I have about 100k miles with UAL (between random flights, CC rewards, etc), and the soon-to-be-wife has about the same. I plan on kicking mine up a bit with another CC offer, so I should be over 125k when we get around to this.
We plan on taking a trip to Munich and London, from Chicago. We would like to fly the best class possible on the transatlantic legs, and don't care about the flight from one London to Munich (or vice-versa).
What is the best way to ensure we get the best class/rate when booking the flights? Do I call United and ask them to check their partners? Do I use a travel agent? Can a travel agent even help? What can we expect? Business class?
We flew Lufthansa last year (paid cash), and we liked it. We are not tied to United - we would like to find the best deal. I am just too new to this miles thing to know how to find it.
Use the reservation booking engine at united.com and put in where you want to go. Make sure you change the popup control to show more than the default 25 alternatives. You'll see partner and UA flights.
If you don't find anything you like, use ITA at matrix.itasoftware.com and do a search limited to *A ("/alliance star-alliance" in the route code fields). If you find something you like better, you can call United to see if there's any award availability. There are also ways to check availability using other tools, but I don't have much experience with them.
You should be able to do RT ORD to MUC with a stopover at LHR on either leg. Expect to pay extra fees for the ticket because of the LHR departure.
I just did a quick look on united.com and found flights in business for 100,000 miles each, and total fees of over $740, all on LH. ORD-MUC (dest)-LHR (stop)-FRA-ORD.
Just for grins, I did MUC and BRU on LH, return on LX via ZRH, and got the same 100,000 mi each, but only $324 in fees. LHR stop really jacks the fees up. I wonder if it would be cheaper to take the train from Paris or Brussels to London.
I just did a quick look on united.com and found flights in business for 100,000 miles each, and total fees of over $740, all on LH. ORD-MUC (dest)-LHR (stop)-FRA-ORD.
Just for grins, I did MUC and BRU on LH, return on LX via ZRH, and got the same 100,000 mi each, but only $324 in fees. LHR stop really jacks the fees up. I wonder if it would be cheaper to take the train from Paris or Brussels to London.
joe
Almost certainly - there are some reasonable fares on the Eurostar to London and the UK Passenger Tax is huge I am afraid.
Departing from UK in a premium cabin hits you with a huge APD tax. To get around this you should change the order of your trip (if possible) to ORD-LHR(stop)-MUC(dest)-ORD. Taxes should be around $150ish
I just did a quick look on united.com and found flights in business for 100,000 miles each, and total fees of over $740, all on LH. ORD-MUC (dest)-LHR (stop)-FRA-ORD.
Just for grins, I did MUC and BRU on LH, return on LX via ZRH, and got the same 100,000 mi each, but only $324 in fees. LHR stop really jacks the fees up. I wonder if it would be cheaper to take the train from Paris or Brussels to London.
joe
Your problem is you have your stopover at LHR on your way back. Even though you are routing back to FRA, they still count as long haul flight unless you overnight at FRA. Taking train won't help you at all as long as you are departing from LHR. Try doing it on your way over from US, your depature tax will be significantly lower as it is an intra Europe flight when departing LHR.
Well, it looks like we should plan on London first, then Munich. Like I mentioned, we are still sorting out details (and dates), but this is a good start for info.
Thanks. I will likely pick your brains with more specifics as we get closer.
If you'd prefer to avoid the connections in YYZ and DUS you can call in and ask the agent to waitlist you on the non-stop ORD-LHR and MUC-ORD flights on UA metal. You don't have to but saving that connection might be worthwhile.
