gradientdescent

Not sure if this is a common case... just sharing in case it's novel and useful data.

For a few days now, I've seen two C seats on a LH segment from Germany to the US in January. They've been there on ANA and UA's websites for a few days. I don't have KVS so haven't looked there.

Two different US agents report that no seats are available.

In the past when I've seen this, it's often due to a lagged inventory update and the seats disappear within a day from ANA and/or UA, but in this case, the seats have been there for ~2-3 days.

elbombo

Does anyone know if the following routing would be allowed in J for 110K miles roundtrip:

JFK-JNB-CPT (stopover)
CPT-JNB-PER (destination)
PER-SIN-TPE-JFK

I know with US agents, you never know what you are going to get but just wanted to see first if this was within the rules. Thanks.

Air Rarotonga

I'd say you definitely have good chances to get it ticketed. Good luck!

biostatistician

Trying to book 2 tix from Brazil to CHS anytime mid Dec. with return in mid Jan. No "low" award level seats on US... looked for JJ and UA on ANA with no luck. Any advice, ideas? Also, how to find availability on JJ domestic routes, e.g. FLN>GRU. I thought EF had that info, but I guess not anymore. TIA!

workandski

Is it no longer possible to use Dividend miles to book a round the world flight on *A? I'm sure that option was there last time I looked but it seems to have disappeared.

aau

I am planning USA-Europe(stopover)-HKG biz award and would like some help understanding stopovers. I understand stopover must be at a *A hub airport. Is there a list of what US Airways considers the hub cities to be, or do I only need to convince the agent with documentation from *A's website or some such? Also do I need to fly into/out of a stopover city on the airline that hubs there? For example if I fly IST-FRA on TK and then FRA-YYZ on AC can I stopover in FRA even though I won't be flying LH in/out? TIA

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

at the top of the chart... in the text (not part of the table) the RTW awards are listed... Want to go around the world? For 200,000 miles in economy class, 300,000 miles in business class or 400,000 miles in first class you can circle the globe.

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

stopover in a hub city is vaguely enforced... flying in and/or out on the hub airline is even less frequently enforced. You can also stop over in a US AIR gateway city - so that includes places like London.

It's fairly flexible. You won't need to have anything to 'convince' an agent with. But if one decides to enforce the above you can always hang up and call again. If two agents give you the same information (not allowing a particular stop-over based on the rules) then have an alternative ready.

djrez4

USA to North Asia via Europe:

Denver to Houston – UA1742 – 6/3/2014 dep1930 arr2249

Houston to Beijing – CA996 – 6/4/2014 dep0130 arr0500

Beijing to Seoul – OZ332 – 6/16/2014 dep1050 arr1345

Seoul to Istanbul – OZ551 – 06/17/2014 dep0945 arr1455

Istanbul to Frankfurt – TK1587 – 06/23/2014 dep0815 arr1035

Frankfurt to Toronto – AC873 – 06/24/2014 dep1000 arr1215

Toronto to Denver – AC1039 – 06/24/2014 dep1435 arr1607

7 segments, destination is PEK, one stopover in IST and two ~23 hour layovers in ICN and FRA. I think I followed all the rules, other than the transiting a more expensive region and the stopover in the hub of the *A partner operating the flight. Will this work?

I have some alternative itineraries if needed, but this is the one the wife wants.

drzoidberg

Should work...I had to HUACA about 30 times (no joke) to get my RTW ticketed.

When you talk to the agent on the phone, make sure you preface the conversation with "I'd like to plan a trip to North Asia as the destination..."

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

what were the initial objections?

as a side note, it may not always work to tell the the agent the destination and stopover. those are determined purely on distance, not what the passenger chooses.

bkafrick

Thats not a RTW he posted... Its simply a trip to North Asia.

Beckles

I think this is excellent advice, it's good to try and have folks understand what the rules are and that it is quite possible to get them bent, but they should understand that it is the rules getting bent, in particular so you don't demand or expect agents to do things that really are not within the rules.
That itinerary definitely is not within the rules, any time you back track to the same city before and after a stopover, it's clearly not on the most direct route of travel, one of the rules for a stopover. I wouldn't be surprised if you can get it ticketed despite that.

IST isn't on the most direct route of travel and you have five segments from PEK-DEN, you may still be able to get it ticketed the only way to find out is to try. The rule you need to least worry about is the *A partner hub rule, that seems to be rarely enforced and you are at least using the partner for the flight from the hub (though indications are you're technically supposed to use the partner for the flight to the hub).

drzoidberg

Well, he's flying around the world with a destination to north asia and stopover in Europe. It's not a RTW as US Airways defines it, but in the casual sense.

Initial objections were;

A) I was planning a RTW and therefore needed 300K miles per person. I have a 23-hour layover in IST, and this confused the agent.
B) 100K miles needed because I was going through Europe and they looked at most expensive region
C) Rate desk problems
D) Agent made dreaded written notes on my itinerary, but when I patiently explained the situation to a conscientious agent they were finally able to ticket it at 90K.

Fortunately, *A hub rule never was an issue despite flying LX into FCO.

mapboyPHL

Agreed. On our DPS-BKK-CDG-FRA-PHL return, we had s 5 day stopover in Paris, not a Star Alliance hub). The agent didn't even comment on it when we booked the trip.