Worthless miles
Jan 11, 2015, 2:35 pm
#16
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 96
Jan 11, 2015, 2:41 pm
#17
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Indianapolis
Programs: Hilton-Diamond Lifetime Platinum AA UA, WN-CP, SPG Gold.
Posts: 7,377
We look at a different seat chart than the agent,
Seats are booked out because of projected sales, based on data.
There is also. $395.00 United Credit Card that opens up empty seats, I hear.
Try to book AA and see what kind of routing and layover you get...
When everyone has a million miles a year, it is kind of fun to try to find a seat, everyday.
Be a million miles flyer is no fun when we all have a million miles....
Seats are booked out because of projected sales, based on data.
There is also. $395.00 United Credit Card that opens up empty seats, I hear.
Try to book AA and see what kind of routing and layover you get...
When everyone has a million miles a year, it is kind of fun to try to find a seat, everyday.
Be a million miles flyer is no fun when we all have a million miles....
Jan 11, 2015, 2:42 pm
#18
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Indianapolis
Programs: Hilton-Diamond Lifetime Platinum AA UA, WN-CP, SPG Gold.
Posts: 7,377
Jan 12, 2015, 9:14 am
#20
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: home = LAX
Posts: 25,933
That was thus a joke about the impossibility of finding First Class awards on Southwest, because there is no First Class, and thus there are no First Class awards.
Southwest still has open seating. So the one "perk" at Southwest is earlier boarding, so you get a slightly better choice of the seats in the all-coach cabin.
Jan 12, 2015, 11:18 am
#21
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 690
Can't condemn an airline just cause one instance didn't have any saver award availability. That said, in my experience, United has been nuking saver award availability over the past year or so. Obviously it is impossible to quantify the effect, but it has been happening.
Jan 12, 2015, 11:22 am
#22
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: CMH, West Coast
Programs: AA Executive Platinum, oneworld emerald
Posts: 2,741
Jan 13, 2015, 2:36 pm
#23
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 10,904
I stopped flying southwest when I realized that a VX F ticket was cheaper than a Southwest Business Select ticket for the same route. Also I flew about 10 round trips in a row with them and not a single flight was on time. After I stopped flying with them they sent me a letter apologizing for being late all the time.
I redeemed all my southwest pts for amazon gift cards, and now I fly F on VX. Never been happier. It's cheaper AND real first class (width = 21; pitch = 55; decent food and booze). Back when Southwest was dirt cheap, at least you were getting a good deal (my first ever flight to Vegas was $25). Now it's overpriced and just as crappy as ever.
Ok, I'm finished ranting. I feel better now.
Jan 20, 2015, 2:53 pm
#25
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend, Moderator, Information Desk, Ambassador, Alaska Airlines
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: FAI
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Wirelessly posted (beckoa's BB: Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9810; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.1.0.694 Mobile Safari/534.11+)
So you're a pilot? Or sitting in 1X 
Originally Posted by riversidetom
I always fly F on WN
Jan 25, 2015, 4:02 am
#26
Suspended
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 8,460
Jan 28, 2015, 11:19 am
#27
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: MCI
Programs: AA Gold 1MM, AS MVP, UA Silver, WN A-List, Marriott LT Titanium, HH Diamond
Posts: 52,570
Best way to get it is to book Y and then have one of the lounge agents upgrade you. @:-)
To the OP: a lot of us have a variety of bones to pick with United, but I've actually had pretty good luck using their miles. You can book much of the alliance online with no junk fees (YQ, etc.), and availability for true awards is (IME) better than their competitors.
What you were looking for on your one domestic flight was upgrade availability, which is a bit of a different animal than award availability. That's finicky and unpredictable on almost all airlines. Did you look on other days? Other flights? Did you look for straight award seats?
Take comfort in this: if it's a domestic U.S. route, which it sounds like it probably was if WN also flies it, chances are good the the first class cabin sucks anyway, so you aren't missing much.
My UA miles have mostly been turned into TATL and TPAC awards. Sometimes J (if I'm solo or with only my wife), sometimes Y if it's the whole family. Lots of trips, lots of good value, no garbage fees. This summer we're going 5 TATL seats together in Y on UA miles in the middle of peak season...that's not easy to do on most other carriers.
I'll save my complaints for the crappiness of UA/UX's service. I'm (mostly) happy with their Mileage Plus program, given that I hold no native status whatsoever in it.
To the OP: a lot of us have a variety of bones to pick with United, but I've actually had pretty good luck using their miles. You can book much of the alliance online with no junk fees (YQ, etc.), and availability for true awards is (IME) better than their competitors.
What you were looking for on your one domestic flight was upgrade availability, which is a bit of a different animal than award availability. That's finicky and unpredictable on almost all airlines. Did you look on other days? Other flights? Did you look for straight award seats?
Take comfort in this: if it's a domestic U.S. route, which it sounds like it probably was if WN also flies it, chances are good the the first class cabin sucks anyway, so you aren't missing much.
My UA miles have mostly been turned into TATL and TPAC awards. Sometimes J (if I'm solo or with only my wife), sometimes Y if it's the whole family. Lots of trips, lots of good value, no garbage fees. This summer we're going 5 TATL seats together in Y on UA miles in the middle of peak season...that's not easy to do on most other carriers.
I'll save my complaints for the crappiness of UA/UX's service. I'm (mostly) happy with their Mileage Plus program, given that I hold no native status whatsoever in it.
Jan 28, 2015, 6:26 pm
#28
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 52
I have booked three roundtrips on United using miles for later in 2015. One trip was booked 337 days in advance of travel, while the others 9 to 10 months in advance.
While I didn't always receive my first choice of departures, the available choices were adequate for our needs.
Similarly, I also booked three roundtrips on Southwest, admittedly an easier task, and one on Alaska.
Fairly good results.
While I didn't always receive my first choice of departures, the available choices were adequate for our needs.
Similarly, I also booked three roundtrips on Southwest, admittedly an easier task, and one on Alaska.
Fairly good results.
There is a significant availability issue.
Jan 29, 2015, 9:44 am
#29
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: MCI
Programs: AA Gold 1MM, AS MVP, UA Silver, WN A-List, Marriott LT Titanium, HH Diamond
Posts: 52,570
I seem to have better luck booking TATL/TPAC at the 7-8 month mark, not at 330 days. Maybe it's just me... I often look for alliance partners...not UA metal...wonder if that has anything to do with it.
Feb 9, 2015, 2:30 am
#30
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 3
I was going to book a flight on United with United miles the other day and needed 2k more for my ticket. I booked the flight for both my girlfriend and myself and after I bought the extra miles for me, I realized that I couldn't pay for her ticket with a credit card and mine with points in the same transaction, so I ended up just paying for everything with the credit card. Does anyone know if I can get a refund for the 2k points I purchased from United?