US Dividend Miles - Award Booking Questions and General Discussion

I'm not expecting it will work when I call back this arvo and probably for the reasons you mention but I will report back.
 
smit0847 said:
Tried booking a flight that leaves between midnight and 2am?

'which day does it arrive?'
'Sir, the flight obviously arrives the same day it departs'
'But dont your airline days run from 2am to 2am meaning it would depart on one calendar day and arrive on another'
'oh, ummm'
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I have a booking later this year which had a number of 1am flights in it.

She kept talking to herself with dates that were wrong from what I had mentioned.

Luckily she was very experienced and had it absolutely nailed so that when I checked everything was perfect. It just sounded far too complicated.
 
Something very amiss has happened and I'm not sure how it's going to fall back to earth!

Told agent I'd been asked to call back in order to pay some extra taxes for a changed booking. She looked at the booking and said everything was fine, I asked her to read back the flights she had, there were all my changes intact. She offered to resend itinerary to my email to which I said ok as I didn't know where to go from there.

Got onto USDM and I have my original flights MEL-HKG-JFK(all CX) then one leg of my original return HKG-MEL(CX) then my new changes JFK(AA)-LHR(QF)-DXB(QF)-MEL..

Obviously that leg in the middle makes no sense. I haven't paid any change fees. The confirmation codes don't work on the relevant airlines and I have no idea what to do next.

I think.... I will wait a few days for the dust to settle (and the U.S. storm to pass) and have another go with USDM.. Anything else anyone suggests?
 
Craigie said:
Something very amiss has happened and I'm not sure how it's going to fall back to earth!

Told agent I'd been asked to call back in order to pay some extra taxes for a changed booking. She looked at the booking and said everything was fine, I asked her to read back the flights she had, there were all my changes intact. She offered to resend itinerary to my email to which I said ok as I didn't know where to go from there.

Got onto USDM and I have my original flights MEL-HKG-JFK(all CX) then one leg of my original return HKG-MEL(CX) then my new changes JFK(AA)-LHR(QF)-DXB(QF)-MEL..

Obviously that leg in the middle makes no sense. I haven't paid any change fees. The confirmation codes don't work on the relevant airlines and I have no idea what to do next.

I think.... I will wait a few days for the dust to settle (and the U.S. storm to pass) and have another go with USDM.. Anything else anyone suggests?
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Ordinarily you wouldn't be asked to call back to pay taxes on a changed itinerary. The changed itinerary would not be processed until you had paid the fee and any taxes or charges.

This leads me to think maybe the agent thought the booking had already been taken care of? And seeing a ticket number, maybe she assumed it was done and dusted?

Has the change of flights (including the DXB transfer) been to the rates desk? Has a new ticket number been issued to you?

USDM pretty much instant tickets. So if you don't have a new ticket number, it's safe to assume your new flights aren't ticketed. In this case you shouldn't wait, as QF may cancel the new flights.
 
MEL_Traveller said:
Ordinarily you wouldn't be asked to call back to pay taxes on a changed itinerary. The changed itinerary would not be processed until you had paid the fee and any taxes or charges.

This leads me to think maybe the agent thought the booking had already been taken care of? And seeing a ticket number, maybe she assumed it was done and dusted?

Has the change of flights (including the DXB transfer) been to the rates desk? Has a new ticket number been issued to you?

USDM pretty much instant tickets. So if you don't have a new ticket number, it's safe to assume your new flights aren't ticketed. In this case you shouldn't wait, as QF may cancel the new flights.
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Invaluable.

So I pulled up my original email from USDM with the ticket number. Then compared it to what's in my USDM account. The number in my USDM account is exactly the same EXCEPT there's a 3 on the end. And so now I'm utterly confused

Sorry forgot to add that it was at the rates desk for over an hour last night that's why the agent told me to call back.
 
Craigie said:
Invaluable.

So I pulled up my original email from USDM with the ticket number. Then compared it to what's in my USDM account. The number in my USDM account is exactly the same EXCEPT there's a 3 on the end. And so now I'm utterly confused 

Sorry forgot to add that it was at the rates desk for over an hour last night that's why the agent told me to call back.
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On your call today, did you tell them you just had to pay taxes, or that it was still at the rates desk?

