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]
Jan 7, 2015, 1:13 am
#2971
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: SYD
Posts: 2,903
Hi all,
I've had a schedule change on a U.S. DM ticket - essentially the flight I was travelling on was cancelled on the day I'm travelling. I't looks like I've automatically been rebooked onto the next flight, the bad news is this suddenly gives me an overnight in DOH, and basically ruins the first day of vacation as instead of arriving early AM I arrive in the afternoon.
So I've been playing with some options. I've managed to find availability on BA and was wondering if I go down that route, will US recalculate taxes and fuel surcharges which would make my trip much more expensive, and secondly, heading to mainland Europe via LHR means technically I go slightly over MPM so would this be a problem. or since it's all due to a flight cancellation they just revalidate and that's it?
My other options I've managed to find would mean departing a day earlier, which wouldn't be the end of the world but am yet to find availability on all segments, or lastly flying another way into Europe and forcing an open jaw there and I make my own way to where I want to get to.
Thanks a lot,
Goodo
I've had a schedule change on a U.S. DM ticket - essentially the flight I was travelling on was cancelled on the day I'm travelling. I't looks like I've automatically been rebooked onto the next flight, the bad news is this suddenly gives me an overnight in DOH, and basically ruins the first day of vacation as instead of arriving early AM I arrive in the afternoon.
So I've been playing with some options. I've managed to find availability on BA and was wondering if I go down that route, will US recalculate taxes and fuel surcharges which would make my trip much more expensive, and secondly, heading to mainland Europe via LHR means technically I go slightly over MPM so would this be a problem. or since it's all due to a flight cancellation they just revalidate and that's it?
My other options I've managed to find would mean departing a day earlier, which wouldn't be the end of the world but am yet to find availability on all segments, or lastly flying another way into Europe and forcing an open jaw there and I make my own way to where I want to get to.
Thanks a lot,
Goodo
Jan 7, 2015, 2:23 pm
#2972
Suspended
Join Date: May 2009
Location: DFW
Programs: AAdvantage Platinum, Hilton HHonors Gold
Posts: 2,863
Hi all,
I have a US Dividend Miles reservation on BA; one of the flights has been moved by 3 hours, making my departure very inconvenient. Can I call in and cancel/reinstate the miles for free?
Thanks a lot.
I have a US Dividend Miles reservation on BA; one of the flights has been moved by 3 hours, making my departure very inconvenient. Can I call in and cancel/reinstate the miles for free?
Thanks a lot.
Jan 7, 2015, 3:01 pm
#2973
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,395
I've managed to find availability on BA and was wondering if I go down that route, will US recalculate taxes and fuel surcharges which would make my trip much more expensive, and secondly, heading to mainland Europe via LHR means technically I go slightly over MPM so would this be a problem. or since it's all due to a flight cancellation they just revalidate and that's it?
US Airways is the final authority in choosing the routing and Dividend Miles partner for award travel based on the desired origin and destination.
If you're talking about changing to a true XXX-YYY-ZZZ//AAA-BBB-XXX open-jaw itinerary that merely has the open-jaw, and is otherwise an allowable itinerary, I don't see why not. BA Avios might be a way to do any intra-Europe flights for relatively little outlay, or a European LCC.
What's the itinerary you'd want? Knowing that would help to determine if it's a pipe dream or something that is do-able.
I would think so; "I don't accept the changes to my itinerary, please cancel the ticket and return the miles/taxes" should work. If not, HUACA.
Last edited by eponymous_coward; Jan 7, 2015 at 3:19 pm
Jan 7, 2015, 3:23 pm
#2974
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 22
I was on the phone to book an award flight. Anyway, the award flight I am looking for has a segment on Qatar airways from DOH-CPT. the flight exists and has award availability in business class when I searched for it in british airways site. However, the representative told me there is no such direct flight even though I told him it is in front of me on my screen and there is still availabilty open. So, he told me it is an availability problem. from what he sees on his screen, the flight I am referring to simply does not exist. He still found a less convenient way to reach CPT.
I thought may be it is an IT issue. However, it kept getting weirder as for the return flight from CPT to DOH he was able to find the direct flight on Qatar airways. So I kinda laughed and told him that how come qatar airways has a plane in Cape town if it did not fly it from DOH there that day or the previous day. At least he was sincere and told me I have no freaking idea, I see your point.
Here are the flight details I am talking about:
01:20 am DOH
10:15 am CPT
QR1369
And the return flight that the representative was able to find is the following:
12:45 pm CPT
10:50 pm DOH
QR1370
Anyone has an idea if it is possible to still get this flight? where is QR 1369? lol
I thought may be it is an IT issue. However, it kept getting weirder as for the return flight from CPT to DOH he was able to find the direct flight on Qatar airways. So I kinda laughed and told him that how come qatar airways has a plane in Cape town if it did not fly it from DOH there that day or the previous day. At least he was sincere and told me I have no freaking idea, I see your point.
