between midnight and 2 AM. This is because the US systems show it leaving the day before. If the agent cannot find it, please ask to look at the day before. > source <
- LA : Flights put on hold will be cancelled after 24h. Workaround: Issue the ticket immediately. > source <
- JL : US Rep cannot find available seats. Workaround: "Always have to remind Rep to open JL reservations on a new screen". > source <
- MH : US Rep cannot find awards in First Class. Workaround: First class needs to be booked in P-cl instead of Z-cl (as on most other OW carriers). > source < booking classes: > KVS <
- All : If you are booking outbound flights at the US Air 335 day window US Air will often allow you to put your reservation on a longer than 3 day hold to capture the return seats once they open up at T+335. There is a report of this for 30 days here, and FT user beofotch was successful in getting a 13 day hold here. Workaround: Huaca until you get an agent who is competent enough to do this. It may help to act naive and ask for your return flight on your preferred date even if it is after T+335 days. Once they get an error from the computer may be a good time to bring it up.
- ...
Fixed Problems:
- CX : US Rep cannot find seats on flight CX 645 HKG-DOH. Workaround: none so far, search for different routing/carrier (CMB/DXB/...?)... > source < > fixed <
> fixed < - CX : US Rep cannot find seats on flight CX 640 DOH-HKG. They admit, the flight exists, but are unable to book <source>. Workaround: none so far, search for different routing/carrier
> fixed < - BA/Comair : US rep could not see / or unable to book intra-South Africa flights in BA flight number operated by Comair despite AA treats Comair a full fledged oneworld member under BA, in the same context as KA under CX. Only one reported success booking - poster reported agent had trouble at first but on consulting a supervisor was told "where to look"; the agent did not give any further information. Most everyone else reported unable to book Comair flights.
> fixed < - IB : Flights will be cancelled after ticket issued. Workaround: None yet... > source <
> fixed <
LUS: USDM oneworld Award Bookings - (Closed to new bookings) [Master FAQ and Help]
Mar 2, 2015, 7:54 pm
#3646
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 259
Hi,
so even with the AA award flight, we are not allowed to add a stop or do route change?
The only change that is permitted is the date/time/carrier?
so even with the AA award flight, we are not allowed to add a stop or do route change?
The only change that is permitted is the date/time/carrier?
No one can say for sure, but I would expect normal AA rules for changes to apply, but at the same time, I'd try hard to avoid making anything other than date/time/carrier changes for an award that includes something not permitted by AA, such as a stop or a crazy routing.
Mar 2, 2015, 8:17 pm
#3647
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: SYD
Posts: 2,903
goodo
Mar 2, 2015, 8:23 pm
#3648
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,388
If I book my USDM award flight starts from Seattle, will I be able to make route change after the AA/US merge? With the same Origin (Seattle), can I add a transfer to LAX and connect to LHR then AMS?
I know under USDM award, we cannot make any changes to the route once the flight is ticketed. However, with AA award flight, as long as the origins and destination is the same, we are allowed to make changes (please correct me if I'm wrong)? Will my ticketed USDM award flight become AA award flight hence qualify the change rule?
I know under USDM award, we cannot make any changes to the route once the flight is ticketed. However, with AA award flight, as long as the origins and destination is the same, we are allowed to make changes (please correct me if I'm wrong)? Will my ticketed USDM award flight become AA award flight hence qualify the change rule?
Also, the AS flights you need cannot be booked online, they'll take a good length of time to get booked on the phone. BA hold times for non-status members are not pleasant.
Mar 2, 2015, 9:47 pm
#3649
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 79
hi everyone, do you think any of these routing would be allowed by DM?
sin-doh-bkk-pek-pvg-tyo-syd-bne with pvg as stopover and bne as final destination (id really like to try qatar airways, but if its not possible then i guess id have to forgot that dream from happening )
sin-hkg-pvg-tyo-syd-bne with pvg as stopover and bne as final destination
sin-hkg-bne-tyo-sgn-kul-sin with bne as final destination and tyo as a stopover
i want to take the (for last time)
advantage of using dividend miles and its "wonderful" routing "allowance"
sin-doh-bkk-pek-pvg-tyo-syd-bne with pvg as stopover and bne as final destination (id really like to try qatar airways, but if its not possible then i guess id have to forgot that dream from happening
)sin-hkg-pvg-tyo-syd-bne with pvg as stopover and bne as final destination
sin-hkg-bne-tyo-sgn-kul-sin with bne as final destination and tyo as a stopover
i want to take the (for last time)
advantage of using dividend miles and its "wonderful" routing "allowance"
Mar 2, 2015, 9:56 pm
#3650
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,405
hi everyone, do you think any of these routing would be allowed by DM?
