Oct 14, 2013, 4:55 pm
Last edit by: NewbieRunner
Update 08APR2014: Star Alliance Awards must have been booked by March 30, 2014. They are no longer available through US. This thread is mostly useful for historic purposes, and discussing issues such as schedule changes/route changes that affect FTers existing *A awards booked before 3/31/2014.
Discussion on using US miles to book oneworld awards is available here.
If you are looking for discussion on US's new partner awards that use various partners not in oneworld (many of whom are former *A partners), see the devoted thread on using US miles to book NON-oneworld partners here.
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Update 07JAN14: American Airlines award tickets bookable online on usairways.com or through reservation.
Please see the devoted thread on using US miles to book AA here.
Discussion on using US miles to book oneworld awards is available here.
If you are looking for discussion on US's new partner awards that use various partners not in oneworld (many of whom are former *A partners), see the devoted thread on using US miles to book NON-oneworld partners here.
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Update 07JAN14: American Airlines award tickets bookable online on usairways.com or through reservation.
- Award travel must be wholly on American Airlines or a combination of American Airlines and US Airways.
- American Airlines awards cannot be combined with any of our current partner.
- American Airlines award travel chart (PDF)
Please see the devoted thread on using US miles to book AA here.
Star Alliance Award Bookings Using US Airways Miles - FAQ and Help Thread [MERGED]
Sep 18, 2013, 3:14 am
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,401
I'd like to pass on info about a problem encountered with a recent US award booking. It was an open jaw TPE>SIN>DPS, return BKK>TPE, 60K miles in C. It was originally ticketed in May 2013.
When phoning (Sep 15) to enquire about a change, the agent reviewed the original booking and did some miles calculation and said the open jaw was not OK due to the fact that the miles between BKK>TPE were less than the open jaw portion (DPS>BKK).
I asked her why it would have been ticketed 4 months ago if it wasn't legal without any mention of this problem. I avoid any probs with them whenever possible, period. She went off, chatted with her supervisor for 20 minutes, came back and proposed a change. I said I wanted to speak with her supervisor.
Supervisor came on the phone, spoke for a few seconds and then hung up. I immediately phoned back and asked the new agent to look at the res and confirm it was OK. She said it was, it was ticketed, end of story, or so I thought.
Today I check online, and segments of the res have been cancelled without any warning. I phoned in, asked what was up, was told they had no idea why an unnamed agent had cancelled parts of the award, but said they couldn't find the seats anymore. After 1h40m on the phone, the end of the saga was: "We can't do anything except redeposit the miles for free. You'll have to make alternative arrangements."
It's the worst CS experience I've had with US in 8 years of booking awards with them. A complaint has gone in but I doubt they'll do anything. I'm disgusted. I could just about accept a call after many months saying there are probs with your award and we need to rebook. But the cancellation without notice is the really disgusting part.
This comes after a similar problem with a two-person award which we changed and the agent simply cancelled one intermediate segment. I saw it later in the day and phoned back and the new agent saw it was a problem (leaving us stranded in FRA with no FRA>USA segment). Fortunately she was able to restore the res to what it was before.
Conclusion: I really think their res dept is out of control. Beware when you think your bookings are finalized. I suggest checking them regularly to make sure nothing has been changed.
When phoning (Sep 15) to enquire about a change, the agent reviewed the original booking and did some miles calculation and said the open jaw was not OK due to the fact that the miles between BKK>TPE were less than the open jaw portion (DPS>BKK).
I asked her why it would have been ticketed 4 months ago if it wasn't legal without any mention of this problem. I avoid any probs with them whenever possible, period. She went off, chatted with her supervisor for 20 minutes, came back and proposed a change. I said I wanted to speak with her supervisor.
Supervisor came on the phone, spoke for a few seconds and then hung up. I immediately phoned back and asked the new agent to look at the res and confirm it was OK. She said it was, it was ticketed, end of story, or so I thought.
Today I check online, and segments of the res have been cancelled without any warning. I phoned in, asked what was up, was told they had no idea why an unnamed agent had cancelled parts of the award, but said they couldn't find the seats anymore. After 1h40m on the phone, the end of the saga was: "We can't do anything except redeposit the miles for free. You'll have to make alternative arrangements."
It's the worst CS experience I've had with US in 8 years of booking awards with them. A complaint has gone in but I doubt they'll do anything. I'm disgusted. I could just about accept a call after many months saying there are probs with your award and we need to rebook. But the cancellation without notice is the really disgusting part.
