US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

[Shanye2233]

i have something similar on hold going to US via NRT . I tried coming back with air canada as well thru YYZ but agent said not showing availability . I asked for a long sell and agent said there is no such sale currently :idea:

 

[JohnK]

I am mad! I have finally signed up to join the trend.

I will wait 12 days and then purchase 50,000 miles....

 

[anat0l]

I am mad! I have finally signed up to join the trend.

I will wait 12 days and then purchase 50,000 miles....

If you're mad then you can have the bed by the aisle; I want the bed alongside the window.

I don't think Medicare covers committal to a frequent flyer asylum.



----------
This anat0l content, if it must be known,
Was sent via Aust Freq Fly app, but not from an iPhone.

 

[Alanslegal]

but the ORD-MUC got booked at the last minute.

I doubt the ORD-MUC got booked at the last minute. The obvious reason - reading through the entire posts here and esp. FT - is that TATL routings with LH is often blocked (for whatever real reason behind it) , even though you may see them as available in your flight search.

SYD > ORD United
ORD > MUC Lufthansa
MUC > BKK Thai
BKK > SYD THai

Now looking at going ORD > SEA > ICN > SYD back with United & Asiana.

Hard yakka but it seems worth it if you can fluke the right flights.

Nah not hard yakka at all, all the flights I have found on ANA have been available and booked successfully. That said, I do avoid TATL flights with LH knowing full well the current blocking issues by either US and/or LH.

 

[JohnK]

I don't think Medicare covers committal to a frequent flyer asylum.

No but I am hoping Medibank Private does!

 

[Benjamin]

Nah not hard yakka at all, all the flights I have found on ANA have been available and booked successfully. That said, I do avoid TATL flights with LH knowing full well the current blocking issues by either US and/or LH.

Are you able to shed any more light on this? I've been considering FRA-YYC on LH...

 

[neon_crossing]

made some touch scheduling decisions and ended up getting this on hold:

SYD > AKL > LAX > PHX > ORD
ORD > PHX > SEA > ICN > SYD

US Airways First class domestic is classed as business according to the rates, the above for 110k points and around $150 taxes!

SYD > AKL J NZ
AKL > LAX J NZ
LAX > PHX F US
PHX > ORD F US

^one looong day worth of flights (gotta add a seperately bought Y ADL > SYD to the start too)^

ORD > PHX F US
PHX > SEA F US
SEA > ICN J OZ
ICN > SYD J OZ

^even lonnnnnger day with a Y SYD > ADL tacked on the end!^

Crazy sectors but hell its worth it for the little comforts.

 

[bcworld]

Are you able to shed any more light on this? I've been considering FRA-YYC on LH...

There are many, many reports on the FT thread of occasions when Aeroplan or ANA show transatlantic availability on LH / LX but US Airways agents say no. There is some evidence that the seats can be manually requested (long sell) but many agents either don't know how, aren't willing to or have been instructed not to do this.

 

[anat0l]

There are many, many reports on the FT thread of occasions when Aeroplan or ANA show transatlantic availability on LH / LX but US Airways agents say no. There is some evidence that the seats can be manually requested (long sell) but many agents either don't know how, aren't willing to or have been instructed not to do this.

There is also the odd anecdote of people who have been successful in getting such award seats "normally", i.e. found it on ANA, rang up and booked with no hassles.

A lot of it comes down to the agent you get and the "real" availability to US. The former depends on how "smart" or "dumb" the agent is; the latter is almost a mirror of ANA, but more like a subset (a small one at that).

It's not impossible, but you just can't rely on it. Can't blame many people: people flying from the USA (i.e. residents) mostly think their carriers suck, so they will more than likely fly LH or LX (even OS) if they could. The LH group has long criticised the practice of making miles in alliance FFPs too easy to burn awards on their inventory, usually - they claim - at the expense of their own Miles & More members getting at such premium inventory. So for some period, it was rumoured but never confirmed that LH were doing some blocking of their own, a la SQ style. The word going around now, however, is that this kind of blocking is very, very, very slowly starting to loosen up.

So in conclusion, try if you like to book such inventory, but always have an alternative.

