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]
Dec 20, 2013, 3:37 pm
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,406
air Japan is a different matter.
Dec 20, 2013, 3:46 pm
Used to be highman123
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 3,541
I just tried several combinations of KIX/NRT/HND to HKG/ICN/PEK which show perfectly available on united.com and ANA search but 2 US Airways agents sas no flights ... Odd!
Dec 20, 2013, 4:00 pm
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,391
Dec 20, 2013, 4:20 pm
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: CLT
Programs: AA ExPlat, Hyatt Globalist, Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium
Posts: 1,551
I just put the below itinerary on hold for a friend. What is weird is that the US Airways agent could not see the United Express segments for Economy that United.com showed as availability. It could be an IT glitch or phantom availability or whatever, but MKE - ORD and ORD - MKE could not come up.
Here is what we have on hold for 110,000 per person in business class USA to Australia in September 2014
ORD - NRT (ANA 773) [Stopover]
NRT - BKK - SYD (TG 346 TG 747) [Destination]
SYD - ICN (OZ 777) [18 hour layover to visit friends]
ICN - ORD (OZ 777) [Finish]
Taxes and fees came to $151.00 per person + $35 ticketing fee. Any suggestions on getting the agent to find the United MKE - ORD and ORD - MKE flights? I asked the agent to attempt a long sell and she said she could not "even though it says it on the internet to ask" LOL. Worst case they will just drive instead of fly.
Here is what we have on hold for 110,000 per person in business class USA to Australia in September 2014
ORD - NRT (ANA 773) [Stopover]
NRT - BKK - SYD (TG 346 TG 747) [Destination]
SYD - ICN (OZ 777) [18 hour layover to visit friends]
ICN - ORD (OZ 777) [Finish]
Taxes and fees came to $151.00 per person + $35 ticketing fee. Any suggestions on getting the agent to find the United MKE - ORD and ORD - MKE flights? I asked the agent to attempt a long sell and she said she could not "even though it says it on the internet to ask" LOL. Worst case they will just drive instead of fly.
Dec 20, 2013, 4:29 pm
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Programs: TK Elite, Hilton Diamond, BA Silver
Posts: 967
Just tried this. US agent said to take advantage of the schedule change for a free change, it had to be the same number of segments. Since I had PHX-YYZ-MUC, they won't let me do PHX-ORD-ZRH-MUC since that would add a segment.
Has anyone heard of this before? I do not want to risk canceling and rebooking because of the good chance that the remaining flights would not go back into inventory.
Has anyone heard of this before? I do not want to risk canceling and rebooking because of the good chance that the remaining flights would not go back into inventory.
Checking on another booking, I was told I could only replace a segment (booked in economy class) with one segment since I already have 10 segments for the whole trip which is the max, even if there were a 2 segment availability in C.
Dec 21, 2013, 2:49 am
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: PHL
Programs: Former long-time US GP; now AA dirt
Posts: 4,904
I'm on the phone with an agent and I'm trying to book just one segment (of many) on LH, which shows availability on the ANA and UA site. However, she can't see the LH availability. She told me that her understanding is that US "used our allotment" of LH award seats. She put the rest of my itinerary on hold. But since it is Saturday, I'm going to try again later and see if I get lucky... 
Dec 21, 2013, 3:01 am
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Programs: Flying: VA; Buying: AA, AS, AV, BA, UA!
Posts: 2,349
Dec 21, 2013, 3:34 am
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: PHL
Programs: Former long-time US GP; now AA dirt
Posts: 4,904
I don't know. Considering how many cheap miles US has sold and considering how many bloggers now spoon-feed the award-ticketing process to their readers -- and considering that LH in on record of not appreciating US's miles promos, I don't think this is an "IT glitch."
