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 20, 2012, 5:05 pm
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,406
Let's add some rules, shall we?
Yes, pretty simple.
- Lufthansa first class? Nope
- Swiss first class? Forget it
- Singapore F/J ex-US and many more places? Nada
- Stopover that's not a hub? Seems difficult
- Stopover out of region of destination? Nope
- Book an award on the same flight on the same airline in one direction and then be told that the other direction doesnt exist (EY: BEY-ADD)? That's US for you
Yes, pretty simple.
but to you points... LH isn't available to anyone much, some airlines get access 14 days prior. LX is an issue I agree. sq - again not available to ANYONE for premium awards. I use SQ a lot intra Asia however and never have any problems for biz class.
soptover not a hub? well, flying a star airline I usually transit a hub so not an issue. stopover outside an award region? easy. plenty of people get it and are charged the lower rate. however, if your itinerary doesn't fit within the star alliance suggested routings then you may get done. many many reports here of people flying SWP-USA with stops in Asia.
not seeing bey - yeah that's an issue. but these things happen. not all awards schemes are perfect for all itineraries. just because we can't get the exact thing we want doesn't mean it's a bad program, considering the ease of mileage accrual and redemption levels.
I flew many times last year shanghai to Tokyo. most of the time I got to fly on all Nippon, but two times the agent just could see NH and told me I had to fly CA. that doesn't mean US is a bad program!
May 20, 2012, 5:24 pm
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Melbourne
Programs: Velocity Gold
Posts: 1,069
Did you try calling them and asking if the seat was available?
As with all these tools nothing is perfect as we aren't using US Airways actual system, we are just hoping for the best results possible.
May 20, 2012, 5:53 pm
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 1,147
Question -- I wanted an LX short-hop FRA-ZRH connector. United shows space, as does ANA, but US couldn't see it. It was really not a problem as I just took the flight an hour earlier, but could US not see it because it was operated by Swiss European instead of Swiss? Does that matter?
May 20, 2012, 6:30 pm
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: USA
Programs: AA2, DL2, Amtrak2, US2, SPG1, MAR2
Posts: 2,550
I've redeemed awards across all three alliances in the last few years; most very large redemptions. This was the most difficult by far. Of course YMMV and, obviously, I recognize that there are advantages and disadvantages to all of them. For me, a big draw of US was the ability to redeem long haul F awards on interesting airlines like LX or LH (and use my fave FCT); and it turned out to be a bait and switch for me. Of course all programs have changes over time, but this selective blocking inside the alliance is not in the acceptable range of tolerance for me; I was well aware of the SQ blocking and thus it was ok in my mind as I knew it going in.
Add up all the other odd problems and it is by far the worse of the majors I've dealt with.
Add up all the other odd problems and it is by far the worse of the majors I've dealt with.
Last edited by DrivingRain; May 20, 2012 at 6:35 pm
May 20, 2012, 7:48 pm
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 5,439
Personally with all the awards I've redeemed, I would put US along with UA as the best, and BA as the far far far far worst. Lack of LH F is nothing compared to the pains of Avios, or even AA miles...
May 20, 2012, 8:37 pm
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: DCA
Programs: US Silver, UA Plat, HHonors Diamond, SPG Gold
Posts: 212
Ugh
Just booked a ticket with US on 3 other carriers (NZ, UA and LH). After confirming the name on the reservation, the ticket was issued. While still on the phone with the agent, i pulled up the reservation on USAir.com and noticed that the passenger's last name was spelled incorrectly (one letter is omitted). I alerted the agent to this matter and, after placing me on hold to confer with her supervisor, she stated that all they could do was to put notes in the PNR that the name was incorrectly spelled and provide the correct spelling. She stated that to change the name would require a reissue and it would be unlikely that each flight would return to award inventory.
Does it seem right that a reissue is required? If so, how much of a PITA is this going to be? Any tips or suggestions?
Thanks.
Does it seem right that a reissue is required? If so, how much of a PITA is this going to be? Any tips or suggestions?
Thanks.
May 20, 2012, 8:43 pm
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: CBR
Programs: QF WP, AC*G
Posts: 1,223
I tend to agree. My experience is only really with US and AC but US is fine as long as you know exactly what you want, have it lined up and ready to go and you don't push the rules too far. You also have to know how to word things. AC is similar but their wait times are horrible and more of their agents understand the rules.
