LUS: USDM oneworld Award Bookings - (Closed to new bookings) [Master FAQ and Help]

Dec 22, 15, 4:42 am - Wikipost

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WIKI POST: Using US Dividend Miles for oneworld Award Flights
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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:

Quote:

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.

To make a change on a USDM ticket, you need to get an agent that is trained to use the US reservation system.
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)

(Go here to print in flight purchase receipts)

Some experiences about changes to tickets, reported by members:

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 <

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Feb 25, 15, 11:01 am

#3586

lizs

Join Date: Apr 2013

Posts: 462

Quote:

Originally Posted by duke2013

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?

Although that is possible with AA, it is not with US. There have been some reports that once US merges with AA then any changes will be handled the same where you can just apply extra miles to upgrade a flight with no fee, but i wouldn't count on it.

Can you sign up for US credit card or buy miles?

Feb 25, 15, 11:22 am

#3587

echino

Join Date: Feb 2010

Location: YVR

Posts: 1,450

Is it possible to go from YVR to Maldives via Pacific and return via Atlantic?

YVR-HKG-MLE
destination
MLE-Europe
stopover
Europe-YVR

What would be YVR-MLE MPM25 AT and PA?

Feb 25, 15, 11:47 am

#3588

anabolism

Join Date: Aug 2004

Programs: AA (EXP), Hilton (Diamond), SPG (lowly Plat)

Posts: 8,736

Quote:

Originally Posted by eponymous_coward

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.

If the goal is enjoy true F on a three-class international flight, I'd suggest that JFK-LHR is far too short a flight. LAX would be ideal, but it can be very hard to find F award space on AA.

Feb 25, 15, 11:50 am

#3589

anabolism

Join Date: Aug 2004

Programs: AA (EXP), Hilton (Diamond), SPG (lowly Plat)

Posts: 8,736

Quote:

Originally Posted by eponymous_coward

You either need to start from a different North American starting point , like ORD or DFW, a different European stopover (LHR or CDG won't work, but DUB will) or you need to have a different North Asia stopover, like HKG, PVG or PEK.

Why would starting from a different North American city make the routing permitted, if the problem is that North America to Europe doesn't permit routing via the Pacific? Or is it that starting from ORD or DFW shift the longest point to be Asia?

Feb 25, 15, 12:06 pm

#3590

eponymous_coward

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Aug 2007

Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot

Programs: OneSky Alliance Elite+ with Zirconium and oak leaf cluster, Braniff Unobtainium

Posts: 19,698

Quote:

Originally Posted by anabolism

If the goal is enjoy true F on a three-class international flight, I'd suggest that JFK-LHR is far too short a flight. LAX would be ideal, but it can be very hard to find F award space on AA.

Agreed, but as mentioned, LAX-LHR is not an easy route to find award space on. JFK-LHR is much easier, though there is a 738 transcon going SEA-JFK which isn't all that. I could see doing LAX/SFO-JFK-LHR and getting nap time in on both F flights and just buying a cheap AS positioning flight if the point is to really "maximize" F.

Personally it might be an argument to just eat the YQ to fly BA SEA-LHR, if the OP simply MUST fly first class and doesn't want a ton of connections. Given that the premium is really modest for North Asia F (120k) over North Asia C (110k)... and North Asia F gets you CX and JL F...

One other alternative:
start in YVR and connect YVR-JFK(CX F)-LHR(AA F)-DUB(BA "C")
stopover in DUB, fly around Europe on separate tickets
DUB(BA "C")-LHR-HKG-NRT(CX F) or LHR-HND/NRT (JL F)
NRT-LAX(JL F)-YVR(AA domestic F) (you don't want the YVR nonstop because it's C/Y).

Keeps your YQ minimal and gets you the most time on the nicest OW carriers (CX and JL). The problem is that CX flight YVR-HKG is a redeye getting you into JFK at around 2:30 AM West Coast time. Ugh.

Quote:

Originally Posted by anabolism

starting from ORD or DFW shift the longest point to be Asia?

Ding ding ding, we have a winner.

NRT is pretty much going to be closer to the West Coast of the North America than most of Europe. The only way around that is flying midcon or East Coast. Allowing TPAC and TATL from the USA to Asia is a hangover from before the US-HP merger when the US customer base was all East Coast...

