jamesbondc

Dear senior members, I am having a hard time finding out a business class seat using US Airways dividend miles. I am trying to book from DEL to TPA. My dates are flexible, the seat can be this month or next month but I can't figure out how to find that information on US Airways website. I called customer support in US and the lady only looked up to Nov 2nd and said, sir I can't find any seat. She refused to look further.

I am just getting an error but I booked using US miles in past and they used to give me a business class seat either on Lufthansa, United, etc.

I called United Airlines and the customer rep said only I can book though US Airways with their miles even though they are under Star Alliance.

Please help out a noob. Thanks a ton.

flyer31

Search on united.com for your dates. Once you find something call up US airways and book with them.
Hope this helps.

jamesbondc

I called United, and the customer rep told me since I am buying dividend miles from US Airways they have specific seats in different airlines so only US Airways can book business class ticket for me. US Airways, refuse to look past Nov if there are 2 seats available or no for Del to Tpa round trip. I told them I will be in US for up to 7 months so they can pick any date the seats are available, but no help

price123

Instead of phoning United, use the website (as flyer31 suggested) to search for availability. Then phone at tell US that you want those flights. I am no expert but this seems to be the advice here on FT.

I see availability on October 2nd DEL-EWR-TPA with United in business or Austrian Air on November 13th (via VIE and IAD).

Or if you can leave soon, September 25th with LH and US via FRA and CLT.

Try April 17th for flight back (UA and LH via IAD and FRA) or even via NRT with ANA.

DHalltheway

the most useful comprehensive guide

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/12842614-post1.html

The adage is give a man a fish or teach a man to fish applies.

redtop43

I have been in a similar situation, looking to book a US international business class award.

While going through the search process, twice I found suitable flights on united.com (note: They must be "Saver" awards) and called US, and both times the flights were available.

So I second the other advice - search on United.com, then call US to book.

metoo

^

Booked my Asian trip using United Website. Went to do search on United Website then wrote every segment including date, time, flight number then called U.S Airways with this and had no problem with U.S. Airways booking all segments.

michael_v

Just note that united.com does not show regional SQ business seats. You can find those using ANA and maybe Aeroplan. I was able to book SIN-ICN SQ business class using US airways miles yesterday.

mia

Thread moved to US Airways forum, the primary venue for discussion of Dividend Miles redemptions. The title has been revised to reflect the question.

Often1

Also - As a rule of thumb, there is no such thing as domestic Business (C/J). Only F and Y. This will sometimes gum up a booking. The intl. C should book into domestic F.

TPA us ff

Agreed and thanks.

jamesbondc

Ok so I looked on United and there was SaverAward ticket for only one day in October for business class. Does that mean I have to either fly on Oct 2nd or wait til next month ?

Also, when I call US airways the customer rep keeps telling me only they know of the specific seats in business class where I can use US airways dividend miles ?

burlax

You have to search segment-by-segment by hand - sometimes there is availability on a valid routing but the search engine will not find it. So, don't search for DEL-TPA. Search for DEL-EWR, DEL-JFK, DEL-IAD, DEL-DFW, DEL-IAH, DEL-LAX, DEL-SFO, DEL-SEA - basically check for availability into every major domestic airport.

Your goal is to find availability on the int'l segment, because availability is almost always there for some domestic route into TPA. You can look on united.com or aeroplan.com . Once you find availability for every segment, call US and tell them the dates and the flight numbers.

Or, if you keep getting confused and don't want to read FAQs on *A redemptions, find a good travel agent and pay him to do the work for you.

EDIT: There is plenty of availability for various dates in October via FRA, LHR, and ICN.

dracs

Jamesbondc,

As others have suggested, it is not very difficult but may be a little time consuming. As Burlax, has suggested you can try those routes on united and see if something comes up. If nothing comes up, you need to break down further and piece together your segments.
So your goal would get a long flight to Europe from Delhi where star alliance carriers fly,
Like Del-zrh,del-vie,del-muc,del-fra etc. If you can find business good, Now from those airports, try to see if you can reach US, like fra-jfk, fra-iad,fra-iad etc. if you can find Business good, otherwise you can try to reach from within Europe to another Europe airport and try to reach from there to US.Now from there try to reach TPA so try IAD-TPA or JFK-TPA etc.

Once you have all your segments, note down the flights and give to US airways agent. Note: All segments have to be at saver level.

It would be really good as others have suggested to read the first post of the thread http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/12842614-post1.html
PS: I can understand that here knowledge also comes into play, like knowing routes where star alliance carriers fly from Del and subsequent airports.
Don't forget to reach US from eastern side also. like Del-nrt, del-bkk and so on.