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]
Feb 16, 2010, 1:50 pm
#781
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Purgatory
Programs: Too many to list. Status is a half dozen.
Posts: 9,235
Good afternoon: I'm hoping to book my first int'l *A award for departure in a few weeks from IAD-HKT. I would like to leave March 8th or 9th, have a 2-4 day stopover in HKG then on to HKT on March 13th. As for the return, I have to be in NYC by March 19th, but I live near IAD so I'm open arrival at either of these airports. I've done some checking at ANA thanks to the helpful hints I've received on this website and it looks like getting the flights over to HKT won't be a problem. The problem is finding availability in the returning flights. I've tried various routings, including HKT-JKF, HKT-IAD, HKT-SFO, HKT-LAX and am not getting any availability for the JFK or IAD destinations. I'm also open to flying HKT-YYZ and then on to either JFK or IAD/DCA. If anyone can come up with some options I haven't thought of (I'm kind of new to this) I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks in advance!
And if you intend to stopover in HKG - have others in this thread say they've been successful or that you should be? Because HKG is only listed as a *A hub for NZ, it may be tough to get someone willing to book that stopover - first getting an agent to believe it is a *A hub, second getting an agent to book a stopover without using that hub's *A carrier.
Feb 16, 2010, 2:00 pm
#782
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,407
Hi kmmva - you don't say which class you are looking for?
Given the current double miles promo then the upgrade to business or first class is not that much more for your ticket... so if you can spring for the premium cabins I found you the following:
17 Mar TG 218 HKT-BKK 1825-1950 (biz)
17 Mar TK061 BKK-IST 2345 0530+1 (First)
18 Mar LH3355IST-MUC 0635-0815 (biz)
18 Mar LH410 MUC-JFK 1140-1555 (biz)
This is for 1 seat.
Because of the mixed first / biz itinerary you'll need to pay for first. This is just an example. Best way is to break into each individual sector... the HKT-BKK sector is wide open on all flights. Then use ANA to break the journey BKK-FRA or MUC then look for MUC/FRA to IAD or JFK or EWR.
Given the current double miles promo then the upgrade to business or first class is not that much more for your ticket... so if you can spring for the premium cabins I found you the following:
17 Mar TG 218 HKT-BKK 1825-1950 (biz)
17 Mar TK061 BKK-IST 2345 0530+1 (First)
18 Mar LH3355IST-MUC 0635-0815 (biz)
18 Mar LH410 MUC-JFK 1140-1555 (biz)
This is for 1 seat.
Because of the mixed first / biz itinerary you'll need to pay for first. This is just an example. Best way is to break into each individual sector... the HKT-BKK sector is wide open on all flights. Then use ANA to break the journey BKK-FRA or MUC then look for MUC/FRA to IAD or JFK or EWR.
Feb 16, 2010, 2:35 pm
#783
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: TXL
Programs: US, LH, HH
Posts: 725
I believe the problem with that routing will be, that the result turns out to an RTW (around the world trip). At least judging from the other posts, the routing to HKG was via pacific. Maybe tasking the agent with finding a way back home himself could work.
Last edited by freakazoid; Feb 16, 2010 at 2:42 pm
Feb 16, 2010, 3:22 pm
#784
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Purgatory
Programs: Too many to list. Status is a half dozen.
Posts: 9,235
Yes they did, including myself.
I believe the problem with that routing will be, that the result turns out to an RTW (around the world trip). At least judging from the other posts, the routing to HKG was via pacific. Maybe tasking the agent with finding a way back home himself could work.
I believe the problem with that routing will be, that the result turns out to an RTW (around the world trip). At least judging from the other posts, the routing to HKG was via pacific. Maybe tasking the agent with finding a way back home himself could work.
08 Mar TK002 JFK-IST 1630-0910 (Biz or First)
09 Mar TK070 IST-HKG 2355-1540 (Biz or First)
The problem is that TK070 does NOT show up on ANA for 9 March if looking specifically at IST-HKG. It shows up on the 10th with zero availability but on the 9th it doesn't exist.
However, if you look at WAW-HKG on the 9th (don't ask why I was), it will show the LO flight to IST and TK070 with space available. Weird.
Feb 16, 2010, 4:08 pm
#785
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AA EXP & Life Plat; AA 4MM; TWA Life Plat; HH Diamond
Posts: 1,110
I'm looking to do a trip to Hawaii and would like if possible to take advantage of a stopover on the west coast in one direction. US rules appear to suggest stopovers aren't valid on domestic trips but are valid for inter-region travel.
Since Hawaii has a different award structure it's not clear to me if they consider it a 'region.' Therefore my question if this is folks think this is legal (notwithstanding on any given day a phone rep can deviate from the rules):
JFK-LAX: UA :Stopover
LAX-PHX-LIH: US: Destination
LIH-SFO-JFK: US:
Since Hawaii has a different award structure it's not clear to me if they consider it a 'region.' Therefore my question if this is folks think this is legal (notwithstanding on any given day a phone rep can deviate from the rules):
JFK-LAX: UA :Stopover
LAX-PHX-LIH: US: Destination
LIH-SFO-JFK: US:
Feb 16, 2010, 4:15 pm
#786
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Purgatory
Programs: Too many to list. Status is a half dozen.
