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 22, 2014, 4:00 pm
#1021
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,397
Forgot about that rule, good call. I knew I was missing something.
What's the best way to book this award and maximize dividend miles? Bit of a catch is 120k miles to HKG but 160k to the rest of my destinations (including HKG) based on the award chart. Could I do an open jaw to as ORD-HKG-DPS and then REP-HKG-ORD?
Also my fail for the misspell in the title...long day.
What's the best way to book this award and maximize dividend miles? Bit of a catch is 120k miles to HKG but 160k to the rest of my destinations (including HKG) based on the award chart. Could I do an open jaw to as ORD-HKG-DPS and then REP-HKG-ORD?
Also my fail for the misspell in the title...long day.
May 23, 2014, 2:56 am
#1022
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: ORD
Programs: status free since 2017
Posts: 2,188
Hey guys couple of quick questions…
1. Can I have two stopovers (one in each direction) or only one stopover per trip?
2. I am thinking US > EU > S. Asia and return via middle east. I am expecting that it should be priced at US -> S Asia cost, right?
1. Can I have two stopovers (one in each direction) or only one stopover per trip?
2. I am thinking US > EU > S. Asia and return via middle east. I am expecting that it should be priced at US -> S Asia cost, right?
May 23, 2014, 5:40 am
#1023
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 224
Only one stopover is allowed. However, you are allowed unlimited layovers as long as they are less than 24 hours.
May 23, 2014, 9:36 am
#1024
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: ZRH/SFO
Programs: A3*G - AZ CFP- HH DIA
Posts: 3,666
If you make a stopover in another region, US can charge the higher price of the award if applicable. I.ex. Charge you US-ME for 180k instead US-SA for 160k for F-cl. This already happend to a few travellers.
May 23, 2014, 10:05 am
#1025
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: ORD
Programs: status free since 2017
Posts: 2,188
Another thing… hopefully someone with more US redemptions can suggest a better way to use my miles.
US-S Asia is 160K in F; US-N Asia is 120k. For couple of destinations that I was looking at S Asia, the distance isn't much from N Asia. For instance HKG-KUL is only 1500 miles but the redemption is 40K more. Would it make sense to make the trip from US-N Asia and then fly short hauls using avios?
Last edited by carsnoceans; May 23, 2014 at 10:15 am Reason: adding on
May 23, 2014, 11:22 am
#1026
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,397
Yes. Be aware that CX fuel surcharges are about $45 USD or so. LCCs in that region of the world like AK or TR are viable options as well.
May 24, 2014, 9:38 am
#1027
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 755
How many days in advance can I book on CX flights?
I am looking at LHR-HKG on 12Feb2015, where BA.com shows availability for every flight in Business, but DM is quoting no availability. Is there anyway that I can book it?
thanks in advance
I am looking at LHR-HKG on 12Feb2015, where BA.com shows availability for every flight in Business, but DM is quoting no availability. Is there anyway that I can book it?
thanks in advance
May 24, 2014, 9:47 am
#1028
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: ZRH/SFO
Programs: A3*G - AZ CFP- HH DIA
Posts: 3,666
331 days out.
Last TUE (20MAR15) US could book flights up to 23APR15.
Read this article with more information about: http://boardingarea.com/onemileatati...n-award-seats/
Last TUE (20MAR15) US could book flights up to 23APR15.
Read this article with more information about: http://boardingarea.com/onemileatati...n-award-seats/
May 24, 2014, 9:54 am
#1029
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 755
331 days out.
Last TUE (20MAR15) US could book flights up to 23APR15.
Read this article with more information about: http://boardingarea.com/onemileatati...n-award-seats/
Last TUE (20MAR15) US could book flights up to 23APR15.
Read this article with more information about: http://boardingarea.com/onemileatati...n-award-seats/
So strange that DM cant see any when BAEC sees quite a few seats
May 24, 2014, 8:03 pm
#1030
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 177
round the world
Does DM still offer RTW on one world?? if yes how many miles and what are the rules. Thanks.
May 24, 2014, 8:43 pm
#1031
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: CLT
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 709
Hello,
I just booked a flight on US Airways for my brother using Avios. I received an email with the BA record locator number, but that's not really helpful for finding the reservation (either on the AA or US site). I've looked on both websites, but can't find a way to obtain the AA or US PNR.
Does anyone know how I go about obtaining the PNR for the operating airline, so that I can access the reservation, choose seats, etc?
Thanks!
I just booked a flight on US Airways for my brother using Avios. I received an email with the BA record locator number, but that's not really helpful for finding the reservation (either on the AA or US site). I've looked on both websites, but can't find a way to obtain the AA or US PNR.
Does anyone know how I go about obtaining the PNR for the operating airline, so that I can access the reservation, choose seats, etc?
Thanks!
May 24, 2014, 8:51 pm
#1032
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,625
Hello,
I just booked a flight on US Airways for my brother using Avios. I received an email with the BA record locator number, but that's not really helpful for finding the reservation (either on the AA or US site). I've looked on both websites, but can't find a way to obtain the AA or US PNR.
Does anyone know how I go about obtaining the PNR for the operating airline, so that I can access the reservation, choose seats, etc?
Thanks!
I just booked a flight on US Airways for my brother using Avios. I received an email with the BA record locator number, but that's not really helpful for finding the reservation (either on the AA or US site). I've looked on both websites, but can't find a way to obtain the AA or US PNR.
Does anyone know how I go about obtaining the PNR for the operating airline, so that I can access the reservation, choose seats, etc?
Thanks!
May 25, 2014, 12:14 am
#1033
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 4,709
Is it possible both QF + BA are showing phantom availability for CX? I can see CX118 available on 2 dates (22/12 and 23/12), but the CX site doesn't show it and USDM can't see it (in J). 
May 25, 2014, 12:15 am
#1034
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 4,709
Hello,
I just booked a flight on US Airways for my brother using Avios. I received an email with the BA record locator number, but that's not really helpful for finding the reservation (either on the AA or US site). I've looked on both websites, but can't find a way to obtain the AA or US PNR.
Does anyone know how I go about obtaining the PNR for the operating airline, so that I can access the reservation, choose seats, etc?
Thanks!
I just booked a flight on US Airways for my brother using Avios. I received an email with the BA record locator number, but that's not really helpful for finding the reservation (either on the AA or US site). I've looked on both websites, but can't find a way to obtain the AA or US PNR.
Does anyone know how I go about obtaining the PNR for the operating airline, so that I can access the reservation, choose seats, etc?
Thanks!
May 25, 2014, 5:47 am
#1035
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: CLT
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 709
Thanks for this useful tidbit 
I realize that I can call them if I have to, but I know I've previously done this online when using Avois for a booking on AA, so I thought there may be an easy way to do it for US awards as well. Far easier to do this type of thing online than have to call.
Since I'm looking for the US PNR I thought I'd ask here since I figured someone has experienced this by now using Avios to book US awards. I guess maybe that's not the case.
I'll report back to this thread and update the wiki when I find out about this.
I realize that I can call them if I have to, but I know I've previously done this online when using Avois for a booking on AA, so I thought there may be an easy way to do it for US awards as well. Far easier to do this type of thing online than have to call.I'll report back to this thread and update the wiki when I find out about this.