US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - Venting Re: US Award on UA

OK - The webFlyer survey says US has the (best)percentage record getting award seats!
How can that be?
I am looking to use my US miles for a Bus/or First award to Asia on United - (next July) all the publicity about being able to book awards on partner United sounds good until you try to do it!
First Gripe- the US office closes at midnight....UA is open all night - so availability for United hard to get First and/or Bus. Seats will go to those who can call direct to United at midnight (when the seats pop into the system)
Second Gripe - US tells me they will not hold an open outbound reservation to the date when the return posts into the system - so, again, all the outbound seats will be gone by the time the dates for return are even able to be requested.
Third Gripe - Never have I had experience with such "surly" un -co-operative Airline reservation agents as on US AIR ! What's with them? - I have called numerous different times, in advance of the date required to be able to request this award, trying to get information about scheduales, and rules etc. - Not once have I gotten a pleasant sounding agent, who would take the time to "walk me through" the various possible routes, scheduales, etc.
My experience with other Airlines, especially Delta and American and even British Air has been nothing short of wonderful compared to this experience with US Air.
The date to request is getting closer, and I'm so afraid that I will not be able to get Bus. Cl. seats on my necessary dates!
I do have a "backup" - using my Delta miles for ticketing on Northwest - but according to the Web Flyer Survey - Northwest has the WORST record of all when it comes to getting award seats!
Thanks for letting me obsess about this!
I'd love to hear anyone's comments on this! - and hope that someone from US Air is monitoring this board and will respond....Thank you!

I haven't tried on using US miles to book UA awards yet, but a couple of years ago I easily booked 2 F tix to HNL on AA using US miles (back when that was possible).

Other than that, I've never had any trouble booking award tix on US using US miles - they've always been available.

Sorry you got a bad agent - it does happen every now and then - most of the people I speak with at US, however, tend to be very helpful.

One thing - if the date is fast approaching, why aren't the tickets open for booking? I thought they opened up 330 days out.

[This message has been edited by dcmike (edited 08-14-2003).]

DCMIke - The "330 day out" date is fast approaching!!! I guess the survey was for award tickets on US with US mileage ---? Let's hope I get lucky!

I completely disagree.

We just went to EZE on 2 FC award tickets on UA.

Due to weather problmes I changed the reservations at least 4 times. The 2 of us were also leaving from different cities.

The US International awards desk people (and I talked to many of them) were the nicest, most pleasant and helpful I have encountered. I did connect to them through the CP line so that did help.

They made a bad situation OK.

A letter to Consumer Affairs was in order.

Too bad I can't use the CP line - I spoke to 6 different reps. in the International Award on Partner Airline area, not one was pleasant in any way - offhandedly told me I can't book outbound until return (1 month later) is in the system....they said they wouldn't reserve the outbound and hold for ticketing util the return is in the system. What can my chances be if I have to wait a month out after the system loads my outbound dates? and how about the problem of the office closing at midnight, when UA is open all night - the system usually loads after midnight - so those requestng award inventory on United, using United mileage, and accessing United directly for seats, will get the few alloted front cabin seats i before the next morning at 7 AM when US office opens? JMHO We'll see what happens - I'm not very hopeful....

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ReneeMoss:
Too bad I can't use the CP line - I spoke to 6 different reps. in the International Award on Partner Airline area, not one was pleasant in any way - offhandedly told me I can't book outbound until return (1 month later) is in the system....they said they wouldn't reserve the outbound and hold for ticketing util the return is in the system. What can my chances be if I have to wait a month out after the system loads my outbound dates? </font>


The only thing the CP desk can do is transfer CP's to the same folks you spoke to. There is no Preferred International desk at US so we are all dealing with the same desk. In my experience, they've been wickedly helpful.

And this urgency to book 330 days out is silly. With a bit of patience, you are VERY likely to get the flights that you want on or very near the dates you want with little effort. I say this because I have booked numerous awards over the years with the US Intl. desk on partner airlines and have been very happy. This includes partner awards in premium classes on UA, AA, QF, SR, and BA (for those who remember back THAT far).

