Mar 30, 2014, 12:53 pm
Last edit by: JDiver
WIKI POST: Using US Dividend Miles for oneworld Award Flights
As further details become available, please fill in this wikipost.
As further details become available, please fill in this wikipost.
N.B. Booking opportunities for new Dividend Miles awards of all kinds ended 11:59 PM Wednesday, 25 March 2015. Please continue using this thread for trips booked or in progress through 24 March 2016.
Changes on USDM oneworld award tickets
This is the only official statement about changing issued USDM award tickets:
If I need to make changes to a Dividend Miles award reservation, which programs rules will apply?
Minor changes such as date/time can be made provided seats are available without requiring a new award to be claimed. More substantive changes such as changes to stopovers or origin/destination may result in the need to reinstate the previously claimed Dividend Miles award, then claiming a new AAdvantage award under the existing AAdvantage program rules.
The old membership rules do 'generally' still appy to USDM tickets.
For awards ticketed / reticketed on 001- ticket stock, go to the AA Refunds site with your ticket number at hand (unsure if it works with 037- stock at this time)to:
- Print a receipt with ticket number (instead of Request a refund)
- See total fees, taxes, etc. attached to your ticket
- See applicable detailed fare rules
- Request a refund (may not be useful for awards)
- Some were able to change their ticket without beeing charged the USD 150.- changing fee.
- No chance to change a ticket after the first flight segment has been flown.
- ...
Old stuff
oneworld member airlines - airberlin, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LAN, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian, S7 Airlines (Sibir), SriLankan Airlines, TAM Airlines, US Airways and their affiliates.
Award Chart for oneworld awards using US Dividend Miles:
http://shopping.usairways.com/en-US/...wardtravel.pdf
You can use the American Airlines, British Airways, JAL, or Qantas sites to search for oneworld award inventory. AA and QF also allows you to search for award inventory using a handy 30 day calendar view. However, availability on the calendar is dependent on site coverage (e.g. QF does not include JL or MH, AA does not include CX and others). Also, the calendar view may not be completely accurate on all partners, so use it as a guide but do not rely on it fully.
One of the easiest ways to search for oneworld availability is through the use of an outside tool such as Award Nexus, ExpertFlyer, KVS Tool, or The Wandering Aramean oneworld Search.
Award Nexus has a free community membership for flyertalk members, and award email alert with premium membership. ExpertFlyer has email alerts and direct GDS access to select oneworld award inventories, such as AA, QF, and US. ExpertFlyer can also search J class certificate upgrade inventory. With KVS Tool, you can search QF, BA, JL and CX's search engines, in addition to other alliances, on your PC (Mac / Linux with CrossOver). You can also set up an alert via The Wandering Aramean oneworld Search. This tool will automatically search on QF for your alert once per day with a free account and four times per day with a paid account.
N.B. With all of the above tools, it is best to search one segment at a time. Most oneworld search engines have difficulty marrying segments.
For route searching with itinerary information, use the interactive oneworld map and timetable.
For searching Intra-North America availability, the best tool is AA.com. Unlike the other oneworld engines, AA is pretty good at marrying segments, so you can search origin to destination.
Regarding availability, the strategy that has been most effective for people looking to book award travel on oneworld is to start searching right at 330 days prior to departure. This is generally when availability is at its best. After that, availability tends to be sporadic until starting 8 weeks prior to departure where some airlines open up availability, and will vary all the way up until the day of departure.
If you're having trouble finding availability, it may be best to look at alternate airports (JL, for example, serves SAN, YVR, and BOS, in addition to the larger markets of SFO, LAX, YYZ, ORD, and JFK).
(N.B. Although US was not adding fuel surcharges to awards, there are reports that they have started doing this for awards containing BA flights.) With the exception of BA & IB, no oneworld carriers require you to pay a fuel surcharge for awards. With BA, be aware that you may have to pay both a fuel surcharge as well as the UK Air Passenger Duty departure tax for intercontinental J and F flights out of UK. These fees vary with class of service and length of flight and are determined by BA; the Air Passenger Duty (see specific thread) is due for all UK departures not under 24 hour connecting flights. APD applies to coach tickets, too, but at a reduced rate. The fuel /YQ surcharge with IB is generally considered minimal.
