US Dividend Miles - post your SUCCESSFUL award bookings here.

[MaxLaughton]

including your ticket number?

I gave them my name, the flight details and my ticket number.

 

[Foreigner]

With my next trip I just see one confirmation code, other than US Airways. That's Turkish.

ANA, Asiana, Singapore and Thai not shown.

 

[tm.smile]

Booked a number of itineraries today, and the CSR wasnt able to give PNRs for TG, OZ or BR. Just UA and CA.

SYD-BKK-TPE (Stop over)-SEA (Destination)-SFO-PEK (23hr layover)-SYD all in J for April. 110,000 points and $180odd taxes

 

[Foreigner]

Booked a number of itineraries today, and the CSR wasnt able to give PNRs for TG, OZ or BR. Just UA and CA.

SYD-BKK-TPE (Stop over)-SEA (Destination)-SFO-PEK (23hr layover)-SYD all in J for April. 110,000 points and $180odd taxes

Did you consider going via Europe on outward journey? Same miles.

 

[tm.smile]

Did you consider going via Europe on outward journey? Same miles.

Wasn't for myself and so needed to have minimised travel times - if it were for me, I would have loaded it up with as long a segments as possible!

 

[burmans]

I gave them my name, the flight details and my ticket number.

Would have thought flight no. Date and name is enough!

 

[Foreigner]

[KVS Availability Tool 7.3.1 - Reference: Maximum Permitted Mileage [MPM]: SYD-IAD/US]

         GI       M      5M     10M     15M     20M     25M     
MPM      PA   11748   12335   12922   13510   14097   14685

So your routing in each direction should not exceed 14685.

Some examples:

Great Circle Mapper = 14535
Great Circle Mapper = 14571
Great Circle Mapper = 15348

Not sure what GI, M, 5M, 10M, etc. mean.
what would be MPM for SYD-GUM? Is MPM different for each class?

 

[MaxLaughton]

Would have thought flight no. Date and name is enough!

Wanted to make sure.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Not sure what GI, M, 5M, 10M, etc. mean.
what would be MPM for SYD-GUM? Is MPM different for each class?

for USDM awards you are permitted MPM +25% (which is what the figures equate to at the top of each column - 5%, 10% etc etc)

 

[ferni]

You two are not returning home ?

Last flight HKG-BKK ?

Going home via Christmas Islands ?

There is no catering on that route, I'm afraid.

Haha oops forgot the list the last leg which of course is BKK-SYD in F.

Does anyone know if they will check our bags all the way from SYD to GUM? I'm guessing we will need to pick them up in SIN and KIX on the outbound and recheck them in. Same at HKG and BKK on the way home?

TG476 SYD-BKK F
TG401 BKK-SIN J
Overnight in SIN ~15Hours

SQ616 SIN-KIX J
Overnight in KIX ~23Hours

UA178 KIX-GUM J
2 Nights/3 Days in Guam

UA179 GUM-HKG Y
Overnight in HKG ~22Hours

TG607 HKG-BKK F
Overnight in BKK ~20Hours

TG475 BKK-SYD F

 

[Foreigner]

Haha oops forgot the list the last leg which of course is BKK-SYD in F.

Does anyone know if they will check our bags all the way from SYD to GUM? I'm guessing we will need to pick them up in SIN and KIX on the outbound and recheck them in. Same at HKG and BKK on the way home?

TG476 SYD-BKK F
TG401 BKK-SIN J
Overnight in SIN ~15Hours

SQ616 SIN-KIX J
Overnight in KIX ~23Hours

UA178 KIX-GUM J
2 Nights/3 Days in Guam

UA179 GUM-HKG Y
Overnight in HKG ~22Hours

TG607 HKG-BKK F
Overnight in BKK ~20Hours

TG475 BKK-SYD F

You check them in SYD, pick them in GUM. Later, check them in GUM, pick them in SYD.

 

[ferni]

You check them in SYD, pick them in GUM. Later, check them in GUM, pick them in SYD.

Interesting. I'm sure when we did our first TG F trip SYD-xBKK-LHR back in 2010 we overnighted in BKK (<24Hours) but had to collect and recheck our luggage.... Thai said they would only transfer it if it was less than 12 hours or something?

 

[Foreigner]

Interesting. I'm sure when we did our first TG F trip SYD-xBKK-LHR back in 2010 we overnighted in BKK (<24Hours) but had to collect and recheck our luggage.... Thai said they would only transfer it if it was less than 12 hours or something?

Looks like there's been change then. Last month I checked bags in DCA and picked up these in SYD. Itinerary was DCA-IAH-PEK-SYD.

