Please report your successful redemptions using Diamond Club miles (2009)
Dec 21, 2009, 5:26 pm
#1711
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: BER
Posts: 512
TXL-CPH-LHR C SK @ 12,375 miles and 61,70GBP taxes for Jan 3, 2010. ^
That was the only available option, not a single seat in economy und not a single seat on LH via FRA, MUC, DUS available... Efficiently booked, ETKT issued within 8 hours. I was glad to grab a seat for my friend at all given the tight availability on Jan 2, 3 and 4 =)
That was the only available option, not a single seat in economy und not a single seat on LH via FRA, MUC, DUS available... Efficiently booked, ETKT issued within 8 hours. I was glad to grab a seat for my friend at all given the tight availability on Jan 2, 3 and 4 =)
Dec 22, 2009, 2:14 am
#1712
Join Date: Nov 2004
Programs: BA Gold, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 574
2 Pax for Sept 2010
DUB-LHR J BD (Gordon Brown tax avoidance)
overnight London (<24hrs)
LHR-IAD J UA (new J 767)
IAD-MCO Y UA
18750 miles + £105 + £92 taxes (thanks to starting in DUB) x2
Real problems booking the last sector. 3 different operators said they saw availability of the seats but the system wouldn't let them book them on my proposed itinerary. I asked them to see if they were bookable as a completely separate booking - in each case they were
. No plausible explanation forthcoming each time, just "the system is showing an error message" and a random "those seats that are showing as available are only actually bookable by United members". !
Fourth time lucky - tried a different approach and asked them first to book LHR-IAD-MCO (no problems) and then add DUB-LHR to the front end (again no problems).
Ticketed within one hour and seats selected on United.com
I also cancelled another booking on the same successful call - handled very efficiently and miles redeposited into my account instantly. Just need the credit card to refund now !
DUB-LHR J BD (Gordon Brown tax avoidance)
overnight London (<24hrs)
LHR-IAD J UA (new J 767)
IAD-MCO Y UA
18750 miles + £105 + £92 taxes (thanks to starting in DUB) x2
Real problems booking the last sector. 3 different operators said they saw availability of the seats but the system wouldn't let them book them on my proposed itinerary. I asked them to see if they were bookable as a completely separate booking - in each case they were
. No plausible explanation forthcoming each time, just "the system is showing an error message" and a random "those seats that are showing as available are only actually bookable by United members". !Fourth time lucky - tried a different approach and asked them first to book LHR-IAD-MCO (no problems) and then add DUB-LHR to the front end (again no problems).
Ticketed within one hour and seats selected on United.com
I also cancelled another booking on the same successful call - handled very efficiently and miles redeposited into my account instantly. Just need the credit card to refund now !
Dec 22, 2009, 2:27 am
#1713
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2003
Programs: BA Silver, EY Gold, HH Diamond, IHG Plat
Posts: 12,214
Never happens with me. I always have to go chasing after refunds a couple of weeks later for the miles and cash. Waiting for one now too.
Dec 22, 2009, 3:04 am
#1714
Join Date: May 2006
Location: 5 miles from EMA
Programs: BD, BAEC Pleb, VS Pleb, Accor Pleb, HHonors Gold, Big White Season Pass
Posts: 5,925
You just need to beware that this can sometime happen with UA flights.
Dec 22, 2009, 5:36 am
#1715
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: London, U.K.
Programs: bmi British Midland International Diamond Club
Posts: 3,371
This morning I called to make a cash and miles booking for a one-way journey from PSP (Palm Springs, CA)-LAX [stopover]-ZRH-LCY for myself +1. Mixed award in Economy on UA, First Class on Swiss and business for the last sector.
First call. I was on the line for just over 20 mins, of which 15 mins on hold. When the guy came back the line went dead. Nice.
Second call. Spoke to the efficient Rohan, explained that I was just cut off in the middle of making a redemption and my details hadn't even been taken so there was no way to retrieve the PNR. Rohan was very nice and apologised for his colleague (I was in a bit of a huff as I was worried the LX seats were lost) and made the booking again in quick time, no holding. Was quoted 18,750 miles plus £105 cash plus £107.30 taxes (excluding credit card fee) per pax.
I thought Christmas had come early for me until Rohan called me back 5 mins later to tell me the correct amount was 31,250 miles and £286.80 per pax (secretly hoped no one would call me back). Anyway I thanked him and I'm pleased I got what I wanted without too much hassle. Trip is for April, first time I've ever booked an award more than a month in advance.
