markfisher61

Thanks for the reply. If the numbers on the chart are return fares and *if* a one-way fare can be booked for 1/2 of that, then I should have enough miles anyway. I only need to visit Raleigh in NC and Buenos Aires, then on home to Perth, so three flights (with or without changing aircraft), each showing as around 100,000 miles on the chart. If one-way is half of that, then 150,000 miles, more or less. I'll phone US Airways as soon as my friends have confirmed the dates I can visit.

Thanks again.

bcworld

One ways are not available at half the price of returns...never have been with US. They will book you a one way but they'll charge the return price as per the chart.

withnail

Just got off the phone to US-Airways, apparently you can use different carriers within One World for your outward and return journeys, is this new? I didn't think you could do that.

bcworld

Mix and matching carriers has always been possible...you could fly 10 different carriers on one journey if you liked.

bcworld

Attention LifeMiles hoarders!

It seems very likely there will be award chart changes on Oct 15th.

Very incomplete info here:

https://www.lifemiles.com/eng/tra/pro/proredeneur.aspx

In the absence of anything concrete I would bank on a big increase in Aus-Europe cost and if you have plans in mind, book before Oct 15th.

kgammer

Hi all, I've been watching this thread for a couple of years now and managed to take advantage of the *A awards several times (thank you bc!!). Now I am trying to get to Miami or Jacksonville (Florida) from Perth around the 29th August returning 16th September or thereabouts. Has anyone actually managed to find availability for any long haul flights with OW because I am just about tearing my hair out!!!

Any options would be gratefully received. The thought of going back to economy now is making my stomach turn

markfisher61

Just for information, I phoned US Airways today to book a return flight LHR -> PER -> LHR. As bcworld pointed out, the round-the-world fares have disappeared, so I am having to back track across the Atlantic twice and then across Asia to achieve my itinerary: London -> North Carolina -> Argentina -> Australia. Not good for the planet, but it's the only way I can do it now. It's doing my head in! LHR -> RDU (Raleigh-Durham, NC) -> LHR -> GRU (Sao Paulo) -> EZE (Buenos Aires) -> Sao Paolo -> LHR -> Kuala Lumpur -> Perth!!!! I'm doing all the trips with miles except London to NC return, where I got a relatively cheap deal with Virgin Atlantic in Premium Economy.

I thought I was going to tell you my happy story of having used KVS Tool to find availability, and then got the flight booked. But just as we were confirming the last leg on the phone, I got cut off :-( .
And without a confirmation code, the new agent on the next call couldn't resume my booking.

In order to make the booking at all in the first place, I had to give flight numbers and dates as the only available flights in business or first did not appear on the agents' screens automatically. And I can tell you there is very little availability, with Malaysia being the only option for the outward flight (first half of October) and almost the only option for the return (first half of January). There were just a couple of Cathay flights available in Jan.

So the bad news - when I tried calling back, I found that the flight I wanted had now disappeared (just 5 mins later). I suspected it was still on hold for my previous booking somewhere in the ether, but if it was, the agent couldn't get it back for me.

Not sure what to do now....either someone else got that 1 seat, or maybe if I'm lucky, the booking will timeout and it will re-appear. Anyone else had a similar experience?

I feel very deflated. I've spent some seven hours today trying to book flights, only for this to happen.

BTW, the second agent suggested an alternative routing. Get this! LHR -> Windsor, Ontario -> Phoenix -> San Francisco -> Singapore -> Perth!!!!!!! I politely declined, not wishing to spend the better part of a week travelling.

spouse of scouse

One World entering the equation was always going to stuff things up (in my opinion), particularly for those of us on the west coast of Oz. Qantas are as tight as a fishes arse with award redemptions, and the way poor old MAS are going, they'll be lucky to survive.

I have 120,000 points and have declined the last two 100% bonus miles offers, it just got too hard for returns from Perth to Europe/UK. I'll try to use them for either domestic flights, or perhaps Singapore.

But! It was great while it lasted, and lots of people who perhaps wouldn't have been able to otherwise, were able to experience business or first class long haul flights, thanks to BC World alerting us to this deal.

Back to spending the equivalent of a year's food budget on Emirates flights for us - at least it's only one stop between here and Manchester

bcworld

I have to say I don't consider this a dead deal at all...still seeing plenty of great itineraries get booked. As for PER, you are actually quite lucky in that the maximum mileage allowed from PER to many destinations is far higher than from the east coast meaning creative routings are more possible. IMO the deal will only really be killed off when / if US stops selling unlimited miles and moves to a more AA like policy. And then there will still be LifeMiles, and AS, and...!

Speaking of LifeMiles, they have published the details of their award chart changes and they are actually quite good! Business class Aus-Europe drops from 87.5k to 85k each way and business / first from Australia to Asia drops substantially. The main loser is Aus - USA which has always been quite difficult to book with LM anyway.

treefingers

just a quick thanks again for BCworld for bringing this to the masses just returned from a trip to Europe in Business, flew Melb - BKK with Thai, BKK - LHR with Eva then same in reverse. Eva air was way better in every way then Thai, especially as my return from BKK to Melb was on very old plane with the style business class.

sfr09

Thanks BC too from me , I have just returned from the UK after a F/C trip SYD/LHR return on Thai and I loved it, the seats and service was amazing , My son and husband too who were on different flights too loved it , we used the Royal Spa in BKK too in transit ,it was all so much better than the usual squash in Economy . I feel we are spoilt now so I think better get some points in store to have a go with one world

markfisher61

And the saga continues.....the 3rd October flight from LHR to PER via KUL came back into play, so I tried to book it. The agent could not find it on her screen, even when breaking it down into its component parts. All this while I - simultaneously - checked with KVSTool and could see availability.

Since that was a no-go (she also checked via HKG and Doha) I moved on to my flight to Buenos Aires. She found the flight I wanted - to Sao Paolo on 10th Sep, BA 241 - but she saw availability only in economy. Yet, using the Awards/BA-Oneworld method on KVSTool I could see "CS9", i.e at least 9 business class award seats.

This seems to imply to me that US Airways is somehow restricting access to award flights that would be available if I had miles with BA.

This is the first time I have tried to book with US Airways. Is this normal? And if so, is KVSTool useful, given that what it says does not line up with what the US airways call centre tells me?

Just to be clear, the lady who answered did not seem unhelpful. She seemed to be really trying to find flights and she didn't mind if I told her what I had found - she was prepared to listen to my suggestions.

bcworld

It implies to me that the BA search engine is giving inaccurate results, which it often does in my experience. CS9 is highly, highly unlikely to be true. If I saw that I'd try and verify the result with another method...JL would be my choice for likely most accurate results.

markfisher61

Thanks, I'll try that.

EDIT: The JL/OneWorld method seems only to show availability for CX, BA, AA or AF.

That means it misses several of the major carriers between LHR and PER such as QR and MH. MH was the only airline showing availability before (with the BA/Oneworld method).

Also, it doesn't show availability for LHR to EZE where the major carriers are TAM and IB, as well as BA.

spouse of scouse

Sounds like a nightmare, Mark. Good luck with the bookings.

In case anyone missed it, the bonus dividend miles offer ends 31 July (up to 100% buy/gift).