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]
Feb 18, 2015, 10:51 pm
#3481
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: SYDNEY
Programs: *A Gold, HH dia,Hyatt plat,Sixt PLAT,QF , EY Gold
Posts: 1,890
Can anyone with some spare time assist with this. Im looking for (4) J out of sydney to somewhere nice over the new years period. Ideally HKG , HNL , NRT in anyopne will do. Now the tricky part is i only have 30k each miles to spend so im happy to have my destination elsewhere if i need to . I have searched for GUM just cant find the availability
Last edited by Shanye2233; Feb 18, 2015 at 11:07 pm
Feb 18, 2015, 11:26 pm
#3482
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,900
Does anyone have any idea for a creative routing from CGK -> LAX?
I need to extend my trip by a day and theres no availability on Cathay, Currently going CGK->HKG-> LAX.
I already have 2 seats in Cathay First class so I may just keep that if I cant find something comparable
I need to extend my trip by a day and theres no availability on Cathay, Currently going CGK->HKG-> LAX.
I already have 2 seats in Cathay First class so I may just keep that if I cant find something comparable
So
LAX-> SFO->HND
NRT->CGK
CGK -> HKG -> LAX
All for a grand total of 120,000 miles in First Class.
I am going to miss US Airways.
Feb 18, 2015, 11:33 pm
#3483
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Programs: Flying: VA; Buying: AA, AS, AV, BA, UA!
Posts: 2,349
Can anyone with some spare time assist with this. Im looking for (4) J out of sydney to somewhere nice over the new years period. Ideally HKG , HNL , NRT in anyopne will do. Now the tricky part is i only have 30k each miles to spend so im happy to have my destination elsewhere if i need to . I have searched for GUM just cant find the availability
Feb 18, 2015, 11:33 pm
#3484
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: YYZ-HKT-CWL
Programs: aeroplan E .HH.
Posts: 994
Booked in under 16 minutes. 120,000miles F award
YYZ- ORD biz AA. ORD-NRT F Jal. HND-HKG F CX Dest. HKG- HND F CX. HND- LHR F JAL stop/over LHR-ORD AA F,ORD- YYZ biz AA. 120,000 miles $506 fees. 330 days out. Took Air Rarotonga advise. Got out bound I wanted and booked Rnt must await 60-90 days for idea return dates then hopefully pay $150 to change rtn.
Feb 18, 2015, 11:42 pm
#3485
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: SYDNEY
Programs: *A Gold, HH dia,Hyatt plat,Sixt PLAT,QF , EY Gold
Posts: 1,890
Feb 18, 2015, 11:44 pm
#3486
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: SIN
Programs: SQ, UA, Delta, BMI(RIP), Marriott Lifetime Titanium, Hilton Diamond (Thanks Amex) Hyatt Discov
Posts: 1,942
Here's what EF says:
Results from ExpertFlyer.com
Results from ExpertFlyer.com
Code:
Maximum Permitted Mileage:
Airports: LAX-PVG
Maximum Permitted Mileage
LAXSHA-YY 18FEB15
TICKETED POINT SURCHARGES APPLY.
GI M 5M 10M 15M 20M 25M
MPM AT 14432 15153 15875 16596 17318 18040
MPM PA 7778 8166 8555 8944 9333 9722
.
Calculated Sector Mileage
LAX YY SHA /18FEB15
*************************************************************
CTY GI TPM CUM MPM EMS DED LAST NEXT 25M
LAX 1
1. SHA 3 PA 6482 6482 7778 0M 0 0 1296 9722
[KVS Tool 7.7.4 - Reference: Maximum Permitted Mileage [MPM]: LAX-PVG]
Code:
GI M 5M 10M 15M 20M 25M
MPM PA 7778 8166 8555 8944 9333 9722
MPM AT 14432 15153 15875 16596 17318 18040
Feb 18, 2015, 11:53 pm
#3487
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: SIN
Programs: SQ, UA, Delta, BMI(RIP), Marriott Lifetime Titanium, Hilton Diamond (Thanks Amex) Hyatt Discov
Posts: 1,942
The only issue we had was that two tickets were booked, with separate PNRs, but exactly the same itinerary. One showed up on US Air and elsewhere, the other booking did not even show up on US Air and other airlines had to do a little bit of work at check in to see the eticket for that PNR
Feb 18, 2015, 11:56 pm
#3488
Moderator: American AAdvantage & Marriott Bonvoy
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: PHX
Programs: American ExPlat; Marriott/SPG Lifetime Plat; Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 8,116
Moderator Note
Ladies and gentlemen, a couple of unhelpful and unnecessary posts have been removed. Let's take this opportunity to refresh ourselves on the rules of engagement.
Threads like this are here for people to seek assistance. If you have help to provide -- great! If you don't appreciate the nature of the request, please resist the temptation to comment on it -- kindly move along to something else.
Here's the snippet from the rules:
Your respect of these rules will be appreciated.