Last edited by eponymous_coward; Feb 25, 15 at 12:15 pm

Feb 25, 15, 12:50 pm

#3591

apple1122

Join Date: Dec 2013

Posts: 259

Thanks all for your input.

What if I change my destination from NRT to TPE or Korea? and get another RT ticket from TPE/Korea->NRT/HND. SEA->TPE/Korea is approx. 6,000/5,200 miles which is more than SEA->Germany (5000 miles)

If I fly to TPE/Korea as my destination, can Germany be my stopover? Would this route work?

If Germany wouldn't work as a stopover, Is it easy to get around Europe from Dublin?

Quote:

Originally Posted by eponymous_coward

You have a problem. Your destination is FRA or MUC, not NRT (you don't get to choose your destination, it's the place on the map farthest from origin where you stay > 24 hours). This means your proposed routing will be considered a North America-Europe award. US does not allow TPAC transit for a North America-Europe award.

You either need to start from a different North American starting point , like ORD or DFW, a different European stopover (LHR or CDG won't work, but DUB will) or you need to have a different North Asia stopover, like HKG, PVG or PEK. Your proposed routing won't be allowed.

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.

Feb 25, 15, 2:36 pm

#3592

2Tall4Y

Formerly known as jlars77

Join Date: Oct 2014

Location: ORD

Posts: 361

Quote:

Originally Posted by duke2013

If you're not set on dates (or generally don't mind rolling the dice) there are rumors of USDM merging into AA's program by the end of March. AA would only cost 67,500 each way in F, and if you booked in J and upgraded to F (if it opened up last minute or otherwise) you could do so with no change fee and be debited the difference in miles. What AA allows with legacy USDM awards remains to be seen.

SE Asia is the one not-so-sweet spot on the USDM award chart, and I'm going to wait until programs merge to book my Thailand trip for 2016. At worst I figure I'll end up in J on CX or JL.

Feb 25, 15, 3:14 pm

#3593

eponymous_coward

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Aug 2007

Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot

Programs: OneSky Alliance Elite+ with Zirconium and oak leaf cluster, Braniff Unobtainium

Posts: 19,698

Quote:

Originally Posted by apple1122

If I fly to TPE/Korea as my destination, can Germany be my stopover? Would this route work?

Yes, TPE or ICN would be fine. Distance for Asia stop-SEA > Distance for Europe stop-SEA, you're good.

Quote:

Originally Posted by apple1122

Is it easy to get around Europe from Dublin?

Very much so, it's Ryanair's hub.

FWIW, Germany, France and the UK all charge a departures tax, so using those nations as a departure point for a longhaul journey to Asia after a stopover will add a couple hundred dollars in taxes to your trip or more (the charges can go up if you're in a premium cabin). You can avoid that by having your Europe stopover be one of AMS, ZRH or DUB, or some other country that does NOT charge APD. If you route through LHR on a tight connection to CX you'd be OK (just stay away from BA on the longhaul segment, unless you want to pay a large fuel surcharge for the privilege).

Feb 25, 15, 4:13 pm

#3594

apple1122

Join Date: Dec 2013

Posts: 259

Got it!

I think I'll make Amsterdam as my stopover (since I'm planning to visit there again!), I wanted to use Germany as my stopover because I'd like to visit its airport (lol), but if it will incur high fuel tax, then Amsterdam works...any idea how is the international airport in Dublin (lounge & duty fee shopping) compares to AMS? I flew out from AMS back to US in 2009 and thought AMS was just ok, not sure if things has changed much since...

If using AMS as my stopover, what route/connection do you suggest to take leaving SEA? Do I still have to connect via ORD/DFW? or is there a direct flight leaving SEA? and what airline/aircraft is good for first class (biz class works, if none if available)

And from AMS to TPE/ICN, which airline do you recommend?

Thanks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by eponymous_coward

Yes, TPE or ICN would be fine. Distance for Asia stop-SEA > Distance for Europe stop-SEA, you're good.

Very much so, it's Ryanair's hub.

Feb 25, 15, 4:39 pm

#3595

eponymous_coward

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Aug 2007

Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot

Programs: OneSky Alliance Elite+ with Zirconium and oak leaf cluster, Braniff Unobtainium

Posts: 19,698

Quote:

Originally Posted by apple1122

I would suggest you spend some time using sbm12's list of oneworld longhaul North Atlantic routes...

http://blog.wandr.me/long-haul-route...lantic-routes/

I think doing that and looking for F trip reports on the major OW airlines in the FlyerTalk TR forum will give you good ideas for what to do. Keep in mind longhaul trips on BA will incur major fuel surcharges. You only have two choices for F TATL: AA and BA.