sin-doh-bkk-pek-pvg-tyo-syd-bne with pvg as stopover and bne as final destination (id really like to try qatar airways, but if its not possible then i guess id have to forgot that dream from happening )
sin-hkg-pvg-tyo-syd-bne with pvg as stopover and bne as final destination
sin-hkg-bne-tyo-sgn-kul-sin with bne as final destination and tyo as a stopover
i want to take the (for last time) advantage of using dividend miles and its "wonderful" routing "allowance"
sin-doh-bkk-pek-pvg-tyo-syd-bne with pvg as stopover and bne as final destination (id really like to try qatar airways, but if its not possible then i guess id have to forgot that dream from happening
)sin-hkg-pvg-tyo-syd-bne with pvg as stopover and bne as final destination
sin-hkg-bne-tyo-sgn-kul-sin with bne as final destination and tyo as a stopover
i want to take the (for last time)
advantage of using dividend miles and its "wonderful" routing "allowance" This means PVG would be your destination (the farthest point of turn-around before commencing your return).
I doubt you'd be allowed a side detour to DOH, or be allowed to fly to TYO via BNE.
My view of the chance of success for the following:
sin-doh-bkk-pek-pvg-tyo-syd-bne - none
sin-hkg-pvg-tyo-syd-bne - should be ok
sin-hkg-bne-tyo-sgn-kul-sin - none
Mar 2, 2015, 10:12 pm
#3651
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 79
You are essentially looking at an open jaw, departing SIN and returning to BNE.
This means PVG would be your destination (the farthest point of turn-around before commencing your return).
I doubt you'd be allowed a side detour to DOH, or be allowed to fly to TYO via BNE.
My view of the chance of success for the following:
sin-doh-bkk-pek-pvg-tyo-syd-bne - none
sin-hkg-pvg-tyo-syd-bne - should be ok
sin-hkg-bne-tyo-sgn-kul-sin - none
This means PVG would be your destination (the farthest point of turn-around before commencing your return).
I doubt you'd be allowed a side detour to DOH, or be allowed to fly to TYO via BNE.
My view of the chance of success for the following:
sin-doh-bkk-pek-pvg-tyo-syd-bne - none
sin-hkg-pvg-tyo-syd-bne - should be ok
sin-hkg-bne-tyo-sgn-kul-sin - none
sin-hkg-pvg-tyo-syd-bne-HKG-SIN or bne-SYD-TYO-SIN
can i argue that id like to fly with jal so im going to north asia anyway hence the pvg stopover? anyway aside from qantas (which i heard its c class is somewhat rare), theres no OW that connects sin and bne directly?
Mar 2, 2015, 10:25 pm
#3652
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: SYD
Posts: 2,903
hi sorry forgot to to mention im going back to sin so the routing
sin-hkg-pvg-tyo-syd-bne-HKG-SIN or bne-SYD-TYO-SIN
can i argue that id like to fly with jal so im going to north asia anyway hence the pvg stopover? anyway aside from qantas (which i heard its c class is somewhat rare), theres no OW that connects sin and bne directly?
sin-hkg-pvg-tyo-syd-bne-HKG-SIN or bne-SYD-TYO-SIN
can i argue that id like to fly with jal so im going to north asia anyway hence the pvg stopover? anyway aside from qantas (which i heard its c class is somewhat rare), theres no OW that connects sin and bne directly?
goodo
Mar 2, 2015, 10:28 pm
#3653
Join Date: Aug 2004
Programs: AA (EP), Hilton (Diamond), Marriott Bonvoy (Titanium)
Posts: 8,937
I think the point anabolism is trying to make is that AA allows simple date/time/carrier changes, and assuming we're able to change US awards past the merger according to those rules then those changes could be made without any issues. Any other changes will require reticketing which will most likely mean reticketing according to AA's rules. AA awards are one way and they don't allow stopovers, nor are they as liberal with routing as US has been. So you may find yourself trying to make a change that you just can't do according to AA's rules.
