Ok guys I havent been on here in a while so dont get mad at me if this question has already been asked and answered. This is my story: I recently flew from CLT - SEA roundtrip and I wanted to use DM. So I called and asked if there were any award seats aviable. They said no, that for that route the whole month of July was booked. But then I checked on the web and for 50K miles I was able to redeem the seat, and I did. I called back and asked USAir once again if they had any seats aviable for award travel. Still they said no. So now I was thinking I had done something wrong, and to double check I called back again with my confirmation number and asked if I was actually going and they said yes, that I had a valid ticket. So I took the trip and had a great time but now that I think about it, I wounder why I was able to do it online and not over the phone? Anyone know - cause I sure dont.




*this is before I was SP status*

For 50K, you either flew at the standard (saver) award in first class, or the Premium award in coach.

Most of the time, when people call in to check on domestic availability, they are looking for the Saver award level, at 25K for a round-trip. Most people are not willing to burn double the miles for an anytime/premium award, that is available any time a coach seat is available on a flight (on a non-blackout date, for non-elite members).

That's probably what the agent was telling you was not available -- the saver award at 25K. He or she should have told (assuming they even know) you that you could use double the miles and book yourself on virtually any flight you wanted to fly on. If you flew in coach, that's what you effectively did when you booked it online.

Ok guys I havent been on here in a while so dont get mad at me if this question has already been asked and answered. This is my story: I recently flew from CLT - SEA roundtrip and I wanted to use DM. So I called and asked if there were any award seats aviable. They said no, that for that route the whole month of July was booked. But then I checked on the web and for 50K miles I was able to redeem the seat, and I did. I called back and asked USAir once again if they had any seats aviable for award travel. Still they said no. So now I was thinking I had done something wrong, and to double check I called back again with my confirmation number and asked if I was actually going and they said yes, that I had a valid ticket. So I took the trip and had a great time but now that I think about it, I wounder why I was able to do it online and not over the phone? Anyone know - cause I sure dont.




*this is before I was SP status*

Did you book a coach seat for 50K miles? Just a random guess, but if so, it sounds like you booked the premium award (50K miles roundtrip), but that the phone agents were only looking for the standard mileage saver awards (25K roundtrip). In my experience, you can almost always get a 50K domestic coach award unless the flights are completely sold out - but getting the 25K awards is a much more complicated task. Quite possible the phone agents didn't even think to look for the more expensive award.

Ok guys I havent been on here in a while so dont get mad at me if this question has already been asked and answered. This is my story: I recently flew from CLT - SEA roundtrip and I wanted to use DM. So I called and asked if there were any award seats aviable. They said no, that for that route the whole month of July was booked. But then I checked on the web and for 50K miles I was able to redeem the seat, and I did. I called back and asked USAir once again if they had any seats aviable for award travel. Still they said no. So now I was thinking I had done something wrong, and to double check I called back again with my confirmation number and asked if I was actually going and they said yes, that I had a valid ticket. So I took the trip and had a great time but now that I think about it, I wounder why I was able to do it online and not over the phone? Anyone know - cause I sure dont.


My experience with booking international award travel over the phone is that the agent always says "No availability" until I provide specific flight numbers. The last time I called, the agent tried to convince me that the date I requested was more than 330 days in the future. Only, it wasn't.

But, to answer your question, as the prior posters said, the agent probably assumed that you wanted a saver/economy award.

My experience with booking international award travel over the phone is that the agent always so "No availability" until I provide specific flight numbers. The last time I called, the agent tried to convince me that the date I requested was more than 330 days in the future. Only, it wasn't.

But, to answer your question, as the prior posters said, the agent probably assumed that you wanted a saver/economy award.

LOL - I worked in that department and I know what the agent was looking at. She/he didn't fill out the availability screen correctly, and it will say "More than 330 days out" as the error message - common mistake with new agents.

As to the OP - you got lazy agents and I used to pound my head in on my desk when I monitored them. It is hard to do a DM agent or look for DM award travel because you get the most irritated passengers. It is hard to balance the needs/wants of the passenger with the availability they see on the screen. When I trained DM agents, I would actually instruct them to use teh website to find the flights - it works better.

. . . When I trained DM agents, I would actually instruct them to use teh website to find the flights - it works better.

Oh my!

I have a similar problem to the OP. I fly United most of the time, but I've got some pre-merger US Air miles that I was looking to use up. Checking on-line I was amazed to find that US Air had TONS more availability than United! I was seriously thinking of switching next year to US miles!

I was trying to book a saver award, flying into one city and out of a different city. I called up and was told that this cannot be done online, but that phone agents could help me. No problem, right?

The first agent told me she couldn't find the availability I was talking about ... even though I was looking at it on my screen. She told me that sometimes things are available on-line that agents do not have access to. I laughed that off and called back to talk to someone else.

Only the FOUR agents I spoke with told me the same thing. US agents do not have access to all the available flights that you can find on USAirways.com. And since I cannot book two one-way award fares on-line, I had no way to book my ticket.

I'm new to the US boards ... but can this really be true? I cannot believe that United phone agents (most of which are in India) are actually more able to book flights than US agents!

Any idea if my experience was ordinary or beyond-the-norm? I was seriously debating switing to US next year ... thx!

Any idea if my experience was ordinary or beyond-the-norm? I was seriously debating switing to US next year ... thx!

Wow, you must be awfully loyal to UA to stick with them out of CHO. I'm guessing you drive to IAD for most of your flights? I can't stand Colgan's service (whether under the US flag to LGA or the UA flag to IAD), so I try to avoid them whenever possible.
Back to the original topic, I've similarly found that most US agents are either unwilling or unable to do a heck of a lot when it comes to searching for availability beyond the specifics you request. Didn't used to be that way, but I'd chalk it up to a general decline in customer service across most American businesses rather than a US-specific issue.

Wow, you must be awfully loyal to UA to stick with them out of CHO. I'm guessing you drive to IAD for most of your flights? I can't stand Colgan's service (whether under the US flag to LGA or the UA flag to IAD), so I try to avoid them whenever possible.
Back to the original topic, I've similarly found that most US agents are either unwilling or unable to do a heck of a lot when it comes to searching for availability beyond the specifics you request. Didn't used to be that way, but I'd chalk it up to a general decline in customer service across most American businesses rather than a US-specific issue.

Well, at least you don't get folks in India every time you call as we do with UA. But still, I was basically told there are flights that appear on the Web site that simply cannot be booked over the phone. That's just weird.

And yeah ... I actually fly the CHO-IAD UA flight a lot on Colgan. It's a 20 minute flight, so how bad could it be? Sometimes I'll drive to RIC, though.

One thing I've learned is that IF you are going to burn 50k miles for a coach seat, you should look to see if there is a first-class seat also available. More often than not you can get a seat in First for the same miles. I ALWAYS check for a First Class seat if I have to spend double miles for a seat.



Chairman's since 1999, but my last year as CP with new tiers. :-(