US Dividend Miles - post your SUCCESSFUL award bookings here.

[anat0l]

Well I'm still struggling to find the rule that say SWP-SWP must be intrazone?

Seems I'm not being clear enough. Sorry about that.

Fair enough on that point. It doesn't have to be intrazone, but as we are well accustomed to, by rights travel costing is based on the most expensive zone traversed. Hence "by rights" all itineraries from Australia to Guam via Asia should be costed at 90k miles for J and 120k miles for F. And, as someone did point out, intrazone awards aren't normally allowed stopovers.

I'm not saying GUM itineraries are illegal. But they are certainly an exception to the standard set of rules.

The main point(s) I have been going on about is that this exception, I would guess, would not be because "the only way to get from Australia to Guam is via Asia". It's certainly easier to get to Guam via Asia (as far as thinking up an obvious routing is concerned, as well as providing more options), but it is not the only way to get to Guam from Australia, and I've shown that it can be done strictly intrazone and within MPM.

Anyway, the peculiarity exists in the system as it does, and its existence is certainly a benefit to quite a few in this thread! (Especially since, as we see, the purpose of such trips is hardly a vacation in Guam... )

 

[burmans]

Seems I'm not being clear enough. Sorry about that.

Fair enough on that point. It doesn't have to be intrazone, but as we are well accustomed to, by rights travel costing is based on the most expensive zone traversed. Hence "by rights" all itineraries from Australia to Guam via Asia should be costed at 90k miles for J and 120k miles for F. And, as someone did point out, intrazone awards aren't normally allowed stopovers.

I'm not saying GUM itineraries are illegal. But they are certainly an exception to the standard set of rules.

The main point(s) I have been going on about is that this exception, I would guess, would not be because "the only way to get from Australia to Guam is via Asia". It's certainly easier to get to Guam via Asia (as far as thinking up an obvious routing is concerned, as well as providing more options), but it is not the only way to get to Guam from Australia, and I've shown that it can be done strictly intrazone and within MPM.

Anyway, the peculiarity exists in the system as it does, and its existence is certainly a benefit to quite a few in this thread! (Especially since, as we see, the purpose of such trips is hardly a vacation in Guam... )

Personally I prefer the word peculiarity than exception but I guess thats getting down to semantics. But Guam/Saipan was always going to be a peculiarity due to it's location, its not obviously in any zone, do you for example regard it as more appropriate for it to be regarded as Asia or America as some other programs do. For me anyway, "Pacific" while not a great descriptor is better than either of these others!

 

[spudwa]

Well I've just booked flights for me and Mrs Spud from Perth to Jacksonville Florida, and what a hassle even for a lazy guy like me who uses a points/ticketing consultant. We leave end of Jan and return end of Feb
I was totally unable to get any F no matter which routes we tried and even had trouble getting out of Miami (original destination) to connect with the ORD->PEK flight home. It certainly seems to be true that *A airlines are withdrawing seats getting ready for US Airways exit in March. I hope this gets resolved soon without losing too many points. I've only done a few USDM redemptions but I'd hate to stop turning left on entering the plane.

another RTW from Perth

Going PER->BKK->BRU->EWR->JAX
Home JAX->EWR->ORD->PEK->BKK->PER

 

[Foreigner]

Yes, another does have it in Oceania I believe.

Mind sharing?

 

[anat0l]

Well I've just booked flights for me and Mrs Spud from Perth to Jacksonville Florida, and what a hassle even for a lazy guy like me who uses a points/ticketing consultant. We leave end of Jan and return end of Feb
I was totally unable to get any F no matter which routes we tried and even had trouble getting out of Miami (original destination) to connect with the ORD->PEK flight home. It certainly seems to be true that *A airlines are withdrawing seats getting ready for US Airways exit in March. I hope this gets resolved soon without losing too many points. I've only done a few USDM redemptions but I'd hate to stop turning left on entering the plane.

another RTW from Perth

Going PER->BKK->BRU->EWR->JAX
Home JAX->EWR->ORD->PEK->BKK->PER

Hope you didn't pay too much to the consultant to help you find this, because if he/she couldn't find any F at all for both of you, they should go boil their head, because it's hardly true.


