US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - Australlia with Dividend Miles?

I don't see this as an option with United when we can start using Dividend Miles with them on April 1st. Am I missing something or is this going to be possible?

I do have about 60,000 Diners Club Points, 200,000 HHonors Points and 100,000 Priority Club Points if these might help me if my Dividend Miles don't. Any thoughts?

It will be possible to use DM miles for UA flights Down Under, at the same reward levels used for Asia.

However, I would STRONGLY suggest that you use QF instead. It requires more miles, but at least you can steer clear of UA's uncertainties. Not to mention that QF is regarded by many to offer the best service of the three major players (QF, UA, and NZ) on flights to Oz/New Zealand.

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Thank you for choosing Continental Airlines, a proud member of the SkyTeam Alliance.

[This message has been edited by avek00 (edited 02-27-2003).]

Not to mention QF flies to more locations, so if you want to head up north to the reef during your travels you will have to pay for the flight...if you fly UA you will have to pay for that flight.

Travel Between Asia/South Pacific and North America, Central America, the Caribbean, or Hawaii Award Miles

Award Standard Premium
One Economy Class ticket 60,000 -
One Business Class ticket 90,000 -
One First Class ticket 120,000 -


[This message has been edited by RSMC (edited 02-27-2003).]

Well, while the QF partnership is still in place it's highly advisable to fly them. Wife and I booked 2 F seats PHL-LAX-MEL-BNE, SYD-MEL-LAX-PHL all on 250,000 points(before the award leves increased to 135K each). It was the best use of points, value wise, next to converting 100K Starwood points into tickets on the BA Concorde!.

Beware though, only a few of us have been lucky enough to snag 2 F seats on our desired dates.

You can check award availability on QF's web site. You have to first register (by obtaining a Qantas FF account), and then you can do searches for award trips. It will tell you if Coach, Biz or First are available on your desired dates and also let you expand your searches pretty easily.

Once you find something that's available and fits your schedule, you can call USAirways Dividend Miles and have them book the trip. The seats *SHOULD* be available if you saw it on the Qantas web site.

Ditto on PHL's thought.

Took this trip last November - Booked BIZ for 190,000 (?) in Jan last year - Whatever it was before rates went up. Ended up with a mix of BIZ and FIRST between LAX-SYD-AUK-LAX ... Qantas really puts on a good trip !!

Had a lot of US connection problems to get to LAX, but from there --- ROCK ON. Good Luck !!

I went on QF business this past November using my US Dividend miles. (190K for 2 business class tickets). Selected 16 A/B upper deck for seats. Great trip. Booked for this November one FC seat for myself on QF.

Makes going to Europe on $300/$400 tickets worth it to get the Australia award tickets in Business/First.

And QF is upgrading their J seats starting later this year (LHR-BKKorSIN-Australia are getting the new seats first), so if you book far enough out you may get the new J seats (but don't count on it just yet).

Plus, some routes (such as LAX-AKL) are removing F, so there won't be any "turn left" envy if you fly in J http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

i think avek00's advice is basically correct, but if you're going soon and only going to syd or mel (and going soon enough that you're not worried about a ua bankruptcy), keep in mind that ua's awards are quite a bit cheaper (60/90/120) as opposed to qf's awards at 80/105/135. also, one problem with any us international partner is that tickets are hell to change once travel has begun... not sure how that will work with the us/ua partnership but worth asking.

finally, while service is most definitely better on qf, the ua business seat is superior in comfort.

Using US miles to secure a QF business clas award from DCA-LAX-SYD return was one of the best utilizations of Dividend Miles I can think of. Particularly from the USA east-coast. The only other is the (now non-available) 100k Swissair FC award to Europe.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by geo1005:
Using US miles to secure a QF business clas award from DCA-LAX-SYD return was one of the best utilizations of Dividend Miles I can think of. Particularly from the USA east-coast. The only other is the (now non-available) 100k Swissair FC award to Europe.</font>

Oh, what do you know, Mr. Only Six Posts on Flyertalk?

