US Dividend Miles - post your SUCCESSFUL award bookings here.

[Mrmaxwell]

indeed the A380 is scheduled to operate to FRA. At least from October the 9F version is supposed to be operating.

The TG CEO is listed as saying A380 services between BKK and FRA will commence Sept 15 - next month!

Surely if this was the case the details would be online....I've been holding off a leisure booking in hope of the seat maps being updated - who knows if TG will even allow FF bookings through the regular channel...might be best to book the current 747 and roll the dice for an equipment change?

 

[bcworld]

The TG CEO is listed as saying A380 services between BKK and FRA will commence Sept 15 - next month!

Surely if this was the case the details would be online....I've been holding off a leisure booking in hope of the seat maps being updated - who knows if TG will even allow FF bookings through the regular channel...might be best to book the current 747 and roll the dice for an equipment change?

When did the CEO says this & where was it reported? It's almost certainly incorrect.

Theres no reason to think booking will be difficult for FF given many people are already booked on A380 services - including the inaugural flight to HKG.

 

[Oneworldplus2]

I could be wrong, but it looks like someone posted a picture of TG 747 F, refit. Looks good.

 

[lmere12]

Ticketed the following in J :

TG BNE - BKK
TG BKK - FRA (380)
LH FRA - ATH
LH CDG - FRA
TG FRA - BKK (777)
TG BKK - SIN
SQ SIN - BNE

$223 taxes plus $75 processing fee (says it has recently gone up)

received the receipt email; can see the bookings on the US airways site; given booking codes for each airline.
All good to go

 

[Flashback]

Ticketed the following in J :

TG BNE - BKK
TG BKK - FRA (380)
LH FRA - ATH
LH CDG - FRA
TG FRA - BKK (777)
TG BKK - SIN
SQ SIN - BNE

$223 taxes plus $75 processing fee (says it has recently gone up)

received the receipt email; can see the bookings on the US airways site; given booking codes for each airline.
All good to go

Must have been very recent then.

Date Processed: 21 Jul 2012
Cardmember: Flashware

• Foreign Spend Amount: 50.00 USD
• Commission: £0.96
• Exchange Rate: 1.5634

 

[lmere12]

Beats me, I queried the agent and told her the web site didn't. Reflect that and she responded with very recent. By then I'd been on the phone long enough to not make a fuss.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Ticketed the following in J :

TG BNE - BKK
TG BKK - FRA (380)
LH FRA - ATH
LH CDG - FRA
TG FRA - BKK (777)
TG BKK - SIN
SQ SIN - BNE

$223 taxes plus $75 processing fee (says it has recently gone up)

received the receipt email; can see the bookings on the US airways site; given booking codes for each airline.
All good to go

are you flying within 3 weeks? That would attract a $75 express ticketing fee n addition to the $50 normal processing fee.

The taxes of $223 sound like they already include the $50. I have an almost identical itinerary, except flying into AMS (open jaw out of CDG) and the taxes were $189 + 50 booking fee - so $239. Then the 75 is on top of that by the looks of it. If thats not the case then the taxes seem high.

 

[lmere12]

I told her I thought they were high and she said one of the legs were $120 and maybe more expensive with Lufthansa. Not flying until next year.
I told her the web says $50 not $75 and she said it went up. I was hoping/ expecting about the $200 tops.

** just checked my transactions and it has gone through @ $50

 

[wafliron]

Recently booked my first Dividend Mile redemption - 2 pax travelling in May/June next year (booked about 11 months out from the return), flying:

SYD-BKK - F - TG 747-400
BKK-CDG - F - TG A380-800
CDG-IAD - F UA 767-300

LAS-EWR - (dom) F - UA 737-800
EWR-BRU - F - UA 777-200
BRU-FRA - J - LH A319
FRA-BKK - F - TG A380-800
BKK-SYD - F - TG 747-400

There's an 8 hour transit in BKK on the way over (deliberate, to enjoy the Thai F Lounge / Spa) and a 5 hour transit in... BRU I think... on the way back, but otherwise all transits are 1-3 hours. I also had the option of flying both directions via BKK and ICN on TG/OZ/UA, but decided against that as it involved some less-than-ideal flights / routings - long transits or USA dom legs in Y, BKK-ICN and vv in J instead of F (and overnight no less - not good on a ~5 hour flight unless you want to end up tired), etc.

It's a long way off, but I can't wait... especially the TG A380 legs Also going to try to swap out the UA international flights for LX or LH F close to the departure date if any availability pops up.

Also, while I'm at it: I've been very time-poor recently - and was still in the process of educating myself about DM redemptions when I wanted to book - so I actually decided to enlist the services of Award Travel Consulting (Award Travel Consulting | Home) to assist me. I must say they were very, very good - they literally did everything from assisting with planning to searching for available itineraries (and presenting multiple options) to booking to recommending / selecting seats. Very reasonable fees too, IMHO - $100 USD/pax for planning / research / settling on an itinerary, plus $50 per itinerary for them to actually complete the booking on your behalf. Pay on success too. Highly recommended if anyone else feels they want/need assistance with a DM redemption.