Just kidding. I'm sure he/she did their best (and you pay for that), and I have no idea of your dates and/or how flexible/inflexible you are. However, based on your approximate indications of timing, I did manage to find F legs on either all or at least half of your major intercontinental routes for 2 people. The main one that was a bare chestnut was going home from the USA to PER via the Pacific, so I looked at routing home back across the Atlantic then the Eurasian subcontinent. Of course, that wouldn't give you a "RTW" routing, but then again the itinerary wouldn't be any kind of RTW anyway since you couldn't stop in the intermediate region anyway like a true RTW (it's really just getting home and it "looks" like a RTW). In fact, in the process I did find some LH 748 J seats, which is odd enough especially for 2 people! (Of course no LH F seats).

Premium seating for UA USA domestic is pretty difficult, I'll confess to that one. Not impossible, but difficult, especially without some ingenious routing. Didn't try US operated options...

I can buy that people are somewhat rushing to take advantage of US DM, which may be putting pressure on availability, but I don't really buy the conspiracy that it's some sort of retaliatory measure in view of US leaving the Star Alliance.

 

[spudwa]

Hope you didn't pay too much to the consultant to help you find this, because if he/she couldn't find any F at all for both of you, they should go boil their head, because it's hardly true.


Just kidding. I'm sure he/she did their best (and you pay for that), and I have no idea of your dates and/or how flexible/inflexible you are. However, based on your approximate indications of timing, I did manage to find F legs on either all or at least half of your major intercontinental routes for 2 people. The main one that was a bare chestnut was going home from the USA to PER via the Pacific, so I looked at routing home back across the Atlantic then the Eurasian subcontinent. Of course, that wouldn't give you a "RTW" routing, but then again the itinerary wouldn't be any kind of RTW anyway since you couldn't stop in the intermediate region anyway like a true RTW (it's really just getting home and it "looks" like a RTW). In fact, in the process I did find some LH 748 J seats, which is odd enough especially for 2 people! (Of course no LH F seats).

Premium seating for UA USA domestic is pretty difficult, I'll confess to that one. Not impossible, but difficult, especially without some ingenious routing. Didn't try US operated options...

I can buy that people are somewhat rushing to take advantage of US DM, which may be putting pressure on availability, but I don't really buy the conspiracy that it's some sort of retaliatory measure in view of US leaving the Star Alliance.

Our dates are flexible. I'm in between contracts and Mrs Spud finishes her contract on 23rd Jan. Any time over the next week is fine and then we run into Chinese New Year. We want 4 weeks in the USA and we are visiting friends in Jacksonville Florida. I only mentioned RTW as an aside. Its not a requirement

 

[Flashback]

I've been looking for some F seats in June/July to Europe which is proving to be rather scarce. In comparison, I scoped out similar trips last year at a similar time and availability was wide open....

 

[Jimgotkp]

I've been looking for some F seats in June/July to Europe which is proving to be rather scarce. In comparison, I scoped out similar trips last year at a similar time and availability was wide open....

Award space during that timeframe has been limited for quite sometime. It's only going to get worse if you're to keep waiting. It's best to book an itinerary that you're okay with then make any changes closer to the departure date. Just keep in mind that you can't make any changes to the reservation after one flight is flown.

 

[Flashback]

Award space during that timeframe has been limited for quite sometime. It's only going to get worse if you're to keep waiting. It's best to book an itinerary that you're okay with then make any changes closer to the departure date. Just keep in mind that you can't make any changes to the reservation after one flight is flown.

... or after March 31, as anything booked now is on *A

 

[Alanslegal]

I can buy that people are somewhat rushing to take advantage of US DM, which may be putting pressure on availability, but I don't really buy the conspiracy that it's some sort of retaliatory measure in view of US leaving the Star Alliance.

Half of Australia is looking to redeem their points bought/shared over the last six consecutive points promotions in the last six of 2013 which is the likely factor for causing a diminished F/J availability

 

[phantompharter]

With the conversation over the last few days I am not sure if this is on topic...

Just ticketed the following:

PER-BKK TG J
BKK-HKG TG F
HKG-TPE BR J
TPE-GUM BR J
GUM-NRT UA J
NRT-ICN OZ J
ICN-BKK TG J
BKK-PER TG J

Had a fun time piecing it together over the last little while - all for 40k and taxes.
Thanks for all the help posted on this forum.

I had tried for an OZ F but had to change the flight to another day as a stopover in NRT was not allowed. From what I have read on this forum I believe I could have HUACA but I was quite happy with the result anyway and was getting frustrated with the long hold times over the weekend due to bad weather.
As it is we have an overnight in BKK, 7hrs in TPE, overnight in NRT and overnight in ICN. So there will be plenty of sightseeing!

