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

Old Mar 30, 2014, 12:53 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: JDiver
WIKI POST: Using US Dividend Miles for oneworld Award Flights
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 programs 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 <
Print Wikipost

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

Old May 20, 2014, 4:24 am
  #991  
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: CDG
Programs: TK Elite
Posts: 1,607
First post for me in the OW forums and USDM

So it took me until page 62 to understand what HUACA meant lol, I'm assuming that's intentional coding.

I am thinking about opening a USDM account, is the program still worth it? I vaguely understood there's a promotion going on right now but would I be eligible if I have no account yet?

I am very much interested in trying CX J or F ex CDG as it seems it's the best OW premium product out there, how can I do this in the most profitable way? I would love to do for instance CDG-HKG-YYZ-JFK-YVR-HKG-CDG instead of just CDG-HKG-CDG. am I right in assuming the mileage requirements are the same? What are the stopover rules? I would be interested in trying MH A380 F on the same ticket as well or JAL

thanks in advance, please send me a PM if it's a better way and if my post is 'too open' I will definitely redact.
AirCanada881 is offline  
Old May 20, 2014, 4:37 am
  #992  
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 4,691
Originally Posted by Wilko Pali Sedef
First post for me in the OW forums and USDM

So it took me until page 62 to understand what HUACA meant lol, I'm assuming that's intentional coding.

I am thinking about opening a USDM account, is the program still worth it? I vaguely understood there's a promotion going on right now but would I be eligible if I have no account yet?

I am very much interested in trying CX J or F ex CDG as it seems it's the best OW premium product out there, how can I do this in the most profitable way? I would love to do for instance CDG-HKG-YYZ-JFK-YVR-HKG-CDG instead of just CDG-HKG-CDG. am I right in assuming the mileage requirements are the same? What are the stopover rules? I would be interested in trying MH A380 F on the same ticket as well or JAL

thanks in advance, please send me a PM if it's a better way and if my post is 'too open' I will definitely redact.
The account needs to be open for 12 days before you can purchase miles, so you'll miss out for this round. Probably still worth opening one as promotions happen quite regularly.
flashware is offline  
Old May 20, 2014, 6:00 am
  #993  
bxs
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: MY
Posts: 58
Oneworld Award Bookings Using US Dividend Miles [Master FAQ and Help Thread]

Hi all,

I have a USDM award booking from Syd-Kul flying MH return for feb next year. I've been following the news about possible bankruptcy for them so I'm wondering what would happen to my booking? Is anyone else in this situation or am I overthinking this? Thanks!
bxs is offline  
Old May 20, 2014, 6:27 am
  #994  
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: CDG
Programs: TK Elite
Posts: 1,607
Originally Posted by flashware
The account needs to be open for 12 days before you can purchase miles, so you'll miss out for this round. Probably still worth opening one as promotions happen quite regularly.
I'm assuming this applies for purchasing miles at anytime? the site says my account isn't eligible to purchase miles...
AirCanada881 is offline  
Old May 20, 2014, 6:34 am
  #995  
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 4,691
Originally Posted by Wilko Pali Sedef
I'm assuming this applies for purchasing miles at anytime? the site says my account isn't eligible to purchase miles...
That's my understanding...
flashware is offline  
Old May 20, 2014, 8:26 am
  #996  
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: ZRH/SFO
Programs: A3*G - AZ CFP- HH DIA
Posts: 3,666
Originally Posted by Wilko Pali Sedef
So it took me until page 62 to understand what HUACA meant lol, I'm assuming that's intentional coding.
There's a FT glossary: here

I am very much interested in trying CX J or F ex CDG as it seems it's the best OW premium product out there, how can I do this in the most profitable way? I would love to do for instance CDG-HKG-YYZ-JFK-YVR-HKG-CDG instead of just CDG-HKG-CDG. am I right in assuming the mileage requirements are the same? What are the stopover rules? I would be interested in trying MH A380 F on the same ticket as well or JAL.
Please read the USDM membership guide... You'll find lot of information there on this side... i.ex.:

One en route stopover per itinerary is permitted for select international travel awards.

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.

So, forget about your routing... Since US joined OW, most of the bookings will be checked by the fare desk and now it's much more diffucult to get a routing against the rules than before...
Air Rarotonga is offline  
Old May 20, 2014, 12:04 pm
  #997  
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Boston MA
Programs: US SP, JetBlue Mosaic, AMEX Plat
Posts: 101
Quick question. Just got back from a recent award (the old 90k Asia J) and want to book something else soon. I know all the rules and want to just float an idea to get some feedback. Next two items on my list are Easter Island and an African Safari.

I'm wondering if I can't bang these both out in a 110k Africa J award.

BOS-SCL(stop)-JNB(dest). I'd book the Easter Island SCL-IPC-SCL separately on LAN and pay cash.

BOS-JNB (7,857 miles per GCMAP)
BOS-SCL-JNB (10,946 miles per GCMAP)

There are no directs from BOS, so I would be connecting somewhere (AA via Miami?) and again connect probably in Europe on the return.

