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]
May 30, 2010, 11:40 am
#2191
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: DC
Programs: DL gold; UA - 1k; AA gold; Marriott Platinum; Hyatt Diamond; SPG gold; Groupon Falcon;
Posts: 747
Why can't agent find *A award seats when they are available?????
In the last week, I wanted to make *A award reservations. I patiently engineered an itinerary, which started with IAD-FRA-LHR for two using the ANA tool. I then called DM, and the agent could not find a routing. I then suggested the specific flights I had found, and the agent told me seats were unavailable on those flights. Something in the tone of her voice made me think that, perhaps, she had not looked hard enough when I initially asked, and did not care to acknowledge availabilty as that would identify that she had not used enough care to search for available itineraries.
Called DM immediately back, and upfront told a new agent that I had identified availability on the ANA tool, and offered specific dates and flights. Voila! She was quite able to find the itinerary that the whose availability the first agent denied. Second agent was quite helpful, and even thanked me for doing the leg work prior to calling.
I'm a bit disgusted that the first agent likely lied to me about availability. And I am equally concerned that I, a customer, was better skilled at identifying award seats than the agent, whose job calls for such skills.
What gives?
Called DM immediately back, and upfront told a new agent that I had identified availability on the ANA tool, and offered specific dates and flights. Voila! She was quite able to find the itinerary that the whose availability the first agent denied. Second agent was quite helpful, and even thanked me for doing the leg work prior to calling.
I'm a bit disgusted that the first agent likely lied to me about availability. And I am equally concerned that I, a customer, was better skilled at identifying award seats than the agent, whose job calls for such skills.
What gives?
May 30, 2010, 11:56 am
#2192
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Switzerland
Posts: 255
http://www.usairways.com/en-US/divid...mberguide.html
JFK isn't a hub for US or UA (or for any *A airline, for that matter), so it should not be allowed by rule. EWR would be, but since CO doesn't fly SFO-JFK, they aren't a ticketed partner. Try EWR and coming in on an inbound CO flight and going SFO-EWR//JFK-FRA, FRA-JFK-SFO. (Don't know if US considers EWR and JFK co-terminal, though. They are for UA.)
That or you can try Customer Service Lotto until you get what you want, but it helps if you can actually cite the rule saying you're allowed to stop in NYC.
JFK isn't a hub for US or UA (or for any *A airline, for that matter), so it should not be allowed by rule. EWR would be, but since CO doesn't fly SFO-JFK, they aren't a ticketed partner. Try EWR and coming in on an inbound CO flight and going SFO-EWR//JFK-FRA, FRA-JFK-SFO. (Don't know if US considers EWR and JFK co-terminal, though. They are for UA.)
That or you can try Customer Service Lotto until you get what you want, but it helps if you can actually cite the rule saying you're allowed to stop in NYC.
May 30, 2010, 12:11 pm
#2193
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2009
Location: FRA / YEG
Programs: AC Super Elite, Radisson Platinum, Accor Platinum
Posts: 11,874
Called DM immediately back, and upfront told a new agent that I had identified availability on the ANA tool, and offered specific dates and flights. Voila! She was quite able to find the itinerary that the whose availability the first agent denied. Second agent was quite helpful, and even thanked me for doing the leg work prior to calling.
I'm a bit disgusted that the first agent likely lied to me about availability. And I am equally concerned that I, a customer, was better skilled at identifying award seats than the agent, whose job calls for such skills.
What gives?
I'm a bit disgusted that the first agent likely lied to me about availability. And I am equally concerned that I, a customer, was better skilled at identifying award seats than the agent, whose job calls for such skills.
What gives?
May 30, 2010, 12:19 pm
#2194
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: SJU
Programs: Amex FHR elite travel agent, Ritz Stars, Hyatt Prive, Four Seasons Preferred Partner and others
Posts: 1,520
Apologies if this is answered elsewhere in this thread-- It is so long that I didn't make it all the way through.
Trying to book a *A award; did some searching and found ExpertFlyer showing UA having availability, so I called the CP desk and the agent said UA was showing no availability. I know they StarNet block for their own elites, wasn't sure about blocking their awards from non-UA elites. Anyone know the fare bucket I can use to search more precisely? KVS is timing out on me today.
The itinerary is extremely flexible: one Business or First round trip (Business preferred over First) from any London-area airport to any DC-area airport, prefer nonstops but will take connections, ideal dates of travel would be last week of July, returing last week of August. Does not have to be UA but they're the ones I checked first.
I know we're looking on short notice and peak travel season but during those weeks I found First and Business awards on at least 2 flights a day LHR-IAD on UA, just not clear on why US isn't seeing them or what rule I am not understanding.
FWIW I asked the agent to check neighboring dates and she seemed a little reluctant to do so; tried playing Agent Roulette by hanging up and calling back but got the same agent so I figured I'd try again after change of shift. They must be on skeleton crew for the holiday.
Trying to book a *A award; did some searching and found ExpertFlyer showing UA having availability, so I called the CP desk and the agent said UA was showing no availability. I know they StarNet block for their own elites, wasn't sure about blocking their awards from non-UA elites. Anyone know the fare bucket I can use to search more precisely? KVS is timing out on me today.
The itinerary is extremely flexible: one Business or First round trip (Business preferred over First) from any London-area airport to any DC-area airport, prefer nonstops but will take connections, ideal dates of travel would be last week of July, returing last week of August. Does not have to be UA but they're the ones I checked first.
