treznor

I don't buy the 18 hour thing either.

I just ticketed as an award ticket:
CLT-MUC-VCE/FCO-MUC-CLT

The flights for FCO-MUC weren't convenient to catch the MUC-CLT flight (without waking up at the crack of dawn) so we went for a layover in MUC... of 22.5 hours. This ticket is already openjaw so if they were counting our layover in MUC as a stopover the ticket wouldn't be valid.

It's possible the guy I was talking to didn't know what he was doing and allowed an invalid (by their rules) routing, but he seemed pretty competent. He also seemed pretty relieved when I told him I already had all the flights I wanted and knew there was availability so the process went much quicker

iztok

Good to know. I had started with "I know flights and availability is there" but it turned out that while I saw 2 tix US didn't. (Not for the lack of trying to work with me, that is for sure.) So instead I just gave CP Angel my wishes and off she went to work. She called me every few hours with ideas and questions and once got burnt as apparently new rules require arrival on the hub airline for a legal stopover. But she worked the trip backward (original was going eastward and now westward). In any case, giving her free reign to come up with flights worked for me. It is amazing as it is all long haul F and only ICN-PEK and BKK-HKT and HKT-BKK that are in C (as they don't have Fs - sell as 2 class fligts).

She made sure things were all kosher before she gave me final call and was ready to be ticketed. She did ask to get postcards in return Which I will be happy to send to CP office

fly2nrt

Does anyone know if NRT is an acceptable stopover enroute to Auckland?

JFK-NRT (stop)
NRT-AKL
AKL-NRT-JFK

Thanks.

needagetaway

This is exactly the itinerary i'd like to book. What flights did you end up taking?

treznor

Responded via PM

UA Fan

can someone else confirm this?

AZ Travels the World

Yes, the rule is quoted in post number 10 above.

johnep1

Is one still allowed to route a US-Asia award through Europe and have a stopover there?

Also, I have heard that there is a maximum of 10 segments per award. Is that correct? If so, is it a maximum of 5 per direction, or 10 overall?

Thank you.

johnep1

Well, to answer my own question I will just say that part of what makes USAir agents such a pain to deal with (they don't know their own rules) also allows for some VERY creative awards if you find the right person.

But we heard things like "you can only stopover when flying US or UA", "only one stopover per trip" and "XX is not a partner airline."

Upon hearing each of the above (airline XX is a *A member), the solution was to hang up and call back. Did this take a lot more time? Yes, but rest assured that you'll eventually find someone who knows all the rules you want them to know and is relaxed with other things.

DCAorBust

I think that these issues have as much to do with US's P.O.S. reservation system as it does with the agent's ability to understand the rules. Their systems refuse valid routings all the time. Some agents are able to figure out the magic keystrokes to force it through. Others either haven't the patience or ability. It's easier to just assume that the system's refusal must mean that you've got an illegal routing, rather than run it to ground. I sat on hold for 20 minutes just this week while an agent enlisted help to get the system to pull the correct number of miles--on a very simple open jaw to Europe booked in C.

johnep1

Very true. But luckily, what USAir lacks in competence it makes up for in generosity. A "friend" recently ticketed some awards that should have been "a lot" of miles per ticket but US only took "a lot" of miles minus about 33% from the accounts.

UA Fan

May I please know where you got this from? Just so I can point a US rep to these rules next time I make an award.

Thanks.

preguntas

I would love the answer to this question, too. Just tried to book a flight with a stop on the outbound and a stop on the return (to Asia, all via Star Alliance gold) and was told, pretty crisply, that I could not do that. Two cities, OK. Three, no way. Please advise, or other FTs, tell me what am I doing wrong? Want to go from Los Angeles to Seoul, then Tokyo, then Hong Kong, then back to US. Thanks for any help!

kudzu

planeluvr's quote is from US website link, scroll about half-way down to "Stopovers".

Someone else would have to chime in on award travel questions, as I have little experience in this area - I've used my Miles mainly for last-min domestic travel when prices are sky-high.

vysean

As kudzu responded, the rules were pulled from the US website - specifically, this page: http://www.usairways.com/awa/content...mberguide.aspx.

Problem with your itin is you're backtracking. If you wanted all three cities, you'd have to have Hong Kong in the middle (as it's the furthest from your origination point).

So LAX-ICN-HKG-NRT-LAX would be okay, or LAX-NRT-HKG-ICN-LAX also, but LAX-ICN-NRT-HKG-LAX isn't, not to mention availability for HKG-SFO (the only route flown by *A carriers) is limited to UA I believe given SQs equipment on that route.

Add to that the potential problems with US' inane rule about stopovers being in operating-carrier hub cities only, and you've got a real mess on your hands. Technically, for the first suggestion above, you'd have to fly something pretty specific such as this:

LAX-ICN OZ (or LAX-SFO-ICN or LAX-SEA-ICN)
(stopover)
ICN-HKG OZ
(Hong Kong - final destination)
HKG-NRT NH
(stopover)
NRT-LAX NH/UA (or NRT-SFO-LAX or NRT-SEA-LAX or NRT-HNL-LAX)

The bottom line is the agent may not have cited the correct reason for denying your request, but your request probably isn't "legal" according to the terms and conditions on the above-linked page.

Do you have flexibility in your schedule to visit the three cities in a different order, or must you visit them in the order you listed?

BTW, the abbreviations, in case you need them:
ICN = Seoul (Incheon), South Korea
OZ = Asiana, South Korean Star Alliance Partner (and a very good choice for First class, not so sure about Business)
NH = ANA/All Nippon Airways, Japanese Star Alliance Partner (a very good choice for First class, not so sure about Business)
SQ = Singapore Airlines, Singaporean (is that a word?) Star Alliance Partner (many love SQ, I found both OZ and NH to be a step above in almost every regard).