The latter may have prompted them to do a bit more investigation.

One hour at the rates desk is crazy. They were probably trying to work out why the itinerary wasn't valid. It shouldn't take that long.

Either way, it appears at this stage your new flights have not been secured (ie no new ticket number, and a change of this magnitude requires a ticket reissue, not a revalidation).

This can be for one of two reasons: (a) they have approved the new flights and want payment of change fee and any additional taxes/fees or (b) the routing is not going to be approved.

I would be calling back at your earliest convenience to sort this out. AA will probably hold the new flights for 5 days, QF perhaps less.
 
Thanks Mel, super helpful.

Just tried ringing again and now there's a friendly message saying the system is overloaded please call back later... Hmmmm oh well this is the game!
 
Again, thanks Mel for your advice. I tried the toll free USDM about an hour ago and the system was still 'over capacity' and that was that.

Did a bit of digging and found the UK USDM number. Reactivated some old Skype credit and tried that number. Got a very helpful agent who I told a bit more succinctly that my booking change went to the rates desk last night but never finished. She said she will try. 35 minutes later she came back and said it was all done.....

So I'm pretty happy with result. No stopovers but I got a better result than I'd hoped for! I hope the data from my experience helps others, I will post the final itinerary over in the successful bookings thread.
 
There was another offer put out today the buy/gift etc . It's terrible, over the last few months they've been pretty bad. Do you think they don't want anyone to buy more points before the merger?
 
whole-lotta-moxie said:
There was another offer put out today the buy/gift etc . It's terrible, over the last few months they've been pretty bad. Do you think they don't want anyone to buy more points before the merger?
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Given AA is taking over, the 'generosity' of the points sales have matched what AA also offer. Keep in mind though, AA caps per year so this is still the best opportunity to build your balance if wanting to do so.
 
While the latest offer is not as good asbefore, its a hell of a lot better than the lousy buy points from the likes of Qantas. Also one can buy in both programs and once merger is on will be combined.
 
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Limewood said:
While the latest offer is not as good asbefore, its a hell of a lot better than the lousy buy points from the likes of Qantas. Also one can buy in both programs and once merger is on will be combined.
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True, though you can't really buy points from Qantas, and even then I think even a fool would realise that the comparison was a loaded contest.

The real question that these kinds of sales come down to is not whether it is good value as such, but rather can you afford to pay that much.

Whilst it may sound very farcical and idiotic to some people here, whilst, say (rough figures) $3000 for a return Business Class ticket to Europe with a stopover is (still) very good value, fact of the matter is that is one able to afford or want to pay $3000.

Also, buying points is not the same as buying a ticket. You can't just buy your $2500 or what not worth of points and go, "OK I've paid that money - give me my ticket". You still need to burn the points for the ticket on available seats. So buying and banking now is just that - you're committing away that much money for later use. Again, the question as to whether people will be comfortable banking away that much money is a decent one to pose (although the argument is similar to the first one anyway - if you can't afford to bank away $2500 - $3000 now, then you likely weren't comfortable to spend that much on a ticket in the first place).

The biggest factor - I think - against these sales is something actually out of the control of US (and AA), which is the USD/AUD exchange rate. Had the rates been at parity or close thereof, even the current offer would still be quite acceptable. Not the "good ol' days" for sure, but much, much more palatable.

Alright kids, public service announcement is over.
 
MEL_Traveller said:
I hedged.
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Now there's a wise man.

MEL_Traveller said:
Although looking at the QF share price, would have been better to buy 10000 QF shares at $1.10 and sell them now at $2.85... tidy profit of $18K
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Minus brokerage fees and taxes, and of course to have had enough guts (and a thick skin to ward off the inevitable ridicule) to stake $11,000 in the first place - most would have just blown the $11,000 on a more comfortable hedge, viz. buying these points.
 
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Could someone let me know how I can find MPM for Lhr - Syd I've been looking at flights and I have found a route via the Middle East and Japan but I'm a little worried it will be excess. I have a Mac so don't use kvs.

Thanks guys
 
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