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]
Aug 21, 2015, 1:49 pm
#4351
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: ZRH/SFO
Programs: A3*G - AZ CFP- HH DIA
Posts: 3,666
If there is an USDM ticket on 001 ticket stock, members have reported, that changes were done without charging the USD150 fee (as AA does).
Please mind, if the AA rules would apply toyour USDM ticket, they would cancel your stopover in HKG as AA does not allows any!
I would HUACA. Make sure that you just want to change the flight segment and no refund in miles for the voluntary downgrading! Good luck!
Sep 12, 2015, 1:09 pm
#4352
Join Date: Mar 2011
Programs: Marriott LT Platinum+Titanium Elite, Hyatt Globalist, AA EXP, Delta Plat, United Silver, AX Biz Cent
Posts: 705
It's very surprising to me how dead this thread is ... Are there acutally only a few people who have USDM Oneworld award bookings past September?
I booked one in the final rush, "Mini-RTW" for December-January, and it looks like I'm one of the last ones paying attention to this thread?
FWIW, an invol class change happened due to a QR equipment change, and AA has been great about trying to accommodate things, and it is now on a 001 ticket. I was rebooked onto an alternate route on JL 787 in J, and promised that if F open up on another routing, they will allow another change for that.
I booked one in the final rush, "Mini-RTW" for December-January, and it looks like I'm one of the last ones paying attention to this thread?
FWIW, an invol class change happened due to a QR equipment change, and AA has been great about trying to accommodate things, and it is now on a 001 ticket. I was rebooked onto an alternate route on JL 787 in J, and promised that if F open up on another routing, they will allow another change for that.
Sep 12, 2015, 7:19 pm
#4353
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Sydney, Australia
Programs: UA, QF, VS, AA, US, HH, SPG
Posts: 974
It's very surprising to me how dead this thread is ... Are there acutally only a few people who have USDM Oneworld award bookings past September?
I booked one in the final rush, "Mini-RTW" for December-January, and it looks like I'm one of the last ones paying attention to this thread?
FWIW, an invol class change happened due to a QR equipment change, and AA has been great about trying to accommodate things, and it is now on a 001 ticket. I was rebooked onto an alternate route on JL 787 in J, and promised that if F open up on another routing, they will allow another change for that.
I booked one in the final rush, "Mini-RTW" for December-January, and it looks like I'm one of the last ones paying attention to this thread?
FWIW, an invol class change happened due to a QR equipment change, and AA has been great about trying to accommodate things, and it is now on a 001 ticket. I was rebooked onto an alternate route on JL 787 in J, and promised that if F open up on another routing, they will allow another change for that.
Also, in late Jan 2016 - we are booked on our last US hurrah: SYD-NRT-YVR // YVR-NRT (stop) - SYD in J -again no issues with move to AA so no reason to post.
Cheers.
RIP US Airways.
Sep 12, 2015, 8:07 pm
#4354
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 3,166
I'm pretty sure there are still many people with tickets that were booked using USDM, but there's not much to discuss anymore since most issues have been discussed already and new bookings are not being made anymore.
Sep 12, 2015, 8:39 pm
#4355
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: HNL
Programs: DL PM/1MM, BW DE (lifetime), HH DE, Marriott PE (lifetime), National Emerald Executive
Posts: 7,205
I would think that most, if not all, USDM bookings are now re-ticketed as 001 (AA) tickets. Mine was so automatically re-ticketed a few months ago.
Even though it said under fare rules that there is penalty/fee for changes (legacy of USDM), I was able to call AA and change one of the flights (same carrier and date, just an earlier flight) at no charge. First AA agent wanted to send me to US, which I knew made no sense, as it was already a 001 ticket. Then she just reissued the 001 ticket, without collecting the full BA YQ charge (US charged some $200 less than it should have been) and despite it being an RTW of sorts (going in one direction, with one destination and one stopover), so clearly against the archaic AA rules. But, she got it reissued as an even exchange, even though USDM had originally under calculated the YQ (and she said so as much, that she told ticketing to do it as an even exchange, as with no change of route, it's not fair to ask the pax to pay more due to US mistake earlier).
