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]
May 17, 2014, 12:54 am
#961
Join Date: Oct 2011
Programs: AA Exec Plat, UA , SPG Plat, Marriott Gold, United, Aeroplan, Hyatt Plat
Posts: 144
hey guys. i need help booking this one. im looking to go from MEL-CUBA? wat do u think is the best route? do u think US will even do it?
May 17, 2014, 1:46 am
#962
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Programs: Flying: VA; Buying: AA, AS, AV, BA, UA!
Posts: 2,349
Maybe you could do http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=MEL-AKL-SCL-LIM-HAV ...doubtful about US ticketing to this destination though.
Last edited by wheresmybagba; May 17, 2014 at 1:52 am
May 17, 2014, 4:52 am
#963
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: ZRH/SFO
Programs: A3*G - AZ CFP- HH DIA
Posts: 3,666
US Airlines won't issue you a ticket to Cuba, because of the Embargo. Even not if you use Miles on a non-USA carrier...
Buy a separate ticket to Cuba or use miles of a non USA-FFP! Use your AC miles instead...
Buy a separate ticket to Cuba or use miles of a non USA-FFP! Use your AC miles instead...
May 18, 2014, 3:36 am
#964
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: GVA, ZRH, KEF
Posts: 183
Ouch... I had a flight EU->Asia->US->EU on hold and called to ticket it. The rep said "It's not valid as you're doing a RTW". By the time I politely hung up, my whole itin was "Cancelled".
Now let's try to reprice it with another agent and hope that the availability is back...
Now let's try to reprice it with another agent and hope that the availability is back...
May 18, 2014, 4:29 am
#965
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: ZRH/SFO
Programs: A3*G - AZ CFP- HH DIA
Posts: 3,666
Ouch... I had a flight EU->Asia->US->EU on hold and called to ticket it. The rep said "It's not valid as you're doing a RTW". By the time I politely hung up, my whole itin was "Cancelled".
Now let's try to reprice it with another agent and hope that the availability is back...
Now let's try to reprice it with another agent and hope that the availability is back...
Originally Posted by US DM membership guide
Travel from 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.
May 18, 2014, 4:39 am
#966
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: NCL and LBA
Programs: BD*G, BAGold, Hyatt Diamond, SPG Plat
Posts: 3,270
Ouch... I had a flight EU->Asia->US->EU on hold and called to ticket it. The rep said "It's not valid as you're doing a RTW". By the time I politely hung up, my whole itin was "Cancelled".
Now let's try to reprice it with another agent and hope that the availability is back...
Now let's try to reprice it with another agent and hope that the availability is back...
May 18, 2014, 4:50 am
#967
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2003
Programs: BA Silver, EY Gold, HH Diamond, IHG Plat
Posts: 12,210
A friend of mine had a DM ticket Asia to USA with a stop in Europe outbound. Now he has just found out that on the way back he needs to stay back in LHR for a few days due to a situation beyond his control. Does anyone know if BA (operating carrier) or US will help.
May 18, 2014, 4:53 am
#968
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,624
Since the passenger has commenced travel, no changes are permitted plus , even if they were, only one stopover is permitted
If he needs to stay in London, I think that he will just have to purchase another ticket for from London back to Asia
Fortunately one way tickets from UK to Asia can be quite reasonable at less than GBP500
May 18, 2014, 6:54 am
#969
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: 10^7 mm from Ȱ
Programs: Hyatt D/HHonors D/ SPG P/ Marriott P/ IHG P/ UA 1K/ AA EXP/ DL D
Posts: 1,976
Has your friend commenced travel yet? If not, call US to change the ticket by deleting the stopover on outbound and adding a stopover at LHR for inbound, this will cost him $150 change fee plus applicable additional tax (assuming APD is much higher than the tax of the other European airport), but this all depends if he can find award flight availability.
May 18, 2014, 3:45 pm
#970
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Baltimore MD
Posts: 3,457
Quote:
Originally Posted by onlysuites
A friend of mine had a DM ticket Asia to USA with a stop in Europe outbound. Now he has just found out that on the way back he needs to stay back in LHR for a few days due to a situation beyond his control. Does anyone know if BA (operating carrier) or US will help.
