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 23, 2015, 12:16 am
#3571
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: London (~75% of the year).
Programs: AA PPro
Posts: 477
I use ba.com if I want more coverage than aa.com in terms of which oneworld partners are being searched for. I don't know when USAir miles become useful as AA miles, but when they do then there are also a few non one-world partners AA miles can be used on. E.g. Etihad (search on their own site for that).
If there isn't, there really should be an FAQ on this...
If there isn't, there really should be an FAQ on this...
Feb 23, 2015, 7:46 am
#3572
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Maître-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
There are airline partners you can use, including oneworld member airlines - airberlin, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LAN, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian, S7 Airlines, SriLankan Airlines, and TAM Airlines, as well as Hawaiian Airlines and Jet Airways.
With the US takeover of AA, many changes have come - change from Star to oneworld alliance, changes in airline partners, etc. FlyerTalk has been a center of discussion and clarification about those changes.
Last July 12 (last time you visited FT) you asked about oneworld. That was a long time ago; FT is a great place to keep up with current changes. Stick with the effort, you may well find those elusive award seats.,There are several links to tools and a lot of helpful information shared by US Dividend Miles users in the posts, and in the wikipost (shows at the top of every page).
We've merged your cross-posted query here, and deleted your other (exact duplicate) post / thread, as cross-posting is not allowed here. /Moderator
With the US takeover of AA, many changes have come - change from Star to oneworld alliance, changes in airline partners, etc. FlyerTalk has been a center of discussion and clarification about those changes.
We've merged your cross-posted query here, and deleted your other (exact duplicate) post / thread, as cross-posting is not allowed here. /Moderator
Last edited by JDiver; Feb 23, 2015 at 8:03 am
Feb 23, 2015, 8:33 am
#3573
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2001
Programs: DL 1 million, AA 1 mil, HH lapsed Diamond, Marriott Plat
Posts: 28,190
If your dates are set, outsource this now: use an award booking service. Eponymous_coward and JDiver give great suggestions but there's a lot of detail to master, you've got other things on your mind, and mistakes can be costly (BA long-haul surcharges and multiple award redeposits are to be avoided, among other things).
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...e-reviews.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...e-reviews.html
Feb 23, 2015, 8:49 am
#3574
Moderator, OneWorld
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: SEA
Programs: RAA RIP; AA ExEXP
Posts: 11,802
Gardyloo
Oneworld moderator
Feb 23, 2015, 12:28 pm
#3575
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: LHR
Programs: Ex-NWA Plat
Posts: 1,480
I am trying to book an American Eagle flight onto a OneWorld TATL award flight.
Dividend Miles cannot see the flights even though these are available online on the US Airways website under the low category award availability... any thoughts on how this can be rectified?
I event requested the agent to speak to a supervisor. This was of no avail...
Dividend Miles cannot see the flights even though these are available online on the US Airways website under the low category award availability... any thoughts on how this can be rectified?
I event requested the agent to speak to a supervisor. This was of no avail...
Feb 23, 2015, 8:17 pm
#3576
Join Date: Aug 2004
Programs: AA (EP), Hilton (Diamond), Marriott Bonvoy (Titanium)
Posts: 8,937
It sounds like a very expensive way to do it
120k r/t 1st from US-N Asia plus Asia 2 - Africa at 140k = 260k
vs 150k for a r/t US-Africa . I would suggest that the surcharges cost if taking BA from Europe to Africa is less than the value of the additional miles used
But it does sound like it would work
If it was me, I would use 120k and go on QR in business class and save the 140k for a separate 1st class trip tto Asia another time
120k r/t 1st from US-N Asia plus Asia 2 - Africa at 140k = 260k
vs 150k for a r/t US-Africa . I would suggest that the surcharges cost if taking BA from Europe to Africa is less than the value of the additional miles used
But it does sound like it would work
If it was me, I would use 120k and go on QR in business class and save the 140k for a separate 1st class trip tto Asia another time
Because CX only has J to JNB, I calculate the miles as:
- North Amer - North Asia F: 120,000 round-trip each person
- North Asia - Africa J: 110,000 round-trip each person
- Total: 230,000 round-trip each person
- 460,000 for two
In my case, I will split the awards so the first is using US DM and the second uses AA:
- US: North Amer - North Asia F: 120,000 round-trip each person
- AA: North Asia - Africa J: 100,000 round-trip each person
- Total: 220,000 round-trip each person
- 440,000 for two
Feb 23, 2015, 11:49 pm
#3577
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,600
if you are going to fly in business class from Hong Kong to Africa , then will be the lower cost
Feb 24, 2015, 1:36 am
#3578
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: body: A stone's throw from SFO, mind: SE Asia
Programs: Some of this 'n some of that
Posts: 17,263
Edit: AA can see the flights we need but at a steeper award rate.
