Oct 14, 2013, 4:55 pm
Last edit by: NewbieRunner
Update 08APR2014: Star Alliance Awards must have been booked by March 30, 2014. They are no longer available through US. This thread is mostly useful for historic purposes, and discussing issues such as schedule changes/route changes that affect FTers existing *A awards booked before 3/31/2014.
Discussion on using US miles to book oneworld awards is available here.
If you are looking for discussion on US's new partner awards that use various partners not in oneworld (many of whom are former *A partners), see the devoted thread on using US miles to book NON-oneworld partners here.
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Update 07JAN14: American Airlines award tickets bookable online on usairways.com or through reservation.
Please see the devoted thread on using US miles to book AA here.
Discussion on using US miles to book oneworld awards is available here.
If you are looking for discussion on US's new partner awards that use various partners not in oneworld (many of whom are former *A partners), see the devoted thread on using US miles to book NON-oneworld partners here.
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Update 07JAN14: American Airlines award tickets bookable online on usairways.com or through reservation.
- Award travel must be wholly on American Airlines or a combination of American Airlines and US Airways.
- American Airlines awards cannot be combined with any of our current partner.
- American Airlines award travel chart (PDF)
Please see the devoted thread on using US miles to book AA here.
Star Alliance Award Bookings Using US Airways Miles - FAQ and Help Thread [MERGED]
Aug 21, 2013, 8:47 pm
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: USA
Programs: DL PM - IC RA - HHonors Gold - Hertz Gold - AA - US - CO - Choice Privileges
Posts: 1,656
Quite the contrary based on my experience this week. November flights,
ORD-NRT ANA First & ICN-LAX Asiana First long hops as well as short hop on United & Air China Business
160,000 miles total and 15-30 minutes on the phone max. And yes all details confirmed in advance via KVS and other tools.
ORD-NRT ANA First & ICN-LAX Asiana First long hops as well as short hop on United & Air China Business
160,000 miles total and 15-30 minutes on the phone max. And yes all details confirmed in advance via KVS and other tools.
Aug 21, 2013, 8:52 pm
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 1,151
Quite the contrary based on my experience this week. November flights,
ORD-NRT ANA First & ICN-LAX Asiana First long hops as well as short hop on United & Air China Business
160,000 miles total and 15-30 minutes on the phone max. And yes all details confirmed in advance via KVS and other tools.
ORD-NRT ANA First & ICN-LAX Asiana First long hops as well as short hop on United & Air China Business
160,000 miles total and 15-30 minutes on the phone max. And yes all details confirmed in advance via KVS and other tools.
Aug 21, 2013, 9:05 pm
Join Date: Aug 2004
Programs: AA, BA, Delta, SPG, Hilton
Posts: 718
USAirways cancelled my reservation that was on hold for 3 days!!! (prior to expiration)
They are saying - it is not us, it is other airlines. What can I do??? (((
They are saying - it is not us, it is other airlines. What can I do??? (((
Aug 21, 2013, 9:12 pm
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,403
Here is the link to all info regarding OZ lay-flat seats.
Aug 21, 2013, 9:14 pm
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,403
while USDM has a three day hold, it can sometimes be less than an actual 72 hours. and some airlines have an auto cancel less than that period.
unless absolutely essential... always best to ticket as soon as you can.
Aug 21, 2013, 9:32 pm
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Melbourne
Programs: Velocity Gold
Posts: 1,069
unfortunately it only provides partial information from what I can see. for example it makes no distinction between the 777s... for example listing sydney, Chicago and New York as all having this type, but as we know, the suites are only available on the JFK run, and the full flats and angled flats are available in different sectors as well.
Aug 21, 2013, 9:40 pm
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: SEA/ORD/ADB
Programs: TK ELPL (*G), AS 100K (OWE), BA Gold (OWE), Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Plat, IHG Plat
Posts: 7,763
For the interesting discussion about Thai "releasing 2 seats at a time" :
TG's system is set up to display 2 seats at a time for I and O class. If availability for a flight was F4 A3 O3, non-TG agents would see F4 A3 O2. That 3rd O seat exists, but it can't be seen.
If the agent books 1 O seat, the inventory becomes F3 A2 O2, and then all seats can be seen. Alternatively, if the agent long-sells 3 O seats, it would come through confirmed and availability would come back F1 A0 O0.
Now, given that this system is understood, it becomes clear that if additional seats don't become available immediately, then they don't exist - and there is no guarantee that they will ever exist. One can sit on the waitlist for O class for months.
Other carriers, like LH, cap the display at 4 seats, which is why it is less of a problem - it is rare for somebody to be looking for more than 4 seats in a premium class on a single flight anyway.
The caps exist even for revenue buckets - they serve to make how many seats airlines have for sale opaque, so their competitors cannot utilize that data.