Total miles for 2 pax: 62,500
Total cash including all fees: £573.60
Edited: Just called again to change the last sector to LHR at 20:25 so we can have time to enjoy a full three course dinner in the First Class Lounge restaurant before continuing our journey home. I'm usually too tired to cook when I arrive home after a longhaul flight anyway and I'm never one to turn down a free dinner. The timing is better for us too as my brother can pick us up later in the evening instead of us taking public transport.
Edited yet again: Ticket numbers issued in under 3hrs. Taxes are also correct at £107.30 per pax but the cash component and cc fee is not a tax!
Airfare and cc fee (DU) = £175 + £4.50 = £179.50
Taxes, fee and surcharges
US International Departure Tax (US) = £9.90
US September 11th Security Fee (AY) = (£1.50 x2) = £3.00
Swiss Airport Passenger Security & Noise Charge (CH) = £14.30
Swiss fuel surcharge (YR)= £80.10
Total: £286.80
First call. I was on the line for just over 20 mins, of which 15 mins on hold. When the guy came back the line went dead. Nice.
Second call. Spoke to the efficient Rohan, explained that I was just cut off in the middle of making a redemption and my details hadn't even been taken so there was no way to retrieve the PNR. Rohan was very nice and apologised for his colleague (I was in a bit of a huff as I was worried the LX seats were lost) and made the booking again in quick time, no holding. Was quoted 18,750 miles plus £105 cash plus £107.30 taxes (excluding credit card fee) per pax.
I thought Christmas had come early for me until Rohan called me back 5 mins later to tell me the correct amount was 31,250 miles and £286.80 per pax (secretly hoped no one would call me back). Anyway I thanked him and I'm pleased I got what I wanted without too much hassle. Trip is for April, first time I've ever booked an award more than a month in advance.
Total miles for 2 pax: 62,500
Total cash including all fees: £573.60
Edited: Just called again to change the last sector to LHR at 20:25 so we can have time to enjoy a full three course dinner in the First Class Lounge restaurant before continuing our journey home. I'm usually too tired to cook when I arrive home after a longhaul flight anyway and I'm never one to turn down a free dinner. The timing is better for us too as my brother can pick us up later in the evening instead of us taking public transport.
Edited yet again: Ticket numbers issued in under 3hrs. Taxes are also correct at £107.30 per pax but the cash component and cc fee is not a tax!
PHP Code:
ENDORSEMENTS : DC MILES PLUS CASH BOOKIN/ RESTRICTIONS APPLY
PAYMENT : CC AX XXXXXXXXXXX0238/EXP0512 M *65 286.80 /
INV-AC-022
FARE CALCULATION : PSP UA LAX LX X/ZRH LX LON0GBP0END XT 9.9US3AY14.3CH
AIR FARE : GBP 0.00
TAX : GBP 179.50DU 80.10YR 24.5XT
TOTAL : GBP 286.80
Taxes, fee and surcharges
US International Departure Tax (US) = £9.90
US September 11th Security Fee (AY) = (£1.50 x2) = £3.00
Swiss Airport Passenger Security & Noise Charge (CH) = £14.30
Swiss fuel surcharge (YR)= £80.10
Total: £286.80
Last edited by Strawb; Dec 22, 2009 at 9:18 am
Dec 24, 2009, 3:21 am
#1716
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Somewhere in Northen Europe
Programs: BA Silver, Club Carlson Concierge, Avis President's Club, SAS Silver
Posts: 43
Just booked LHR-YYZ-LHR in Exec 1st with Air Canada in July, cost 67,500 miles plus GBP209 including 4.50 CC fee.
If you haven't tried AC Exec 1st yet, you should!
Availability was showing as wide open for most dates in July with the ANA tool.
Super efficient experience with the ICC, total call elapsed time just over 6mins and the booking is already viewable on flybmi!
Happy holidays to all!
If you haven't tried AC Exec 1st yet, you should!
Availability was showing as wide open for most dates in July with the ANA tool.
Super efficient experience with the ICC, total call elapsed time just over 6mins and the booking is already viewable on flybmi!
Happy holidays to all!
