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]
Dec 31, 2014, 2:01 am
#2926
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,605
It's not supposed to be cheaper; it's just that US's rates desk gives really random results. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't.
And really, for someplace like West Coast USA to India, forcing TATL instead of TPAC, using CX or JL is two awards? The logic is pretty much " 'cuz we said so, so THERE!", it's not particularly based in any kind of logic based on flight distances.
And really, for someplace like West Coast USA to India, forcing TATL instead of TPAC, using CX or JL is two awards? The logic is pretty much " 'cuz we said so, so THERE!", it's not particularly based in any kind of logic based on flight distances.
AA generally requires direct travel between 1st region and the next and maybe west US to India requiring travel via Europe is further , but certain exceptions do not make the rules nonsensical
Dec 31, 2014, 11:16 am
#2927
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,392
Jan 1, 2015, 6:36 am
#2928
Join Date: Jun 2012
Programs: AA EXP, Hyatt Globalist, *A Silver
Posts: 4,896
If I am flying from US to Asia, do I have to fly transpacific or transatlantic? Also, can I spend 110k miles on an award to China, but make a stopover in Thailand? Is US award booking rules still pretty lax?
Jan 1, 2015, 8:04 am
#2929
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: ZRH/SFO
Programs: A3*G - AZ CFP- HH DIA
Posts: 3,666
Your questions were discussed on the last three pages of this therad... Happy new year!
Jan 1, 2015, 9:16 am
#2930
Join Date: Feb 2001
Programs: IHG Diamond, HH Diamond, BW Diamond Select, Accor Silver, Marriott Gold
Posts: 4,228
The requirement for published fares is silly. If you have a region-based system, it should allow customers to go to the place they want to go, not randomly (from the customer's perspective) disallow it.
Jan 1, 2015, 11:31 am
#2931
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: ZRH/SFO
Programs: A3*G - AZ CFP- HH DIA
Posts: 3,666
The only aadvantage I see in this published fare requirement is, that AA is able to quote the taxes of the award tickets automatically... They can just enforce an available fare and all taxes will be quoted...
If you have an exotic routing on USDM, then the fare desk needs to quote all taxes manual, what costs time... But that's what airlines have to deal with... At the end they charge also a booking fee and should work little bit for this money!
Jan 1, 2015, 12:37 pm
#2932
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,605
The only aadvantage I see in this published fare requirement is, that AA is able to quote the taxes of the award tickets automatically... They can just enforce an available fare and all taxes will be quoted...
If you have an exotic routing on USDM, then the fare desk needs to quote all taxes manual, what costs time... But that's what airlines have to deal with... At the end they charge also a booking fee and should work little bit for this money!
US's routing rules are far more generous , but wouldn't call AA's rules "lame"
Although less generous, I suspect that it is the AA rules which will live on after the merging of the schemes
Last edited by Dave Noble; Jan 1, 2015 at 1:04 pm
Jan 1, 2015, 2:06 pm
#2933
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: YYZ-HKT-CWL
Programs: aeroplan E .HH.
Posts: 994
Just booked (37 mins on Skype from BKK). Yyz-lhr BA F,lhr-man BA Biz, Stop. lhr-Hnd JL F, Hnd-Gmp JL Biz, dest. ICn-Hkg CX Biz,HKg -Jfk CX F , Jfk-Yyz AA biz, 120,000 miles $853 tax n Paid BA ££. cos no flights to Europe By the way just in Bkk after amazing CX 846 in F from Jfk Flew throu New Year on 'Krug' 5 hours in the Wing Hkg made up for aircraft switch to Bkk with no F cabin of offer of compensation
Jan 1, 2015, 4:31 pm
#2934
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 7,904
They are sort of lame. It made sense to limit awards to published routings when stopover rules were loose. But now that the latter is mostly gone, they should eliminate the published routing rule.
Jan 1, 2015, 4:45 pm
#2935
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,392
Stopovers are pretty much ALL gone, now that the OW Explorer is gone. Everything is a one-way with no stopovers.
Jan 1, 2015, 4:50 pm
#2936
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 7,904
Yes. I know. That's my point. The published routing requirement now makes little sense to me.
Jan 1, 2015, 4:58 pm
#2937
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,605
I think with the introduction of published fare rules, that the "no 3rd zone" rule could reasonably be removed rather than the published fare routing since few airlines permit ridiculous routings on their fares an allow some sensible options that are otherwise barred
Jan 3, 2015, 12:56 am
#2938
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 117
US Airways Booking Change Fees - Complex Itinerary
Hey Everybody -
Had a couple questions I was hoping you could help me out with. We are looking at booking some version of the following (2 passengers):
SFO->SYD (Destination) -> LHR (Stopover) ->SFO
Overall it looks like we will realistically need to do this:
LAX->HKG->SYD (Destination) ->NRT->HEL->LHR (Stopover) ->JFK->LAX
I am hopeful that we can get this booking in business, and have more or less found some sort of availability.
My question is this: What happens if we cancel/change parts of this itinerary after we have already begun it?
The change fee shows as $150.
1) Is there any fee and/or is it possible to change the dates of flights after you have already started the itinerary?
