IamHungry

Originally I redeemed US-Asia 2 in business class for 70k miles, ORD-NRT-BKK. Then I changed to first award ORD-NRT (JL First) then NRT-BKK (JL Business), 110k miles got deducted. However, MH first class to KL opened up and I would like to take NRT-KL (MH First) then KL-BKK (MH Business) the agent said they need 10k more miles because the system said so.

I argued that it should be 110k total for US-Asia2 first award. She said the system priced 80K for ORD-NRT (F award) then 40K for NRT-BKK (F award). And there is no way to change what the computer is showing.

She said how my current award is right now is 80K for ORD-NRT and 30K for NRT-BKK. I told her it should have been 110k one deduction not two separate deductions. Anyway, she could not change it without addition 10k....I gave up and didn't make a change.

Wondering if you guys have any advice?

Thanks!

platbrownguy

Eh, I'd call back again and get the agent to ask the rate desk to reprice it as a 110k USA-Asia2, see what happens.

IamHungry

Called back and they still said 120k. I even told them to book a brand new ticket with the same route and the system still showed them 120k.

platbrownguy

But did you specifically ask the agent to call the rate desk and see if it could reprice at 110k? If you did that, and if the answer was "no," then the agent would typically be able to tell you why the fare is breaking at NRT.

Alternatively, what are your specific dates and flights? Are any of your connections >24 hours?

Dave Noble

The governing carrier will be JL for this booking

Looking at JL's fare rules, even the most expensive 1st class fare has the fare rule

so do not permit travel on MH within Asia; this would explain why it is pricing as 2 awards

1st class USA-Asia 2 is priced at 110k and 2 awards of USA to Asia 1 in 1st plus Asia 1 to Asia 2 in business also totals at 110k

It is normally better that it has been priced as 2 awards, since it means that you can have a stopover in Asia 2 if desired - could even use it to have a stopover somewhere else in Asia 1 if desired

If it could be changed to 110k as a single award, it would , I believe, require a mileage redeposit and $175

platbrownguy

Why are you thinking those fare rules matter? I have personally redeemed at least 8 JL F TPACs with AA miles. I have had flights on AA, HA, CX, KA, and even MH on the same awards. (80k if Asia 1, 110k if Asia 2). In fact, not long before AA implemented the 4-segment limitation, I had DCA-ORD-NRT-ICN-HKG-SIN-KUL-SGN, with AA F - JL F - JL J - CX F - CX J - MH J - MH J, all for 110k (with nearly 24h in each of ICN, HKG, and SIN). I just looked at my receipt to verify it. Why would that be permissible for 110k but OP's ORD-NRT-KUL-BKK is not?

I understand that there must be a published routing available, but I have never known that to mean that revenue fare rules actually apply.

IamHungry

I did ask them to ask the rate desk but they insisted that it didn't matter, they had to go with the computer. Here is my routing 12/29 ORD-NRT (arriving nrt on 12/30 at 3pm) 12/31 NRT-KUL (Leaving nrt at 10.10am) 12/31 KUL-BKK

IamHungry

Wow. Your route was impressive. I even called Aussie line, since I heard they were pretty good at partner awards, and they still priced it at 120k.

IamHungry

But my original flight was ORD-NRT (JL J) NRT-KUL (MH J) KUL-BKK (MH J) and it priced 70k as US -Asia2 business award just fine.

Dave Noble

In the 1st post you said that you had ORD-NRT-BKK at 70k, then changed to ORD-NRT in 1st and NRT-BKK in business at 110k

In the end, it does come down to how it prices in the system; since a paid journey would require 2 tickets, I am not surprised that this one does