LUS: USDM oneworld Award Bookings - (Closed to new bookings) [Master FAQ and Help]

Dec 22, 15, 4:42 am - Wikipost

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WIKI POST: Using US Dividend Miles for oneworld Award Flights
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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:

Quote:

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.

To make a change on a USDM ticket, you need to get an agent that is trained to use the US reservation system.
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)

(Go here to print in flight purchase receipts)

Some experiences about changes to tickets, reported by members:

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 <

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Sep 27, 14, 11:36 am

#2161

iluvdoco

Join Date: Aug 2014

Posts: 2,856

Quote:

Originally Posted by arlflyer

How long have you been seeing this issue for? In the past there have been times when it seems like the BA search tool has had some partner inventory disappearances for short periods of time.

I've been checking the BA search tool pretty regularly for the past two weeks.

I also used the JL search to check for CX availability on HKG-AKL. There's no availability in August, even at 330 day mark.

Sep 27, 14, 12:04 pm

#2162

brahms77

Join Date: May 2005

Posts: 2,894

Just wanted to quickly inform successful changes made on my *A award into OW post travel of the outbound.

Originally had YUL-ICN with star alliance carriers and the travel ICN-YUL had already commenced and coupons used. I received a notice for a schedule change on my return and called to make changes.

In the end, I was able to mix OW carriers (QR, CX) for my return, but it was very difficult to find seats as compared to *A option. I also did not want to fly BA, IB, or AY due to heavy fuel surcharges, which restricted seat availability.

Here's the routing:

YUL-DOH-PVG//(overnight)-HKG-ICN

QR to PVG and CX to ICN.

Will be very interesting to try QR for the first time, but I miss *A already. Anyway, I am happy to inform you that it is indeed possible to change *A award into OW award even after the travel commended (IF there are schedule changes in the original itinerary).

Sep 27, 14, 1:08 pm

#2163

yerffej201

Join Date: Nov 2011

Posts: 6,104

Quote:

Originally Posted by brahms77

Thanks for the data point. ^^

Sep 27, 14, 4:31 pm

#2164

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Mar 2001

Location: SDF

Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)

Posts: 13,909

Quote:

Originally Posted by onlysuites

Would this be a valid route

BKK > LHR (Stop) > JFK > MIA (under 24hrs) > NAS > JFK > LHR > BKK

The long haul sectors I want to get on BA F. Any idea what the YQ would be this type of routing?

I don't know the info off the top of my head - but the ITA matrix will give you an idea... you'd need to break it down to the individual itineraries using BA - so BKK-LHR, LHR-JFK and JFK-BKK respectively. It won't be pretty I suspect.

Sep 27, 14, 4:44 pm

#2165

Dave Noble

A FlyerTalk Posting Legend

Join Date: Jan 2002

Posts: 41,484

Quote:

Originally Posted by onlysuites

Would this be a valid route

BKK > LHR (Stop) > JFK > MIA (under 24hrs) > NAS > JFK > LHR > BKK

The long haul sectors I want to get on BA F. Any idea what the YQ would be this type of routing?

Are you sure that you want BA first class? It isn't that amazing a product and will cost you over $1000 in surcharges

Also, the biggest issue is that BA is not offering 1st class on the BKK-LHR service anymore, so the BKK-LHR-BKK sectors would have to be business class

Sep 28, 14, 6:01 am

#2166

onlysuites

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Sep 2003

Programs: BA Silver, EY Gold, HH Diamond, IHG Plat

Posts: 11,696

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave Noble

What other choice do I have cross atlantic? AA doesn't seem to be offering many F seats for April next year.

Would it be a valid routing though?

Sep 28, 14, 6:39 am

#2167

Dave Noble

A FlyerTalk Posting Legend

Join Date: Jan 2002

Posts: 41,484

Quote:

Originally Posted by onlysuites

What other choice do I have cross atlantic? AA doesn't seem to be offering many F seats for April next year.

Would it be a valid routing though?

across the atlantic it is probably hobsons choice, but for Europe to Asia, I would be inclined to try for an Asian or Middle East Carrier. May not be non-stop but would avoid the surcharges and likely be a better flight

Distance wise for BKK-NAS , seems like it should be ok

Last edited by Dave Noble; Sep 28, 14 at 6:47 am

Sep 28, 14, 6:53 am

#2168

onlysuites

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Sep 2003

Programs: BA Silver, EY Gold, HH Diamond, IHG Plat

Posts: 11,696

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave Noble

Thanks ^

Just out of interest what routes does AA normally open up reward space for in F? For example BA has some seats on the JFK and PHL routes.