Known Problems / Workaround:
- Dep 00:00AM : Some agents have difficulty finding flights leaving between midnight and 2 AM. This is because the US systems show it leaving the day before. If the agent cannot find it, please ask to look at the day before. > source <
- LA : Flights put on hold will be cancelled after 24h. Workaround: Issue the ticket immediately. > source <
- JL : US Rep cannot find available seats. Workaround: "Always have to remind Rep to open JL reservations on a new screen". > source <
- MH : US Rep cannot find awards in First Class. Workaround: First class needs to be booked in P-cl instead of Z-cl (as on most other OW carriers). > source < booking classes: > KVS <
- All : If you are booking outbound flights at the US Air 335 day window US Air will often allow you to put your reservation on a longer than 3 day hold to capture the return seats once they open up at T+335. There is a report of this for 30 days here, and FT user beofotch was successful in getting a 13 day hold here. Workaround: Huaca until you get an agent who is competent enough to do this. It may help to act naive and ask for your return flight on your preferred date even if it is after T+335 days. Once they get an error from the computer may be a good time to bring it up.
- ...
Fixed Problems:
- CX : US Rep cannot find seats on flight CX 645 HKG-DOH. Workaround: none so far, search for different routing/carrier (CMB/DXB/...?)... > source < > fixed <
> fixed < - CX : US Rep cannot find seats on flight CX 640 DOH-HKG. They admit, the flight exists, but are unable to book <source>. Workaround: none so far, search for different routing/carrier
> fixed < - BA/Comair : US rep could not see / or unable to book intra-South Africa flights in BA flight number operated by Comair despite AA treats Comair a full fledged oneworld member under BA, in the same context as KA under CX. Only one reported success booking - poster reported agent had trouble at first but on consulting a supervisor was told "where to look"; the agent did not give any further information. Most everyone else reported unable to book Comair flights.
> fixed < - IB : Flights will be cancelled after ticket issued. Workaround: None yet... > source <
> fixed <
LUS: USDM oneworld Award Bookings - (Closed to new bookings) [Master FAQ and Help]
Aug 10, 2014, 3:32 pm
#1711
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: CLT
Programs: AA ExPlat, Hyatt Globalist, Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium
Posts: 1,552
Just ticketed the aforementioned itinerary we had on hold for 13 days for my friend's honeymoon. 2x business class 120,000 US miles per ticket + ~$170 per person taxes & fees
So a great honeymoon ticket for my friends.
CLT - JFK - HKG (US F; CX J - 23 hour layover in HKG)
HKG - MLE (CX J - 6 nights in Maldives)
MLE - DOH - CDG (QR J - 3 nights in Paris)
ORY - TXL - JFK - CLT (AB Y, AB J, US F)
When it was on hold the agent initially had it marked at 100,000 per ticket in the system. Sadly but correctly the agent who ticketed us was very strong in Geography and noted Maldives was in South Asia so 120,000 per ticket. I asked if he would call revenue management and see if they would consider opening CDG - CLT direct since one segment was in economy and I am now a Chairman member (moved up from Platinum last week). He tried but noted to no surprise that for now they weren't able to make that change. We'll see if they can get CDG - CLT next time there is a material schedule change.HKG - MLE (CX J - 6 nights in Maldives)
MLE - DOH - CDG (QR J - 3 nights in Paris)
ORY - TXL - JFK - CLT (AB Y, AB J, US F)
So a great honeymoon ticket for my friends.
Aug 10, 2014, 4:05 pm
#1712
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2001
Programs: DL 1 million, AA 1 mil, HH lapsed Diamond, Marriott Plat
Posts: 28,190
An overnight at your own expense that allows you preserve the desired QF segment may very well be the the one could do.
Aug 10, 2014, 4:06 pm
#1713
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 9
Welcome to FT.
As you wrote your itinerary it would not be possible... PNH is no alliance hub...
