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 12, 2014, 6:17 am
#2491
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: ZRH/SFO
Programs: A3*G - AZ CFP- HH DIA
Posts: 3,666
Nov 12, 2014, 6:31 am
#2492
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: ZRH/SFO
Programs: A3*G - AZ CFP- HH DIA
Posts: 3,666
I have a USDM award itinerary booked, and travel has already begun. All flights are on Air Berlin and Cathay Pacific.
Now one of the Air Berlin flights have had an involuntary change which doesn't work with my schedule.
I called USDM to try and book an alternative flight, but the agent told me to call Air Berlin instead as they couldn't do anything about it.
This doesn't seem correct to me, as USDM is the ticketing entity. I doubt AirBerlin will do anything for me at all.
How should I deal with this? What do I say to USDM?
Now one of the Air Berlin flights have had an involuntary change which doesn't work with my schedule.
I called USDM to try and book an alternative flight, but the agent told me to call Air Berlin instead as they couldn't do anything about it.
This doesn't seem correct to me, as USDM is the ticketing entity. I doubt AirBerlin will do anything for me at all.
How should I deal with this? What do I say to USDM?
Nov 12, 2014, 6:39 am
#2493
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: YYZ-HKT-CWL
Programs: aeroplan E .HH.
Posts: 994
Nov 12, 2014, 8:24 am
#2494
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,397
We hope to travel Nov2015 and return April2015. Our old strategy with US. Was to ticket avl 'wanted 'out bound seats and 'any ' return. Then wait the 60-150days for the pos release of suitable 'wanted' return flights ( willingly paying the$150 change fees) We wish to fly F Nov1-15. 2015. yyz-jfk-hkg . Hkg-hkt s/o hkt-doh-cdg-ord-Yyz. 120,000 miles . Rtn Apl 10-20. 2015. What strategy would Fters recommend ?
Also... HKT is in SOUTH Asia and is your destination (so the cost should properly be 160,000 miles). If you really only want to go to HKG and HKT, waiting until your US miles become AA miles might be a good idea, since the AA chart might be better for you, even with an additional flight, since AA doesn't offer stopovers (though you can't route Asia through Europe on an AA award). AA North America->South Asia in F is 135,000 miles. You could do the short hop HKG-HKT as a cash or Avios award flight one way...
Also, you do know that your HKT-DOH and CDG-ORD flights will be in business class, right? (AA flies a two-cabin 763 on CDG-ORD, QR flies 2-cabin planes on HKT-DOH). I'm really not sure I'd be adding a ton of travel time on an F ticket to fly J on the majority of the travel time if I wasn't taking a stopover along the way... is there some reason for the routing other than "want to try QR F" or "I love flying and don't care about the diversion"?
Nov 12, 2014, 4:34 pm
#2495
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2001
Programs: DL 1 million, AA 1 mil, HH lapsed Diamond, Marriott Plat
Posts: 28,190
I have a USDM award itinerary booked, and travel has already begun. All flights are on Air Berlin and Cathay Pacific.
Now one of the Air Berlin flights have had an involuntary change which doesn't work with my schedule.
I called USDM to try and book an alternative flight, but the agent told me to call Air Berlin instead as they couldn't do anything about it.
This doesn't seem correct to me, as USDM is the ticketing entity. I doubt AirBerlin will do anything for me at all.
How should I deal with this? What do I say to USDM?
My thanks in advance for any help.
Now one of the Air Berlin flights have had an involuntary change which doesn't work with my schedule.
I called USDM to try and book an alternative flight, but the agent told me to call Air Berlin instead as they couldn't do anything about it.
This doesn't seem correct to me, as USDM is the ticketing entity. I doubt AirBerlin will do anything for me at all.
How should I deal with this? What do I say to USDM?
My thanks in advance for any help.
Unless you're traveling immediately, US is responsible for reissuing the ticket. Call back and find an agent that is willing to do some work.
Nov 13, 2014, 2:19 am
#2496
Join Date: Aug 2011
Programs: A3 *S
Posts: 87
That's what I want to know -- So USDM is responsible for reissuing. Thanks.
Nov 13, 2014, 3:06 am
#2497
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,408
if there is no award availability on a suitable connecting flight, USDM can't create it. That would have to be up to the operating airline - in this case Air berlin.
In this case I would be on to Air berlin. Agree they can't reissue the ticket, but point out they can create space for you on another flight, add this to the existing booking, and then USDM can reissue the ticket with the new flight in it.