May 20, 2012, 9:20 pm
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Melbourne
Programs: Velocity Gold
Posts: 1,069
Just booked a ticket with US on 3 other carriers (NZ, UA and LH). After confirming the name on the reservation, the ticket was issued. While still on the phone with the agent, i pulled up the reservation on USAir.com and noticed that the passenger's last name was spelled incorrectly (one letter is omitted). I alerted the agent to this matter and, after placing me on hold to confer with her supervisor, she stated that all they could do was to put notes in the PNR that the name was incorrectly spelled and provide the correct spelling. She stated that to change the name would require a reissue and it would be unlikely that each flight would return to award inventory.
Does it seem right that a reissue is required? If so, how much of a PITA is this going to be? Any tips or suggestions?
Thanks.
Does it seem right that a reissue is required? If so, how much of a PITA is this going to be? Any tips or suggestions?
Thanks.
May 20, 2012, 9:51 pm
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: CBR
Programs: QF WP, AC*G
Posts: 1,223
A better way is to have them hold it while on the phone, check it while the same person is on the phone and then ticket it if fine. That way, you avoid the possibility that the next agent will reject the itinerary.
May 20, 2012, 9:51 pm
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,389
I can agree with that in terms of the experience on the phone; US CS randomness/HUACA is hairpulling-bad.
That being said, show me an airline where you get the following itinerary for 90K in C:
SEA-ICN-HKG(dest)-BKK(23 hour transit)-FRA(23 hour transit)-SEA
Had I wanted that FRA transit could have been a stopover. It would have been trivially easy to daisy-chain additional awards (other airlines) in HKG or FRA.
The problems with LH group airlines are admittedly bad. On the other hand, UA *Net blocking eventually went away. So might this.
That being said, show me an airline where you get the following itinerary for 90K in C:
SEA-ICN-HKG(dest)-BKK(23 hour transit)-FRA(23 hour transit)-SEA
Had I wanted that FRA transit could have been a stopover. It would have been trivially easy to daisy-chain additional awards (other airlines) in HKG or FRA.
The problems with LH group airlines are admittedly bad. On the other hand, UA *Net blocking eventually went away. So might this.
May 20, 2012, 10:18 pm
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: PHL
Programs: Former long-time US GP; now AA dirt
Posts: 4,904
May 20, 2012, 11:05 pm
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: PHL
Programs: Former long-time US GP; now AA dirt
Posts: 4,904
Has anyone ever had any luck getting US to open up a C (Envoy) seat on a TATL flight to begin or complete a *A award itinerary? I ask because in the past, US has always opened up domestic F seats for me to get me to connect to my *A flights -- even when no award space appeared online for those US domestic flights. I'm trying to get to ANYWHERE in Europe on 6/30 that will connect on TG to BKK, but I can't seem to find any F/C availability on an *A partners to get me to Europe.
May 21, 2012, 12:32 am
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Sydney
Posts: 44
LX First showing!?
Hi guys
A quick question - I have read that LH & LX availability in first is tough to find
but I have had my eye on a flight from ZRH to BKK with Swiss in first.
On United.com, Aeroplan & AwardTravelr it shows as being available but the
US Airways lady I spoke to at the reservations centre could not find anything for that particular flight in any class.
Should I HUACA or despite these websites showing availability is it simply not available.
Thanks for any advice.
A quick question - I have read that LH & LX availability in first is tough to find
but I have had my eye on a flight from ZRH to BKK with Swiss in first.
On United.com, Aeroplan & AwardTravelr it shows as being available but the
US Airways lady I spoke to at the reservations centre could not find anything for that particular flight in any class.
Should I HUACA or despite these websites showing availability is it simply not available.
Thanks for any advice.
May 21, 2012, 1:08 am
Join Date: Apr 2010
Programs: LX SEN
Posts: 313
Hi guys
A quick question - I have read that LH & LX availability in first is tough to find
but I have had my eye on a flight from ZRH to BKK with Swiss in first.
On United.com, Aeroplan & AwardTravelr it shows as being available but the
US Airways lady I spoke to at the reservations centre could not find anything for that particular flight in any class.
Should I HUACA or despite these websites showing availability is it simply not available.
Thanks for any advice.
A quick question - I have read that LH & LX availability in first is tough to find
but I have had my eye on a flight from ZRH to BKK with Swiss in first.
On United.com, Aeroplan & AwardTravelr it shows as being available but the
US Airways lady I spoke to at the reservations centre could not find anything for that particular flight in any class.
Should I HUACA or despite these websites showing availability is it simply not available.
Thanks for any advice.
May 21, 2012, 1:33 am
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Programs: Flying: VA; Buying: AA, AS, AV, BA, UA!
Posts: 2,349