2) Is there any fee and/or is it possible to change flights so that there is no extra layovers in the trip? (If we found availability for SYD->LHR instead of SYD->NRT->HEL->LHR, could we change the itinerary to just go SYD->LHR if we have already started our itinerary)
3) Is there any fee and/or is it possible to remove the stopover from a trip after we have already started our itinerary?
4) I am guessing this part is realistically impossible, but would it be possible at our stopover in LHR to be able to change one passenger to go back to SYD while allowing the other passenger to continue on as planned to LAX?
Sorry for all the in depth questions, I checked the FAQ and the Membership guide, but could only find info about it costing $150 to change, but not the in depth changes that could(n't) be done.
Thanks a ton
Had a couple questions I was hoping you could help me out with. We are looking at booking some version of the following (2 passengers):
SFO->SYD (Destination) -> LHR (Stopover) ->SFO
Overall it looks like we will realistically need to do this:
LAX->HKG->SYD (Destination) ->NRT->HEL->LHR (Stopover) ->JFK->LAX
I am hopeful that we can get this booking in business, and have more or less found some sort of availability.
My question is this: What happens if we cancel/change parts of this itinerary after we have already begun it?
The change fee shows as $150.
1) Is there any fee and/or is it possible to change the dates of flights after you have already started the itinerary?
2) Is there any fee and/or is it possible to change flights so that there is no extra layovers in the trip? (If we found availability for SYD->LHR instead of SYD->NRT->HEL->LHR, could we change the itinerary to just go SYD->LHR if we have already started our itinerary)
3) Is there any fee and/or is it possible to remove the stopover from a trip after we have already started our itinerary?
4) I am guessing this part is realistically impossible, but would it be possible at our stopover in LHR to be able to change one passenger to go back to SYD while allowing the other passenger to continue on as planned to LAX?
Sorry for all the in depth questions, I checked the FAQ and the Membership guide, but could only find info about it costing $150 to change, but not the in depth changes that could(n't) be done.
Thanks a ton
Jan 3, 2015, 5:59 am
#2939
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: ZRH/SFO
Programs: A3*G - AZ CFP- HH DIA
Posts: 3,666
Hey Everybody -
Had a couple questions I was hoping you could help me out with. We are looking at booking some version of the following (2 passengers):
SFO->SYD (Destination) -> LHR (Stopover) ->SFO
Overall it looks like we will realistically need to do this:
LAX->HKG->SYD (Destination) ->NRT->HEL->LHR (Stopover) ->JFK->LAX
I am hopeful that we can get this booking in business, and have more or less found some sort of availability.
My question is this: What happens if we cancel/change parts of this itinerary after we have already begun it?
The change fee shows as $150.
1) Is there any fee and/or is it possible to change the dates of flights after you have already started the itinerary?
2) Is there any fee and/or is it possible to change flights so that there is no extra layovers in the trip? (If we found availability for SYD->LHR instead of SYD->NRT->HEL->LHR, could we change the itinerary to just go SYD->LHR if we have already started our itinerary)
3) Is there any fee and/or is it possible to remove the stopover from a trip after we have already started our itinerary?
4) I am guessing this part is realistically impossible, but would it be possible at our stopover in LHR to be able to change one passenger to go back to SYD while allowing the other passenger to continue on as planned to LAX?
Sorry for all the in depth questions, I checked the FAQ and the Membership guide, but could only find info about it costing $150 to change, but not the in depth changes that could(n't) be done.
Thanks a ton
Had a couple questions I was hoping you could help me out with. We are looking at booking some version of the following (2 passengers):
SFO->SYD (Destination) -> LHR (Stopover) ->SFO
Overall it looks like we will realistically need to do this:
LAX->HKG->SYD (Destination) ->NRT->HEL->LHR (Stopover) ->JFK->LAX
I am hopeful that we can get this booking in business, and have more or less found some sort of availability.
My question is this: What happens if we cancel/change parts of this itinerary after we have already begun it?
The change fee shows as $150.
1) Is there any fee and/or is it possible to change the dates of flights after you have already started the itinerary?
2) Is there any fee and/or is it possible to change flights so that there is no extra layovers in the trip? (If we found availability for SYD->LHR instead of SYD->NRT->HEL->LHR, could we change the itinerary to just go SYD->LHR if we have already started our itinerary)
3) Is there any fee and/or is it possible to remove the stopover from a trip after we have already started our itinerary?
4) I am guessing this part is realistically impossible, but would it be possible at our stopover in LHR to be able to change one passenger to go back to SYD while allowing the other passenger to continue on as planned to LAX?
Sorry for all the in depth questions, I checked the FAQ and the Membership guide, but could only find info about it costing $150 to change, but not the in depth changes that could(n't) be done.
Thanks a ton
The only rules you need to now is the following:
So, all your questions above should be answered...
Jan 3, 2015, 6:46 am
#2940
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 117
Yup unfortunately that about answers all of them. Is there any help for missed flights?
I know with an AA booking once I missed a flight (not the airlines fault) and I think it was $150 and they rebooked us for a few days later. If you miss a flight on this is the whole itinerary cancelled?