US Dividend Miles - Post Your SUCCESSFUL oneworld bookings here

[_TheTraveller_]

Where is your stop over or destination? You were lucky they didn't try to charge insane fees for the lhr. (Even though this is wrong if it's a transit).

We're going to be really constrained on time so we didn't book a stopover but our destination is HKG I actually originally wanted an open jaw back to SJU so LHR-PHL-SJU. But after spending 2 hours to even barely get the routing above I didn't want to push my luck. They originally only allowed me to have PHL-ZRH-HKG-DXB-LHR-PHL, but I called and asked to change it again.

I was worried that it wasn't gonna get ticketed. I actually had a hard time due to poor internet connect so I had 4 disconnect calls when they were trying to price it. A couple times they came back saying that DXB wasn't a hub so they couldn't have a stopover or that I couldn't route through DOH. Thankfully, I had some fantastic agents that were professional and lovely to deal with so that made the experience slightly better!

 

[sergeyvzn]

Made a quick booking for my partner last night, it was all very last minute as he unfortunately needs to go to a funeral of an old good friend in the UK next week

SYD-DXB-LHR on QF1 in F
LHR-SIN-SYD on BA15 in F
150K + USD723.07 in taxes (bloody UK APD is alone about USD300 however still happy with the amount as I thought the fuel surcharge will be more than that)
The whole thing took about 10 minutes on the US DM Gold line, a very competent agent (male) who knew what he was doing, booked and ticketed straight away, a email confirmation came through 5 minutes later and the Qantas PNR proactively given on the phone by the agent. Overall, very happy with the service

A few things to note

1) the flight back was originally planned to go like that; LHR-FRA(on BA)-NRT-SYD(on JL), the first two legs in J and the last one in F. BA showing one F seat on the JAL flight from NRT to SYD, the agent could see as well but when he went to book it he said it returned a "closed for the airline" (sic) error message meaning that while this award seat did exist it could not be used by US Airways as it was reserved for either JMB itself of BA exclusively.
2) there were other ways to get back from LHR e.g. LHR-DOH-KUL-MEL-SYD (a combination of QR and MH) but this was quickly dismissed by the partner who did not like the idea of taking 4 flights so we had to part with cash for the BA F
3) lots of seats open out of LHR to both HKG and NRT/HND but absolutely nothing out of HKG on either CX or QF anywhere in Oz, we tried SYD, MEL, BNE, ADL and even PER and there was zero seats in J and even Y. There were a couple of JL seats to SYD here and there but this involved a stopover in Tokyo and partner was not too keen

 

[MEL_Traveller]

compared to QF's asking price of ~390k miles and something like ~$1500 in qantas imposed fuel surcharges and tax... it's not a bad deal!

 

[sergeyvzn]

compared to QF's asking price of ~390k miles and something like ~$1500 in qantas imposed fuel surcharges and tax... it's not a bad deal!

Not at all.
Even with the AUD falling it's still far better than using QF FF - which did not have anything available with Emirates direct either, by the way, I also checked these options as we've got quite a few QF FF points (got them through different credit card sign up bonuses)

 

[get me outta here]

It's a pity the agents are not all trained on the 'Gold' line.

Made a quick booking for my partner last night, it was all very last minute as he unfortunately needs to go to a funeral of an old good friend in the UK next week

SYD-DXB-LHR on QF1 in F
LHR-SIN-SYD on BA15 in F
150K + USD723.07 in taxes (bloody UK APD is alone about USD300 however still happy with the amount as I thought the fuel surcharge will be more than that)
The whole thing took about 10 minutes on the US DM Gold line, a very competent agent (male) who knew what he was doing, booked and ticketed straight away, a email confirmation came through 5 minutes later and the Qantas PNR proactively given on the phone by the agent. Overall, very happy with the service

A few things to note

1) the flight back was originally planned to go like that; LHR-FRA(on BA)-NRT-SYD(on JL), the first two legs in J and the last one in F. BA showing one F seat on the JAL flight from NRT to SYD, the agent could see as well but when he went to book it he said it returned a "closed for the airline" (sic) error message meaning that while this award seat did exist it could not be used by US Airways as it was reserved for either JMB itself of BA exclusively.
2) there were other ways to get back from LHR e.g. LHR-DOH-KUL-MEL-SYD (a combination of QR and MH) but this was quickly dismissed by the partner who did not like the idea of taking 4 flights so we had to part with cash for the BA F
3) lots of seats open out of LHR to both HKG and NRT/HND but absolutely nothing out of HKG on either CX or QF anywhere in Oz, we tried SYD, MEL, BNE, ADL and even PER and there was zero seats in J and even Y. There were a couple of JL seats to SYD here and there but this involved a stopover in Tokyo and partner was not too keen

 

[sergeyvzn]

It's a pity the agents are not all trained on the 'Gold' line.