This comes after a similar problem with a two-person award which we changed and the agent simply cancelled one intermediate segment. I saw it later in the day and phoned back and the new agent saw it was a problem (leaving us stranded in FRA with no FRA>USA segment). Fortunately she was able to restore the res to what it was before.
Conclusion: I really think their res dept is out of control. Beware when you think your bookings are finalized. I suggest checking them regularly to make sure nothing has been changed.
if you have a ticket in those circumstances, USDM won't do anything about it unless you bring it to their attention... that's one of the downsides unfortunately if you want to make subsequent changes (or if your booking requires attention for any other reason such as a schedule change).
some of the story you seem to have left out... when the agent came back and proposed a change... what was the change? why did you demand a supervisor? what did the supervisor say in those few seconds before hanging up?
if you called back immediately, then it is quite possible the supervisor was working to cancel the booking. you probably didn't give them enough time.
if a booking has been finalised... bar any airline schedule changes, that's how it stays. if you reopen the booking... effectively changing it from 'finalised' to 'please have a look' then it can lead to problems
Sep 18, 2013, 3:47 am
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: MAD
Programs: UA, US, AA, Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt
Posts: 374
Thanks for the feedback. I knew of their rule and thought they calculated the mileage at time of booking to confirm validity. I didn't realize I needed to go do the calc myself using gcmap.com or similar so I could foresee a mileage problem. In other words, I thought they assumed some CS responsibility. I had no idea DPS-BKK is 285(!) miles > than BKK-TPE. I've never calculated this stuff, just relied on them to say what is and isn't OK.
The change the woman proposed was to reroute it so that the two flights exceeded the the open jaw. I wanted the supervisor to explain the validity of that. She hung up. I phoned back and found the change in place and the agent said it was ticketed and my CC charged. I decided to leave it alone and check it daily. No prob for 2 days and then today parts of it disappeared, leaving an award which was completely invalid: SIN-DPS, then BKK-TPE. I mean, if they were going to mess with it, why leave two unconnected segments which don't form anything? They were clueless about it.
Honestly, it's left a very bad taste in my mouth re: US Airways.
The change the woman proposed was to reroute it so that the two flights exceeded the the open jaw. I wanted the supervisor to explain the validity of that. She hung up. I phoned back and found the change in place and the agent said it was ticketed and my CC charged. I decided to leave it alone and check it daily. No prob for 2 days and then today parts of it disappeared, leaving an award which was completely invalid: SIN-DPS, then BKK-TPE. I mean, if they were going to mess with it, why leave two unconnected segments which don't form anything? They were clueless about it.
Honestly, it's left a very bad taste in my mouth re: US Airways.
Last edited by Matthew_DC; Sep 18, 2013 at 3:58 am
Sep 18, 2013, 4:22 am
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: SEA/ORD/ADB
Programs: TK ELPL (*G), AS 100K (OWE), BA Gold (OWE), Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Plat, IHG Plat
Posts: 7,763
US cannot cancel your ticket without your consent per DOT rules. I would pursue this, as this is basically a price increase after ticketing (less flights for no refund).
Don't accept the refund as yet.
Don't accept the refund as yet.
Sep 18, 2013, 4:38 am
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,401
Thanks for the feedback. I knew of their rule and thought they calculated the mileage at time of booking to confirm validity. I didn't realize I needed to go do the calc myself using gcmap.com or similar so I could foresee a mileage problem. In other words, I thought they assumed some CS responsibility. I had no idea DPS-BKK is 285(!) miles > than BKK-TPE. I've never calculated this stuff, just relied on them to say what is and isn't OK.
I know right!! I was gonna say... that's some keen agent to have suspected, and then checked the shortfall in the first place!!
can you not work with what's left? or close the open jaw in some way?
wasn't this the booking you wanted to change to a same region award anyway as per one of your earlier posts?
Sep 18, 2013, 5:03 am
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: MAD
Programs: UA, US, AA, Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt
Posts: 374
I appreciate the feedback. Thanks, everyone.
Yes, it is the booking I wanted to amend to same region but was prepared to forego the redeposit of the 30K miles just to keep the SIN-DPS flight in place. I will give some thought to how it could be redone, but the time investment is starting to be excessive and honestly, if I have to deal with one more bumbling moron there, I think I'll let loose a stream of profanities. No sense in that.