Posts: 9,235
Call and ask, can't hurt to see how it works out for you. I have no real idea but would assume it would work as North America and Hawaii are separate regions.
I assume your "LIH-SFO-JFK" return is intended as UA and not US as your original post indicated. Just checking.
But curiously - why use US at all and back track to PHX? Use UA the entire way from LAX or SFO.
I assume your "LIH-SFO-JFK" return is intended as UA and not US as your original post indicated. Just checking.
But curiously - why use US at all and back track to PHX? Use UA the entire way from LAX or SFO.
Feb 16, 2010, 4:50 pm
#787
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: TXL
Programs: US, LH, HH
Posts: 725
Maybe you were looking for a round trip and changed the date for the flight back when you looked up 10th? IST-HKG isn't offered every day and if any segment involved not available then ANA refuses to show anything.
Feb 16, 2010, 5:02 pm
#788
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Purgatory
Programs: Too many to list. Status is a half dozen.
Posts: 9,235
On 09 March, searching WAW-HKG shows LO135 connecting to TK70 with F and C available. However, the ANA tool will not show TK70 if searching IST-HKG. The usual "no availability, route too complex" message comes up.
I verified - TK70 operates on Tuesday the 9th of March. Just not showing up on ANA Tool if searching just that segment on that date.
Feb 16, 2010, 5:17 pm
#789
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: TXL
Programs: US, LH, HH
Posts: 725
Works for me with ANA, when I enter 9 March ANA will select 12 March as return date (at which there is no HKG-IST flight) and thus fails, if I change that to 13 March it shows both flights.
Feb 16, 2010, 5:22 pm
#790
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Worldwide
Posts: 12,949
Using KVS. I just went to ANA and manually searched to make sure KVS wasn't screwing up somehow.
On 09 March, searching WAW-HKG shows LO135 connecting to TK70 with F and C available. However, the ANA tool will not show TK70 if searching IST-HKG. The usual "no availability, route too complex" message comes up.
I verified - TK70 operates on Tuesday the 9th of March. Just not showing up on ANA Tool if searching just that segment on that date.
On 09 March, searching WAW-HKG shows LO135 connecting to TK70 with F and C available. However, the ANA tool will not show TK70 if searching IST-HKG. The usual "no availability, route too complex" message comes up.
I verified - TK70 operates on Tuesday the 9th of March. Just not showing up on ANA Tool if searching just that segment on that date.
"[SNT: Awards/StarAlliance] Cannot show availability, when no flights (on any supported carrier) exist in the opposite direction on the same date."
Feb 16, 2010, 5:28 pm
#791
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: TXL
Programs: US, LH, HH
Posts: 725
From http://Help.KVSTool.com/#Methods:
"[SNT: Awards/StarAlliance] Cannot show availability, when no flights (on any supported carrier) exist in the opposite direction on the same date."
Feb 16, 2010, 9:12 pm
#792
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AA EXP & Life Plat; AA 4MM; TWA Life Plat; HH Diamond
Posts: 1,110
Only reason for the backtrack is that UA didn't have 4 seats on the departure date while US did.
I'll give the phone a whirl and see what I come up with.
Thx.
Feb 16, 2010, 10:19 pm
#793
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: DCA
Programs: US Silver, CO, DL
Posts: 502
JFK-LAX: UA :Stopover
LAX-PHX-LIH: US: Destination
LIH-SFO-JFK: UA:
Not entirely sure either, but I don't think the LAX stopover will be your problem. (Since a lot of purchased fares to HI allow a LAX/SFO stopover, it can't hurt to ask.) What I am pretty sure WILL be a problem is the backtracking to PHX. At least that's been my experience when requesting similar itineraries. Anyway, good luck.
LAX-PHX-LIH: US: Destination
LIH-SFO-JFK: UA:
Not entirely sure either, but I don't think the LAX stopover will be your problem. (Since a lot of purchased fares to HI allow a LAX/SFO stopover, it can't hurt to ask.) What I am pretty sure WILL be a problem is the backtracking to PHX. At least that's been my experience when requesting similar itineraries. Anyway, good luck.
Feb 16, 2010, 11:23 pm
#794
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Moorpark, CA
Programs: UA 1K, 1MM; Hilton Gold; IHG Gold; Marriott Gold; Hyatt Platinum; probably missing something
Posts: 20
Getting an ANA FF number?
I'm reading the posts about using the ANA tool, but from what I can see getting a FF number from them is no longer free nor easy from outside Japan. Am I looking in the wrong place?
http://www.ana.co.jp/wws/us/e/wws_common/amc/amc/
http://www.ana.co.jp/wws/us/e/wws_common/amc/amc/
Feb 17, 2010, 12:34 am
#795
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,407
So yes - my itinerary only works if travel does not need to be via the pacific