Mixed Partner & *A Awards Now Available
Jan 4, 2008, 2:20 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: TLV now - formerly LAS
Programs: King of Rental Cars, BA Gold, Virgin Gold, AA MM Gold, A3 Gold, SK Gold, Hotel SuperElite
Posts: 7,356
Mixed Partner & *A Awards Now Available
I am happy to report that it is now possible to mix & match Virgina Atlantic or other airline partner travel with Star Alliance travel on the same award ticket.
These directions worked in my situation:
1. Create the *A portion of your reservation with a regular international reservations agent. This can be the outbound or the return. Have this reservations agent put the itinerary on a courtesy hold for you. Write down the PNR they give you and verify that you can see it on the website.
2. Call 800-428-4322 and request to be transfered to an agent in the group who handles partner travel on Virgin, Royal Jordanian, and Hawaiian Airlines.
3. Give this rep your existing PNR and which partner flights you are requesting be added to your existing reservation.
A few guidelines:
You probably can't mix partner and *A travel in the same direction. This means that you can fly VS LAX-LHR-LAX, but not VS LHR-JFK connecting to US JFK-LAS-LAX. You may be able to work-around this with a 24+ hour stopover, but I doubt it will fare out correctly. Open jaws like US LAS-PHL-MAN // VS LON-LAS or Double-Open jaws like US LAS-PHL-MAN // VS LHR-LAX seem to work too.
Please post your results and let us know what worked for you....
These directions worked in my situation:
1. Create the *A portion of your reservation with a regular international reservations agent. This can be the outbound or the return. Have this reservations agent put the itinerary on a courtesy hold for you. Write down the PNR they give you and verify that you can see it on the website.
2. Call 800-428-4322 and request to be transfered to an agent in the group who handles partner travel on Virgin, Royal Jordanian, and Hawaiian Airlines.
3. Give this rep your existing PNR and which partner flights you are requesting be added to your existing reservation.
A few guidelines:
You probably can't mix partner and *A travel in the same direction. This means that you can fly VS LAX-LHR-LAX, but not VS LHR-JFK connecting to US JFK-LAS-LAX. You may be able to work-around this with a 24+ hour stopover, but I doubt it will fare out correctly. Open jaws like US LAS-PHL-MAN // VS LON-LAS or Double-Open jaws like US LAS-PHL-MAN // VS LHR-LAX seem to work too.
Please post your results and let us know what worked for you....
Last edited by Mrp Alert; Jan 4, 2008 at 2:29 am
Jan 4, 2008, 10:22 am
#2
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Pittsburgh
Programs: Whoever Has the Best Bonus
Posts: 5,183
I'm not sure this is new (unless I'm misunderstanding your post). I was able to redeem a Star intl business class ticket back in May 2006 with four carriers (US+Swiss on the way out, UA+SAS on the way back)
Jan 4, 2008, 11:48 am
#3
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: A lovely little town filled with cows
Programs: US2, Hyatt Diamond, SPG Plat, Hilton Gold
Posts: 3,284
What would be really nice would be to combine *A and other partners in the same direction (would like to do something interesting with QR).
Jan 6, 2008, 2:48 pm
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: TLV now - formerly LAS
Programs: King of Rental Cars, BA Gold, Virgin Gold, AA MM Gold, A3 Gold, SK Gold, Hotel SuperElite
Posts: 7,356
An additional note, mixed itineraries are NOT eligible for free changes for Platinum/CP members.
Jan 8, 2008, 8:30 am
#5
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: MKE
Programs: AA Exec Platinum, SPG Platinum / Ambassador / Lifetime Gold, Avis FIRST
Posts: 3,293
^
One of the very few things I'll continue to compliment US on is its international award redemption policies.
There is very little or zero starnet filtering and mixed *A/non-*A partner awards are great (UA cannot handle this).
As someone who is now abandoning US, this is a great feature. It has allowed me to burn 250,000 miles and get some great trips lined up rather easily.
One of the very few things I'll continue to compliment US on is its international award redemption policies.
There is very little or zero starnet filtering and mixed *A/non-*A partner awards are great (UA cannot handle this).
As someone who is now abandoning US, this is a great feature. It has allowed me to burn 250,000 miles and get some great trips lined up rather easily.
Jan 9, 2008, 3:10 am
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: TLV now - formerly LAS
Programs: King of Rental Cars, BA Gold, Virgin Gold, AA MM Gold, A3 Gold, SK Gold, Hotel SuperElite
Posts: 7,356