Of four bags, three arrived with us. One was left behind in IAH but delivered home around 48 hours after our arrival.

 

[ferni]

Looks like there's been change then. Last month I checked bags in DCA and picked up these in SYD. Itinerary was DCA-IAH-PEK-SYD.

Of four bags, three arrived with us. One was left behind in IAH but delivered home around 48 hours after our arrival.

How long were your transits?

 

[hossein_au]

Did you consider going via Europe on outward journey? Same miles.

Any suggested itinerary for SYD-HAM (possible stopover)-YYZ/YUL (possible stopover)-LAX (destination)-SYD?

 

[Alanslegal]

Interesting. I'm sure when we did our first TG F trip SYD-xBKK-LHR back in 2010 we overnighted in BKK (<24Hours) but had to collect and recheck our luggage.... Thai said they would only transfer it if it was less than 12 hours or something?

I don't know the "exact" rules about baggage however from our experience, it all depends on "who" you get at check-in.

In 06/12 we flew SYD-xBKK-LHR (landed at BKK at 4pm, dep 12pm +1) and the initial check-in agent said no, you would have to retrieve your bags and she was quite adamant about that point too. However I asked her to consult with a colleague just to double check, and voila, our bags were checked through all the way. A year later, 08/13 same segments, checked in all the way through no issue. A couple of years back, ams-fra-icn(21hrs)-bkk(14hrs)-syd and more recently, we flew spu-fra(22hrs)-bkk(14hrs)-sydney and our bags were tagged all the way home.

 

[ferni]

I don't know the "exact" rules about baggage however from our experience, it all depends on "who" you get at check-in.

In 06/12 we flew SYD-xBKK-LHR (landed at BKK at 4pm, dep 12pm +1) and the initial check-in agent said no, you would have to retrieve your bags and she was quite adamant about that point too. However I asked her to consult with a colleague just to double check, and voila, our bags were checked through all the way. A year later, 08/13 same segments, checked in all the way through no issue. A couple of years back, ams-fra-icn(21hrs)-bkk(14hrs)-syd and more recently, we flew spu-fra(22hrs)-bkk(14hrs)-sydney and our bags were tagged all the way home.

Thanks for that (and to Foreigner). On the flip side, if we only want them checked through to one of the transit cities, we could request that instead I imagine? (I'm thinking if Mrs F decides to go shopping )

Also do you know what luggage allowance we will get when checking in to come home GUM-xHKG-xBKK-SYD since the GUM-HKG leg is in Y?

 

[jgm]

Not sure what GI, M, 5M, 10M, etc. mean.
what would be MPM for SYD-GUM? Is MPM different for each class?

GI is routing Global Indicator - eg MPM for Au - US is different for PA (Pacific) & AT (North Atlantic)
M is actual mileage via that routing.

 

[Foreigner]

GI is routing Global Indicator - eg MPM for Au - US is different for PA (Pacific) & AT (North Atlantic)
M is actual mileage via that routing.

Got the PA bit. So, for SYD to GUM, both in Pacific, routing is via Asia. What is the MPM?

 

[smit0847]

Got the PA bit. So, for SYD to GUM, both in Pacific, routing is via Asia. What is the MPM?

As I understand MPM (and correct me if I'm wrong) you are allowed to fly 25% more miles than what the direct flight would be, regardless of whether there is a direct flight or not (and regardless of whether there is availability or not).

If there was a direct flight SYD-GUM (which there is not), according to GCM it is 3289 miles - Great Circle Mapper
Therefore, if you want to go to GUM you are allowed to fly 3289 + 25% miles which is 4,111 miles. If the only way to get there is SYD-BKK-NRT/HND-GUM this is 9109 miles Great Circle Mapper which is way, way over the 4,111 miles and therefore should not be allowed.

Therefore, everyone who tries to book anything SYD-GUM via Asia (especially through Japan) should immediately be told NO, is it massively breaches the MPM. Fortunately for us many of the USDM rules (such as stopover must be *A hub and you must fly into that hub on the home carrier) are very rarely enforced and we can get away with just about anything we want.

I would not worry about MPM - if an agent says you are over MPM just HUACA. In the dozen or so agents I have spoken to in the call centre no-one has ever mentioned MPM.

I'm really hoping in the next 3 months the agents become even more lax about the rules for flights post 1 March as they know they won't have to deal with the consequences of bookings that breach the rules. I'm hoping they will give a standard 'now you know you can't change this reservation after 1 March because US is leaving *A etc etc etc' disclaimer at the start of the call and once they give that they'll let you do just about anything.