Mar 2, 2015, 10:44 pm
#3654
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Programs: VA WP, NZ *A SG
Posts: 529
hi everyone, do you think any of these routing would be allowed by DM?
sin-doh-bkk-pek-pvg-tyo-syd-bne with pvg as stopover and bne as final destination (id really like to try qatar airways, but if its not possible then i guess id have to forgot that dream from happening )
sin-hkg-pvg-tyo-syd-bne with pvg as stopover and bne as final destination
sin-hkg-bne-tyo-sgn-kul-sin with bne as final destination and tyo as a stopover
i want to take the (for last time) advantage of using dividend miles and its "wonderful" routing "allowance"
sin-doh-bkk-pek-pvg-tyo-syd-bne with pvg as stopover and bne as final destination (id really like to try qatar airways, but if its not possible then i guess id have to forgot that dream from happening
)sin-hkg-pvg-tyo-syd-bne with pvg as stopover and bne as final destination
sin-hkg-bne-tyo-sgn-kul-sin with bne as final destination and tyo as a stopover
i want to take the (for last time)
advantage of using dividend miles and its "wonderful" routing "allowance" 1. its not a oneworld hub;
2. it exceeds MPM;
3. its not remotely the most direct route; and
3. its in the complete opposite direction to your destination.
You wont be able to get through to the US call centre this week and the UK ones are much stricter on the rules.
Arguing that you should be allowed an absurd routing ‘because you want to fly JAL’ will be a waste of your breath. Arguing a lack of availability will also be a waste of time.
I’ve spoken to probably 12 USDM agents over the past two weeks (both US and UK) and every single one has known the rules, and enforced them. I think the days of the ‘wonderful routing rules’ are over as we head into the last few weeks of the program.
Mar 2, 2015, 11:17 pm
#3655
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,388
Mar 3, 2015, 2:58 am
#3656
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 79
id think because using ow for sin-bne can only viable through few airlines cathay, jal, or qantas, and considering qantas rarely release c class availability so its either cathay or jal, so id argue thats the reason why im going to north asia as thats where cathay and jal hubs are located
Mar 3, 2015, 3:36 am
#3657
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,405
id think because using ow for sin-bne can only viable through few airlines cathay, jal, or qantas, and considering qantas rarely release c class availability so its either cathay or jal, so id argue thats the reason why im going to north asia as thats where cathay and jal hubs are located
BA also flies SIN-SYD, and you could connect from there on a QF domestic sector (easy to get). That, plus try your chances on the QF flights to SYD/MEL etc.
Mar 3, 2015, 6:48 am
#3658
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: SIN
Programs: SQ, UA, Delta, BMI(RIP), Marriott Lifetime Titanium, Hilton Diamond (Thanks Amex) Hyatt Discov
Posts: 1,942
Code:
GI M 5M 10M 15M 20M 25M
MPM EH 4581 4810 5039 5268 5497 5726
Code:
CTY DC TPM CUM MPM DC SUR HGL LWL 25M XTRA SIN 3 HKG 3 EH 1594 1594 1912 EH 0M 318 0 2390 0 SHA 3 EH 773 2367 2830 EH 0M 463 0 3537 0 TYO 3 EH 1111 3478 3974 EH 0M 496 0 4967 0 SYD 3 EH 4863 8341 4694 EH EXC 0 2474 5867 0 BNE 3 EH 465 8806 4581 EH EXC 0 3080 5726 0
Mar 3, 2015, 8:39 am
#3659
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,388
id think because using ow for sin-bne can only viable through few airlines cathay, jal, or qantas, and considering qantas rarely release c class availability so its either cathay or jal, so id argue thats the reason why im going to north asia as thats where cathay and jal hubs are located
Also... MH is in OW and flies to ADL, BNE, DRW, MEL, PER and SYD (so lots of ability to connect in Australia even if you can't get KUL-BNE), and their hub is less than 200 miles from you in KUL. So nice try...
Mar 3, 2015, 12:19 pm
#3660
Join Date: Jul 2013
Programs: S* Gold, Marriott Gold, Hyatt Diamond
Posts: 23
Try the Canadian/European line 1.888.240.4770. Press 2 for French and ask nicely if they could speak English. Took me less than 3 mins to get connected to real human! And I believe they're much more competent in terms of flight availability, routing and pricing taxes.