US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - The bad news is ...

The good news is that an award ticket from the U.S. to Australia only costs 60,000 miles on USAirways or its partner, United, as compared to 75K on American or 100K on Delta. The bad news is that there are no award seats available, even on a date that just came into their inventory today! Hell, if they're not going to actually offer any seats, why not price them at much less than 60K? Wouldn't that make a lot more suckers join their frequent flyer programs?

Is this really one of those "You can't get there from here" situations, or am I going about this the wrong way? Are there any people who do snag award trips to Australia on one of these airlines, and (if so) how?

I even asked about the possibility of buying coach tickets and using miles to upgrade to business class, and was told that that is not an option that is available (today or any day).

Any suggestions?

Australia is, I believe, one of the top destinations in terms of FF award travel demand. While I haven't gotten down to that part of the world yet, most suggestions are to book right when the window to do so opens - 330 days in advance. Any later than that and you're unlikely to get any seats.

[This message has been edited by phlwookie (edited Mar 22, 2004).]

Did you try to book the award seats on-line, or did you call US? If your schedule is flexible, I highly suggest calling & having the phone agent try different dates. I find it difficult to believe every award seat is sold out on both Qantas & UA for the next 330 days -- but very easy to believe the website is not showing availability for award tix 330 days out.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by SS255:
Did you try to book the award seats on-line, or did you call US? If your schedule is flexible, I highly suggest calling & having the phone agent try different dates. I find it difficult to believe every award seat is sold out on both Qantas & UA for the next 330 days -- but very easy to believe the website is not showing availability for award tix 330 days out.</font>

Me, too. I booked 330 days out for my biz class tickets in August. Even when I had to chance flights due to a schedule change, the phone reps were able to find inventory for me on alternative flights. However, the web site didn't accurately represent this.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by TravelScholar:
Me, too. I booked 330 days out for my biz class tickets in August. Even when I had to chance flights due to a schedule change, the phone reps were able to find inventory for me on alternative flights. However, the web site didn't accurately represent this.</font>

I tried both. First I looked online, and found no award availability on the date I want to leave (or for that matter at any time in the two weeks preceding that date). Then I called US. My preferred date of departure, 2/16/05, just came into the inventory today, but I was told there is no award availability. Nor, I was told, was there any availability in the few days preceding that date. I'll keep calling, and hope that the situation changes, but I'm very pessimistic right now.

You can't find award availability online because the US site lets you book award tickets for US flights only. Since US doesn't fly to Australia, no flights will show up as available.

[This message has been edited by Alysia (edited Mar 22, 2004).]

Have you tried requesting a premium award (usually 2x the miles required for a regular award)?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by NYCommuter:
Have you tried requesting a premium award (usually 2x the miles required for a regular award)? </font>

There are no premium level awards to Australia using US miles.

The suggestion for US to make the award level even fewer miles (because there are no seats anyway) reminds me of an old joke.

A customer walks into a wine shop and says to the proprietor, "How can you ask $30 for that champagne? The guy across the street advertises it for $25.". To which the owner says, "So why don't you buy it there?". "They are out" comes the reply. Says the shopkeeper, "That's nothing, when I am out I only charge $20."

I had no problem booking biz class tickets to OZ last year around the 330 day window. I wanted to leave a day later, but was not able to get the date.

You are looking for a coach award? I was looking for flights up to 2 weeks before and the QF site was showing coach availability up to the last minute.

Try signing up for QF rewards and you will be able to check award availibility to OZ on their site. While the availability for US fliers may not be 100% the same, they are generally accurate.

Hope this helps.