Dec 26, 2009, 3:40 am
#1717
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Montreux CH
Programs: FB Platinum, M&M FTL, BA Blue
Posts: 11,642
Should have posted this before, as the booking was made quite a few days ago:
EDI-ZRH Y (BD)
Cash & Miles
3,375 miles, GBP56.80 cash, taxes & CC fee.
Really a good deal, I thought, for early January when prices with other carriers, particularly so called Low Cost carriers, are sky high.
In an interesting bit of maths, if I had booked this with M&M (as a One Way European business class tkt) it would have cost 33,750 miles, so 10 times more miles. (M&M have no Cash & Miles option, though).
This was booked online, as it is solely on BD. However, if I wanted to add a sector, would that be possible at this stage? Presumably through the call centre before ticketing? But how does End-on-End work, where you can add sectors to the beginning and end of a trip? That is something I still have not yet got into...
EDI-ZRH Y (BD)
Cash & Miles
3,375 miles, GBP56.80 cash, taxes & CC fee.
Really a good deal, I thought, for early January when prices with other carriers, particularly so called Low Cost carriers, are sky high.
In an interesting bit of maths, if I had booked this with M&M (as a One Way European business class tkt) it would have cost 33,750 miles, so 10 times more miles. (M&M have no Cash & Miles option, though).
This was booked online, as it is solely on BD. However, if I wanted to add a sector, would that be possible at this stage? Presumably through the call centre before ticketing? But how does End-on-End work, where you can add sectors to the beginning and end of a trip? That is something I still have not yet got into...
Dec 26, 2009, 12:43 pm
#1718
Suspended
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 1,992
Just made the following booking for April 3rd 2010;
HNL – SFO UA First on a 777 and then SFO- SAN in coach
Then on 7th April 2010;
SAN – IAH on CO in Business and then IAH – LHR also in Business. (hopefully CO will have the new Business First beds on their 777).
Total price including tax £284
Now all I need to do is work out how Im getting to HNL from LON on 23rd March 2010!
Happy New year all!
HNL – SFO UA First on a 777 and then SFO- SAN in coach
Then on 7th April 2010;
SAN – IAH on CO in Business and then IAH – LHR also in Business. (hopefully CO will have the new Business First beds on their 777).
Total price including tax £284
Now all I need to do is work out how Im getting to HNL from LON on 23rd March 2010!
Happy New year all!
Dec 27, 2009, 3:03 am
#1721
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: London, England
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 3,772
ICN-ZAG
Booked what will likely be my final redemption for quite some time this morning:
ICN-PEK Asiana F Class
PEK-VIE Austrian C Class
VIE-ZAG Croatian C Class
Miles: 18,750
Cash: £127.50
Tax: £163.60 (OS have a whopping YQ surcharge)
Call handled by male agent (no name given). There were a few problems, for example being told that the flight VIE-ZAG I wanted was not available but he eventually found it. Then he told me that he would have to charge it as 2 redemptions as I was making a stopover in Z1 on the way to Z2. My stopover was however just an overnight connection which I pointed out and he charged me correct miles but no apology! Total call took 20 minutes.
Was not sure about booking OS biz class on the 767 but it was this or LH so decided to try something new. Their catering is supposed to be good at least.
Worryingly my ICN-PEK flight is showing as "confirming" on flybmi.com, although shows as "Confirmed" on CMT. This leg also shows as Economy on CMT but I'm aware that F class does this for some carriers like OZ and SQ. Fare basis on flybmi.com says O class so I'm ok.
ICN-PEK Asiana F Class
PEK-VIE Austrian C Class
VIE-ZAG Croatian C Class
Miles: 18,750
Cash: £127.50
Tax: £163.60 (OS have a whopping YQ surcharge)
Call handled by male agent (no name given). There were a few problems, for example being told that the flight VIE-ZAG I wanted was not available but he eventually found it. Then he told me that he would have to charge it as 2 redemptions as I was making a stopover in Z1 on the way to Z2. My stopover was however just an overnight connection which I pointed out and he charged me correct miles but no apology! Total call took 20 minutes.
Was not sure about booking OS biz class on the 767 but it was this or LH so decided to try something new. Their catering is supposed to be good at least.
Worryingly my ICN-PEK flight is showing as "confirming" on flybmi.com, although shows as "Confirmed" on CMT. This leg also shows as Economy on CMT but I'm aware that F class does this for some carriers like OZ and SQ. Fare basis on flybmi.com says O class so I'm ok.