 

[thehound]

Just booked first award for 2 people with USDM, simple one to start:

PER-BKK-SGN (dest) - TG
SGN-SIN(stop)-PER - SQ

All J. 90k miles & $185 fees.

 

[spudwa]

May-June 2012

PER-BKK TG
BKK-ICN OZ
ICN-JFK OZ
JFK-FRA SQ A380
FRA-BKK TG
BKK-PER TG

J 110K

 

[bcworld]

May-June 2012

PER-BKK TG
BKK-ICN OZ
ICN-JFK OZ
JFK-FRA SQ A380
FRA-BKK TG
BKK-PER TG

J 110K

When did you make this booking spud?

 

[spudwa]

When did you make this booking spud?

November 2011

 

[anat0l]

May-June 2012

PER-BKK TG
BKK-ICN OZ
ICN-JFK OZ
JFK-FRA SQ A380
FRA-BKK TG
BKK-PER TG

J 110K

Ah ha! So it's not entirely silly impossible. (I don't believe SQ's systems or what not were bugged at this time - could be wrong).

Either that or spudwa booked it on the 744 before it morphed into a 388, but I highly doubt it.

Even if this is precedent, I acknowledge that SQ new J will still be as rare as hen's teeth.

 

[bcworld]

Ah ha! So it's not entirely silly impossible. (I don't believe SQ's systems or what not were bugged at this time - could be wrong).

Either that or spudwa booked it on the 744 before it morphed into a 388, but I highly doubt it.

Even if this is precedent, I acknowledge that SQ new J will still be as rare as hen's teeth.

There was a period after SQ25 was announced as going A380 that it was bookable...only on the JFK<>FRA sectors mind you. A bit like how it was available on SIN<>SYD for a while.

 

[spudwa]

Ah ha! So it's not entirely silly impossible. (I don't believe SQ's systems or what not were bugged at this time - could be wrong).

Either that or spudwa booked it on the 744 before it morphed into a 388, but I highly doubt it.

Even if this is precedent, I acknowledge that SQ new J will still be as rare as hen's teeth.

Am I right in thinking that your question is about J in SQ across the Atlantic? or J in SQ in an A380? I'm not really up on it but I thought all the discussion of J/SQ rarity was only from Singapore. Am I wrong?
I used a booking agent and he did mention it was a "creative" routing but he talked the agent around. I thought he meant that it ended up as a RTW ticket but Perth is almost literally the antipodes of NY (Bermuda actually)

 

[anat0l]

Am I right in thinking that your question is about J in SQ across the Atlantic? or J in SQ in an A380? I'm not really up on it but I thought all the discussion of J/SQ rarity was only from Singapore. Am I wrong?

The general train of thought has been that SQ J on A380, A345 and 77W, as well as SQ F on 77W and A380 (Suites) has been impossible (say it with a French accent) to book awards for if you are outside KrisFlyer (viz. *A).

Probably goes to show that it's not entirely impossible (unless SQ has collected itself and locked it all down again), just stupidly difficult (like, lightning striking difficult).

I used a booking agent and he did mention it was a "creative" routing but he talked the agent around. I thought he meant that it ended up as a RTW ticket but Perth is almost literally the antipodes of NY (Bermuda actually)

Aaaahhh... that does change things. The booking agents are typically from the US (a couple are Boarding Area bloggers) and I know that they are incredibly persistent with the phone agents. They usually use a combination of tools (UA, NH, AC, LH as well as ExpertFlyer and KVS) and don't easily give up if the agent tells them, "no" (either HUACA or they insist to the agent that they can see the space and push for its booking).

 

[spudwa]

The general train of thought has been that SQ J on A380, A345 and 77W, as well as SQ F on 77W and A380 (Suites) has been impossible (say it with a French accent) to book awards for if you are outside KrisFlyer (viz. *A).

Probably goes to show that it's not entirely impossible (unless SQ has collected itself and locked it all down again), just stupidly difficult (like, lightning striking difficult).



Aaaahhh... that does change things. The booking agents are typically from the US (a couple are Boarding Area bloggers) and I know that they are incredibly persistent with the phone agents. They usually use a combination of tools (UA, NH, AC, LH as well as ExpertFlyer and KVS) and don't easily give up if the agent tells them, "no" (either HUACA or they insist to the agent that they can see the space and push for its booking).

Good to hear that my feeling that using a booking agent is a good idea. Time getting the knowledge and time saved booking has been worth it both times I've used the agent and now after my A380 experience I'm even happier

 

[anat0l]

Good to hear that my feeling that using a booking agent is a good idea. Time getting the knowledge and time saved booking has been worth it both times I've used the agent and now after my A380 experience I'm even happier

I guess I'm more traditional (and stubborn ) so I'll stick to DIY for the moment. My sample size is only 2 (one BD redemption and one US redemption) but I've done relatively OK to pretty good so far.

 

[bcworld]

I think ANA sums up the SQ situation pretty well - I don't think it's their rule:

*	You may not use First class and Business class of certain aircraft which are A380-800, B777-300ER and A340-500 (code 388, 77W and 345) of Singapore Airlines (SQ) as flight awards.

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