Keep in mind that there is no OW airline hubbed in SEA, AMS, TPE or ICN (they are all SkyTeam or *A hubs, in some cases both). So there won't be longhaul nonstops going SEA-AMS or AMS-TPE/ICN if you travel from those cities, you'll be connecting through OW hubs like JFK, LHR, DOH and HKG.

Last edited by eponymous_coward; Feb 25, 15 at 4:47 pm

Feb 25, 15, 4:48 pm

#3596

Dave Noble

A FlyerTalk Posting Legend

Join Date: Jan 2002

Posts: 42,723

Quote:

Originally Posted by apple1122

Since AMS is not a hub, you may well not be permitted to have a stopover there

Feb 25, 15, 5:46 pm

#3597

eponymous_coward

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Aug 2007

Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot

Programs: OneSky Alliance Elite+ with Zirconium and oak leaf cluster, Braniff Unobtainium

Posts: 19,698

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave Noble

Since AMS is not a hub, you may well not be permitted to have a stopover there

The rule states:

Quote:

You’re allowed one stopover per US Airways itinerary at a US Airways gateway or international destination, or in a partner hub city if you’re traveling on an award partner.

US flies PHL-AMS (and also serves DUB, as does AA). US is also inconsistent in enforcing/interpreting this rule. Typically "US serves this location" has worked in the past. This is more of a problem in the Pacific (since US doesn't fly TPAC).

An alternate stop for a stopover would be DUS or TXL (AB hub), were US phone agents to become excessively concerned about this point.

Last edited by eponymous_coward; Feb 25, 15 at 5:52 pm

Feb 25, 15, 11:40 pm

#3598

anabolism

Join Date: Aug 2004

Programs: AA (EXP), Hilton (Diamond), SPG (lowly Plat)

Posts: 8,736

Quote:

Originally Posted by eponymous_coward

Ding ding ding, we have a winner.

So I can book an Asia award and route via Europe? And have one stop?

So, I could book, say, SAN-PHX-SFO-HKG (destination) -LHR (stop) -LAX-SAN?
HKG is the furthest point from SAN, so that is the destination, right? Would it exceed the MPM? I'm not sure if I should use the Atlantic or Pacific MPM. Obviously I'm routing via the Atlantic but is that permitted? EF says the 25M MPM for SAN-HKG is 18,192 via the Atlantic and 11,020 via the Pacific, while HLG-LHR-LAX-SAN is 11,517.

Could I also have an open jaw? Could I book, say, SAN-PHX-SFO-HKG (destination), have an open jaw from HKG to TPE, and then fly TPE-NRT-LHR (stop) -LAX-SAN or TPE-HKG-LHR (stop) -SAN?

Feb 26, 15, 12:07 am

#3599

Dave Noble

A FlyerTalk Posting Legend

Join Date: Jan 2002

Posts: 42,723

Quote:

Originally Posted by anabolism

Could I also have an open jaw? Could I book, say, SAN-PHX-SFO-HKG (destination), have an open jaw from HKG to TPE, and then fly TPE-NRT-LHR (stop) -LAX-SAN or TPE-HKG-LHR (stop) -SAN?

regardless of MPM issues, you caannot have an open jaw plus a stopover

On MPM front, I would be surprised if it was permitted with the more advanced routing checker that US seems to have now

Feb 26, 15, 2:30 am

#3600

gottaluvNW

Join Date: Nov 2008

Location: LHR

Programs: Ex-NWA Plat

Posts: 1,459

QR availability

How far in advance does Qatar open up its award seats in premium cabins?

I am looking for a single ticket from Doha to any one of the US east coast locations towards the end of 2015 but see almost no availability on any dates within the range I am looking at.

Any past successes in booking 6+ months out?
Or is this one of those sectors that needs to be booked 11/12 months in advance after which, once gone - its gone for good?

For example, they just announced their DOH-MIA service - yet I can find no availability at all...

Last edited by gottaluvNW; Feb 26, 15 at 2:34 am Reason: Added

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