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]
Feb 5, 2015, 7:25 am
#3301
Join Date: Feb 2001
Programs: IHG Diamond, HH Diamond, BW Diamond Select, Accor Silver, Marriott Gold
Posts: 4,227
Meanwhile, it's sad to see the end of an era approaching.
I just booked my last big USDM trip, with the return including a seat in QF F LAX-MEL for Jan 2016. I wonder if I'll be the last?
(QF shows one F seat left in Jan, on the 24th, but that may be snapped up in the weeks before US/AA/etc can book it.)
Feb 5, 2015, 7:33 am
#3302
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,403
I've pecked around through a bunch of this and lost the trail of breadcrumbs you kind (and DEEPLY researching!) folks have tried to leave for the likes me.
I'll nutshell it and hope someone will cast a line:
Have AA/DM to use and like to plan waaay in advance. 2 adults, 2 kids (9&14).
Looking to visit Spain from IAD or DCA - and would love a lay/stop-over somewhere else.
Presently concentrating on Thanksgiving or Christmas 2015.
Profoundly allergic to fuel charges.
Cannot make heads or tails of OneWorld stuff.
Can offer a copy of my latest book (a collection of short stories) in return.
I'll nutshell it and hope someone will cast a line:
Have AA/DM to use and like to plan waaay in advance. 2 adults, 2 kids (9&14).
Looking to visit Spain from IAD or DCA - and would love a lay/stop-over somewhere else.
Presently concentrating on Thanksgiving or Christmas 2015.
Profoundly allergic to fuel charges.
Cannot make heads or tails of OneWorld stuff.
Can offer a copy of my latest book (a collection of short stories) in return.
for USA-europe this leaves air berlin, American Airlines, us airways, finnair.
if you want to have a stopover (see note below on stopover restrictions) avoid london as it will attract a 'luxury' departure tax for anything but the coach cabin. you can stopover at any US airways destination city in Europe, or at the hubs of air berlin or finnair. from those hubs you can of course fly on to Spain.
I'm not entirely across the best search engines for you to use based in the USA. Obviously US awards are searchable via their website, but I'm not so sure the best place to search air Berlin and finnair.
AA awards will be one way, and don't allow stopovers. USDM awards are round trip, and allow one stopover for the entire itinerary.
air Berlin might be your best bet to secure 4 seats... otherwise possibly split the party into two.
Feb 5, 2015, 1:43 pm
#3303
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: NYC
Programs: UA 1K, AA EXP, DL Silver, Hyatt Diamond, SPG Gold, HHonor Gold, Hertz President's Circle
Posts: 352
US miles booking JL and MH award flights
I found some award space on Japan Airlines flight JFK-NRT-SYD, but when I called, US agents cannot find it.
I googled and it is apparently a common issue. JL award space doesn't show up in the US system unless the agent "opens up a new window and specifically request the flight". I called again with instructions and the US agent was able to reserve those seats.
On the return flight, I found some MH award space via BA.com, called US and they cannot see these Malaysian flights at all. I tried to ask them to "open up a new window", the agent said he was able to see MH flights in the OW system. But he can only book anything available in US's "click" system, so he cannot do anything with those MH seats.
Anyone have any experience in dealing with this?
Thanks,
I googled and it is apparently a common issue. JL award space doesn't show up in the US system unless the agent "opens up a new window and specifically request the flight". I called again with instructions and the US agent was able to reserve those seats.
On the return flight, I found some MH award space via BA.com, called US and they cannot see these Malaysian flights at all. I tried to ask them to "open up a new window", the agent said he was able to see MH flights in the OW system. But he can only book anything available in US's "click" system, so he cannot do anything with those MH seats.
Anyone have any experience in dealing with this?
Thanks,
Feb 5, 2015, 2:35 pm
#3304
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 177
Someone told me about being able to use AA one world award chart using Dividend Miles. Is this true? I cannot find it anywhere.
