US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - How are flight distances calculated upgrade for upgrades?

I will be flying DCA-CLT-SRQ on US. DCA-CLT is 327 miles. CLT-SRQ is 549 miles.

Is the number of 800 miles upgrades required based on the DCA-CLT-SRQ distance or the DCA-SRQ distance. If it is the latter, how do I find out what the DCA-SRQ distance is?

Upgrades are done by the A-C method. If you go A-B-C, you only need enough certs to cover the distance from A-C.

The bad news is that DCA-SRQ is 851 miles http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif.

------------------
Saving the world, one clue at a time.

If you call customer service reps, however, they will tell you that it is in fact A-B-C, not A-C.

From the USAIRWAYS Website:

1. Call the Dividend Miles Service Center to request upgrades. One certificate is necessary for every 800 miles of one-way travel. The distance is calculated from the point of origin to the destination, without regard for valid routing connections. For example: A one-way trip between New York and Kansas City is 1,108 miles and would require two upgrades.


Upgrades (http://www.usairways.com/dividendmiles/redeemingmiles/howtoredeem/upgrades.htm)

I know that's what it says on the site, but I had a bear of time trying to convince a rep (actually, multiple reps) that this is true. As a matter of fact, I wasn't successful in convincing any of them!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by nawlinsdoc:
If you call customer service reps, however, they will tell you that it is in fact A-B-C, not A-C.</font>

It really doesn't matter what customer service reps tell you on the phone, because they are never the ones who collect the certs. I'm not saying that reps at airports always know the correct rules, but they're the only ones who matter.

The distance is "as the crow flies" from origination city to final destination. In the event you don't know a crow, the following calculates airport/city pairs:

http://www.tripadvice.com/airport_calculator.htm

How would upgrades work on a MR? Lets say you are taking 4 segments to get to your final destination, but from A-E is less than 800 miles.

Katfan --

Same way. Distance from A to E is all that matters. You could fly from GSO to CLT via DFW, SEA, and IAH and it would still take just one cert! (Of course, good luck making that routing work!!) http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Thanks for the responses. I guess my question is moot since DCA-SRQ is 851 miles.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by planeluvr:
From the USAIRWAYS Website:

1. Call the Dividend Miles Service Center to request upgrades. One certificate is necessary for every 800 miles of one-way travel. The distance is calculated from the point of origin to the destination, without regard for valid routing connections. For example: A one-way trip between New York and Kansas City is 1,108 miles and would require two upgrades.


Upgrades (http://www.usairways.com/dividendmiles/redeemingmiles/howtoredeem/upgrades.htm)</font>

Hi,

I just confirmed this on the US web-site and the wording is now gone. They have changed the text on the page. There is no longer any mention of ". The distance is calculated from the point of origin to the destination, without regard for valid routing connections."

Sandeep.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by sandeepn:
I just confirmed this on the US web-site and the wording is now gone. They have changed the text on the page. There is no longer any mention of ". The distance is calculated from the point of origin to the destination, without regard for valid routing connections."</font>

That's because (as previously discussed (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum51/HTML/003570.html)) US is changing the way upgrades are done as they are made electronic. Allegedly upgrades will be done the same way as AA does them, 500 miles each and point-to-point-to-point, most likely because that's what is easiest for US to implement using Sabre.

So with no published policy regarding point to point vs. origin to destination, it comes down to how accomodating the counter or gate agent is at that moment. I flew MCO-CLT-BWI a few days ago, about 820 point to point, 780 straight shot. I only had one coupon left, so I handed it over and he took it without mention. When/if they go electronic, most of the leeway they have now will go away.

While the paper certs remain, I suggest the following strategy (which I adopted as a Silver and Gold after one too many "encounters" with math-whiz gate agents):

When you call for the upgrade, have the res agent note the required number of certs in your record. I found that this solved the problem for me on a number of occasions, particularly when connecting to/from the west coast.

------------------
Saving the world, one clue at a time.