TG's system is set up to display 2 seats at a time for I and O class. If availability for a flight was F4 A3 O3, non-TG agents would see F4 A3 O2. That 3rd O seat exists, but it can't be seen.
If the agent books 1 O seat, the inventory becomes F3 A2 O2, and then all seats can be seen. Alternatively, if the agent long-sells 3 O seats, it would come through confirmed and availability would come back F1 A0 O0.
Now, given that this system is understood, it becomes clear that if additional seats don't become available immediately, then they don't exist - and there is no guarantee that they will ever exist. One can sit on the waitlist for O class for months.
Other carriers, like LH, cap the display at 4 seats, which is why it is less of a problem - it is rare for somebody to be looking for more than 4 seats in a premium class on a single flight anyway.
The caps exist even for revenue buckets - they serve to make how many seats airlines have for sale opaque, so their competitors cannot utilize that data.
Aug 21, 2013, 9:42 pm
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,403
Aug 22, 2013, 12:55 am
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 21
Very interesting PVDtoDEL, thanks to you and all the others who have responded to my question around this. Helped me greatly. This is one of the more helpful and supporting forums I have used. Cheers!
Aug 22, 2013, 1:17 am
Join Date: May 2006
Location: YYZ
Posts: 731
Aug 22, 2013, 1:27 am
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 21
Haha - i get what you are saying and maybe I need a simple web lesson, but every time I use it, there is more noise than direct hits!
Aug 22, 2013, 1:34 am
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: SEA/ORD/ADB
Programs: TK ELPL (*G), AS 100K (OWE), BA Gold (OWE), Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Plat, IHG Plat
Posts: 7,763
Aug 22, 2013, 2:15 am
Join Date: Aug 2004
Programs: AA, BA, Delta, SPG, Hilton
Posts: 718
PS What was interesting, United wasn't showing availability on "my" flights at this point, but USAirways did. I thought they have same inventory - guess not.
Aug 22, 2013, 2:40 am
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: EDUU
Programs: Marriott Titanium Elite, HH Diamond, PC Plat Amb, BA EC Gold, Asiana Diamond, TK Elite
Posts: 193
For the interesting discussion about Thai "releasing 2 seats at a time" :
TG's system is set up to display 2 seats at a time for I and O class. If availability for a flight was F4 A3 O3, non-TG agents would see F4 A3 O2. That 3rd O seat exists, but it can't be seen.
If the agent books 1 O seat, the inventory becomes F3 A2 O2, and then all seats can be seen. Alternatively, if the agent long-sells 3 O seats, it would come through confirmed and availability would come back F1 A0 O0.
Now, given that this system is understood, it becomes clear that if additional seats don't become available immediately, then they don't exist - and there is no guarantee that they will ever exist. One can sit on the waitlist for O class for months.
Other carriers, like LH, cap the display at 4 seats, which is why it is less of a problem - it is rare for somebody to be looking for more than 4 seats in a premium class on a single flight anyway.
The caps exist even for revenue buckets - they serve to make how many seats airlines have for sale opaque, so their competitors cannot utilize that data.
TG's system is set up to display 2 seats at a time for I and O class. If availability for a flight was F4 A3 O3, non-TG agents would see F4 A3 O2. That 3rd O seat exists, but it can't be seen.
If the agent books 1 O seat, the inventory becomes F3 A2 O2, and then all seats can be seen. Alternatively, if the agent long-sells 3 O seats, it would come through confirmed and availability would come back F1 A0 O0.
Now, given that this system is understood, it becomes clear that if additional seats don't become available immediately, then they don't exist - and there is no guarantee that they will ever exist. One can sit on the waitlist for O class for months.
Other carriers, like LH, cap the display at 4 seats, which is why it is less of a problem - it is rare for somebody to be looking for more than 4 seats in a premium class on a single flight anyway.
The caps exist even for revenue buckets - they serve to make how many seats airlines have for sale opaque, so their competitors cannot utilize that data.
It nicely shows how many seats are available.
For example on July 10th 2014 from FRA to BKK it Shows 5 F-Seats on TG921 and 6 F-Seats on TG923.
TG 921 FRA/1 14:45 BKK 06:25 +1 380/0 10:40
F9 A9 P9 O5 C9 D9 J9 Z9 I9 Y9 B9 M9 H9 Q9 GR T9 K9 S9 V9 W9 X9
TG 923 FRA/1 21:10 BKK 13:00 +1 346/0 10:50
F8 A8 P8 O6 C9 D9 J9 Z9 I9 Y9 B9 M9 H9 Q9 GR T9 K9 S9 V9 W9 X9
Of course USDM still only sees 2 Seats at a time, but at least you know that more will be released.
Aug 22, 2013, 2:56 am
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Melbourne
Programs: Velocity Gold
Posts: 1,069
Star Alliance Award Bookings Using US Airways Miles - FAQ and Help Thread [MERGED]
Wow those numbers seem crazy! O6 an I9!!!