*I screwed up the flight numbers upthread.
Last edited by dsquared37; Feb 24, 2015 at 2:00 am
Feb 24, 2015, 2:16 am
#3579
Join Date: Jul 2011
Programs: QF Plat, VA Plat, BA Gold
Posts: 528
Another question - sorry!
A very recent family death means that I now have two choices on my upcoming US award:
1 = cancel the entire ticket
2 = rebook the first leg to a later date, keeping the return date the same.
I know I should call up US airways - but i'm not too sure what to do because of familial circumstances at this point in time. Has anyone successfully managed to get US to waive the rebooking fee in the event of a death?
I'm more than willing to fork up the 150 bucks - but just wondering whether there are alternatives ... thereby saving 150 in the process
A very recent family death means that I now have two choices on my upcoming US award:
1 = cancel the entire ticket
2 = rebook the first leg to a later date, keeping the return date the same.
I know I should call up US airways - but i'm not too sure what to do because of familial circumstances at this point in time. Has anyone successfully managed to get US to waive the rebooking fee in the event of a death?
I'm more than willing to fork up the 150 bucks - but just wondering whether there are alternatives ... thereby saving 150 in the process
Feb 24, 2015, 6:01 am
#3580
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: ZRH/SFO
Programs: A3*G - AZ CFP- HH DIA
Posts: 3,666
Another question - sorry!
A very recent family death means that I now have two choices on my upcoming US award:
1 = cancel the entire ticket
2 = rebook the first leg to a later date, keeping the return date the same.
I know I should call up US airways - but i'm not too sure what to do because of familial circumstances at this point in time. Has anyone successfully managed to get US to waive the rebooking fee in the event of a death?
I'm more than willing to fork up the 150 bucks - but just wondering whether there are alternatives ... thereby saving 150 in the process
A very recent family death means that I now have two choices on my upcoming US award:
1 = cancel the entire ticket
2 = rebook the first leg to a later date, keeping the return date the same.
I know I should call up US airways - but i'm not too sure what to do because of familial circumstances at this point in time. Has anyone successfully managed to get US to waive the rebooking fee in the event of a death?
I'm more than willing to fork up the 150 bucks - but just wondering whether there are alternatives ... thereby saving 150 in the process
Don't you have a travel insurance (as LH SEN) that covers this costs?
Feb 24, 2015, 3:26 pm
#3581
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 462
Success! Thanks to FlyerTalk for helping me craft what should be an awesome and memorable honeymoon! Without Flyertalk and reading this thread for the past 6 months I never could have gotten an award like this. The US agent actually complimented me on a job well done and how easy I made her job to be feeding her flight numbers and dates.
160k US miles:
JL F LAX-NRT (stopover)
CX F HND-HKG
CX J HKG-DPS (destination)
CX J DPS-HKG
CX F HKG-LAX!!!
Fiance is booked on all the same flights using 62.5k AA for JL F, 55k BA for HND-HKG-DPS, then 55k AA for DPS-HKG-LAX (hoping for a second seat to open in F, then can just use extra miles and upgrade for no fee). Almost all the AA miles were bonuses from getting AA credit cards and BA miles were transfers from when there was a 40% bonus offer to transfer from Amex. My 160k miles were getting two US air credit cards and some hard earned BIS miles.
To the newbies: just keep reading and eventually all this jibberish will make sense. It took me awhile, but if you keep at it, and ask questions, it will all make sense eventually.
160k US miles:
JL F LAX-NRT (stopover)
CX F HND-HKG
CX J HKG-DPS (destination)
CX J DPS-HKG
CX F HKG-LAX!!!
Fiance is booked on all the same flights using 62.5k AA for JL F, 55k BA for HND-HKG-DPS, then 55k AA for DPS-HKG-LAX (hoping for a second seat to open in F, then can just use extra miles and upgrade for no fee). Almost all the AA miles were bonuses from getting AA credit cards and BA miles were transfers from when there was a 40% bonus offer to transfer from Amex. My 160k miles were getting two US air credit cards and some hard earned BIS miles.
To the newbies: just keep reading and eventually all this jibberish will make sense. It took me awhile, but if you keep at it, and ask questions, it will all make sense eventually.
Feb 24, 2015, 10:38 pm
#3582
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 259
Hi,
Trying to book an "around the world" award ticket (first class) using USDM. Is there any restriction or problem with my route below?
SEA->Germany (FRA or Munich) stopover (1-2 weeks)
Germany -> Paris (CDG) or London (for 24 hr layover) -> Tokyo destination
Tokyo -> SEA
Is the above route within the allowable maximum mileage allowed between the origin and destination?