Hi, Tom.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

In the last seven months I have moved, started a new career, become engaged, and (believe it or not) been travelling A LOT for too many reasons. Something had to give, so I took an intentional break from FT the same way an alcoholic MUST take a break from that delicious 15 year old bottle of single malt.

FT is great - and it is now a luxury I can afford.

This is of similar (but not direct) interest but I dont want to waste a whole new thread on it. Title of topic will still make it useful for searching..

I have several friends (all US elites) who flew R/T to Australia on Qantas over the summer. None of them got DM (non-preferred) miles for these trips.

Anyone else having better luck? What's the plan B - can you send in boarding passes/etc?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by hscottm:
This is of similar (but not direct) interest but I dont want to waste a whole new thread on it. Title of topic will still make it useful for searching..

I have several friends (all US elites) who flew R/T to Australia on Qantas over the summer. None of them got DM (non-preferred) miles for these trips.

Anyone else having better luck? What's the plan B - can you send in boarding passes/etc?

</font>


Assuming the fare was eligible for mileage accrual, they should receive credit if the BPs and ticket receipts are mailed in.

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Thank you for choosing Continental Airlines, a proud member of the SkyTeam Alliance.

..but is mailing in stubs the ONLY way to get credit? Has anyone received mileage credits automatically?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by PHL:


You can check award availability on QF's web site. You have to first register (by obtaining a Qantas FF account), and then you can do searches for award trips. It will tell you if Coach, Biz or First are available on your desired dates and also let you expand your searches pretty easily.

</font>

How did you do this? I tried to look at availability, but the website wouldn't let me proceed, since I don't have enough Qantas miles to actually make a booking....

Any help would be appreciated.

[This message has been edited by haveric (edited Dec 10, 2003).]

I traveled on QF back in June LAX-AKL-SYD-CNS-SYD-LAX. I was part of a school group so I obviously had no control over our tickets, but when I received a receipt for $1845 roundtrip for our itinerary on QF, I sent that in along with all boarding passes to receive credit. On top of that, we traveled during the "Triple Qantas Miles" promotion, netting me about 53,000 DM for a ticket I had no control over. Just 7,000 miles shy of a free ticket back to Australia - on United, unfortunately.

Make sure you choose the option for single destination one way after you login. I remember reading that if you choose the return option you won't have any luck. I just did it and was able to search award availability.

I have 0 QF points and didn't have a problem.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by dionnec123:
I don't see this as an option with United when we can start using Dividend Miles with them on April 1st. Am I missing something or is this going to be possible?
</font>

I was under the impression that we can do this now.
I spoke with a US Gold agent the other day and placed a ticket to SYD on UA on hold.
I plan on completing the transaction tomorrow.

I researched this and while some people have suggested that the QF product may be better, I didn't find any reason to suggest that it was.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum51/HTML/006238.html

So here's me sitting with a CP good until April and I'll have about 320K in DM after our trip to London next week.

All this time I've been hoarding miles for maybe a jaunt to the west coast or maybe another trip to Europe.

Are you telling me I can book QF F to SYD/MEL for 135K each? How long has this been going on? It would be about 480K on BA, my other favorite airline.

Methinks I'd better get cracking! How long is this likely to last?

If USAir is joining the *Alliance, aren't Qantas awards going to be a thing of the past? Any ideas when the availability of Qantas tickets might cease?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by BigLar:
Are you telling me I can book QF F to SYD/MEL for 135K each? How long has this been going on?</font>


The 135k First Class QF award has only been in place for about two years. Prior to that it was only 125k miles. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

FYI, the same time the QF FC award increased from 125 to 135k, the Business class award went from 90k to 110k.