Dec 21, 2013, 3:43 am
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: HNL
Programs: DL PM/1MM, BW DE (lifetime), HH DE, Marriott PE (lifetime), National Emerald Executive
Posts: 7,205
Dec 21, 2013, 7:27 am
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: PHL
Programs: Former long-time US GP; now AA dirt
Posts: 4,904
If anyone has a fast, creative solution for this one, it will be very much appreciated. I've been up all night trying to book an award itinerary to BKK and VTE (Vietiane, Laos) because finding flights back to PHL from VTE on 1/5 is proving to be extremely difficult -- especially since US can't see the 1/6 LH PEK-FRA leg (for 2 in J) that is available on the UA and ANA site.
But I thought I came up with a solution. Here is the entire itinerary, with a workaround for that PEK-FRA leg: PHL-FCO-BKK-VTE-BKK-PEK-ZHR-FRA-YYZ-PHL.
Actually, I originally wanted PHL-FCO-BKK (open jaw) RGN-VTE-BKK-PEK-ZHR-FRA-YYZ-PHL. Yet the agent and supervisor told me that I can't have a stopover with an open jaw -- a rule which I knew. But I thought VTE was my destination (not a stopover), so I didn't see why the open jaw was illegal. Turns out, BKK is slightly further from PHL than VTE, so BKK is my destination and an open jaw. So VTE is the stopover.
But when I gave the supervisor my credit card info again (after removing the open jaw), the itinerary got flagged by the computer again: this time, because my return is too many segments and/or miles. Interestingly, the supervisor said that the FRA-YYZ-PHL segments were specifically flagged.
The supervisor said she doesn't know exactly how many miles or segments the overage is -- which doesn't really help me know exactly what I need to do to make the routing legal. And yes, if BKK is the destination, then my return is BKK-VTE-BKK-PEK-ZHR-FRA-YYZ-PHL --- which is a whole lot of segments on a return. But I thought that with my segments totaling only nine, the long return would not be a problem.
Everything is still on hold (for 24 hours). I've been trying to find a more direct return (departing VTE on or around 1/5) for way too long now. If you have any fancy ideas that I may have overlooked, fell free to share. Thanks.
But I thought I came up with a solution. Here is the entire itinerary, with a workaround for that PEK-FRA leg: PHL-FCO-BKK-VTE-BKK-PEK-ZHR-FRA-YYZ-PHL.
Actually, I originally wanted PHL-FCO-BKK (open jaw) RGN-VTE-BKK-PEK-ZHR-FRA-YYZ-PHL. Yet the agent and supervisor told me that I can't have a stopover with an open jaw -- a rule which I knew. But I thought VTE was my destination (not a stopover), so I didn't see why the open jaw was illegal. Turns out, BKK is slightly further from PHL than VTE, so BKK is my destination and an open jaw. So VTE is the stopover.
But when I gave the supervisor my credit card info again (after removing the open jaw), the itinerary got flagged by the computer again: this time, because my return is too many segments and/or miles. Interestingly, the supervisor said that the FRA-YYZ-PHL segments were specifically flagged.
The supervisor said she doesn't know exactly how many miles or segments the overage is -- which doesn't really help me know exactly what I need to do to make the routing legal. And yes, if BKK is the destination, then my return is BKK-VTE-BKK-PEK-ZHR-FRA-YYZ-PHL --- which is a whole lot of segments on a return. But I thought that with my segments totaling only nine, the long return would not be a problem.
Everything is still on hold (for 24 hours). I've been trying to find a more direct return (departing VTE on or around 1/5) for way too long now. If you have any fancy ideas that I may have overlooked, fell free to share. Thanks.
Dec 21, 2013, 8:13 am
Join Date: Jun 2008
Programs: TK*G (E+), IHG Plat Ambassador
Posts: 7,884
I see availability to go from the States to SYD in F (actually O
) on OZ/CA (via ICN/PEK). I checked on my SABRE Corpo tool and this routing exceeds Max Permitted Mileage. But I see that folks are booking these itineraries - so US is not checking the MPM any longer? Shall I try to book this itinerary?Pls let me know...