Dec 27, 2009, 4:57 am
#1722
Join Date: May 2005
Location: changing regularly
Programs: LH FT, AB Gold, bahn.comfort
Posts: 220
Booked this morning for the first weekend of the new year, this was cheaper than any Ryanair flight to Germany:
DUB-FRA in C for 3375 miles+30GBP cash, 48GBP taxes, and 4,50GBP credit card fee
Y would have been available too, but I couldn't resist securing myself a free neighboring seat for 1125 miles+10GBP... ^
DUB-FRA in C for 3375 miles+30GBP cash, 48GBP taxes, and 4,50GBP credit card fee
Y would have been available too, but I couldn't resist securing myself a free neighboring seat for 1125 miles+10GBP... ^
Dec 28, 2009, 1:42 am
#1723
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: UK
Posts: 70
On the day SQ announced the 77W on the SIN-(MUC)-MAN route, I also managed to get an award in J. Just guess they needed a few days to sort the anomalies/loopholes. Ticketed, so hopefully all is well.
Dec 29, 2009, 8:22 am
#1724
Join Date: May 2003
Location: NY
Programs: AS Gold/SPG Gold/Hertz PC
Posts: 737
Forgot to post these two OW awards from Jakarta to New York w/ a Singapore stopover ... had to take our newborn back to New York so these awards came in very handy (no extra miles for lap infants). Also, this is probably one the best use of C award on BD if you want to fly F on TK from IST to JFK (F seems to be widely available but C availability is not very good; and IST-JFK is slightly shorter in distance than SIN-IST).
Sunday, December 06, 2009
Departure :06:15 - Jakarta, Indonesia
Arrival :08:50 - Singapore, Singapore
Airline :Singapore Airlines SQ951
Fare type :Business
Aircraft :Boeing 777-300
Monday, December 07, 2009
Departure :23:35 - Singapore, Singapore
Arrival :05:35+1day(s) - Istanbul, Turkey
Airline :Turkish Airlines TK067
Fare type :Business
Aircraft :Airbus Industrie A330
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
Departure :10:30 - Istanbul, Turkey
Arrival :14:45 - New York, USA - John F Kennedy
Airline :Turkish Airlines TK001
Fare type :First
Aircraft :Boeing 777-300ER
Sunday, December 06, 2009
Departure :06:15 - Jakarta, Indonesia
Arrival :08:50 - Singapore, Singapore
Airline :Singapore Airlines SQ951
Fare type :Business
Aircraft :Boeing 777-300
Monday, December 07, 2009
Departure :23:35 - Singapore, Singapore
Arrival :05:35+1day(s) - Istanbul, Turkey
Airline :Turkish Airlines TK067
Fare type :Business
Aircraft :Airbus Industrie A330
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
Departure :10:30 - Istanbul, Turkey
Arrival :14:45 - New York, USA - John F Kennedy
Airline :Turkish Airlines TK001
Fare type :First
Aircraft :Boeing 777-300ER
Dec 29, 2009, 3:55 pm
#1725
Join Date: Apr 2007
Programs: A3 *G
Posts: 171
Booked for Sept - 6 pax C on LX
DUB-ZUR
Overnight Zurich
ZUR-LAX
2 weeks in Calfornia
LAX-ZUR
ZUR-LHR-BHD
37.5k miles, 210 cash, 305 taxes, 4.50 credit card fee ( x 6
)
Good experience with the ICC - first attempt I got Rohan, who I see has been mentioned as reliable above. 31 mins in total - built it from the main sectors, no issues with seeing availablity, etc, call length was due to the fact that I wanted to book it over two tickets and the hold time when taxes were being loaded.
As always many thanks for the helpful advice from the board ! I really no clue how somebody would achieve the redemptions we see on this and the previous threads without your help.
DUB-ZUR
Overnight Zurich
ZUR-LAX
2 weeks in Calfornia
LAX-ZUR
ZUR-LHR-BHD
37.5k miles, 210 cash, 305 taxes, 4.50 credit card fee ( x 6
) Good experience with the ICC - first attempt I got Rohan, who I see has been mentioned as reliable above. 31 mins in total - built it from the main sectors, no issues with seeing availablity, etc, call length was due to the fact that I wanted to book it over two tickets and the hold time when taxes were being loaded.
As always many thanks for the helpful advice from the board ! I really no clue how somebody would achieve the redemptions we see on this and the previous threads without your help.