So, it looks like we have the best of both: keep USDM routing / stopovers and benefit from AA no-fee-to-change policy. Plus, if USDM under-calculated your YQ, that is honored also. Well done, AA. ^
Even though it said under fare rules that there is penalty/fee for changes (legacy of USDM), I was able to call AA and change one of the flights (same carrier and date, just an earlier flight) at no charge. First AA agent wanted to send me to US, which I knew made no sense, as it was already a 001 ticket. Then she just reissued the 001 ticket, without collecting the full BA YQ charge (US charged some $200 less than it should have been) and despite it being an RTW of sorts (going in one direction, with one destination and one stopover), so clearly against the archaic AA rules. But, she got it reissued as an even exchange, even though USDM had originally under calculated the YQ (and she said so as much, that she told ticketing to do it as an even exchange, as with no change of route, it's not fair to ask the pax to pay more due to US mistake earlier).
So, it looks like we have the best of both: keep USDM routing / stopovers and benefit from AA no-fee-to-change policy. Plus, if USDM under-calculated your YQ, that is honored also. Well done, AA. ^
Sep 16, 2015, 1:49 pm
#4356
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 156
Inconvenient AA Rerouting on old US Airways Transatlantic [award] Itinerary
Good Afternoon,
Last March I booked a PHL to MAD flight when US Airways still offered the 35K (30K with the US airways card) to europe in Winter (This flight is for 2/11 to 2/16). When I checked on my reservation today, I saw that the flight is now an American flight, and they have rerouted me on the return from MAD to JFK, then LGA to PHL.
This is an extremely inconvenient rerouting. For one, I leave 4 hours earlier from Madrid, have a 6 hour layover in JFK, have to get to LGA, and then fly to PHL. Furthermore, they switched the plane from an Airbus 330 to an old 757 and now I don't have my premium bulk head seats.
Does anyone have an idea what recourse there is for this? I guess I don't mind a layover, but I'd rather fly back from Europe to Philadelphia instead of transferring from JFK to LGA. If I can't do that, I'd rather cancel the flight and redeposit the miles. It just seems like too much a hassle for what was supposed to be a 4 day weekend trip.
Also, I've noticed a lot of the transatlantic flights I booked from PHL on US Airways are being rerouted and put on 757 planes. The same thing happened for a January trip from AMS.
Thanks
Last March I booked a PHL to MAD flight when US Airways still offered the 35K (30K with the US airways card) to europe in Winter (This flight is for 2/11 to 2/16). When I checked on my reservation today, I saw that the flight is now an American flight, and they have rerouted me on the return from MAD to JFK, then LGA to PHL.
This is an extremely inconvenient rerouting. For one, I leave 4 hours earlier from Madrid, have a 6 hour layover in JFK, have to get to LGA, and then fly to PHL. Furthermore, they switched the plane from an Airbus 330 to an old 757 and now I don't have my premium bulk head seats.
Does anyone have an idea what recourse there is for this? I guess I don't mind a layover, but I'd rather fly back from Europe to Philadelphia instead of transferring from JFK to LGA. If I can't do that, I'd rather cancel the flight and redeposit the miles. It just seems like too much a hassle for what was supposed to be a 4 day weekend trip.
Also, I've noticed a lot of the transatlantic flights I booked from PHL on US Airways are being rerouted and put on 757 planes. The same thing happened for a January trip from AMS.
Thanks
Sep 16, 2015, 1:55 pm
#4357
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: PHX
Programs: AA Peon Gold
Posts: 2,915
I would try calling and see what they can do for you.