Which airline has the best first class to Germany? I don't mind connecting to LAX or SFO for the better aircraft to Germany. And which airport to Germany would be a better option?
Thanks!
Trying to book an "around the world" award ticket (first class) using USDM. Is there any restriction or problem with my route below?
SEA->Germany (FRA or Munich) stopover (1-2 weeks)
Germany -> Paris (CDG) or London (for 24 hr layover) -> Tokyo destination
Tokyo -> SEA
Is the above route within the allowable maximum mileage allowed between the origin and destination?
Which airline has the best first class to Germany? I don't mind connecting to LAX or SFO for the better aircraft to Germany. And which airport to Germany would be a better option?
Thanks!
Last edited by apple1122; Feb 24, 2015 at 10:49 pm
Feb 24, 2015, 11:51 pm
#3583
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 278
I want to book 2 first class tickets LAX-HKG-BKK, but currently only have 300k miles (short about 20k). I was thinking of booking 1 first and 1 business, then try to change the business to first once I get the miles. Will this be possible if the US/AA mileage programs are unified before I can get the extra 20k miles?
Feb 25, 2015, 7:38 am
#3584
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Programs: TK Elite, Hilton Diamond, BA Silver
Posts: 967
Iberia segment cancelled
<IB : Flights will be cancelled after ticket issued.>
I think this issue still exist, I booked a trip HKG-MXP-MAD-LIS, the IB segments MXP-MAD-LIS disappeared again and again(4 times call USDM agent to add back) from US account and also Iberia web. But on saudi air web the IB segments are still there.
I think this issue still exist, I booked a trip HKG-MXP-MAD-LIS, the IB segments MXP-MAD-LIS disappeared again and again(4 times call USDM agent to add back) from US account and also Iberia web. But on saudi air web the IB segments are still there.
Feb 25, 2015, 8:39 am
#3585
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,391
Hi,
Trying to book an "around the world" award ticket (first class) using USDM. Is there any restriction or problem with my route below?
SEA->Germany (FRA or Munich) stopover (1-2 weeks)
Germany -> Paris (CDG) or London (for 24 hr layover) -> Tokyo destination
Tokyo -> SEA
Is the above route within the allowable maximum mileage allowed between the origin and destination?
Which airline has the best first class to Germany? I don't mind connecting to LAX or SFO for the better aircraft to Germany. And which airport to Germany would be a better option?
Thanks!
Trying to book an "around the world" award ticket (first class) using USDM. Is there any restriction or problem with my route below?
SEA->Germany (FRA or Munich) stopover (1-2 weeks)
Germany -> Paris (CDG) or London (for 24 hr layover) -> Tokyo destination
Tokyo -> SEA
Is the above route within the allowable maximum mileage allowed between the origin and destination?
Which airline has the best first class to Germany? I don't mind connecting to LAX or SFO for the better aircraft to Germany. And which airport to Germany would be a better option?
Thanks!
Travel between 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.
Also, a connection of the length you propose in LHR or CDG will incur significant tax for a longhaul departure (especially in a premium cabin). DUB will not, as long as you keep your connection in LHR short.
I am also SEA-based and would have a smilar problem (people living on the West Coast do); if I was wanting a trip involving Tokyo and Europe, I would probably take my stopover in DUB and use shorthaul (Ryanair or whoever) to fly to Germany and the rest of Europe.Finally, oneworld doesn't fly F to MUC, it's a *A hub for Lufthansa.
AA's F to FRA is their older 777 product, which will be eliminated for a newer J product in their 77Ds. Air Berlin (AB, the only OW partner based in Germany) only has J and Y longhaul. Their hubs are DUS and TXL. US flies longhaul to FRA and MUC, but they also only have J and Y.Your best bet for a three class F that doesn't incur too much tax or fuel surcharge would be an AA 77W flying their new 8 person F cabins to LHR. You can do this out of LAX or JFK. However, connecting to LAX from SEA is problematic, since AA does not fly the route and AS, which DOES fly the route as an AA partner, is not a US partner (and cannot be booked on a US award). So you will need to fly AA SEA-JFK.
BA flights also have F, but you will incur hundreds of dollars in fuel surcharges flying them. If this is not a problem than this would be an acceptable option (it will also save you segments if you take them directly out of SEA, which will be important for reasons I will go into in a moment).
You will probably also find that getting BACK to SEA from NRT is difficult without the ability to connect on AS- you will need to connect something like NRT-LAX-PHX-SEA... you may have problems with too segments or MPM. It may be a good idea to start and finish your award in LAX and buy cheap AS connecting tickets on both ends for positioning flights.
Last edited by eponymous_coward; Feb 25, 2015 at 9:03 am