US Airways Dividend Miles - UA vs US for Mileage tickets (especially for a Lap Child)

A relative of mine is making a wedding near TLV on Thanksgiving weekend. Its not an option for me not to go, but I am not going without my wife. My wife is not going without my 11 month old baby so we're all going to go.

I had around 160K miles so I figured I would just get two economy tickets and make the most of the situation.

After a while of not finding any good routing in economy, I realized that I actually had 100K UA miles; (from a combination of credit card sign up bonuses and for "leaving feedback" whenever I fly UA (I stopped even calling it a "complaint" I just request that they give me miles for providing feedback as they seem to like to do and they usually do). By transferring 20K Chase Saphire points I was able to buy two C tickets; one from US and one from UA.

(This means a lap child in C. I don't think we need another thread about that subject. In this case, while it is a leisure trip, its not one I have the option not to make and I couldn't even fly Y if I wanted to because of availability)

I may, if I find the time write a long post comparing the experience redeeming miles on UA vs US in general.

In short:
UA had the following advantages:
They seemed to have better availability.
I liked their one way award options
I liked their ability to search and book awards on line
Their change policy seems more liberal after booking the ticket

US had the following advantages:
Three day no cost reservations (this is invaluable to grabbing segments and making a ticket for us non CPs. I ended up pay UA $100 in change fees before I got what I wanted)
US agents were more knowledgable and efficient, especially on the occasions that I seemed to get an off shore UA call center (though UA seems to have improved)
UA's computer seems to get confused with complex itineraries, especially when trying to make changes.

The main difference I found though and the real purpose of this much too lengthy post is that when it came time to add the lap child, US asked me for $1017.11 for what they called taxes (but subject to change at a later time) while UA only took $356.90 for what the acknowledged was a fee based on the true value of the ticket (and thus subject to change based on changes in the ticket value). Of course I added to the child to the UA ticket, but I am shocked at the discrepancy.

Has anyone else had experience with this and any other thoughts?

1017$ is way too high. They probably calculated it based on a round trip Y fare. 356$ seems to be in line.

1017$ is way too high. They probably calculated it based on a round trip Y fare. 356$ seems to be in line.

The pricing is generally supposed to be 10% of the full J fare if travelling in the J cabin. Some airlines may go for a lower amount if they publish a cheaper fare on that routing.

Having all your flights on one airline will help reduce the fare.

Having all your flights on one airline will help reduce the fare.

We're flying on the same flights. The only difference is which miles we are using to pay for them.

One flight (EWR-ZRH) is on UA and none are on US. Would that make a difference?

For me, at this point, UA is the winner because of one-ways and the ability to book the alliance online. And they have better "native" award availability. With some flexibility, I can usually get 2 TATL seats at acceptable times, even in busier travel months. On US, even booking way off-peak (upstate New York in the winter) can be dreadfully difficult, partly because little is available and partly because of the R/T requirement.

That said, I'm in the process of making one final push on US (hopefully with the help of a Grand Slam) to get to 3 to 4 total HKG J tickets. Then I'll bite the bullet, call US, and have a human book the awards. I figure as a Gold it shouldn't be too awful.

I figure within a year or so we'll all be in Oneworld using AAdvantage's rules and booking engine, so the issues will all have changed.

For me, at this point, UA is the winner because of one-ways and the ability to book the alliance online. And they have better "native" award availability. With some flexibility, I can usually get 2 TATL seats at acceptable times, even in busier travel months. On US, even booking way off-peak (upstate New York in the winter) can be dreadfully difficult, partly because little is available and partly because of the R/T requirement.

That said, I'm in the process of making one final push on US (hopefully with the help of a Grand Slam) to get to 3 to 4 total HKG J tickets. Then I'll bite the bullet, call US, and have a human book the awards. I figure as a Gold it shouldn't be too awful.

I figure within a year or so we'll all be in Oneworld using AAdvantage's rules and booking engine, so the issues will all have changed.

Once UA stopped with starnet it became head and shoulders better than US. UA also has good earning rates. Just wish they had not dropped EK, QR and VS.

Sadly the only thing consistent I have found about infant fares is that they are inconsistent. Sometimes it is 10% of full fare and sometimes it is 10% of the cheapest available fare for that cabin. Obviously that means the numbers can have a wide range.

It is sometimes a "hang up and call back" situation, but if you found an option that was much cheaper then I would go with that.

I wonder that since you're flying on a UA ticket, US might not have access to all of the same fare options that UA would. US might only have access to 10% of a full fare J ticket while UA might be able to sell you 10% of a Z fare.

It is actually cheaper to book *A awards with US miles than US awards with US miles. So, if I were you, I would book *A award to UA with US miles, and UA award with UA miles so that you fly on one airline.

Another option is to buy a discounted coach fare to TLV and to upgrade with miles so that you are gaining status. The upgrade availability to TLV seems to be very good for this fall - I was just checking it yesterday for my own flights.