RufussCkingston

I want to do a Long Sell on LH453 from LAX to MUC. It is F/6 A/5 O/0

I call up the regular international res line and get Philipines or Mexico and they can't do it after talking to supervisors. I call up the MP Award res line and get Houston and then can't do it as the supervisor says no.

I read in posts that HNL call center can do it, but of course there is no way to directly call them.... or is there.

How the hell can I try and get someone at UA to Long Sell this so I don't have to keep waiting everyday to see if the LH opens up the space on its own.

I have NO STATUS so can't call the elite line.

BTW, the flight is in the next 10 days.

Thanks

RCK

exerda

If I understand correctly, you're asking if UA can force open award inventory on the LH flight? There's not a chance of that.

bevoinva

Just out of curiosity why would you think they wluld do this for you?

Clarkcc1

Had to google long sell - not a common term even among FTers I don't think.

If you do in fact mean creating or opening up award space on a partner airline let alone UA, I have to question your sanity - sorry to say! If the award space isn't there, tough luck. Keep checking back or buy a revenue ticket...

Sykes

I suspect what you're trying to do is waitlist an award ... long-sell is a bad way to describe it because it is really just a generic term to describe selling a flight directly using a date, flight number, and flight code without doing an availability check first.

United only allows you to waitlist awards on United-operated flights, and even then, the benefit only applies to premier members. United doesn't allow anyone to waitlist on partner flights. I think you're stuck monitoring LH flights for award availability. (I also suspect that you'll have a hard time finding it if it hasn't opened up already.)

RufussCkingston

I am going to assume those who have commented so far are as educated in a "long sell" as the agents I have already spoke with..... Below is a post from an LH Thread on the subject.

chinatraderjmr

Are you a 1K? If not forget it. Agents are not supposed to do this for anyone. A few old time 1K agents in HNL might "might" do this for you but I'm a 1K and would not waste my time trying to find an agent willing. It might take me 50 calls. If you not a 1K it might take you 200 and still I doubt you would get one

The few posts I've read on here w people that had it done were all 1K / GS And all very lucky

***sorry, I just saw you said you have no status. FORGET IT!! Your calls will never go to the handful of agents that might do this. Try the ANA tool. It will tell you not only what's avail but also what can be WL which can only be done w a long sell

Sykes

I'm quite educated on long sells ... as a travel agent, I do them on a daily basis. I suspect that you're asking the call center agents to do something that they're prohibited from doing as a matter of policy, but keep calling ... perhaps eventually you'll get lucky.

Generally, though, I imagine that this technique will only work if the underlying award inventory does exist, but United's system is not showing it for some reason (hence the reference to phantom availability). If the inventory doesn't exist, there is nothing that a UA agent can really do for you, long sell or not.

Happy

Since when a general member can ask for special handling on award booking? UA or any airline for that matter? Talk about being educated...

nachosdelux

Anyone can ASK for anything. Whether they get it is another story. In my opinion, OP should be patient and hope that LH opens an award seat in the next 10 days.

good luck

Happy

True.

But to make a comment that those who point out this request for "long sell" would not work because of several factors are being "as educated as the agents that I have already spoken to..." is quite arrogant when in fact those who replied are far more "educated" on the matter than the poster is.

RufussCkingston

Wasn't trying to be too arrogant, but if you look at the first responses they had nothing to do with what a long sell is in regards to an award ticket but rather personal opinions not based on true facts related to a long sell. They were more along the lines of I'm nuts !

chinatraderjmr

I would not say "your nuts" but you read a couple of posts out of thousands and then assumed a lot. Before you posted your question. A better question to post would have been "what exactly is a long sell in regards to mileage awards" "can any agent do this" "will any agent do this". The agents you spoke to in Anotheristan were not poorly educated. Why would UA educate them on something they are not allowed to do? LH may open some O seats on that flight starting 7 days from flight date If there are a lot of F Seats avail. If F4 they may not, IF F8 they may

blakeflyer

But...F6 means they have 6 revenue first seats and not 6 award first seats.
Why do you ask them to do the long sell for?
If you see O6, maybe you should try but not F6.

LufthansaFlyer

OP,

Disregard the opinions. Long sells are in fact possible and not difficult. Obviously LH has to have the inventory available in F or C or Y for that matter. What sometimes happens is that the Inventory is not updated on UA.com in real time.

Long sells are open to any mileage plus member, you dont have to have any minimum elite level. The key is, and always will be finding an agent willing to take the 30 seconds to submit the request to LH. My best luck has been with the HNL call center. They seem to be the most knowledgeable and most willing.

HNL call center usually comes on line midday US eastern time (at least thats been my experience). All my long sells have happened through HNL and most of the time I am calling between 12 & 3p US eastern time.

I'm PM you and I can try to help guide you on this. I just can guarantee that we'll get one! I've had about a 60-70% success rate this year finding F and C via long sells when the UA site did not show it.