TOMFORD

What does "entirely in one region" mean? I was going to spend 4 days in SAF, but I want to change it to 2 days in DEN (UA hub, flying all segments on UA) and 2 days in SAF. But I'd like to know if it is possible to change my award tickets without fees.

eponymous_coward

The Continental USA (ex-Hawaii, which is a different region), in your case- you get no stopover because your award never leaves that region. If this was FRA-EWR-DEN-SAF-DEN-FRA, you could have a stopover in DEN because this would be an award involving two regions (Europe and North America).

The specific rule is as follows: "One en route stopover per itinerary is permitted for select international travel awards." In practice "select international travel awards" means "you have to be traveling between two different regions"- there's no stopovers allowed on an intra-South Asia award, even if it involves travel between Bangkok, Singapore and India.

Also, changing tickets would incur the $150 fee unless you have US Chairman's Preferred, or have a schedule change you can use to get a freebie.

TOMFORD

Oh ok, understod. Thank you

jamar

So is there anything that can be done about this? I was able to get the return just fine, though that seems to take off just before midnight.

Just be careful of direct changes; twice in a row I got an agent who insisted that since UA initiated the schedule change, they would have to approve any further changes (I specifically went looking for a late-night departure because I needed the full day in town before leaving; UA rescheduled me onto a 6AM departure).

BearSmart

Newbie on US Airways tickets reservation. Really appreciate any comments/ideas.

We are a family of 4 (2 adults, 2 kids). We each have individual Dividend Miles account and each have enough miles to redeem for a business class ticket from YYC to SAN. My wife and I can call for ourselves to make our own reservation but my kids are too young to call. Will US Airways agent let me make reservation for my kids using my kids' own Dividend Miles?

Another question is what's the chance for us to get 4 business tickets on the same flight?

Thanks!!

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

yes... you can ask them to check for a departure the day before you want to fly! that may bring up the flight.

the problem my folks had with this was that they were arriving on a Thursday evening and connecting on the Friday at 0015... USDM couldn't see the 0015 for Friday, but could see it by entering Thursday's date... all fine, except it was now a 'miss connect' in the system (flight 2 departing before flight 1 arrived).

it took about an hour but USDM finally managed to ticket it.

I think they eventually got around it by scrapping the whole booking and booking flight 2 first, then somehow forcing in flight 1.

of course if you don't have an immediate connection (stopover or whatever) then it should be a lot easier.

SingaporeDon

Yes, you can call and book (and pay!!!) for your kids ( and your wife's!) tickets.

Yes, I got four business class on both LH (SIN-FRA) and TG (OSL-BKK) flights.

However, just a word of caution, as mentioned in my earlier posts here, two of my four TG OSL-BKK business class redemptions were cancelled - not sure if the agent never made the booking or they were cancelled by TG after confirming them. The US Air supervisor told me that even after a partner airline confirms a US Air Dividends miles redemption, they have 24 hours to cancel ( she claims this can be done by the partner airline even if the ticket has been issued by US Air) - Not sure if other have had this experience, but the US Air supervisor was adamant that the partner airline had the right to cancel

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

this is an unusual case you mention... and I haven't heard of it happening before.

I was having a think about why this might have happened... and it might be to do with the way TG releases their award inventory.

TG will only release 2 seats in premium classes at any one time. even if they intend to have 8 seats on a flight, only 2 will show at a time.

generally, and provided the total allocation hasn't been exhausted, a further two seats will show almost immediately once you have booked your first couple of seats.

I am wondering if 2 seats showed, but someone else managed to snag those before the USDM agent got hold of them, or if in fact they were booked almost simultaneously? and it just happened the total allocation had been reached (so yours missed out?)

I suppose technically I could understand that airlines have some caveat that they have the right to cancel within 24 hours if there was some technical error. but I haven't heard if this happening on these boards (or anywhere else) since we started talking about it way back when.

most common is an airline failing to push the ticket numbers across and the seat auto canceling. is it possible USDM only sent across 2 out of the 4 ticket numbers?

BearSmart

Thanks!!!! Do I need my wife and kids with me when I call US Airways?

Sorry to hear that your tickets got cancelled. Hope it works out at the end.

JamesBond_ppk

On your kid's and wife Dividend Miles online profile, section "Booking preferences" you will find a "Third party authorization" section where you can add your name. This should do the trick.

vodkashine

This is a great tip for me as my wife hates doing these bookings.
Thanks!^^

Travelomania

WOW ... I just received a courtesy phone call from US about a 10-min schedule change.
After millions of miles flying the legacies with status, this is a first
It makes up more than enuf for the frustrating booking process I always seem to have to endure with US phone agents.

PVDtoDEL

Your ticket can not, under any circumstance, be cancelled or amended involuntarily once ticketed. If a partner tried cancelling availability after an itinerary was ticketed, US would have the obligation to fix the situation as the ticketing carrier - they'd probably call the operating carrier and sort it out. In the United States, the ticketing carrier has the legal obligation to resolve schedule changes, inventory changes, etc. - in contrast, the EU and India put the onus on the operating carrier to fix these situations.

However, before ticketing, carriers are free to cancel inventory. The 72 hours/3 days (depending on operatingcarrier) are courtesy customer service gestures, and there is no legal obligation to honor this policy. When one manages to put together a good itinerary, ticketing should be done ASAP - the inventory can be cancelled at any time.

PVDtoDEL

Carriers do not have the right to cancel if there was a technical error - otherwise, the mistake fares which we FTers love so much would be utterly useless.
In this case, USDM sent across 0 ticket numbers, because the itinerary wasn't ticketed yet. Therefore, the operating carrier is within its rights to cancel.

BearSmart

Thanks!!!