Sep 16, 2015, 2:05 pm
#4358
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Programs: HH Gold, AA Gold
Posts: 10,458
Good Afternoon,
Last March I booked a PHL to MAD flight when US Airways still offered the 35K (30K with the US airways card) to europe in Winter (This flight is for 2/11 to 2/16). When I checked on my reservation today, I saw that the flight is now an American flight, and they have rerouted me on the return from MAD to JFK, then LGA to PHL.
This is an extremely inconvenient rerouting. For one, I leave 4 hours earlier from Madrid, have a 6 hour layover in JFK, have to get to LGA, and then fly to PHL. Furthermore, they switched the plane from an Airbus 330 to an old 757 and now I don't have my premium bulk head seats.
Does anyone have an idea what recourse there is for this? I guess I don't mind a layover, but I'd rather fly back from Europe to Philadelphia instead of transferring from JFK to LGA. If I can't do that, I'd rather cancel the flight and redeposit the miles. It just seems like too much a hassle for what was supposed to be a 4 day weekend trip.
Also, I've noticed a lot of the transatlantic flights I booked from PHL on US Airways are being rerouted and put on 757 planes. The same thing happened for a January trip from AMS.
Thanks
Last March I booked a PHL to MAD flight when US Airways still offered the 35K (30K with the US airways card) to europe in Winter (This flight is for 2/11 to 2/16). When I checked on my reservation today, I saw that the flight is now an American flight, and they have rerouted me on the return from MAD to JFK, then LGA to PHL.
This is an extremely inconvenient rerouting. For one, I leave 4 hours earlier from Madrid, have a 6 hour layover in JFK, have to get to LGA, and then fly to PHL. Furthermore, they switched the plane from an Airbus 330 to an old 757 and now I don't have my premium bulk head seats.
Does anyone have an idea what recourse there is for this? I guess I don't mind a layover, but I'd rather fly back from Europe to Philadelphia instead of transferring from JFK to LGA. If I can't do that, I'd rather cancel the flight and redeposit the miles. It just seems like too much a hassle for what was supposed to be a 4 day weekend trip.
Also, I've noticed a lot of the transatlantic flights I booked from PHL on US Airways are being rerouted and put on 757 planes. The same thing happened for a January trip from AMS.
Thanks
Yes, they should be able to cancel your trip and redeposit the miles for "arriving 6 hours later and having the change airports in NYC".
Sep 16, 2015, 4:30 pm
#4359
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
Moved to the existing USDM award for the best input from experienced flyers.
/Moderator
/Moderator
Sep 17, 2015, 7:31 am
#4360
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: YYF/YLW
Programs: AA, DL, AS, VA, WS Silver
Posts: 5,951
Do your basic research. From looking at the schedule, it appears that AA operates a nonstop MAD-PHL (on the pmUS A330) on Feb 15 and Feb 17 but not Feb 16; presumably there was a schedule change. I would be very surprised if putting you on the nonstop either of those days is any problem at all, regardless of award availability, since it's AA metal. Should be an easy transaction at no cost. If you want to adjust the outbound by a day (assuming the flight operates the day you want) to keep the trip the same length, I expect that would be easy to do as well, but probably only when you change the reservation for the first time. A change from a nonstop to a one stop is, by DOT regulations, grounds for a no-questions-asked, no-fee refund of your payment, and AA will be happy to keep your miles if all they have to do is open a seat on one of their flights this far out. But once you've made the free change, availability restrictions and any change fees (can't remember if US awards have a fee to change the date) will likely be back in place.
You could also look at routings via LHR or MIA if you don't have any flexibility with the dates; there will almost certainly be decent routings that don't involve a JFK-LGA transfer.
Sep 20, 2015, 4:54 am
#4361
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: allaroundasia
Programs: LH SEN, SPG Plat.M&S E+
Posts: 222
I just called AA 2x this weekend to change an existing US-DM ticket (issued 02/15). I already did some times changes (same airline, just another flight number)in the past 2 month , which never was a problem.