Feb 5, 2015, 2:40 pm
#3305
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,403
Feb 5, 2015, 2:44 pm
#3307
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,403
Feb 5, 2015, 2:53 pm
#3308
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: ZRH/SFO
Programs: A3*G - AZ CFP- HH DIA
Posts: 3,666
Feb 5, 2015, 4:18 pm
#3309
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: DC Area
Programs: AA, DL, UA, US, HA, CC, IHC, HH, SPG, PC, TY, AARP, Partridge in a pear tree...
Posts: 26
Thanks LHR/MEL/Europe FF & Kremmen,
VERY helpful!
I've wiled away this afternoon trying various combinations of locales.
I knew about avoiding BA, but having to swear off Jolly Ol' was a bit of a blow.
So I've instead concentrated on tying any other European capital (Rome, Paris, Budapest) into the stopover attempt. I've concentrated so far on trying to wind up in Mallorca, Valencia, or Málaga... with no luck.
I've gotten absolutely ~zip~ out of the USDM searcher (even when just trying for a RT from WAS (I'm near IAD) to TXL. Absolutely zero.
AA's search has gotten me a bit farther, offering a plane change in Munich or Berlin (both great) but no way back.
AB's searcher simply tells me there's no such thing as a round trip between the DC area and anywhere in Spain.
Do I seem a bit over my head here? 'Cause I feel like there must be some simple way to link this all up... and I'm a little too simple to see it.
Is this one where you simply call in and ask for the call-in-booking fee to be waived?
VERY helpful!
I've wiled away this afternoon trying various combinations of locales.
I knew about avoiding BA, but having to swear off Jolly Ol' was a bit of a blow.
So I've instead concentrated on tying any other European capital (Rome, Paris, Budapest) into the stopover attempt. I've concentrated so far on trying to wind up in Mallorca, Valencia, or Málaga... with no luck.
I've gotten absolutely ~zip~ out of the USDM searcher (even when just trying for a RT from WAS (I'm near IAD) to TXL. Absolutely zero.
AA's search has gotten me a bit farther, offering a plane change in Munich or Berlin (both great) but no way back.
AB's searcher simply tells me there's no such thing as a round trip between the DC area and anywhere in Spain.
Do I seem a bit over my head here? 'Cause I feel like there must be some simple way to link this all up... and I'm a little too simple to see it.
Is this one where you simply call in and ask for the call-in-booking fee to be waived?
Feb 5, 2015, 4:26 pm
#3310
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,403
Thanks LHR/MEL/Europe FF & Kremmen,
VERY helpful!
I've wiled away this afternoon trying various combinations of locales.
I knew about avoiding BA, but having to swear off Jolly Ol' was a bit of a blow.
So I've instead concentrated on tying any other European capital (Rome, Paris, Budapest) into the stopover attempt. I've concentrated so far on trying to wind up in Mallorca, Valencia, or Málaga... with no luck.
I've gotten absolutely ~zip~ out of the USDM searcher (even when just trying for a RT from WAS (I'm near IAD) to TXL. Absolutely zero.
AA's search has gotten me a bit farther, offering a plane change in Munich or Berlin (both great) but no way back.
AB's searcher simply tells me there's no such thing as a round trip between the DC area and anywhere in Spain.
Do I seem a bit over my head here? 'Cause I feel like there must be some simple way to link this all up... and I'm a little too simple to see it.
Is this one where you simply call in and ask for the call-in-booking fee to be waived?
VERY helpful!
I've wiled away this afternoon trying various combinations of locales.
I knew about avoiding BA, but having to swear off Jolly Ol' was a bit of a blow.
So I've instead concentrated on tying any other European capital (Rome, Paris, Budapest) into the stopover attempt. I've concentrated so far on trying to wind up in Mallorca, Valencia, or Málaga... with no luck.
I've gotten absolutely ~zip~ out of the USDM searcher (even when just trying for a RT from WAS (I'm near IAD) to TXL. Absolutely zero.
AA's search has gotten me a bit farther, offering a plane change in Munich or Berlin (both great) but no way back.
AB's searcher simply tells me there's no such thing as a round trip between the DC area and anywhere in Spain.
