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]
Nov 3, 2014, 2:20 am
#2431
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,408
Is it possible to change a dividend miles booking after the trip has begun? I know the official answer is No but am wondering if anyone has had any luck nonetheless.
My booking is DFW-CDG-CCU-DFW. I have already flown DFW-CCU; only the return trip is remaining. I want to change my departure dates on the way back.
My booking is DFW-CDG-CCU-DFW. I have already flown DFW-CCU; only the return trip is remaining. I want to change my departure dates on the way back.
You can always try your luck, but expect a negative.
Nov 3, 2014, 3:48 pm
#2432
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: CLT
Programs: AA ExPlat, Hyatt Globalist, Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium
Posts: 1,551
Back in December 2012 USDM let my parents change after travel started for a $150 per person fee to allow them to resume the trip after they missed a segment by accident. They missed a BKK - HKG leg and Thai let them pay to fly BKK - HKG later that day. They did that and in HKG called me to help - I called USDM on their behalf and after escalating to a supervisor they made a "one-time exception" to let them finish the return HKG - IST - FRA - ATL
Nov 3, 2014, 7:38 pm
#2433
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 2,894
Is it possible to change a dividend miles booking after the trip has begun? I know the official answer is No but am wondering if anyone has had any luck nonetheless.
My booking is DFW-CDG-CCU-DFW. I have already flown DFW-CCU; only the return trip is remaining. I want to change my departure dates on the way back.
My booking is DFW-CDG-CCU-DFW. I have already flown DFW-CCU; only the return trip is remaining. I want to change my departure dates on the way back.
My wife and my flights for the return from YUL on LX was changed by few minutes (actually, on the paper, it didn't seem to have changed the departure time... so I thought there was really no change) where I got an email notification. There is an option for accept 'these changes' button, which would automatically re-validate your e-ticket with the changes in place. However, this posed me an opportunity to change my return flight to an earlier dates (for both of us) with hopes that an agent was willing to help and not noticed that the change was rather minimal and did not affect onward flights.
After several rounds of calls and waiting, I was able to finally change my return to an OW itinerary and change the departure date. The process involved canceling the original ticket, refunding half of the amount of miles (of the RT) and then constructing & ticketing a new itinerary. Changing my wife's return was relatively easier (which was done several weeks after my ticket was changed as she wasn't sure if she needed to change dates back when I changed mine) where the agent referenced my ticket and did everything on her own. I just fed her the flights I wanted.
So, we ended up like the following:
We flew to YUL in AUG via *A carriers (ICN-TPE-CDG-IST-YYZ-YUL)
We are flying back to ICN via OW
Mine: YUL-DOH-PVG-HKG-ICN (QR/CX)
My wife: YUL-PHL-DOH-ICN (US/QR)
Good luck
Nov 3, 2014, 10:37 pm
#2434
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Australia
Programs: QF Platinum
Posts: 361
Have booking today on hold 2 x J BNE/HKG/CDG/HKG, unable to book last sector (HKG/BNE) as operator could not see award flights on CX or QF, yet I can see award flights for both days I suggested on BA and QF and Award Nexus, i know there are some phantom seats sometimes but showing on 3 sites should be bookable.
Nov 3, 2014, 11:29 pm
#2435
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,624
Have booking today on hold 2 x J BNE/HKG/CDG/HKG, unable to book last sector (HKG/BNE) as operator could not see award flights on CX or QF, yet I can see award flights for both days I suggested on BA and QF and Award Nexus, i know there are some phantom seats sometimes but showing on 3 sites should be bookable.
Nov 4, 2014, 1:17 am
#2436
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: SYD
Posts: 2,903
Have booking today on hold 2 x J BNE/HKG/CDG/HKG, unable to book last sector (HKG/BNE) as operator could not see award flights on CX or QF, yet I can see award flights for both days I suggested on BA and QF and Award Nexus, i know there are some phantom seats sometimes but showing on 3 sites should be bookable.
goodo
Nov 4, 2014, 2:04 am
#2437
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,408
The JL site can return false negatives (USDM has been able to see lots of availability JL said didn't exist).
If you rely solely on JL you could end up not flying despite there being seats available (although I have read the USA version of the JL tool may be slightly more accurate than the Oceania version, but I haven't tested it).
Nov 4, 2014, 3:12 am
#2438
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Australia
Programs: QF Platinum
Posts: 361
It is ridiculous that we have to go to such ends before calling or possibly spend hours talking to the operator trying to find award flights. Today mine as about 1 hour.
Nov 4, 2014, 3:37 am
#2439
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,408
Nov 4, 2014, 8:40 am
#2440
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,397
Nov 4, 2014, 10:39 am
#2441
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Worldwide
Posts: 12,949
Nov 4, 2014, 11:39 am
#2442
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,624
The passenger only be saving $3000+ if would otherwise have paid the extra $3000+ for a paid business or 1st class ticket
Nov 4, 2014, 4:57 pm
#2443
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: ORD
Programs: AA PLT
Posts: 2,781
I know this is tough to answer, but for those who have tried before, does J ever open up PHL-LIS, generally speaking? Looking for late May, slightly before peak travel season, but with the route on a 752 I didn't know how US has handled the limited space up front in the past.
Nov 4, 2014, 5:00 pm
#2444
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 599
Online on ba.com exec club award booking, if I can find award space segment-by-segment, but don't see it for the full itinerary .... before I wait for a long hold time and call in to book, I wanted to confirm if its even worthwhile calling:
Segment by segment I can see: "KHI to CMB" and "CMB to KUL" and "KUL to SIN". No long stopovers etc, couple hour layovers in each.
Full on searching for KHI to SIN doesn't show any availability though.
Would it be bookable? I understand this is oneway (I already see SIN to KHI space on ba.com to make it roundtrip).
Segment by segment I can see: "KHI to CMB" and "CMB to KUL" and "KUL to SIN". No long stopovers etc, couple hour layovers in each.
Full on searching for KHI to SIN doesn't show any availability though.
Would it be bookable? I understand this is oneway (I already see SIN to KHI space on ba.com to make it roundtrip).
Nov 4, 2014, 5:11 pm
#2445
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,408
Online on ba.com exec club award booking, if I can find award space segment-by-segment, but don't see it for the full itinerary .... before I wait for a long hold time and call in to book, I wanted to confirm if its even worthwhile calling:
Segment by segment I can see: "KHI to CMB" and "CMB to KUL" and "KUL to SIN". No long stopovers etc, couple hour layovers in each.
Full on searching for KHI to SIN doesn't show any availability though.
Would it be bookable? I understand this is oneway (I already see SIN to KHI space on ba.com to make it roundtrip).
Segment by segment I can see: "KHI to CMB" and "CMB to KUL" and "KUL to SIN". No long stopovers etc, couple hour layovers in each.
Full on searching for KHI to SIN doesn't show any availability though.
Would it be bookable? I understand this is oneway (I already see SIN to KHI space on ba.com to make it roundtrip).