Any preliminary thoughts? I'll do all the research for seats and routing(s) over the next couple weeks. But I haven't been following OW award bookings with USDM in the past four months or so... am I out in left field for even thinking this award would be possible w/new rules?
MPScan is offline  
Old May 20, 2014, 1:24 pm
  #998  
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: CDG
Programs: TK Elite
Posts: 1,607
Originally Posted by Air Rarotonga
There's a FT glossary: here



Please read the USDM membership guide... You'll find lot of information there on this side... i.ex.:

One en route stopover per itinerary is permitted for select international travel awards.

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.

So, forget about your routing... Since US joined OW, most of the bookings will be checked by the fare desk and now it's much more diffucult to get a routing against the rules than before...
I've seen all kinds of routings in this thread that show all kinds of itineraries crossing 3 to 4 different continents, that's what I would be after. Are you saying it used to be possible and now it isn't?
AirCanada881 is offline  
Old May 20, 2014, 3:12 pm
  #999  
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: ZRH/SFO
Programs: A3*G - AZ CFP- HH DIA
Posts: 3,666
Originally Posted by MPScan
BOS-SCL(stop)-JNB(dest).
How would you get from SCL to JNB on OW? No flights over the South Atlantic...


If they allow you to fly over the Pacific, then the MPM are exceeded:

[KVS Availability Tool 7.3.6 - Reference: Maximum Permitted Mileage [MPM]: BOS-JNB]
Code:
                                                                
         GI       M      5M     10M     15M     20M     25M     
MPM      AT    9794   10283   10773   11263   11752   12242     
MPM      PA   14773   15511   16250   16988   17727   18466     
[KVS Availability Tool 7.3.6 - Reference: Maximum Permitted Mileage [MPM]: BOS-MIA-SCL-SYD-JNB]
Code:
                                                                
CTY   DC   TPM   CUM   MPM  DC SUR  HGL   LWL   25M  XTRA       
BOS 1                                                           
MIA 1 US  1260  1260                                            
SCL 1 WH  4138  5398  6328  WH  0M   930     0  7910     0      
SYD 3 PA  7048 12446 12121  PA  5M   281   325 15151     0      
JNB 2 EH  6863 19309   **MPM NOT AVAILABLE**
Air Rarotonga is offline  
Old May 20, 2014, 3:23 pm
  #1000  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,341
Originally Posted by Air Rarotonga
How would you get from SCL to JNB on OW? No flights over the South Atlantic...
Not just that, LA and JJ have no flights to Africa. So it'd be something whackadoodle like BOS-MIA-SCL-MAD-LHR-JNB.

But hey, what's 6,000 miles over 125% of MPM between friends?
eponymous_coward is offline  
Old May 20, 2014, 6:55 pm
  #1001  
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: NCL and LBA
Programs: BD*G, BAGold, Hyatt Diamond, SPG Plat
Posts: 3,259
Originally Posted by eponymous_coward
Not just that, LA and JJ have no flights to Africa. So it'd be something whackadoodle like BOS-MIA-SCL-MAD-LHR-JNB.

But hey, what's 6,000 miles over 125% of MPM between friends?
Should be able to do something like this however (availability dependent of course) BOS-CLT-GRU(stop)-JNB (US/SA) and then SA/US mix back to BOS. This itinerary is well below the MPM+25% and just over the actual MPM.

Then book a return from GRU via SCL with LAN. Personally, rather than use cash, I would book a return award in J for just 30k.. not bad for 10hrs flying time on flat beds.

Or alternatively BOS-PHL-MIA-LIM(stop)-GRU-JNB (US/AV/SA)

Last edited by pogonation; May 20, 2014 at 7:05 pm
pogonation is offline  
Old May 21, 2014, 3:14 am
  #1002  
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 88
Question OW award showing on BA website but not bookable via US airways?

Hi,

I am looking to book a round trip award ticket using dividend miles. I checked the availability on BA website before I made the call. However, the rep said she couldn't find those seats available for dividend miles redemption. Is it because they haven't completely merge the system yet or there are restrictions as to what Dividend miles can book?

The flights I am looking at are BA, AA, CX flights. All coach.
therabbit is offline  
Old May 21, 2014, 4:58 am
  #1003  
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Programs: Flying: VA; Buying: AA, AS, AV, BA, UA!
Posts: 2,349
BA is currently showing lots of phantom CX availability. Use the JL mileage bank online search for the most likely picture of availability a US agent might see.

The same issue occurs trying to book CX with AA miles. BA says yes, AA and JL say no.

Also if using BA search each sector individually. It can give wrong results when there are connecting flights.
wheresmybagba is offline  
Old May 21, 2014, 5:44 am
  #1004  
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: YYZ-HKT-CWL
Programs: aeroplan E .HH.
Posts: 994
Toronto YYZ to Phuket HKT rtn. In First/ Biz. Route advise

FTers Please recommend routing ( Cathay F would be good) Planning trip next Jan2015 rtn late April YYZ-HKT rtn with stop over upon return in UK ( or Europe ). Yes I have signed up with award bookers But would like some suggestions of pos routes We will try to find space. Cheers. TD. Could purchase positioning flts
thaidai is offline  
Old May 21, 2014, 9:06 am
  #1005  
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 2,592
Originally Posted by Wilko Pali Sedef
I've seen all kinds of routings in this thread that show all kinds of itineraries crossing 3 to 4 different continents, that's what I would be after. Are you saying it used to be possible and now it isn't?
Have you ever seen trip from Asia to Europe via NA ,? at *A time ? At OW time ?
CGRA is offline  

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