----------
This anat0l content, if it must be known,
Was sent via Aust Freq Fly app, but not from an iPhone.

 

[shane2603]

Hi Guys,

Have been lurking for a while and am a new member, ready to book but want to use skype, can anyone advsie number please?
Also does PER-BKK-FRA-JFK-LVS return in F sound feasable?
Understand will need to go J with Thai from Perth. Looking at going in August next year, is that available to book now?
Thanks for your help

 

[dean_au]

Great thread everyone - well done!

Struggling to understand the T&C's if an account can be gifted during the same promotional period in which bonus miles were purchased.

i.e.

Account A has 100,000 (50k +50K purchased from the account during this promotion)

Can Account B buy as a "Gift" a further 100k (50k + 50K) for Account A all within the same promotional period?

In other words, is Account A ineligible to receive a "gift miles" bonus because it has purchased "buy miles" during this current promotion

Thanks...

 

[Alanslegal]

Hi Guys,

Have been lurking for a while and am a new member, ready to book but want to use skype, can anyone advsie number please?
Also does PER-BKK-FRA-JFK-LVS return in F sound feasable?
Understand will need to go J with Thai from Perth. Looking at going in August next year, is that available to book now?
Thanks for your help

Firstly, I know that you have not even checked for availability because if you did, August 2012 is not even released yet. This then leads me presume you have not even got an ANA/Aeroplan/AC etc account to check for availability so you aren't even close to knowing whats available. So secondly, read this thread in full. Then head over to FT and read at least the very first page which gives you step by step instructions on what should be done. Once you read the very basics, and given that it will be at least another four weeks before availability for August even gets added to the system, then its probably a good idea to read the entire thread on FT (some 400 pages) This is plenty of time to become very competent to book any of these fares.

 

[Shanye2233]

Welcome to the happiest thread on the planet haha.

Join USDM then start reading you need a account open for 12 days before you can purchase anything

 

[shane2603]

Hi Alan,
Thanks for your advise, yes I have ANA membership, have spent lots of time on Continental, and aeroplan and have read all of your comments in the 486 plus pages on here and also FT. Am heading to Alaska and will be away when dates will become available so just after skype number and whether the itinerary was viable as I might find it difficult to get on the net on the ship

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Hi Alan,
Thanks for your advise, yes I have ANA membership, have spent lots of time on Continental, and aeroplan and have read all of your comments in the 486 plus pages on here and also FT. Am heading to Alaska and will be away when dates will become available so just after skype number and whether the itinerary was viable as I might find it difficult to get on the net on the ship

the Skype number is the same as the reservations number. just select USA from the drop down and dial away. you can start with 800 no need to add the 1 at the start. calls to 1800 numbers on Skype are free.

 

[Alanslegal]

Just a quick question, will something like this work? SIN-MLE-xSIN-BKK all on SQ.

 

[sr81]

Shouldn't see why not if you are treating this as an open jaw. Is MLE in the same redemption zone?

I have booked an open jaw SVO - IST so if I can do that you shouldn't have much of a problem.

I have had issues booking SQ with US over the last week. "Can't see anything" is the standard line. I am looking for two seats so maybe eaiser for one.

 

[Alanslegal]

Shouldn't see why not if you are treating this as an open jaw. Is MLE in the same redemption zone?

MLE is in the same zone as SIN/BKK, so its 25K for Y, and 30K for J.

The only issue I can see this is I'm departing SIN for MLE, then transiting in my start point (SIN) to get to BKK.

 

[Flashback]

I'm trying to book 2 seats PER-LON for early-end April next year (flying out during Easter time, that's probably the painful bit). Can easily get J from BKK-LHR but not having much luck getting any J out of PER, with the only option being offered seeming to be SQ in whY via SIN-BKK connecting to J BKK-LHR rather than TG to BKK in J.

 

[sr81]

MLE is in the same zone as SIN/BKK, so its 25K for Y, and 30K for J.

The only issue I can see this is I'm departing SIN for MLE, then transiting in my start point (SIN) to get to BKK.

I don't see you have an option. MLE-SIN-BKK is about the only route available. Open jaws are allowed by the T&C's.

When dealing with the agent say you are looking for MLE-BKK. See if they pick the SIN route without promting.