I know we're looking on short notice and peak travel season but during those weeks I found First and Business awards on at least 2 flights a day LHR-IAD on UA, just not clear on why US isn't seeing them or what rule I am not understanding.
FWIW I asked the agent to check neighboring dates and she seemed a little reluctant to do so; tried playing Agent Roulette by hanging up and calling back but got the same agent so I figured I'd try again after change of shift. They must be on skeleton crew for the holiday.
United often updates schedules on Fri/Sat and the flights show as unavailable.
May 30, 2010, 12:20 pm
#2195
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: SJU
Programs: Amex FHR elite travel agent, Ritz Stars, Hyatt Prive, Four Seasons Preferred Partner and others
Posts: 1,520
May 30, 2010, 2:05 pm
#2196
Used to be 'Travelergcp'
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: New Orleans
Programs: AA Plat, Marriott Gold, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 2,826
Does anyone know if you can build a domestic roundtrip between city pairs that don't have a published fare? The ANA tool shows availability on each segment but if you request it origin-destination it says the route is invalid. UA is the carrier, and they will sell that route using UA miles if you call.
May 30, 2010, 2:11 pm
#2197
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: DCA
Programs: AMC MovieWatcher, Giant BonusCard, Petco PALS Card, Silver Diner Blue Plate Club
Posts: 22,297
Does anyone know if you can build a domestic roundtrip between city pairs that don't have a published fare? The ANA tool shows availability on each segment but if you request it origin-destination it says the route is invalid. UA is the carrier, and they will sell that route using UA miles if you call.
May 30, 2010, 2:22 pm
#2198
Used to be 'Travelergcp'
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: New Orleans
Programs: AA Plat, Marriott Gold, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 2,826
No fare listed for MSY-PAH. Want to fly MSY-ORD-PAH on UA.
May 30, 2010, 3:16 pm
#2199
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,402
Yup - some agents are funny about this - I even had one tell me that 'there is no way you can see award availability thrugh any site'.
The best way for assistance, as suggested elsewhere, is to use ANA, then when ringing DM just say 'a colleague of yours helped me find flights earlier today and I would now like to book them' - then proceed sector by sector.
This way it avoids any problems of an agent being suspicious of how a caller got access to information
The best way for assistance, as suggested elsewhere, is to use ANA, then when ringing DM just say 'a colleague of yours helped me find flights earlier today and I would now like to book them' - then proceed sector by sector.
This way it avoids any problems of an agent being suspicious of how a caller got access to information
May 31, 2010, 9:29 am
#2201
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,381
JFK is not a legal gateway for any of the Star Alliance's 26 partner airlines.
May 31, 2010, 12:28 pm
#2202
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: UK
Programs: IHG, BA
Posts: 513
I booked an award a few months back LHR-FRA-PEK-BKK-LHR in First.
However, at the time of booking, the LHR-FRA leg only had Y available, so I was booked into that.
However though, I've seen on ANA that C for this leg is now available.
If I phone US to change it to C, will I get charged $150 change fee for this or not.
I'm pretty certain that it won't cost any more miles but if I'm forced to pay the $150, maybe it isn't worth doing is it?
However, at the time of booking, the LHR-FRA leg only had Y available, so I was booked into that.
However though, I've seen on ANA that C for this leg is now available.
If I phone US to change it to C, will I get charged $150 change fee for this or not.
I'm pretty certain that it won't cost any more miles but if I'm forced to pay the $150, maybe it isn't worth doing is it?
May 31, 2010, 1:12 pm
#2203
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Washington, DC
Programs: US-CP, UA, Marriott Rewards, HHonors, Avis,
Posts: 4,549
How accurate is ANA tool? Fairly accurate, I would suspect. I've called 3 times now with an itin that ANA says is available and the US CP desk agent can't see it. Not sure what magic words to say to get this itinerary bookable though. I know ExpertFlyer isn't always straightforward (will show for example UA awards that are only available to UA elites when doing an Award search and it's a lot harder to see what is out there for *A awards). If ANA has a similar limitation, please let me know so I can leave these poor agents alone. Itin is on AC metal going LHR--YYZ, several dates in early August are showing with C and Y on the Outbound and same for the inbound in early September after Labor day but the US agent says no-go on all of them. Any advice?
Last edited by dcpatti; May 31, 2010 at 1:26 pm
May 31, 2010, 1:43 pm
#2204
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: LHR
Programs: Ex-NWA Plat
Posts: 1,480
Ask for specific segments. Tell them you called 5 minutes earlier and the previous agent said these were available. Kinda puts them in a corner and forces them to give you the seat... (then again, perhaps its really gone to another FTer...)
May 31, 2010, 1:58 pm
#2205
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: LHR
Programs: Ex-NWA Plat
Posts: 1,480
I booked an award a few months back LHR-FRA-PEK-BKK-LHR in First.
However, at the time of booking, the LHR-FRA leg only had Y available, so I was booked into that.
However though, I've seen on ANA that C for this leg is now available.
If I phone US to change it to C, will I get charged $150 change fee for this or not.
I'm pretty certain that it won't cost any more miles but if I'm forced to pay the $150, maybe it isn't worth doing is it?
However, at the time of booking, the LHR-FRA leg only had Y available, so I was booked into that.
However though, I've seen on ANA that C for this leg is now available.
If I phone US to change it to C, will I get charged $150 change fee for this or not.
I'm pretty certain that it won't cost any more miles but if I'm forced to pay the $150, maybe it isn't worth doing is it?