Nov 13, 2014, 4:12 am
#2498
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Norway
Programs: EB*D, Hilton Diamond, Carlson Gold Elite, Amex Plat
Posts: 159
...US DM program will get wound down sometime in 2Q 2015[/URL], right? So you'll only have a narrow window to book things, and your tickets will likely be "frozen" once that happens (since US and AA have very different rules on award tickets), so you'll be taking some risk if there are flight schedule/equipment changes...
Nov 13, 2014, 7:56 am
#2499
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Perth, Australia
Programs: QFF, USDM, AAdvantadge, Velocity
Posts: 5
US Dividend Miles redemption Perth - London
Looking at using my 150,000 USDM for F class from PER - LHR return Sept 2015, with a stopover or open jaw on US JFK/BOS or LAX/SFO.
Have had trouble trying to redeem with F class availability and desired stop over somewhere in the US.
Yes i know can hire a "points pro" to do this but would rather educate myself and get it done.
Tips and tricks other than the huaca?
Have had trouble trying to redeem with F class availability and desired stop over somewhere in the US.
Yes i know can hire a "points pro" to do this but would rather educate myself and get it done.
Tips and tricks other than the huaca?
Nov 13, 2014, 8:08 am
#2500
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,397
I didn't have problems with my post-3/30 *A ticket, but I kept it simple stupid (4 segments, 2 airlines, on routes that I was pretty sure weren't going to change/lose service, no domestic USA segments). As it was I had to run through ICN for my flight home with a OZ GA on a tight connection... though I had looked up backup plans if things had gone bad.
Last edited by eponymous_coward; Nov 13, 2014 at 1:30 pm Reason: so this one was 10k. How about that!
Nov 13, 2014, 8:22 am
#2501
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,624
What I meant with "Doesn't work with my schedule" is that AirBerlin changed my connecting airport from MXP to LIN so that i am no longer arriving at MXP and connecting to CX there, and with only a 2h50m window I don't think I will be able to make it from LIN to MXP to my CX flight, after having researched the cross-city options.
Nov 13, 2014, 8:44 am
#2502
Join Date: Aug 2011
Programs: A3 *S
Posts: 87
I did call USDM again, got a more capable agent who saw exactly that, and she put me on the previous flight the night before so now I have 16 hours to make the connection, so I'm good now... Except I am out of pocket one day's hotel accomodations. :-/
Nov 13, 2014, 9:27 am
#2503
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: ZRH/SFO
Programs: A3*G - AZ CFP- HH DIA
Posts: 3,666
Looking at using my 150,000 USDM for F class from PER - LHR return Sept 2015, with a stopover or open jaw on US JFK/BOS or LAX/SFO.
Have had trouble trying to redeem with F class availability and desired stop over somewhere in the US.
Yes i know can hire a "points pro" to do this but would rather educate myself and get it done.
Tips and tricks other than the huaca?
Have had trouble trying to redeem with F class availability and desired stop over somewhere in the US.
Yes i know can hire a "points pro" to do this but would rather educate myself and get it done.
Tips and tricks other than the huaca?
And read the USDM membership guide to know what is allowed and what not... as per example:
Travel from North America to Europe is not allowed via Asia, and travel between Europe and Japan/North Asia/South Asia/Australia/New Zealand is not permitted via North America.
Last edited by miamigrad; Nov 13, 2014 at 9:38 am Reason: Edited out circular URL, post merge
Nov 13, 2014, 10:04 am
#2504
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,624
Looking at using my 150,000 USDM for F class from PER - LHR return Sept 2015, with a stopover or open jaw on US JFK/BOS or LAX/SFO.
Have had trouble trying to redeem with F class availability and desired stop over somewhere in the US.
Yes i know can hire a "points pro" to do this but would rather educate myself and get it done.
Tips and tricks other than the huaca?
Have had trouble trying to redeem with F class availability and desired stop over somewhere in the US.
Yes i know can hire a "points pro" to do this but would rather educate myself and get it done.
Tips and tricks other than the huaca?
As pointed out above, PER-LHR via USA is definitely not permitted under the redemption rules
Nov 13, 2014, 6:15 pm
#2505
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: SYD
Posts: 2,903
See this thread with lots of information
And read the USDM membership guide to know what is allowed and what not... as per example:
And read the USDM membership guide to know what is allowed and what not... as per example:
goodo