Now I wanted to change the routing from HKG/FRA to HKG/LHR/FRA operated by CX/BA. origin/destination remain the same. Both conversations with the US-hotline were'nt succesfully. cc agents always mentioned to cancel the ticket and book a new one under AA rules. Maybe I try again next week, but do not believe in any success.
Now I wanted to change the routing from HKG/FRA to HKG/LHR/FRA operated by CX/BA. origin/destination remain the same. Both conversations with the US-hotline were'nt succesfully. cc agents always mentioned to cancel the ticket and book a new one under AA rules. Maybe I try again next week, but do not believe in any success.
Sep 20, 2015, 6:48 am
#4362
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: ZRH/SFO
Programs: A3*G - AZ CFP- HH DIA
Posts: 3,666
I just called AA 2x this weekend to change an existing US-DM ticket (issued 02/15). I already did some times changes (same airline, just another flight number)in the past 2 month , which never was a problem.
Now I wanted to change the routing from HKG/FRA to HKG/LHR/FRA operated by CX/BA. origin/destination remain the same. Both conversations with the US-hotline were'nt succesfully. cc agents always mentioned to cancel the ticket and book a new one under AA rules. Maybe I try again next week, but do not believe in any success.
Now I wanted to change the routing from HKG/FRA to HKG/LHR/FRA operated by CX/BA. origin/destination remain the same. Both conversations with the US-hotline were'nt succesfully. cc agents always mentioned to cancel the ticket and book a new one under AA rules. Maybe I try again next week, but do not believe in any success.
Sep 23, 2015, 2:59 pm
#4363
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,397
Does Oneworld charge for award bookings differently than Star Alliance?
In the past, I booked several *A award bookings and was charged mileage based on flying from my origin to my destination, regardless of where I connected in between. For example, when I flew North America to Australia via Asia, I was charged as if I flew directly from North America to Australia.
In a recent Oneworld booking, (similar route), I was charged piecemeal, i.e. North America to Asia PLUS Asia to Australia. This resulted in a much larger mileage charge.
Is this actually the way it is?
Thanks.
In the past, I booked several *A award bookings and was charged mileage based on flying from my origin to my destination, regardless of where I connected in between. For example, when I flew North America to Australia via Asia, I was charged as if I flew directly from North America to Australia.
In a recent Oneworld booking, (similar route), I was charged piecemeal, i.e. North America to Asia PLUS Asia to Australia. This resulted in a much larger mileage charge.
Is this actually the way it is?
Thanks.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...es-2014-a.html
This has nothing to do with US awards discussed in this thread since US hasn't issued an award since March, unless by "recently" you mean "before March".
And yes, AA has different rules than US had.
Last edited by JDiver; Sep 23, 2015 at 4:52 pm Reason: Insert link of thread moved to
Sep 23, 2015, 9:36 pm
#4364
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: FLL
Programs: US CP, AA Plat, DL Silver, EY Gold, Kimpton IC, SPG Plat
Posts: 409
I just completed my final USDM RTW. Farewell to thee wonderful routing rules.
http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=mia-bcn...rt-sfo-jfk-mia
http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=mia-bcn...rt-sfo-jfk-mia
Nov 29, 2015, 2:50 am
#4365
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: USA
Programs: AA LT Plat, UA LT Gold, HH Diamond, Marriott LT Gold
Posts: 956
AA refuses to honor US Award ticket rules
I have an existing award ticket issued by US Airways prior to the merge. I was assured by US Air representative then that I could make changes to the ticket prior to the travel date even after the merge. Now, I would like to change my departure city from Midland to Amarillo but AA refuses to make the change claiming that AA and US Air had an agreement that departure/destination change is not allowed. I did not received any e-mail from AA or US Air about the agreement that would affect my ability to make changes to the existing award ticket. Was this even made public if such agreement exists? Since the merge, I could not find a copy of the US Air award rules. I would appreciate if a member has a PDF copy and willing to share with me.
Thanks in advance.
Thanks in advance.
Last edited by blueslip; Nov 29, 2015 at 3:55 am