Airfare to Bali?

[greatam]

And please, before you purchase a wad of miles, MAKE SURE the award seats are available. I don't fly US myself very often and certainly have no status nor do I keep up on their FF program. BUT a lot of airlines will allow you to HOLD a ticket while you are purchasing the miles.

 

Sometimes, you can even do the same transaction-hold the flight and purchase the miles-with the same phone call.

 

Just an FYI

[Gardyloo]

And please, before you purchase a wad of miles, MAKE SURE the award seats are available. I don't fly US myself very often and certainly have no status nor do I keep up on their FF program. BUT a lot of airlines will allow you to HOLD a ticket while you are purchasing the miles.

 

Sometimes, you can even do the same transaction-hold the flight and purchase the miles-with the same phone call.

 

Just an FYI

US will let you hold flights (I think 72 hours or maybe longer) while you buy the miles online. One important thing is that you need to have a US account number several days before buying the miles, so it takes a modest amount of premeditation.

 

I also should caution that I assume the promo offer is applicable to people with Canadian addresses. Trust but verify, to quote some guy.

[nana541]

US will let you hold flights (I think 72 hours or maybe longer) while you buy the miles online. One important thing is that you need to have a US account number several days before buying the miles, so it takes a modest amount of premeditation.

 

I also should caution that I assume the promo offer is applicable to people with Canadian addresses. Trust but verify, to quote some guy.

 

This is not my usual home on CC and just kinda stumbled on this board and YOU! You seem to know a lot of strategies for FF miles and open seats. Not to mention amassing FF miles (current US Air promo).

 

Would love to hear more either on or off board?! Used the last of my United FF warchest after many year of happily flying up front and am now facing prospect of flying in the back (YIKS) of the plane. Are you in the US and familiar with US rules?

Anyhow Miles and lots of them is what I am after and my next trip to Europe is about 14 months away. Care to offer some tips and tutoring??

[Gardyloo]

This is not my usual home on CC and just kinda stumbled on this board and YOU! You seem to know a lot of strategies for FF miles and open seats. Not to mention amassing FF miles (current US Air promo).

 

Would love to hear more either on or off board?! Used the last of my United FF warchest after many year of happily flying up front and am now facing prospect of flying in the back (YIKS) of the plane. Are you in the US and familiar with US rules?

Anyhow Miles and lots of them is what I am after and my next trip to Europe is about 14 months away. Care to offer some tips and tutoring??

Rather than sending this thread into the off-topic stratosphere, maybe I'll start a new thread about the use of FF miles/points and how cruisers can deal with the subject. How would that be?

[nana541]

Rather than sending this thread into the off-topic stratosphere, maybe I'll start a new thread about the use of FF miles/points and how cruisers can deal with the subject. How would that be?

 

Perfect!!!! Thanks for responding Gardyloo :)

[SusieV]

I am going to have to call and check this out. I tried to look online to see how much the fees would be but DPS didn't even show up on the US Airways site under travel rewards. Am I doing something wrong?

[SusieV]

I'm on the site and can't find any info about this promo at all.

 

Can you make it idiot proof, please? :)

[Gardyloo]

I am going to have to call and check this out. I tried to look online to see how much the fees would be but DPS didn't even show up on the US Airways site under travel rewards. Am I doing something wrong?

No, nothing wrong. It doesn't show up because US Airways itself doesn't serve DPS (as far as I know no US-based airline does.) You'd be using US miles for flights on partners. Here's the chart (a PDF file) showing how many US Airways miles it takes to visit various regions. You can use any combination of US partners for these trips. In the examples I cited yesterday you'd be using Star Alliance members Air Canada, United, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airlines, Lufthansa... whoever - to make the trips.

 

The only way to get the taxes, airport charges, and fuel surcharges on a trip is to put the booking together. This has to be done on the phone, and when you put the reservation together the US Airways rep will send it to their tariff department where the computers will purr like kittens and deliver the bad news. Each route will have a slightly different tax/fee bottom line because airports charge different amounts for landing taxes, each airline has different (sometimes high, sometimes nil) fuel surcharges they apply, and so on.

 

Usually any airline ticket you buy, including those bought with FF miles, has a string of taxes and fees attached, which you don't always see as it's wrapped up in the final total. (This actually is the subject of a lot of legal change lately so that consumers aren't "blind-sided" by high fees after they've been sucked into what sounds like a low base fare.

 

If you're game, here's what you have to do.

 

 

1. Open FF accounts for you and your husband at http://www.usairways.com
   
2. When you have the account numbers, phone US Airways and speak to someone in the award travel department about overseas travel.
   
3. Tell them what you want to do - hold some reservations for award travel while you go about getting the miles lined up. They ought to say okay; I've found US's reps to be, on average, really terrific and cooperative.
   
4. Book the seats and have them compute the taxes and fees. If it's okay, have them hold the seats for as long as possible.
   
5. Then go back to US Airways and buy the miles. They ought to post right away, or no longer than 24 hours.
   
6. When you see them posted, phone back to US Airways, have the reservation pulled up using the record locator, and pay for them with the miles and with a credit card for the fees. Done.
   

Now like I said I believe there's a lag time between when you open a FF account and when you can actually purchase miles. You might want to phone US before anything else to confirm that I'm right on this, and if so, how many days. (Something in my brain says 12 days but maybe that's a phantom memory.) Don't make any bookings until you know your miles will be available before the end of the hold period.

 

Sounds complicated but it's really not that bad.

[SusieV]

Thank you! I will call tonight.

[Gardyloo]

I'm on the site and can't find any info about this promo at all.

 

Can you make it idiot proof, please? :)

"Idiot proof" and airline tickets are incompatible concepts. Transparency is the enemy of airline executives' incentive bonuses.

 

I believe you need a US Airways FF number to access the "purchase" screens, so go sign up for an account (free) and then go back to the "Buy/Share Miles" page and you ought to get there. http://www.usairways.com/en-US/dividendmiles/default.html

[greatam]

Thank you! I will call tonight.

 

Damn-don't wait around. Award ticket to Bali are dear, particularly PREMIUM Business class seats. You REALLY need to spend the $10 max per month on ExpertFlyer to MAKE SURE the award tickets are even still available.

 

Calling US without the accounts in place and KNOWING the flights are still available will be an exercise in futility.

 

Good luck but you ABSOLUTELY cannot wait around if there are award seats that are EXACTLY what you need. All things need to be in place IMMEDIATELY.