Do I seem a bit over my head here? 'Cause I feel like there must be some simple way to link this all up... and I'm a little too simple to see it.
Is this one where you simply call in and ask for the call-in-booking fee to be waived?
the best strategy is to break your journey into segments... the transatlantic, then the connections in Europe. you should look for the transatlantic from gateway cities, then add in any connections in the us to get to the gateway if necessary.
the U.S. airways tool will be helpful to find any US flights to Europe, but for partners you'd need to look at other sources.
once you have found availability, you call us airways with the flights and they'll book them (provided they can 'see' them... sometimes there is phantom availability out there).
the phone fee is waived (but you still pay the award processing fee).
Feb 5, 2015, 5:26 pm
#3311
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: DC Area
Programs: AA, DL, UA, US, HA, CC, IHC, HH, SPG, PC, TY, AARP, Partridge in a pear tree...
Posts: 26
By George, I think I've got (some of) it!
With your kind help and a woman at AA's phone bank (in Bangalore?) I have a much better clue than I did.
She completely understood shunning BA and it's surcharges and we researched several options.
No seats were available for December 2015. She suggested that it was unlikely that all mileage seats were gone but that they might need to sell a few more paid-seats before they offer any more mile-seats. And that I should call back as often as I liked to see if any opened up. AB and IB look like good potentials... we'll see.
Using the OneWorld site to get the flight numbers to feed to AA on the phone was just the ticket to get it done (had there been any seats).
Now it's simply waiting, I guess, to see if it becomes possible. Anyone have any insight on that?
She completely understood shunning BA and it's surcharges and we researched several options.
No seats were available for December 2015. She suggested that it was unlikely that all mileage seats were gone but that they might need to sell a few more paid-seats before they offer any more mile-seats. And that I should call back as often as I liked to see if any opened up. AB and IB look like good potentials... we'll see.
Using the OneWorld site to get the flight numbers to feed to AA on the phone was just the ticket to get it done (had there been any seats).
Now it's simply waiting, I guess, to see if it becomes possible. Anyone have any insight on that?
Feb 5, 2015, 5:36 pm
#3312
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,403
With your kind help and a woman at AA's phone bank (in Bangalore?) I have a much better clue than I did.
She completely understood shunning BA and it's surcharges and we researched several options.
No seats were available for December 2015. She suggested that it was unlikely that all mileage seats were gone but that they might need to sell a few more paid-seats before they offer any more mile-seats. And that I should call back as often as I liked to see if any opened up. AB and IB look like good potentials... we'll see.
Using the OneWorld site to get the flight numbers to feed to AA on the phone was just the ticket to get it done (had there been any seats).
Now it's simply waiting, I guess, to see if it becomes possible. Anyone have any insight on that?
She completely understood shunning BA and it's surcharges and we researched several options.
No seats were available for December 2015. She suggested that it was unlikely that all mileage seats were gone but that they might need to sell a few more paid-seats before they offer any more mile-seats. And that I should call back as often as I liked to see if any opened up. AB and IB look like good potentials... we'll see.
Using the OneWorld site to get the flight numbers to feed to AA on the phone was just the ticket to get it done (had there been any seats).
Now it's simply waiting, I guess, to see if it becomes possible. Anyone have any insight on that?
if you are looking to avoid fuel surcharges, avoid Iberia.
december is potentially a quiet time for business travel, but the resulting award seats are quickly snapped up. continue to monitor your preferred dates, but at this stage I'd be locking in whatever you can find, even if the routing is more circuitous, and you can possible change later(with the caveat we don't really know how changes will be handled once USDM is part of aa).
Feb 5, 2015, 5:46 pm
#3313
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: YVR
Posts: 1,465
With your kind help and a woman at AA's phone bank (in Bangalore?) I have a much better clue than I did.
She completely understood shunning BA and it's surcharges and we researched several options.
No seats were available for December 2015. She suggested that it was unlikely that all mileage seats were gone but that they might need to sell a few more paid-seats before they offer any more mile-seats. And that I should call back as often as I liked to see if any opened up. AB and IB look like good potentials... we'll see.