But... There is a rule that the most apart point of your journey is your destination of your ticket...
SVG-PHN : 5865 mi
SVG-NRT : 5414 mi
So seen, your routing is possible as following:
SVG - LHR - DOH - PHN (destination) - HKG - NRT (stopover) - LHR - SVG.
Please mind that Vietnam is in the South & Central Asia zone, that will cost you 10k more than an Europe to North Asia award...
As you wrote your itinerary it would not be possible... PNH is no alliance hub...
But... There is a rule that the most apart point of your journey is your destination of your ticket...
SVG-PHN : 5865 mi
SVG-NRT : 5414 mi
So seen, your routing is possible as following:
SVG - LHR - DOH - PHN (destination) - HKG - NRT (stopover) - LHR - SVG.
Please mind that Vietnam is in the South & Central Asia zone, that will cost you 10k more than an Europe to North Asia award...
I'll try to book what you are suggesting.
Our plan is to fly first class. LHR-DOH-PHN with Qatar A. And NRT-LHR with either Cathay P. or BA. Maybe a different routing would have a better first class experience using different carriers. If anyone has suggestions, please let me know. Appreciate it.
Aug 11, 2014, 1:32 am
#1714
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 292
I'm fairly sure that an open jaw is allowed at either the destination OR the origin. In any case, you can probably convince a geographically challenged DM agent that SYD & MEL are c0-located.
Aug 11, 2014, 5:40 am
#1715
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 9
Welcome to FT.
As you wrote your itinerary it would not be possible... PNH is no alliance hub...
But... There is a rule that the most apart point of your journey is your destination of your ticket...
SVG-PHN : 5865 mi
SVG-NRT : 5414 mi
So seen, your routing is possible as following:
SVG - LHR - DOH - PHN (destination) - HKG - NRT (stopover) - LHR - SVG.
Please mind that Vietnam is in the South & Central Asia zone, that will cost you 10k more than an Europe to North Asia award...
As you wrote your itinerary it would not be possible... PNH is no alliance hub...
But... There is a rule that the most apart point of your journey is your destination of your ticket...
SVG-PHN : 5865 mi
SVG-NRT : 5414 mi
So seen, your routing is possible as following:
SVG - LHR - DOH - PHN (destination) - HKG - NRT (stopover) - LHR - SVG.
Please mind that Vietnam is in the South & Central Asia zone, that will cost you 10k more than an Europe to North Asia award...
They could not book the return from HND due to milage exceedance.
My routing is SVG-LHR-DOH-PNH(destination)-HKG-HND(stopover)-DOH-LHR-SVG. Are they correct regarding exceeding milage rules? Thanks again
Aug 11, 2014, 5:41 am
#1716
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: ZRH, MNL
Programs: FB Gold
Posts: 979
Especially the backtracking rule is very annoying: I'm having a hard time to put an award together from ZRH to MNL. There's good CX availability from FRA but ZRH to FRA is routed via TXL which means backtracking Looking for departure dates between December 8 and 13, return dates between January 4 and 11 for two seats in business. It doesn't look good. If anybody could share some help/advice it'd be very much appreciated!
A word regarding availability: BA seems to show quite a lot of phantom availability for CX, while JL showed the same availability as the US rep saw. So from my experience regarding CX flights: JL award search shows more reliable results.
Aug 11, 2014, 10:58 am
#1717
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: ZRH/SFO
Programs: A3*G - AZ CFP- HH DIA
Posts: 3,666
I was just on the phone with the US Airways call center to book the flights.
They could not book the return from HND due to milage exceedance.
My routing is SVG-LHR-DOH-PNH(destination)-HKG-HND(stopover)-DOH-LHR-SVG. Are they correct regarding exceeding milage rules? Thanks again
They could not book the return from HND due to milage exceedance.