We've dealt with them a couple of times this year and they all were above and beyond your average US DM agent by a mile! No need to explain what you are trying to do and where Sydney is

Unfortunately, losing the status in April and not willing to buy another year of it for $1200 USD, for that much money I can teach a few usually awful US DM agents a little geography myself

 

[diningdecadence]

3) lots of seats open out of LHR to both HKG and NRT/HND but absolutely nothing out of HKG on either CX or QF anywhere in Oz, we tried SYD, MEL, BNE, ADL and even PER and there was zero seats in J and even Y. There were a couple of JL seats to SYD here and there but this involved a stopover in Tokyo and partner was not too keen

possibly Chinese New Year

 

[k974]

Made a quick booking for my partner last night, it was all very last minute as he unfortunately needs to go to a funeral of an old good friend in the UK next week

SYD-DXB-LHR on QF1 in F
LHR-SIN-SYD on BA15 in F
150K + USD723.07 in taxes (bloody UK APD is alone about USD300 however still happy with the amount as I thought the fuel surcharge will be more than that)
The whole thing took about 10 minutes on the US DM Gold line, a very competent agent (male) who knew what he was doing, booked and ticketed straight away, a email confirmation came through 5 minutes later and the Qantas PNR proactively given on the phone by the agent. Overall, very happy with the service

A few things to note

1) the flight back was originally planned to go like that; LHR-FRA(on BA)-NRT-SYD(on JL), the first two legs in J and the last one in F. BA showing one F seat on the JAL flight from NRT to SYD, the agent could see as well but when he went to book it he said it returned a "closed for the airline" (sic) error message meaning that while this award seat did exist it could not be used by US Airways as it was reserved for either JMB itself of BA exclusively.
2) there were other ways to get back from LHR e.g. LHR-DOH-KUL-MEL-SYD (a combination of QR and MH) but this was quickly dismissed by the partner who did not like the idea of taking 4 flights so we had to part with cash for the BA F
3) lots of seats open out of LHR to both HKG and NRT/HND but absolutely nothing out of HKG on either CX or QF anywhere in Oz, we tried SYD, MEL, BNE, ADL and even PER and there was zero seats in J and even Y. There were a couple of JL seats to SYD here and there but this involved a stopover in Tokyo and partner was not too keen

Hey sergeyvzn

you replied to a question of mind just tonight, this is exactly the booking i'm trying to make. Did you use KVS to search for the availability or another method, I know you wrote back to me on the other thread and really I apologise i'm so slow at this but I cant seem to find anything on the KVS site for June/July/August/Sept.

Thanks for you advice

Regards

 

[sergeyvzn]

Hey sergeyvzn

you replied to a question of mind just tonight, this is exactly the booking i'm trying to make. Did you use KVS to search for the availability or another method, I know you wrote back to me on the other thread and really I apologise i'm so slow at this but I cant seem to find anything on the KVS site for June/July/August/Sept.

Thanks for you advice

Regards

already replied on the other thread
i don't use KVS
What dates you are looking at, I'll have a look what's available

 

[k974]

Hi thanks for that,

We are looking at a 2 week trip in May, or a month trip for the rugby world cup in September, get there about 15th sept and leave a month or so later. looking to go in first as girlfriend has not done this before.

I always thought that you had to use KVS to do the searches, I will try the airlines now. Its all so confusing (even tho I managed to do it before when it was Star Alliance) with all the code for the airlines and airports etc, but I suppose once you get used of it, its not too bad.

Even if you could find some seats, I could go on straight away then and see if I can see them same seats, it will show me how to search then. We would like a stopvover as well, but that's not a priority,

Thanks again

 

[sergeyvzn]

Hi thanks for that,

We are looking at a 2 week trip in May, or a month trip for the rugby world cup in September, get there about 15th sept and leave a month or so later. looking to go in first as girlfriend has not done this before.