As for holding seats until your return flights are loaded into the system, what do you want them to do? These are all r/t awards, right? I seriously doubt there is a "wait, I'll book the return in 30 days, so hold these seats option"!


http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif



[This message has been edited by geo1005 (edited 08-14-2003).]

Geo1005 - Most other Airlines will hold the outbound reservation for 2 weeks - then you call to extend the "hold" until you can book the return, and finalize the ticketing.
My itinerary is PBI/KIX return HNL/PBI --- As this is a cruise trip, I am limited in my travel days as I must follow the ship itinerary...thus the "angst" to book out this far.
Travel time Options are limited, unless we want to spend (unecessary) time at an embarkation and/or disembarkation Port city. (and we really don't want to do that, since we have experienced Osaka (& environs) and also Honolulu on other prior trips)
I will be persistant, and hope I will be able to finish the air booking in a positive way - sooner would be better, so I can put that portion of the trip to rest and get on with planning the cruise port stops.

I've never had an expereince with US where I've gotten "the" award I wanted, but I've come pretty close even if booked only a few months in advance. And this has all been transatlantic business. Your dates might be fairly inflexible so did you have better luck using your DL miles on NW for the dates you wanted?

I booked a business class seat to SEL with DM's on UA....no problem! I too disagree with the notion that this is a problem.

Will post my results after Sept. 22 or so, when my ticketing adventure should be over!
Thanks to all for the encouraging news about their experiences!

[This message has been edited by ReneeMoss (edited 08-15-2003).]

It must be timing. My experience has been the exact opposite. Delta is terrible. Did it twice (and for the last time) with them they seemed never to have the answers.

Booked awards many times with US and have NEVER had a problem. They even found ways for me to reduce the mileage award I was redeeming. But that was US on US metal.

Maybe the issues is UA.

Never had problem with US. I booked 4 seperate AA trips to Hawaii on AA during alliance consisting of a 13 FC seats and never had a problem.

If you want problems - try booking on CO. I just transfered my entire 370,000 balance out of CO into HHonors due to lack of ANY award tickets within 3 weeks of a planned vacation next year.

I am back with US for good!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by MikeM6090:
Maybe the issues is UA.</font>


I suspect and hope that as the US agents gain more experience booking awards on UA, they will get more creative.

The only problem I've encountered with trying to book UA awards using US miles is related to the inventory games that UA has been playing with their XC (business award) space of late. Other than that, my experience has been that US has access to most if not all of UA's award inventory, which is remarkable.

I agree with geo1005 that it's ridiculous to book 330 days in advance. Be patient, try again and again, and have a little flexibility and you'll always get what you want.

I've had no difficulty using US miles to book awards on US to Europe in the summer, SR to India in Dec/Jan, and QF to Oz over Dec/Jan, and AA to Hawaii over Spring Break. All NOTORIOUSLY DIFFICULT awards, and all within 4 months of date of travel. All in business class, btw.

I think it's very strange that you've found the US agents not helpful. I think they are tops at helping to find award space, incredibly patient, and just plain nice people. The only issue is that they're not as internationally knowledgeable as UA or DL agents, so sometimes you have to help them find the different routings. For example in going to Asia using UA you might have to explain the many different ways of getting to NRT or HKG from your city in the US.

[This message has been edited by kv99 (edited 08-15-2003).]

The last time I booked award travel, it was for a combined US/Swissair award ticket to St. Petersburg, Russia. It was a 4-leg flight for me, a 3-leg flight for my friend in PHL, and we wanted to arrive in Russia together. The US reservations agent was incredibly helpful and patient, and after about 45 minutes of playing around with dates, he found us award availability about 4 months out.

P.S. 3 connections (1 through PHL), and no lost luggage!

All your stories are giving me hope! I'll keep you posted on my progress.Thanks so much! I'd hate to have to cancel the cruise because I couldn't get Award Business Cl. seats! (Too expensive to pay for - and too old and tired to do this in coach!)