I may try for a change later in itinerary later. What is peoples experience in changing the itinerary once ticketed? Just cough up the change fee? Just wondering if I change it back to the F flight I wanted if they will then tell me it is an invalid routing due to a stopover in NRT and then want to charge more miles etc

Also looking forward to th TG F leg. It is on a 747-400 - any seating suggestions for me and +1? Am getting ready to try and select the seats shortly.

 

[anat0l]

I've been looking for some F seats in June/July to Europe which is proving to be rather scarce. In comparison, I scoped out similar trips last year at a similar time and availability was wide open....

May not be a wide open selection, but still a notable amount and quite enough to be workable! My quick check even shows pretty decent options for 2 people in F.

Unless you're looking for specific destinations or the best respective products....

 

[Flashback]

May not be a wide open selection, but still a notable amount and quite enough to be workable! My quick check even shows pretty decent options for 2 people in F.

Unless you're looking for specific destinations or the best respective products....

Yeh, was looking and ended up finding a few decent options. Need to play with the dates / routing a bit to get them there on their preferred dates though

 

[ferni]

With the conversation over the last few days I am not sure if this is on topic...

Just ticketed the following:

PER-BKK TG J
BKK-HKG TG F
HKG-TPE BR J
TPE-GUM BR J
GUM-NRT UA J
NRT-ICN OZ J
ICN-BKK TG J
BKK-PER TG J

Had a fun time piecing it together over the last little while - all for 40k and taxes.
Thanks for all the help posted on this forum.

I had tried for an OZ F but had to change the flight to another day as a stopover in NRT was not allowed. From what I have read on this forum I believe I could have HUACA but I was quite happy with the result anyway and was getting frustrated with the long hold times over the weekend due to bad weather.
As it is we have an overnight in BKK, 7hrs in TPE, overnight in NRT and overnight in ICN. So there will be plenty of sightseeing!

I may try for a change later in itinerary later. What is peoples experience in changing the itinerary once ticketed? Just cough up the change fee? Just wondering if I change it back to the F flight I wanted if they will then tell me it is an invalid routing due to a stopover in NRT and then want to charge more miles etc

Also looking forward to th TG F leg. It is on a 747-400 - any seating suggestions for me and +1? Am getting ready to try and select the seats shortly.

Nice work... pitty you couldn't get more F legs but still cheap for 40k miles

Any changes and they will want to charge the $150 PP.... you occasionally hear of someone getting lucky and not getting charged the change fee when changing cabin on the same flight to the one you booked.... I've tried a couple of times without any luck...

As for the TG F leg, 3E/3F are the only 2 seats together in the 9seat F cabin....

 

[phantompharter]

As for the TG F leg, 3E/3F are the only 2 seats together in the 9seat F cabin....

Apparently it is the 10 seat F cabin. So we booked into 2E/2F.
Is this the new or the old 747-400?

 

[spudwa]

LOL thats probably true. I'm even having difficulty getting a seat US domestic. No seats Miami to Chicago so I'm flying Jacksonville->Newark->Chicago

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Apparently it is the 10 seat F cabin. So we booked into 2E/2F.
Is this the new or the old 747-400?

10F is the 'old' configuration. I wouldn't recommend them - the seats are very exposed and there is zero privacy. Just my impression but people never look very comfortable stuck in those seats!! The last row is slightly better (no one behind you) but otherwise I'd be selecting two seats by the windows (one behind the other).

 

[Flashback]

10F is the 'old' configuration. I wouldn't recommend them - the seats are very exposed and there is zero privacy. Just my impression but people never look very comfortable stuck in those seats!! The last row is slightly better (no one behind you) but otherwise I'd be selecting two seats by the windows (one behind the other).

Mrs Flashback and I had the 2 seats at the front - was decent enough. Was only a HKG-BKK though

 

[Fifa]

10F is the 'old' configuration. I wouldn't recommend them - the seats are very exposed and there is zero privacy. Just my impression but people never look very comfortable stuck in those seats!! The last row is slightly better (no one behind you) but otherwise I'd be selecting two seats by the windows (one behind the other).

I agree - we have had them once and I felt like we were in a fishbowl.

Mrs Flashback and I had the 2 seats at the front - was decent enough. Was only a HKG-BKK though

We now favour 1A & 1K - feels like our own private cabin with no-one walking past.

 

[Flashback]

I agree - we have had them once and I felt like we were in a fishbowl.



We now favour 1A & 1F - feels like our own private cabin with no-one walking past.

Yep, that's exactly it! Then you can glare at each other across the aisle