Fortunately buying the tickets directly from the airlines is only a bit more than the monetary value of the miles. For ease and peace of mind, I will probably go with that. But if there is any way to pursue this higher up to register displeasure, I will, particularly if I have some DOT rights they've violated.
Just for the record, the woman who discovered the DPS-BKK 285 miles excess was a ditz. She started out asking if Bali was in Indonesia and where was it on the map. I should have agreed it was a suburb of jakarta, as she first asked. I think when I told her it was at the eastern end of java, she saw it was far and that got her wheels spinning. Funny that she then started quoting erroneous mileages at me (really far out numbers) so I opened gcmap and started counter quoting. It really was the antithesis of customer service.
Yes, it is the booking I wanted to amend to same region but was prepared to forego the redeposit of the 30K miles just to keep the SIN-DPS flight in place. I will give some thought to how it could be redone, but the time investment is starting to be excessive and honestly, if I have to deal with one more bumbling moron there, I think I'll let loose a stream of profanities. No sense in that.
Fortunately buying the tickets directly from the airlines is only a bit more than the monetary value of the miles. For ease and peace of mind, I will probably go with that. But if there is any way to pursue this higher up to register displeasure, I will, particularly if I have some DOT rights they've violated.
Just for the record, the woman who discovered the DPS-BKK 285 miles excess was a ditz. She started out asking if Bali was in Indonesia and where was it on the map. I should have agreed it was a suburb of jakarta, as she first asked. I think when I told her it was at the eastern end of java, she saw it was far and that got her wheels spinning. Funny that she then started quoting erroneous mileages at me (really far out numbers) so I opened gcmap and started counter quoting. It really was the antithesis of customer service.
Last edited by Matthew_DC; Sep 18, 2013 at 5:15 am
Sep 18, 2013, 9:28 am
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: YYZ
Programs: TK *G, Marriott Titanium Elite, Hilton Diamond,UA Silver
Posts: 260
Originally Posted by zh View Post
HI... I can see award C class on TK flight from MHD-IST and AC from IST-YYZ on ANA, EF, KVS, AE, and UA. Any reason why US call centre cannot see the TK or AC flights regardless of what day I ask for?
Thx.
ZH
Are you looking for I class?
HI... I can see award C class on TK flight from MHD-IST and AC from IST-YYZ on ANA, EF, KVS, AE, and UA. Any reason why US call centre cannot see the TK or AC flights regardless of what day I ask for?
Thx.
ZH
Are you looking for I class?
ZH
Sep 18, 2013, 7:18 pm
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: STL...for now
Programs: HH Gold, CC Gold, Accor Plat, BW Diamond
Posts: 224
off peak award US - Europe
Hi, I'm getting ready to book my first ever award ticket as an off-peak US - Europe. I understand about the unusual interpretations of the routing rules and have been reading how to maximize them.
So, I understand that the off-peak $35K awards are only for US metal. I would like to maximize the open jaw/stopover rules. Can I get a stopover within Europe even though I don't see how that would work on US metal?
example: live in STL, want to go to BRU or VCE. Can I do both?
STL - BRU (stop)
BRU - VCE (destination)
VCE - STL
It would have to be BRU-VCE on a *A partner because there is no US flight from BRU - VCE. (I know I can do an OJ, but I'm looking for a stopover if possible).
Alternatively, if that doesn't work out, can I add a leg at the end of my trip, even though STL is not a US hub?
ex: STL-BRU // BRU - STL // STL-HNL
or: STL-BRU //BRU - STL //STL-GRU (The redemption N.Am - S.Am is the same price as the Europe trip during a S.Am off peak period). I'm reading that the agents aren't up on their geography!
Sorry for the really basic questions, I tried to find the info here before posting.
Thanks!!
So, I understand that the off-peak $35K awards are only for US metal. I would like to maximize the open jaw/stopover rules. Can I get a stopover within Europe even though I don't see how that would work on US metal?
example: live in STL, want to go to BRU or VCE. Can I do both?
STL - BRU (stop)
BRU - VCE (destination)
VCE - STL
It would have to be BRU-VCE on a *A partner because there is no US flight from BRU - VCE. (I know I can do an OJ, but I'm looking for a stopover if possible).
Alternatively, if that doesn't work out, can I add a leg at the end of my trip, even though STL is not a US hub?
ex: STL-BRU // BRU - STL // STL-HNL
or: STL-BRU //BRU - STL //STL-GRU (The redemption N.Am - S.Am is the same price as the Europe trip during a S.Am off peak period). I'm reading that the agents aren't up on their geography!
