Star Alliance - *Award to Asia and Australia

Hello All,

Long time lurker, first time poster. You all are an amazing resource for information, thank you so much.

The wife and I want to blow our US miles on a *award trip, we have a little over 180,000 miles each so we should be good for a F award to Asia or Australia.

My question is, can we do both? I know a little about the stopovers but wanted clarify with you all before getting on the phone to book.

We would start at CMH head in any direction to Asia and then to Australia.

Asian cities we would like are NRT, HKG, BKK, or SIN (anything would be fine, just looking for options) and then head to SYD, back to CMH from there...

First or Business all the way. Timing isnt important, just looking for options.

Thanks!

Yes, that is entirely doable. US allows you either 1 stopover or 1 open jaw, but not both. So what you can do is:

CMH - Asian city (stopover)
Asian city - SYD (final destination)
SYD - CMH

You can find some flight options at the *A web site (www.staralliance.com) but I'm guessing from CMH to Asia your best bets would be UA via ORD or AC via YYZ. Coming back from SYD basically 3 choices: UA to LAX or SFO; NZ to LAX or SFO with a change in AKL; or AC to YVR.

The mileage required for Asia & Australia is different, so I'm not sure how much they will charge you - the higher amount, the lower amount, or the average.

Maybe I got lucky but when I stopped over in NRT on the way to MEL last year, they only charged me the lower amount of mileage.

Hopefully you'll get a good US agent when you call, but I'd suggest looking at the *A site first and having a few suggestions for him/her. It seems as though US always offers their flights first even if it's not the most direct routing. I was going out of IAD and they wanted to route me IAD-PHL-ORD-NRT. I suggested the IAD-NRT nonstop which wasn't available but I did manage to get IAD-SFO-NRT on UA instead.

Outstanding! thank you gtownguy.

I don't think you can do this as one award as you're flying to two separate regions? :confused:

I don't think you can do this as one award as you're flying to two separate regions?

I thought that might be the case, so I specifically asked that question when I booked my tix with US. Wasn't a problem at all.

I don't think you can do this as one award as you're flying to two separate regions?

I thought that might be the case, so I specifically asked that question when I booked my tix with US. Wasn't a problem at all.

I believe that SQ is the only carrier in *A that allows a routing to Australia via Asia with the possibility to stopover. UA and NZ fly direct.

Problem is that SQ does not allow C or F awards to SIN from N.A. or Europe.

I don't think you can do this as one award as you're flying to two separate regions?

I thought that might be the case, so I specifically asked that question when I booked my tix with US. Wasn't a problem at all.

I think you were lucky.

Hello All,

So I just got off the phone with US and completed my booking...

starts 2nd week of May 2010

UA CMH-ORD-NRT (First class)

---one week stay---

TG NRT-BKK (Business class)
TG BKK-SYD (First class)

--- one week stay---

OZ SYD-ICN (Business class)
-overnight-
OZ ICN-LAX (First class)

US LAX-PHL-CMH (First class to PHL, coach to CMH)

cost ~$180 and 140,000 miles each

We can't wait!!!

Thank you all for the info

Hello All,

So I just got off the phone with US and completed my booking...

starts 2nd week of May 2010

UA CMH-ORD-NRT (First class)

---one week stay---

TG NRT-BKK (Business class)
TG BKK-SYD (First class)

--- one week stay---

OZ SYD-ICN (Business class)
-overnight-
OZ ICN-LAX (First class)

US LAX-PHL-CMH (First class to PHL, coach to CMH)

cost ~$180 and 140,000 miles each

We can't wait!!!

Thank you all for the info

Congratulations.

But don't make any non-refundable hotel bookings until US actually tickets the award.

Agents are occasionally overruled by ticketing - which is the ultimate authority.

Agents are occasionally overruled by ticketing - which is the ultimate authority.

What I've found is this: if the agent is able to book the award and give you the exact amount of taxes and fees, then all systems are go. It seems when the system won't give the agent this amount (and they have to go to the pricing dept to have it manually calculated), then that's when the itinerary is a no go.

Just to double check, see if you can pull up the intinerary on usairways.com. If it appears there with all the flights and fees displayed, then you should be good to go.

Have a great trip!

Just to double check, see if you can pull up the intinerary on usairways.com. If it appears there with all the flights and fees displayed, then you should be good to go.

Have a great trip!


Thank you!

I did check my account of usairways.com and its all there, individual confirmation numbers as well... I haven't gotten an email from US yet but my miles have been debited and the itinerary is there...

The agent told me to call each airline to get specific seat assignments, how long should I wait to call them so to assure their systems are updated? or is there any point this far from departure?

Thanks again

Thank you!

I did check my account of usairways.com and its all there, individual confirmation numbers as well... I haven't gotten an email from US yet but my miles have been debited and the itinerary is there...

The agent told me to call each airline to get specific seat assignments, how long should I wait to call them so to assure their systems are updated? or is there any point this far from departure?

Thanks again

You may call them at any time after the ticket has been issued (and it sounds as if it has). When you call them, they'll ask you for your confirmation number - tell them you do not have it, as all you have is a US PNR which none of the other carriers will be able to use. They'll ask you for the details of your flight (departure date, cities, flight number, etc.). Once you have secured seat assignments on the other carriers, be sure to ask them for their PNR and write it down so that if you need to call them in the future, you can do so more easily.

BTW, regarding the questions upthread, for these kinds of itineraries, it's been my experience that US puts you on hold for a while while they contact ticketing to have everything manually calculated. Once that's done, you're all set - and in my experience I rarely if ever receive an actual email confirmation from US - it's one of the things they do a very poor job of. If the miles are deducted and you've got a PNR and the partner carriers confirm seat assignments, you're generally good to go.

Enjoy your flights!

Sean

Thanks Sean, I will call them tonight or tomorrow AM.

I haven't quite figured out what goes on at US with award tix. Seems that once in a while the agent gives me the tax amount right away. Other times I do get put on hold for ages while someone presumably calculates it.

For seats on partner airlines, it depends on how far out your travel is. Some of them will assign you a seat right now, while others may only do it a certain # of days in advance. You'll just have to call UA, TG, & OZ to find out their policies. Am fairly sure UA will do it, don't know about the others.

When you get a chance, might also be a good idea to call US and get the PNRs for the other airlines and jot them down. You'll have a different PNR for each airline you use. If you have the other PNRs, you may be able to go to each airline website and select seats on your own. Again, not sure about TG & OZ, but I have been able to select seats on LH at their website using a PNR from a US award ticket.

When you get a chance, might also be a good idea to call US and get the PNRs for the other airlines and jot them down. You'll have a different PNR for each airline you use. If you have the other PNRs, you may be able to go to each airline website and select seats on your own. Again, not sure about TG & OZ, but I have been able to select seats on LH at their website using a PNR from a US award ticket.

You're right, US had given me all the PNRs at the time of booking. I tried the UA ones and they let me select my seats, the TG and OZ didn't work. I suppose its safe to say the booking has been ticketed since UA let me select seats, I'll call OZ and TG tomorrow to select their seats.

Thanks again.

I believe that SQ is the only carrier in *A that allows a routing to Australia via Asia with the possibility to stopover. UA and NZ fly direct.

Problem is that SQ does not allow C or F awards to SIN from N.A. or Europe.

Air Canada is even better. Aeroplan allows awards to Australia with two stopovers, and you can cross both oceans:

JFK-ICN-(stop)-SYD-(dest)-SIN-MUC-(stop)-EWR-YYZ

140,000 in F. You can also choose one stop, one open jaw if you want.