My routing is SVG-LHR-DOH-PNH(destination)-HKG-HND(stopover)-DOH-LHR-SVG. Are they correct regarding exceeding milage rules? Thanks again
[KVS Availability Tool 7.3.9 - Reference: Maximum Permitted Mileage [MPM]: PNH-HKG-NRT-LHR-SVG]
Code:
CTY DC TPM CUM MPM DC SUR HGL LWL 25M XTRA PNH 3 HKG 3 EH 955 955 1146 EH 0M 191 0 1432 0 TYO 3 EH 1823 2778 3312 EH 0M 534 0 4140 0 LON 2 TS 6214 8992 10768 TS 0M 1776 0 13460 0 SVG 2 EH 552 9544 10360 TS 0M 816 0 12950 0
Call again, maybe also try the US reservation line. Should be doable!
Aug 11, 2014, 10:04 pm
#1718
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 28
Hi,
Yesterday, I issued a round trip ticket having a flight from HND to SFO in JL F.
I encountered two problems. The first one is that I can't pull up the itinerary via the US Air website. It kept showing errors. I called and the agent said the ticket is fine as displayed in the system, it might be the website's problem and she can send to me by e-mail (I already received the itinerary after ticketing). I tried retrieving another reservation issued a few months ago and it works normally.
The second one is that I called Japan airlines and the agent told me that she can see the reservation with the JL locator and 037 ticket number, BUT those two are disconnected or something like that. I have to call USDM to revalidate the ticket.
Since I can select seats with JL locator (and also other's), do I have to call USDM? Coz according to my experience, the USDM agent will probably keep saying the ticket is OK because the computer shows OK. And are the website log-in problem and the JL disconnection issue related?
Thanks in advance.
Yesterday, I issued a round trip ticket having a flight from HND to SFO in JL F.
I encountered two problems. The first one is that I can't pull up the itinerary via the US Air website. It kept showing errors. I called and the agent said the ticket is fine as displayed in the system, it might be the website's problem and she can send to me by e-mail (I already received the itinerary after ticketing). I tried retrieving another reservation issued a few months ago and it works normally.
The second one is that I called Japan airlines and the agent told me that she can see the reservation with the JL locator and 037 ticket number, BUT those two are disconnected or something like that. I have to call USDM to revalidate the ticket.
Since I can select seats with JL locator (and also other's), do I have to call USDM? Coz according to my experience, the USDM agent will probably keep saying the ticket is OK because the computer shows OK. And are the website log-in problem and the JL disconnection issue related?
Thanks in advance.
Aug 12, 2014, 2:49 am
#1719
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,411
Hi,
Yesterday, I issued a round trip ticket having a flight from HND to SFO in JL F.
I encountered two problems. The first one is that I can't pull up the itinerary via the US Air website. It kept showing errors. I called and the agent said the ticket is fine as displayed in the system, it might be the website's problem and she can send to me by e-mail (I already received the itinerary after ticketing). I tried retrieving another reservation issued a few months ago and it works normally.
The second one is that I called Japan airlines and the agent told me that she can see the reservation with the JL locator and 037 ticket number, BUT those two are disconnected or something like that. I have to call USDM to revalidate the ticket.
Since I can select seats with JL locator (and also other's), do I have to call USDM? Coz according to my experience, the USDM agent will probably keep saying the ticket is OK because the computer shows OK. And are the website log-in problem and the JL disconnection issue related?
Thanks in advance.
Yesterday, I issued a round trip ticket having a flight from HND to SFO in JL F.
I encountered two problems. The first one is that I can't pull up the itinerary via the US Air website. It kept showing errors. I called and the agent said the ticket is fine as displayed in the system, it might be the website's problem and she can send to me by e-mail (I already received the itinerary after ticketing). I tried retrieving another reservation issued a few months ago and it works normally.
The second one is that I called Japan airlines and the agent told me that she can see the reservation with the JL locator and 037 ticket number, BUT those two are disconnected or something like that. I have to call USDM to revalidate the ticket.
Since I can select seats with JL locator (and also other's), do I have to call USDM? Coz according to my experience, the USDM agent will probably keep saying the ticket is OK because the computer shows OK. And are the website log-in problem and the JL disconnection issue related?
Thanks in advance.