Has your friend commenced travel yet? If not, call US to change the ticket by deleting the stopover on outbound and adding a stopover at LHR for inbound, this will cost him $150 change fee plus applicable additional tax (assuming APD is much higher than the tax of the other European airport), but this all depends if he can find award flight availability.
Originally Posted by onlysuites
A friend of mine had a DM ticket Asia to USA with a stop in Europe outbound. Now he has just found out that on the way back he needs to stay back in LHR for a few days due to a situation beyond his control. Does anyone know if BA (operating carrier) or US will help.
Has your friend commenced travel yet? If not, call US to change the ticket by deleting the stopover on outbound and adding a stopover at LHR for inbound, this will cost him $150 change fee plus applicable additional tax (assuming APD is much higher than the tax of the other European airport), but this all depends if he can find award flight availability.
FDW
May 18, 2014, 10:23 pm
#971
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 237
Not sure where to put my question but since I have booked Oneworld travel with my USDM, I will give it a try here...
I'm flying, ICN(CX J)-HKG(BA F)-LHR(BA F)-BOS(US F)-CLT. In this case, does my baggage allowance follow CX or BA? I called US Airways but they are giving me mixed answers.
CX allows 2 (32KG) and BA allows 3 (32KG) bags + 1 for Oneworld Emeralds.
No overnight stays in my route.
I'm flying, ICN(CX J)-HKG(BA F)-LHR(BA F)-BOS(US F)-CLT. In this case, does my baggage allowance follow CX or BA? I called US Airways but they are giving me mixed answers.
CX allows 2 (32KG) and BA allows 3 (32KG) bags + 1 for Oneworld Emeralds.
No overnight stays in my route.
May 18, 2014, 11:14 pm
#972
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,397
So an interesting follow-up. Decided to change the itinerary and do a stopover in Barcelona instead of Sri Lanka. Ended up with ORF-LGA/JFK-HKG (destination)-BKK-DOH-BCN (stopover)-JFK-CLT-ORF all in J. The agent was great and sent it to the rate desk and it came back as 100K, not 110K. It worked out great as the stops in BKK and DOH are both just under 24 hours.
May 19, 2014, 12:20 am
#973
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,624
Not sure where to put my question but since I have booked Oneworld travel with my USDM, I will give it a try here...
I'm flying, ICN(CX J)-HKG(BA F)-LHR(BA F)-BOS(US F)-CLT. In this case, does my baggage allowance follow CX or BA? I called US Airways but they are giving me mixed answers.
CX allows 2 (32KG) and BA allows 3 (32KG) bags + 1 for Oneworld Emeralds.
No overnight stays in my route.
I'm flying, ICN(CX J)-HKG(BA F)-LHR(BA F)-BOS(US F)-CLT. In this case, does my baggage allowance follow CX or BA? I called US Airways but they are giving me mixed answers.
CX allows 2 (32KG) and BA allows 3 (32KG) bags + 1 for Oneworld Emeralds.
No overnight stays in my route.
CX is the 1st carrier who crosses from TC3 to TC2 so CX's baggage policies will apply ( see http://www.cathaypacific.com/cx/en_A...r-journey.html ) so your luggage allowance will be that of Cathay Pacific
If you have already flown the outbound and this is the inbound journey, then the luggage allowance that applied to the outbound will apply to the inbound
May 19, 2014, 3:11 am
#974
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 1
Hi all...for the last two days I've been trying to book 1 F seat LHR-HKG on CX in Apr 2015...checked on the JAL website and it shows availability for two different CX flights on the dates I want....called US airlines 5 or 6 times but none of the agents could see any award seats available on any flights.....any thoughts?
May 19, 2014, 3:41 am
#975
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: NCL and LBA
Programs: BD*G, BAGold, Hyatt Diamond, SPG Plat
Posts: 3,270
Hi all...for the last two days I've been trying to book 1 F seat LHR-HKG on CX in Apr 2015...checked on the JAL website and it shows availability for two different CX flights on the dates I want....called US airlines 5 or 6 times but none of the agents could see any award seats available on any flights.....any thoughts?