Using the OneWorld site to get the flight numbers to feed to AA on the phone was just the ticket to get it done (had there been any seats).
Now it's simply waiting, I guess, to see if it becomes possible. Anyone have any insight on that?
She completely understood shunning BA and it's surcharges and we researched several options.
No seats were available for December 2015. She suggested that it was unlikely that all mileage seats were gone but that they might need to sell a few more paid-seats before they offer any more mile-seats. And that I should call back as often as I liked to see if any opened up. AB and IB look like good potentials... we'll see.
Using the OneWorld site to get the flight numbers to feed to AA on the phone was just the ticket to get it done (had there been any seats).
Now it's simply waiting, I guess, to see if it becomes possible. Anyone have any insight on that?
AA award availability is wide open in all classes. Every Tue, Wed, Thu in December has seats for JFK-LHR, for example. Just find short-haul feeders to build your itinerary and call to book.
Just go to:
http://www.aa.com/reservation/awardF...earchAccess.do
Search for IAD-BCN, choose business class, MileSAAver, "American Airlines and American Eagle", and you will see lots of options. Select the one you want, and then call US Airways and give them the flight numbers to book.
Last edited by echino; Feb 5, 2015 at 5:53 pm
Feb 5, 2015, 6:58 pm
#3314
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: DC Area
Programs: AA, DL, UA, US, HA, CC, IHC, HH, SPG, PC, TY, AARP, Partridge in a pear tree...
Posts: 26
No, I meant AA.
When she offered opinions on how to book it, it seemed reasonable. And at 20k each way, it really seemed like the best deal.
Perhaps I should retrace a bit of this by saying we are parents traveling with two kids, and four seats can be... a challenge. So I had her look for a single seat first.
While I have nearly 200k in AA miles, I've only banked 90k in USDM... so I've been anticipating the merge in points to be able to get the four of us somewhere. When she confirmed WAS to PMI was 80k each way for four... I thought that was pretty good.
Should I instead call USDM and try the same routing?
And Echino, I see those seats to LHR too... but, of course, business class is a bit beyond our means (unless you know something I really need to know?) and touching down in England means ugly fuel charges (as in 2/3rds of the price of a regular coach ticket as a surcharge for spending my miles for a fare!). In this case flying through LHR means $2590. in surcharges + 160k miles for the tickets.
Again, I'm happy to amend if I've fallen off the breadcrumb trail.
When she offered opinions on how to book it, it seemed reasonable. And at 20k each way, it really seemed like the best deal.
Perhaps I should retrace a bit of this by saying we are parents traveling with two kids, and four seats can be... a challenge. So I had her look for a single seat first.
While I have nearly 200k in AA miles, I've only banked 90k in USDM... so I've been anticipating the merge in points to be able to get the four of us somewhere. When she confirmed WAS to PMI was 80k each way for four... I thought that was pretty good.
Should I instead call USDM and try the same routing?
And Echino, I see those seats to LHR too... but, of course, business class is a bit beyond our means (unless you know something I really need to know?) and touching down in England means ugly fuel charges (as in 2/3rds of the price of a regular coach ticket as a surcharge for spending my miles for a fare!). In this case flying through LHR means $2590. in surcharges + 160k miles for the tickets.
Again, I'm happy to amend if I've fallen off the breadcrumb trail.
Last edited by Cheapster; Feb 5, 2015 at 7:48 pm
Feb 5, 2015, 8:31 pm
#3315
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,403
this is the USDM thread - not AA. Different rules and mileage requirements apply for AA redemptions. (Although the availability is largely the same when it comes to partners.)
With respect to finding seats - as mentioned earlier you might want to split the party - 2+2. Searching for one seat is little or no indication that 2 seats will be available. But if you find 2 seats, you could lock those inif you are prepared to send the other half on a different flight/routing.
With respect to finding seats - as mentioned earlier you might want to split the party - 2+2. Searching for one seat is little or no indication that 2 seats will be available. But if you find 2 seats, you could lock those inif you are prepared to send the other half on a different flight/routing.