Sorry for the really basic questions, I tried to find the info here before posting.
Thanks!!
Sep 18, 2013, 7:39 pm
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,401
Hi, I'm getting ready to book my first ever award ticket as an off-peak US - Europe. I understand about the unusual interpretations of the routing rules and have been reading how to maximize them.
So, I understand that the off-peak $35K awards are only for US metal. I would like to maximize the open jaw/stopover rules. Can I get a stopover within Europe even though I don't see how that would work on US metal?
example: live in STL, want to go to BRU or VCE. Can I do both?
STL - BRU (stop)
BRU - VCE (destination)
VCE - STL
It would have to be BRU-VCE on a *A partner because there is no US flight from BRU - VCE. (I know I can do an OJ, but I'm looking for a stopover if possible).
Alternatively, if that doesn't work out, can I add a leg at the end of my trip, even though STL is not a US hub?
ex: STL-BRU // BRU - STL // STL-HNL
or: STL-BRU //BRU - STL //STL-GRU (The redemption N.Am - S.Am is the same price as the Europe trip during a S.Am off peak period). I'm reading that the agents aren't up on their geography!
Sorry for the really basic questions, I tried to find the info here before posting.
Thanks!!
So, I understand that the off-peak $35K awards are only for US metal. I would like to maximize the open jaw/stopover rules. Can I get a stopover within Europe even though I don't see how that would work on US metal?
example: live in STL, want to go to BRU or VCE. Can I do both?
STL - BRU (stop)
BRU - VCE (destination)
VCE - STL
It would have to be BRU-VCE on a *A partner because there is no US flight from BRU - VCE. (I know I can do an OJ, but I'm looking for a stopover if possible).
Alternatively, if that doesn't work out, can I add a leg at the end of my trip, even though STL is not a US hub?
ex: STL-BRU // BRU - STL // STL-HNL
or: STL-BRU //BRU - STL //STL-GRU (The redemption N.Am - S.Am is the same price as the Europe trip during a S.Am off peak period). I'm reading that the agents aren't up on their geography!
Sorry for the really basic questions, I tried to find the info here before posting.
Thanks!!
you can probably open jaw, but isn't HNL in a different zone? and be aware that the open jaw cannot be the longest segment.
Sep 19, 2013, 7:43 am
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: STL...for now
Programs: HH Gold, CC Gold, Accor Plat, BW Diamond
Posts: 224
Thanks for your reply. I am not sure about HNL, I thought it was the same zone because it's North America (I'm thinking zone 1). Is this wrong?
Thanks again!
Thanks again!
you can't combine partners with US metal for low off peak awards. if you need to introduce a partner airline then you use the standard table.
you can probably open jaw, but isn't HNL in a different zone? and be aware that the open jaw cannot be the longest segment.
you can probably open jaw, but isn't HNL in a different zone? and be aware that the open jaw cannot be the longest segment.
Sep 19, 2013, 8:05 am
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,401
Sep 19, 2013, 8:07 am
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: STL
Programs: US Silver, AA Gold
Posts: 509
You are correct. Also, Since STL-HNL is shorter than STL-BRU or BRU-HNL, it is a legal open jaw. However, I believe you cannot transit STL if that is the origination point. So, in your STL-BRU-HNL example, you would have to go straight from BRU to HNL without stopping over anywhere. I would recommend the simple open jaw in Europe, like your STL-BRU, VCE-STL example.
Last edited by gwar69; Sep 19, 2013 at 8:13 am
Sep 19, 2013, 8:09 am
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: STL
Programs: US Silver, AA Gold
Posts: 509
Sep 19, 2013, 8:58 am
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,401
Sep 19, 2013, 12:26 pm
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: STL...for now
Programs: HH Gold, CC Gold, Accor Plat, BW Diamond
Posts: 224
So does this mean that it CAN work with a 3rd leg into HNL - ie the "free oneway"?? I have heard that the transit point is supposed to be US hubs but it's not always enforced. Any experience with that?
Thanks everyone!
Thanks everyone!
Sep 19, 2013, 1:11 pm
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: San Antonio
Programs: AS MVP
Posts: 2,276
The only thing you can book is whatever the phone agent (not necessarily the first one you talk to) will let you. Technically, you are not supposed to be able to have a stopover in the same region as the final destination, but some agents may, for the purpose of that rule, call HNL a different region. I had agents ok a Caribbean-N. Asia trip with a stopover in the U.S. and others say that is an illegal routing.
