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 program’s 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]
Apr 5, 2014, 4:04 am
#181
Join Date: Oct 2011
Programs: AA Exec Plat, UA , SPG Plat, Marriott Gold, United, Aeroplan, Hyatt Plat
Posts: 144
i'm trying to book a flight from TLV-HNL with miles. i cant seem to find any flights from TLV. what is the closest Hub near TLV i can find a flight? help plzz thanks
Apr 5, 2014, 5:08 am
#183
Moderator: American AAdvantage, Signatures
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: London, England
Programs: UA 1K, Hilton Diamond, IHG Diamond Ambassador, National Exec, AA EXP Emeritus
Posts: 9,765
I think there might be an existing post on this, but cannot find it easily... I am wondering what are the routing rules for OW award tickets booked through DM program. Specifically (1) if routing to North Asia through Europe is permitted similar to previous *A rules. (2) Number of stopovers permitted. (3) Backtracking rules -- for example if routings like SFO-JFK-NRT or SFO-HKG-NRT are allowed.
Please note the sticky at the top of the consolidated thread which is titled Welcome to the New American Airlines Forum! PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING. With all of the changes about, it is important to know where to post, and reading that thread before posting (as the title suggests
) will help get you in the right place.~Moderator
Apr 5, 2014, 6:46 am
#184
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: ZRH/SFO
Programs: A3*G - AZ CFP- HH DIA
Posts: 3,666
Apr 5, 2014, 6:48 am
#185
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: ZRH/SFO
Programs: A3*G - AZ CFP- HH DIA
Posts: 3,666
I think there might be an existing post on this, but cannot find it easily... I am wondering what are the routing rules for OW award tickets booked through DM program. Specifically (1) if routing to North Asia through Europe is permitted similar to previous *A rules. (2) Number of stopovers permitted. (3) Backtracking rules -- for example if routings like SFO-JFK-NRT or SFO-HKG-NRT are allowed.
Apr 5, 2014, 11:06 am
#186
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: can
Posts: 27
hi all, i am from China and new here,would like to share my first OW award ticket booked with USDM miles.
i checked ow award seat availability on BA one week before the merge,then began to call US to book on 3.31 and issued it on 4.03. i have to say SA award seat availability and search tool are both better than OW.
my route is from North Asia to North America from Feb.14 to Feb.27 in 2015
can-hkg ka x
hkg-nrt cx u
nrt-lax jl z stopover
lax-jfk aa z
jfk-sju aa u destination
sju-jfk aa u
jfk-lhr aa z
lhr-hkg cx z
hkg-can ka u
120K miles , usd 132.79 tax , usd 50 processing fee.
well this maybe not the perfect route in my first plan(i was planning to fly to lax with CX F and back with JL),i tried hard to call US many times and being told no seat available with JL F from North America to North Asia, only one seat available from NRT to LAX and the agent booked the the flight for me. the agent forward my ticket to rate desk and help me to fix the cabin code problem.
so i think i am luck to get the JL F and this ticket is still quite a nice one,
ps:The PNR from CX would not be shown in the ticket,need to call CX to get it.
please help me to correct my poor english if i write it in a wrong way, thanks for the sharing and hope to learn more from here in future.
i checked ow award seat availability on BA one week before the merge,then began to call US to book on 3.31 and issued it on 4.03. i have to say SA award seat availability and search tool are both better than OW.
my route is from North Asia to North America from Feb.14 to Feb.27 in 2015
can-hkg ka x
hkg-nrt cx u
nrt-lax jl z stopover
lax-jfk aa z
jfk-sju aa u destination
sju-jfk aa u
jfk-lhr aa z
lhr-hkg cx z
hkg-can ka u
120K miles , usd 132.79 tax , usd 50 processing fee.
well this maybe not the perfect route in my first plan(i was planning to fly to lax with CX F and back with JL),i tried hard to call US many times and being told no seat available with JL F from North America to North Asia, only one seat available from NRT to LAX and the agent booked the the flight for me. the agent forward my ticket to rate desk and help me to fix the cabin code problem.
so i think i am luck to get the JL F and this ticket is still quite a nice one,
ps:The PNR from CX would not be shown in the ticket,need to call CX to get it.
please help me to correct my poor english if i write it in a wrong way, thanks for the sharing and hope to learn more from here in future.
Last edited by yan212gzcn; Apr 5, 2014 at 11:20 pm
Apr 5, 2014, 11:22 am
#187
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: can
Posts: 27
Hey all!
Just wanted to get some quick advice ... Just ticketed an award in which they charged the wrong award rate when manually pricing. And it makes it in my favor considerably .... I won't go into details, but it was ticketed and the miles did deduct and the taxes taken out. The only thing I am worried about is when the confirmation email come, it mentioned the taxes but not the miles deducted (even though they were taken out) or method of payment (which it normally does) ... The other thing is the account had the miles taken out but nothing under "account activity" Should I be nervous? If it sticks in the next couple of days I will let it be.