Sep 28, 14, 7:59 am

#2169

UncleDude

Join Date: Sep 2003

Location: AA Lifetime PLT , BA Silver , BD RIP , HH Gold, SPG / Marriott PLT , EF Subscriber

Posts: 6,633

Quote:

Originally Posted by onlysuites

Thanks ^

Just out of interest what routes does AA normally open up reward space for in F? For example BA has some seats on the JFK and PHL routes.

Sorry to advise with First being removed from 90% of AA 777 Fleet and the remaining 10% of the Aircraft being reduced to only 8 First seats. AA Long Haul First Class awards are going the same way as the DoDo.

Sep 28, 14, 8:01 am

#2170

UncleDude

Join Date: Sep 2003

Location: AA Lifetime PLT , BA Silver , BD RIP , HH Gold, SPG / Marriott PLT , EF Subscriber

Posts: 6,633

Quote:

Originally Posted by iluvdoco

What Class? If Business then you are going to have to wait until 3 or 4 Days before departure. FYI better if you join Qantas FF Club they have a much superior search tool for Cathay.

Sep 28, 14, 10:08 am

#2171

iluvdoco

Join Date: Aug 2014

Posts: 2,856

Quote:

Originally Posted by UncleDude

What Class? If Business then you are going to have to wait until 3 or 4 Days before departure. FYI better if you join Qantas FF Club they have a much superior search tool for Cathay.

Both Y and J. I see some availability on Y when using the QFF search engine but none when I use the JL search engine. I didn't think HKG-AKL would be so popular when there is still F available on some routes out of SYD.

Last edited by iluvdoco; Sep 28, 14 at 10:13 am

Sep 28, 14, 12:31 pm

#2172

SpaceBass

Join Date: Nov 2002

Location: San Francisco, CA

Programs: US CP, *wood Gold, Marriott gold, Hilton something

Posts: 1,454

Quote:

Originally Posted by arlflyer

BA is pretty much the only game in town if you want F. As an alternative, though, I'd consider QR. They don't send an official F product over here, but check out some of the trip reports. Their J experience seems as good as some carriers' F...

Well I learned a lot for sure!

Firstly, BA does seem to be the only viable option into South Africa. And even then, we couldn't find flights to match my safari dates. So I'll have to go a few days early.

And there were no FC seats on my return leg from S. Africa to London.

And I'll have to pay $1000 in taxes. Wow!

Been saving my miles for 10+ years with this trip in mind. Wishing I had better options.

The agent explored Cathay couldn't find any routings.

Sep 28, 14, 5:30 pm

#2173

bubu-SNA

Join Date: Feb 2011

Location: Southern California

Programs: Delta Plat, Bonvoy Ambasador, Hilton diamond.

Posts: 430

US Chairman Line can't see MH award inventory?

I just got off the phone with the US Chairman's line trying to book an award segment on MH and was informed they can't see MH schedules...that they are not loaded. The agent was a supervisor...no go on long sale.

What's the deal, BA can see the schedules and award inventory without issue, why can't US? Anyone know what's going on?

-bubu

Sep 29, 14, 6:17 pm

#2174

smit0847

Join Date: May 2012

Location: Melbourne, Australia

Programs: VA WP, NZ *A SG

Posts: 527

I assume you can't combine HA and QF flights on the same award booking? I think through AA you can?

http://milevalue.com/hawaii-australi...iles-stopover/

Sep 29, 14, 6:19 pm

#2175

Flozone76

Join Date: Feb 2013

Posts: 7

Question..booked a oneworld award flight a few months ago through US for CLT-PHL-DOH-MLE, MLE-CMB-DOH-PHL-CLT return. All on QR. Question is the PHL to DOH leg schedule got changed by QR to where my layover now states less than 45 min making it illegal leg. However after doing lots of research, both the airport and QR site show flight status everyday as different and legal. Any help is much appreciated. PHL-DOH is 10:15 am - 6:50 am next day arrival, DOH-MLE is 7:15 am. Last 6 days flight has arrived with more than 45 mins. Will QR cancel my leg or can we just go for it. travel is in Nov.

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