United MileagePlus (Consolidated) - Using United miles for USAirways flights

I've been tasked with doing some research for a venerated relative who has been flying for several years on Continental LHR-PBI with a stop in Newark on her annual trek to the winter sunshine. She'd prefer to fly out of LGW but United doesn't fly from there. Her assumption is that she can use her United miles to buy a USAirways seat as they are part of Star Alliance. She called United and they told her that she could not book USAirways flights using her United miles.

She has no status with United but does have a 'planeload' of miles earned from a very agressive credit card and usually buys an Economy ticket which she upgraded to Business with miles and a cash co-pay.

My experience is with AA and Oneworld and certainly I am able to book across airlines in the OW group. Is this not the case with StarAlliance?

Can anyone give me a quick answer before I spend hours on a phone with United on her behalf?

thanks in advance

Seems like in theory you should be able to.... I know I have found flights that were all US metal in the past on an UA award search (but that was for flights in the US). Issue might be that US doesn't give any seats to UA for London flights or just doesn't open their awards to anyone as they can sell the seats.

I'd bet if you called and got someone who "knew" UA and US, they could explain why there is no award availability.

Good luck.

Should be able to book partner award online at United website. I know US flies to LHR from PHL direct everyday not sure if convenient or not but a US option

I have found USAirways premium availability has thinned considerably.

Doing a quick buzz through of PHL-LHR one-way awards, there is not a single non-stop envoy award available through the end of the schedule (if the website and its calendar are to believed; the latter usually only has trouble when a connecting itinerary is available). Lots of economy available, however.

To summarize: unless it's .bomb, they are no longer making premium intl seats available on US

If you don't believe me, check for yourself. Unreal.

Thanks for the replies. Her preferred routing is LGW-NCL-PBI; she is trying to avoid LHR at all costs!

Thanks for the replies. Her preferred routing is LGW-NCL-PBI; she is trying to avoid LHR at all costs!

Would LGW-FRA-MIA on LH work? (If she's staying south of PBI, this might not be as bad as it appears.)

The rep she talked to is outright wrong, surprise surprise.

She needs to request a Star Alliance award, with a routing of LGW-CLT-PBI on US Airways, as US flies LGW-CLT (their PHL flights are only flown via LHR).

But, as said here, capacity controls are tight on Star Alliance awards so she may get a lot of "not available" responses while she spouts out date preferences.

She also might be able to find routing into Toronto and then down to Florida on Air Canada.

Thanks for the clarification, at least I know the answer that I'm looking for, just need to find a rep who understands the question...but then she can't do her usual trick of paying for a Economy seat and upgrading to Business with miles and co-pay.

..guess she can't have it all!

The rep she talked to is outright wrong, surprise surprise.

She needs to request a Star Alliance award, with a routing of LGW-CLT-PBI on US Airways, as US flies LGW-CLT (their PHL flights are only flown via LHR).

But, as said here, capacity controls are tight on Star Alliance awards so she may get a lot of "not available" responses while she spouts out date preferences.

She also might be able to find routing into Toronto and then down to Florida on Air Canada.

Turns out that MIA is to be avoided as much as LHR...time for her to buy her own aircraft if you ask me... :)

Would LGW-FRA-MIA on LH work? (If she's staying south of PBI, this might not be as bad as it appears.)

Well it didn't end well!

After spending an hour on the phone with the HelpDesk she was routed via Houston and waitlisted for upgrade. During the conversation she was told by the Agent that 'you are wasting my time', which as you can imagine resulted in a letter of complaint being dispatched. She's very disillusioned with the attitude on the phones since the merger. Is this a common complaint?

The rep she talked to is outright wrong, surprise surprise.

She needs to request a Star Alliance award, with a routing of LGW-CLT-PBI on US Airways, as US flies LGW-CLT (their PHL flights are only flown via LHR).

But, as said here, capacity controls are tight on Star Alliance awards so she may get a lot of "not available" responses while she spouts out date preferences.

She also might be able to find routing into Toronto and then down to Florida on Air Canada.

Well it didn't end well!

After spending an hour on the phone with the HelpDesk she was routed via Houston and waitlisted for upgrade. During the conversation she was told by the Agent that 'you are wasting my time', which as you can imagine resulted in a letter of complaint being dispatched. She's very disillusioned with the attitude on the phones since the merger. Is this a common complaint?

I'm confused, are you trying to upgrade or book an award ticket? If the latter, you can look for availability on US by doing an award search on the United website and looking at the "Partner Flights." Try searching segment by segment if you aren't getting any results.

Once you know which flights are available, book it online, or if you can't, then phone it in.

Within the past year, I've been able to make online award reservations on the UA for flights to and from Europe on LH, LH and OS. One of these reservations included a US flight BOS-DCA. Doing this presupposes, of course, that award seats are available on the flight you want.

No need to be confused, she's trying to book a paid ticket and then upgrade using miles and co-pay. You can't do that online, especially if you want to have a flight on a Partner airline.

I'm confused, are you trying to upgrade or book an award ticket? If the latter, you can look for availability on US by doing an award search on the United website and looking at the "Partner Flights." Try searching segment by segment if you aren't getting any results.

Once you know which flights are available, book it online, or if you can't, then phone it in.