/Moderator
Threads like this are here for people to seek assistance. If you have help to provide -- great! If you don't appreciate the nature of the request, please resist the temptation to comment on it -- kindly move along to something else.
Here's the snippet from the rules:
12.1 Friendly, Respectful and Welcoming
FlyerTalk is a community and is intended to be a friendly, helpful and collegial place.
Please post in a friendly, respectful, welcoming manner. 'Snarky,' unfriendly posts will not be allowed. If you don't have something constructive to contribute to a thread, please do not post.
Unhelpful posts, such as "Do a search" or those that merely comment on the worthiness of others' posts or threads are neither friendly nor welcoming and will not be allowed. If you can't be helpful or contribute substantive content to a thread, please refrain from posting.
FlyerTalk is a community and is intended to be a friendly, helpful and collegial place.
Please post in a friendly, respectful, welcoming manner. 'Snarky,' unfriendly posts will not be allowed. If you don't have something constructive to contribute to a thread, please do not post.
Unhelpful posts, such as "Do a search" or those that merely comment on the worthiness of others' posts or threads are neither friendly nor welcoming and will not be allowed. If you can't be helpful or contribute substantive content to a thread, please refrain from posting.
Your respect of these rules will be appreciated.
/Moderator
Feb 19, 2015, 12:01 am
#3489
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,408
For LAX-PVG routing across atlantic, it appears MPM * 125% is 18K miles. That's quite a high limit. So MPM wasn't a factor when agent rejected my original routing: LA-DFW-LHR-PAR-HKG-PVG(dest.)-HKG-LA. Rather it appears to be the backtracking thru HKG. But then how did the 2nd agent accept and ticket LA-DFW-LHR-PAR-LHR-PVG(dest.)-HKG-LA?
Feb 19, 2015, 12:10 am
#3490
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,408
Can anyone with some spare time assist with this. Im looking for (4) J out of sydney to somewhere nice over the new years period. Ideally HKG , HNL , NRT in anyopne will do. Now the tricky part is i only have 30k each miles to spend so im happy to have my destination elsewhere if i need to . I have searched for GUM just cant find the availability
GUM is a possibility, but you'd need to find 4 seats on both SYD-NRT, and then NRT-GUM. There is an overnight each way in NRT (no stopover allowed).
For GUM you can use the search function on JL's website to check for availability (search the sectors separately).
HKG/HNL/NRT will all cost 70K miles in economy, or 90K in business.
Feb 19, 2015, 12:41 am
#3491
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: SYDNEY
Programs: *A Gold, HH dia,Hyatt plat,Sixt PLAT,QF , EY Gold
Posts: 1,890
I think HNL is alot more then 90k in J from memory maybe 120k ??
Feb 19, 2015, 12:44 am
#3492
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Between AMS and BRU
Posts: 8,852
Takes just a few seconds to find out: http://www.usairways.com/en-US/Resou...wardtravel.pdf
Feb 19, 2015, 5:26 am
#3493
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: WLG/BKK
Programs: TG*G, NZ*GE, QF G, Accor Gold
Posts: 10,211
I made a total of 6 calls, just in case it was an 'agent issue', but consistently the seat wasn't available. I did note on EF that there was a difference in the number of discounted biz fare classes showing, but my understanding is that CX availability is not 'available' on EF via simple fare class search (unlike, say QF or MH). A flight on the following day is OK, but compresses the trip too much.
Plenty of availability of MH KUL-AKL//AKL-KUL on their 772, but that isn't my preference...back to the drawing board.
Feb 19, 2015, 8:50 am
#3494
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Between AMS and BRU
Posts: 8,852
used one of the EU numbers and what a difference.... very competent agent in finding my flights, she had them down before I had completed telling her the whole route :-). No problem getting on a Japan airlines flight either.
But there was a problem with my intended route AMS-HKG-BKK(stop)-KIX(dest)-HEL-AMS. No stop in BKK allowed since it's not a OW hub. Damn....
But there was a problem with my intended route AMS-HKG-BKK(stop)-KIX(dest)-HEL-AMS. No stop in BKK allowed since it's not a OW hub. Damn....
Slightly less competent agent, but friendly. And got everything I wanted, including Dragon Air and JAL to get me from HKG to KIX.
Feb 19, 2015, 9:15 am
#3495
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 17
Long time lurker, first time poster. Sorry to start with a question! Can someone tell me if the below is possible with USDM?
ORD-->SFO (AA in F) continuing SFO-->HND (JL in J)
Return NRT-->ORD (JL in Y)
I'm specifically wondering about the following:
...
4) What would this price out at? I'm thinking 90k (60 for J out and 30 for Y in), but wasn't sure.
Thanks so much for any input!
ORD-->SFO (AA in F) continuing SFO-->HND (JL in J)
Return NRT-->ORD (JL in Y)
I'm specifically wondering about the following:
...
4) What would this price out at? I'm thinking 90k (60 for J out and 30 for Y in), but wasn't sure.
Thanks so much for any input!
Is this a HUCA situation, or am I just missing something here?