Dec 21, 2013, 9:31 am
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: ZRH/SFO
Programs: A3*G - AZ CFP- HH DIA
Posts: 3,666
Dec 21, 2013, 11:45 am
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: CLT
Programs: AA ExPlat, Hyatt Globalist, Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium
Posts: 1,551
In my experience they'll allow five segments per direction but not 6... They Re probably treating your first bkk as the destination sadly instead of the second one
If anyone has a fast, creative solution for this one, it will be very much appreciated. I've been up all night trying to book an award itinerary to BKK and VTE (Vietiane, Laos) because finding flights back to PHL from VTE on 1/5 is proving to be extremely difficult -- especially since US can't see the 1/6 LH PEK-FRA leg (for 2 in J) that is available on the UA and ANA site.
But I thought I came up with a solution. Here is the entire itinerary, with a workaround for that PEK-FRA leg: PHL-FCO-BKK-VTE-BKK-PEK-ZHR-FRA-YYZ-PHL.
Actually, I originally wanted PHL-FCO-BKK (open jaw) RGN-VTE-BKK-PEK-ZHR-FRA-YYZ-PHL. Yet the agent and supervisor told me that I can't have a stopover with an open jaw -- a rule which I knew. But I thought VTE was my destination (not a stopover), so I didn't see why the open jaw was illegal. Turns out, BKK is slightly further from PHL than VTE, so BKK is my destination and an open jaw. So VTE is the stopover.
But when I gave the supervisor my credit card info again (after removing the open jaw), the itinerary got flagged by the computer again: this time, because my return is too many segments and/or miles. Interestingly, the supervisor said that the FRA-YYZ-PHL segments were specifically flagged.
The supervisor said she doesn't know exactly how many miles or segments the overage is -- which doesn't really help me know exactly what I need to do to make the routing legal. And yes, if BKK is the destination, then my return is BKK-VTE-BKK-PEK-ZHR-FRA-YYZ-PHL --- which is a whole lot of segments on a return. But I thought that with my segments totaling only nine, the long return would not be a problem.
Everything is still on hold (for 24 hours). I've been trying to find a more direct return (departing VTE on or around 1/5) for way too long now. If you have any fancy ideas that I may have overlooked, fell free to share. Thanks.
But I thought I came up with a solution. Here is the entire itinerary, with a workaround for that PEK-FRA leg: PHL-FCO-BKK-VTE-BKK-PEK-ZHR-FRA-YYZ-PHL.
Actually, I originally wanted PHL-FCO-BKK (open jaw) RGN-VTE-BKK-PEK-ZHR-FRA-YYZ-PHL. Yet the agent and supervisor told me that I can't have a stopover with an open jaw -- a rule which I knew. But I thought VTE was my destination (not a stopover), so I didn't see why the open jaw was illegal. Turns out, BKK is slightly further from PHL than VTE, so BKK is my destination and an open jaw. So VTE is the stopover.
But when I gave the supervisor my credit card info again (after removing the open jaw), the itinerary got flagged by the computer again: this time, because my return is too many segments and/or miles. Interestingly, the supervisor said that the FRA-YYZ-PHL segments were specifically flagged.
The supervisor said she doesn't know exactly how many miles or segments the overage is -- which doesn't really help me know exactly what I need to do to make the routing legal. And yes, if BKK is the destination, then my return is BKK-VTE-BKK-PEK-ZHR-FRA-YYZ-PHL --- which is a whole lot of segments on a return. But I thought that with my segments totaling only nine, the long return would not be a problem.
Everything is still on hold (for 24 hours). I've been trying to find a more direct return (departing VTE on or around 1/5) for way too long now. If you have any fancy ideas that I may have overlooked, fell free to share. Thanks.
Dec 21, 2013, 4:03 pm
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Melbourne
Programs: Velocity Gold
Posts: 1,069
Star Alliance Award Bookings Using US Airways Miles - FAQ and Help Thread [MERGED]
Just buy the ticket to VTE separately. It is dirt cheap and only an hours flight.
Dec 21, 2013, 8:27 pm
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 876
Will this possible?
SIN-BKK-HND()NRT-ORD-EWR(dis)JFK-ICN-NRT(stopover)HND-BKK-SIN
SIN-BKK-HND()NRT-ORD-EWR(dis)JFK-ICN-NRT(stopover)HND-BKK-SIN