I always thought that you had to use KVS to do the searches, I will try the airlines now. Its all so confusing (even tho I managed to do it before when it was Star Alliance) with all the code for the airlines and airports etc, but I suppose once you get used of it, its not too bad.

Even if you could find some seats, I could go on straight away then and see if I can see them same seats, it will show me how to search then. We would like a stopvover as well, but that's not a priority,

Thanks again

A quick look at aa.com shows 2 F seats on BA Sydney to Dublin on 19 May (and that's it), plenty to come back, all on BA, like for example on 02 June - 2 F seats on BA...that's going to be quite a bit of fuel surcharges though

 

[k974]

great thanks for that

 

[sergeyvzn]

great thanks for that

Much better availability in J, quite a few dates are available BNE-DUB and return
heres the link to aa.com search engine (the easiest one)
Award Reservations Flight Search | American Airlines AAdvantage Frequent Flyer Miles | AA.com

 

[k974]

that's great, thanks for that sergeyvzn. I really appreciate it. I should have come on here before I paid for KVS again! , I see some people do some complicated routes, is this done on KVS?

Thanks again.

 

[anat0l]

that's great, thanks for that sergeyvzn. I really appreciate it. I should have come on here before I paid for KVS again! , I see some people do some complicated routes, is this done on KVS?

Thanks again.

There is a thread in the same forum group which explains how to use free tools (viz. the search engines on some airlines' websites) to search for availability.

You can use KVS, which combines the power of these tools into one interface which is usually much easier to use, albeit you do pay a premium for that service (plus a whole lot more other features).

When searching for availability on routes, I recommend searching for availability on sectors one at a time. For example, if you want to go Brisbane (BNE) - Singapore (SIN) - London Heathrow (LHR), I'd search for availability on BNE-SIN first, then SIN-LHR. Putting in simply BNE-LHR and asking a tool to produce availability for you may not give you all your options, nor is it the best way to do it.

Of course, going from Brisbane to London (or any other pair of flights) doesn't mean via Singapore is the only way to do it. This means you will need to brainstorm other possible ways of getting between your origin and destination, then checking availabilities of seats going via the intermediate points. An intermediate point could also be an en route stopover if you wish. In general, your travel will take you between airline hubs - i.e. the main airports of the respective airlines - before you get to your final destination, so knowing the main hubs of the airlines will generally guide you as to what routings are possible between your origin and destination.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

that's great, thanks for that sergeyvzn. I really appreciate it. I should have come on here before I paid for KVS again! , I see some people do some complicated routes, is this done on KVS?

Thanks again.

Some people like KVS, but personally I don't use it. Not that there is anything wrong with it, except you gotta pay. The saving for KVS I guess might be time? But otherwise you can use a variety of tools such as AA, QF, BA, JL - all for free.

I know for example that MEL-HKG is serviced by just two carriers - CX and QF. So searching is pretty straight forward using the BA tool.

If I'm then going onwards to Europe or the states, again the BA tool is pretty easy to navigate and change city pairs.

(snap what anat0l said!)

 

[casanovawa]

Shouldn't all this stuff be on the discussion thread???

 

[CJEMNMAC]

First success with USDM. ( thanks to some great help from members )

MEL-ADL......QF
ADL-HKG-NRT......CX
NRT-SAN.....JL
SAN-DFW..... AA ( Dest )

YVR-NRT....JL
NRT-HKG-BNE.....CX
BNE-MEL...QF

110000 points and $252 taxes per pax...2 pax all in J

Had to call 6 times to get it sorted.

 

[Beta4Me]

First success with USDM. ( thanks to some great help from members )

MEL-ADL......QF
ADL-HKG-NRT......CX
NRT-SAN.....JL
SAN-DFW..... AA ( Dest )

YVR-NRT....JL
NRT-HKG-BNE.....CX
BNE-MEL...QF

110000 points and $252 taxes per pax...2 pax all in J

Had to call 6 times to get it sorted.

Well done! And good on you for being persistent. Keen to know what you think of JL's 787 J on the Tokyo-San Diego route.

 

[Solid]

My simple routing gives me routing envy but it is just for the weekend so direct is best:

SYD - NRT JAL J.
NRT - SYD JAL J.

90000 and $100 taxes each, booked for May.

Saw previous discussion about not being able to book JAL more than three months but was appearing on BA and the award chart didn't seem to mention it. These bookings are more than 3 months (just).