Just wanted to get some quick advice ... Just ticketed an award in which they charged the wrong award rate when manually pricing. And it makes it in my favor considerably .... I won't go into details, but it was ticketed and the miles did deduct and the taxes taken out. The only thing I am worried about is when the confirmation email come, it mentioned the taxes but not the miles deducted (even though they were taken out) or method of payment (which it normally does) ... The other thing is the account had the miles taken out but nothing under "account activity" Should I be nervous? If it sticks in the next couple of days I will let it be.
i also made calls to the carrier airlines and they all told me my ticket is confirmed
Apr 5, 2014, 11:52 am
#188
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 181
Do anyone know if you make changes to award tickets(date change) are updated instantly? I have a flight on hold on Qatar connecting with BA on Oct 20 and I changed it to Oct 19 on the phone with US Airways. The change is reflected correctly on US Air website but not on Qatar and BA websites. Still showing the old flights. The agent told me it take a few hours to update in the other airlines system. Is this true? In most cases when I make changes its updated instantly on the other airlines websites. I have been waiting about 7 hours already still showing old flights.
Apr 5, 2014, 12:59 pm
#189
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,763
Hi all , this would be my first post in this forum,I feel good to learn much from this forum and would like to share my first ow ticket with Us miles.
I began to check the seat availability on CX and JL one week before the merge, then began to call Us on 31th Mar and finally issued the ticket on 3rd Apr.
tax 132.79usd + processing fee 50usd,120K miles
CAN-HKG KA X
HKG-NRT CX U
NRT -LAX JL Z (stopover)
LAX -JFK AA Z
JFK -SJU AA U (destination)
SJU -JFK AA U
JFK -LHR AA Z
LHR-HKG CX Z
HKG-CAN KA U
Well, maybe not the perfect routing in my first plan (I was planning fly to lax with CX F and back with JL F),^_^! But after too many calls to US,I felt it was already quite a nice one that I could book the JL F, thanks to the US agent~
ps:The PNR from CX would not be shown in the ticket,need to call CX to get it.
Please help to correct my poor English if i made it in a wrong way,thanks
I began to check the seat availability on CX and JL one week before the merge, then began to call Us on 31th Mar and finally issued the ticket on 3rd Apr.
tax 132.79usd + processing fee 50usd,120K miles
CAN-HKG KA X
HKG-NRT CX U
NRT -LAX JL Z (stopover)
LAX -JFK AA Z
JFK -SJU AA U (destination)
SJU -JFK AA U
JFK -LHR AA Z
LHR-HKG CX Z
HKG-CAN KA U
Well, maybe not the perfect routing in my first plan (I was planning fly to lax with CX F and back with JL F),^_^! But after too many calls to US,I felt it was already quite a nice one that I could book the JL F, thanks to the US agent~
ps:The PNR from CX would not be shown in the ticket,need to call CX to get it.
Please help to correct my poor English if i made it in a wrong way,thanks
Nice itinerary with very reasonable cost.
Apr 5, 2014, 1:01 pm
#190
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,763
Do anyone know if you make changes to award tickets(date change) are updated instantly? I have a flight on hold on Qatar connecting with BA on Oct 20 and I changed it to Oct 19 on the phone with US Airways. The change is reflected correctly on US Air website but not on Qatar and BA websites. Still showing the old flights. The agent told me it take a few hours to update in the other airlines system. Is this true? In most cases when I make changes its updated instantly on the other airlines websites. I have been waiting about 7 hours already still showing old flights.
You will need new tickets issued on any changes. If no new ticket issued, such changes would not stick and worse, you run the risk of losing your originally booked seats on QR.
Call back ASAP to ask for the NEW ticket numbers. My guess is the US agent did not realize s/he had to reissue tickets to finalize the changes.
Apr 5, 2014, 1:23 pm
#191
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 181
Have you received NEW tickets on the change?
You will need new tickets issued on any changes. If no new ticket issued, such changes would not stick and worse, you run the risk of losing your originally booked seats on QR.
Call back ASAP to ask for the NEW ticket numbers. My guess is the US agent did not realize s/he had to reissue tickets to finalize the changes.
You will need new tickets issued on any changes. If no new ticket issued, such changes would not stick and worse, you run the risk of losing your originally booked seats on QR.
Call back ASAP to ask for the NEW ticket numbers. My guess is the US agent did not realize s/he had to reissue tickets to finalize the changes.
. I will give them a call again. I dont like call US Air lately I have been on hold for atleast 20 mins each time.
Apr 5, 2014, 7:24 pm
#194
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: SFO
Posts: 210
Tried to book flights in Feb 2015 on JL and CX, and I was told that US Airways has only loaded flights up to 6 months out, has anyone successfully ticketed awards further out than that?