IMHO, the current QF business class product is only slightly better than the UA business class product and not worth the extra 20k (90k for a UA award vs. 110k for the QF). However, this will probably chance when QF introduces its new SkyBed Business class service next year. No telling when all the 744's on the LAX to Oz routes will have it though...

http://www.qantas.com.au/info/flying/travelClasses/businessChanges

cheers!

Figured it out -- thanks.

Has anyone tried coach to Australia? I've got the miles for business class, but they don't have the availability...

Should I wait until my dates / their availability match for business class?

thanks!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by haveric:
coach to Australia? </font>

I cringe just seeing those words in print...

I would rather stick knitting needles in my eyes (repeatedly) than fly the east coast of the USA to Australia in coach. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/redface.gif

Remember to be flexible with dates - ask when there is availability and plan your trip accordingly. I burned some US miles to Australia on QF a while ago and just told the agent I wanted to go sometime around the middle of July. Bingo! We got the outbound date we wanted and only had to extend our stay in Sydney by one date (bummer!) to get the return we wanted. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/thumbsup.gif

So I've been browsing the Quantas site looking for someplace to go to with two First class tix that I can get from US.

Suppose I want to fly LAX-NADI-SYD (or MEL) - looks like part of that would be a Quantas codeshare. Does that mean I can't get them with US DM, or is everything available as long as it comes under the Quantas "label"?

Just curious - I'm looking a year or two out, so I have plenty of time to obsess and fantasize. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by BigLar:

Suppose I want to fly LAX-NADI-SYD (or MEL) - looks like part of that would be a Quantas codeshare. </font>

Okay, two things: 1.) It's spelled QANTAS. I know, it's hard to comprehend a word that starts with 'Q' that doesn't have a 'U' after it, but Qantas is actually an acronym.

2.) You can only fly on Qantas metal. Nadi is served by Air Pacific.

From the USAirways Web Site:

Valid North American Gateways
North America: Chicago (ORD), Honolulu, Los Angeles, New York (JFK)

Award Destinations
Australia: Adelaide, Alice Springs, Ayers Rock, Brisbane, Cairns, Canberra, Darwin, Goldcoast, Gove, Hobart, Mackay, Maroochydore, Melbourne, Perth, Proserpine, Rockhampton, Sydney, Townsville
Papua New Guinea: Port Moresby
New Zealand: Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington

You can work your itenerary any way you wish as long as it falls into these parameters:

1.) Originate/Return to any USAirways city.
2.) Over the Pacific will be on Qantas from JFK, LAX, HNL or ORD to SYD, MEL or AUK nonstop. The JFK flight actually stops in LAX, enroute to SYD. Therefore, if you don't live in one of those US cities, your award ticket will get you there. With the United codeshare, it's nice that you could conceivably fly to Hawaii on UA, hang around for a while, and then continue to Australia.

3.) You may fly onward to a further destination in Oz after arriving in SYD/MEL/AUK - on the same award.

4.) You may return from yet ANOTHER Oz city, connecting through SYD/MEL/AUK and doing a reverse of item 1.

Ex.) Wife and I did PHL-LAX-MEL-BNE, and then SYD-MEL-LAX-PHL last year. I booked EXACTLY 330 days out and got 2 F seats for the outbound leg, and picked to biz seats for the return. When 330 days from our propsed return date came up, I called to switch those 2 biz seats. Alas! They were available. Most have not been so fortunate, but at least we know it works sometimes. Our travel was outbound on a Sat. and returning on the day before Thanksgiving.

[This message has been edited by PHL (edited Dec 15, 2003).]

Whoo, whoo!! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Thanks!

...and Air Pacific is a partner with Qantas and American. So I can redeem US miles for the Qantas portion of the itinerary, and AA miles for the Air Pacific portion.

Fantasy Island, here I come!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by haveric:
Figured it out -- thanks.

Has anyone tried coach to Australia? I've got the miles for business class, but they don't have the availability...

Should I wait until my dates / their availability match for business class?

thanks!</font>

I'm having the same problem with going to HKG. However, it's on United metal, so I am considering going in E+.