Being able to select a seat, or a special meal is not a guarantee that you can fly. The airline is essentially looking for payment... that comes from the ticket number against the booking. Without it, all you have is a seat held, which JL can cancel at any time.
Aug 12, 2014, 2:50 am
#1720
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: ATL
Programs: DL PM, SPG Plat
Posts: 885
I'm guessing the answer is no, but is there any way to reissue an AA award as a US award? Due to AA's routing rules I had to book 4 separate one ways (USA-HKG-SYD-HKG-USA) pre-US joining one world. I'd love to reissue these as a single round trip award using USDM if there is any way to do that.
FYI, there is no more availability on the flights I have booked so I don't think I can just cancel the AA award and rebook with USDM. Unless CX award cancellations immediately go back into inventory.
FYI, there is no more availability on the flights I have booked so I don't think I can just cancel the AA award and rebook with USDM. Unless CX award cancellations immediately go back into inventory.
Aug 12, 2014, 3:13 am
#1721
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 28
You absolutely need to call USDM.
Being able to select a seat, or a special meal is not a guarantee that you can fly. The airline is essentially looking for payment... that comes from the ticket number against the booking. Without it, all you have is a seat held, which JL can cancel at any time.
Being able to select a seat, or a special meal is not a guarantee that you can fly. The airline is essentially looking for payment... that comes from the ticket number against the booking. Without it, all you have is a seat held, which JL can cancel at any time.
I tried explaining the situations above to different agents but the response I got are "It looks fine by the system.", "Everything is based on the ticket number, other airlines' locators may display incorrect results.", "No idea about the log-in errors, you need me to send the itinerary again?...".
Aug 12, 2014, 4:54 am
#1722
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: ZRH, MNL
Programs: FB Gold
Posts: 979
How to let the agent check the "correct" page or record? Any keywords?
I tried explaining the situations above to different agents but the response I got are "It looks fine by the system.", "Everything is based on the ticket number, other airlines' locators may display incorrect results.", "No idea about the log-in errors, you need me to send the itinerary again?...".
I tried explaining the situations above to different agents but the response I got are "It looks fine by the system.", "Everything is based on the ticket number, other airlines' locators may display incorrect results.", "No idea about the log-in errors, you need me to send the itinerary again?...".
Aug 12, 2014, 5:06 am
#1723
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: ZRH/SFO
Programs: A3*G - AZ CFP- HH DIA
Posts: 3,666
I'm guessing the answer is no, but is there any way to reissue an AA award as a US award? Due to AA's routing rules I had to book 4 separate one ways (USA-HKG-SYD-HKG-USA) pre-US joining one world. I'd love to reissue these as a single round trip award using USDM if there is any way to do that.
FYI, there is no more availability on the flights I have booked so I don't think I can just cancel the AA award and rebook with USDM. Unless CX award cancellations immediately go back into inventory.
FYI, there is no more availability on the flights I have booked so I don't think I can just cancel the AA award and rebook with USDM. Unless CX award cancellations immediately go back into inventory.
Aug 12, 2014, 8:36 am
#1724
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: SYD
Posts: 2,903
Does QF also show phantom availability? I found some CX flights that didn't appear on JL availability. Also, i've found a couple IB flights on the QF engine - I know IB seems to be an issue but they're a couple short segments and its the only thing I can find to keep under MPM 
US should have no problems seeing those, right?
Lastly, does anyone know the MPM+25 for SYD-JFK?
thanks
goodo
US should have no problems seeing those, right?Lastly, does anyone know the MPM+25 for SYD-JFK?
thanks
goodo
Last edited by goodo; Aug 12, 2014 at 10:58 am
Aug 12, 2014, 9:43 am
#1725
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: YYC, SFO, OAK
Programs: AS MVP 75K, AA Platinum, IHG Platinum, Club Carlson Gold
Posts: 734
FYI, apparently US now charges awards based on one-way prices, although you still have to book round trips, it's possible to pay J on the outbound and F on the inbound. Just like others here have been experiencing...
http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.c...wards-one-ways
http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.c...wards-one-ways