Here are the flight details I am talking about:
01:20 am DOH
10:15 am CPT
QR1369
And the return flight that the representative was able to find is the following:
12:45 pm CPT
10:50 pm DOH
QR1370
Anyone has an idea if it is possible to still get this flight? where is QR 1369? lol
Jan 7, 2015, 3:26 pm
#2975
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,395
US has problems sometimes on flights departing near midnight. Searching previous/next day for availability can help...
Jan 7, 2015, 3:31 pm
#2976
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 22
I told the representative to put the ticket on hold instead of issuing it while I check with flyertalk lol
Jan 7, 2015, 3:35 pm
#2977
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 22
Problem solved thank you. This flight is a bargain even for award travel.
NBE-FRA-DOH-CPT-DOH-FRA-NBE in business class for 50k miles and taxes with a stopover in FRA
thank you. This flight is a bargain even for award travel. NBE-FRA-DOH-CPT-DOH-FRA-NBE in business class for 50k miles and taxes with a stopover in FRA
Jan 7, 2015, 4:01 pm
#2978
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 141
Using US Airway Miles for award – difficulty finding MLE-PVG in J.
Please let me know if this is not the right place to post the question.
I'm trying to use US Airways miles to redeem for partner flights in J, from PVG to MLE around March/April.
I was able to find availability from PVG to MLE, but has struck out at finding one from MLE back. I tried JAL, BA, and Qantas. The Qantas search was interesting in that, I wasn’t even able to put in MLE as a starting location. The only way to have MLE to PVG is to use the RT search.
With Qantas, I was able to find availability from PVG to MLE as there are columns for the various classes (screenshot). But for MLE to PVG, only the Economy column is available, even though CX 600 has J cabin (screenshot). This is interesting because if there's no availability, won't it just say "No Seats"?
I kept running into the same issue despite trying out various dates. Does airline block J award from a specific outbound location?
And if I do book J on outbound, and E on inbound, would I be charged the average of the two (as posted by Lucky here).
Thanks again, FT!
I'm trying to use US Airways miles to redeem for partner flights in J, from PVG to MLE around March/April.
I was able to find availability from PVG to MLE, but has struck out at finding one from MLE back. I tried JAL, BA, and Qantas. The Qantas search was interesting in that, I wasn’t even able to put in MLE as a starting location. The only way to have MLE to PVG is to use the RT search.
With Qantas, I was able to find availability from PVG to MLE as there are columns for the various classes (screenshot). But for MLE to PVG, only the Economy column is available, even though CX 600 has J cabin (screenshot). This is interesting because if there's no availability, won't it just say "No Seats"?
I kept running into the same issue despite trying out various dates. Does airline block J award from a specific outbound location?
And if I do book J on outbound, and E on inbound, would I be charged the average of the two (as posted by Lucky here).
Thanks again, FT!
Jan 7, 2015, 4:18 pm
#2979
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: ZRH/SFO
Programs: A3*G - AZ CFP- HH DIA
Posts: 3,666
Jan 7, 2015, 6:03 pm
#2980
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 22
Air berlin operates flights between NBE and FRA.. one flight per week.
Had to fight for the stopover though as the agent said it is not a direct routing. but he is comprehensive when I told him the only way to get out of NBE on oneworld partner is via air berlin.
Had to fight for the stopover though as the agent said it is not a direct routing. but he is comprehensive when I told him the only way to get out of NBE on oneworld partner is via air berlin.
Jan 7, 2015, 6:33 pm
#2981
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,620
With Qantas, I was able to find availability from PVG to MLE as there are columns for the various classes (screenshot). But for MLE to PVG, only the Economy column is available, even though CX 600 has J cabin (screenshot). This is interesting because if there's no availability, won't it just say "No Seats"?
If one of the options had business class availability, that one would show available with the others showing as not available
Jan 7, 2015, 7:37 pm
#2982
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: PHL
Programs: HHonors: Diamond. US Dividend Miles: Gold. Hertz: President's Circle
Posts: 179
Trying to book EWR-HKG-DPS-HKG-BNE-LAX-EWR and its exceeding MPM, what can I change to make it work and still keep BNE and DPS?
Jan 7, 2015, 7:46 pm
#2983
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 141
Thanks! In that case, could I book economy award on one of the route, and "waitlist"/upgrade it to business award if/when it become available later?
Jan 7, 2015, 7:58 pm
#2984
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,395
That 4000+ mile backtrack on HKG-DPS-HKG-BNE is killing you. Jetstar (JQ) does serve DPS-BNE (as well as DPS-SIN), but I don't think JQ flights are bookable as the QF codeshare (and TBH their "J" is pants compared to QF J).
Last edited by eponymous_coward; Jan 7, 2015 at 8:06 pm