danielonn

I booked a Rome-San Francisco Flight a few weeks back for 30,000+$75 dollars via Munich with Lufthansa. Now when I go back on United I see flights for 55,000 miles or with an overnight connection. There are also flights with two stops or one flight on Lufthansa and the next on United.

I am so glad I booked when I did as it seems like even the times I booked at were sold out for miles.

I got perfect times. Leaving Rome at 12:00 PM arriving Munich at 1:40 PM and leaving Munich at 4:05 PM arriving SFO at 7:00 PM all on Lufthansa. Other flights were on TAP with an overnight flight or more than one stop.

I also got good seats as well.

So your right to look around and book immediately when you see the low miles and perfect times.

I was able to find a shared shuttle ride from my hotel in Rome at 8:00 AM for a 8:45 AM arrival so I can check in and go to the lounge with my Priority Pass which is also used for Star Alliance members. The shuttle is for $20 to the airport.

In your opinion do you think I did well with my mileage redemption?

SKYravefever

You booked a Saver Award (30K), whereas now you only see Standard Award (55K). How often Saver Award is available I can't comment since it varies by route and demand.

But at the end of the day, you got a better deal, since there is no cheaper option

alexj7

I'm beginning to think the miles are worthless. I'm 0/3 so far using miles this past month and just caved and bought the tickets with $. I've been very flexible each time in dates/airports but everything was either standard award or had a 17 hour layover and three legs. It seems you have to book 300 days in advance, which I never have the luxury of doing.

For refernce my itineraries were NYC-FCO in late June, NYC-JAC in August (specific dates in that case), NYC-PNH in business in May.

Maybe I'm just to picky but in each case I'd rather just pay the $$$ than pay standard award rates or fly some god-awful itinerary that takes 30 hours.

LovesTraveling

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bpe

It all depends on what routes you fly and how much paid tickets cost.

If you wanted a one way EWR-SFO, a paid ticket could cost $600+ (I've done this before), but even for a standard award I'd say it's decent value. Of course, you could shop around and look for better flights etc.. but on routes that UA or partners sell at a premium but have good availability, using miles tends to be pretty cost-effective.

aacharya

EWR-Europe in late June, along with everyone else in the world, especially with a new pope by then?

I have had no issues with mileage redemption, even if I initially had to pick layovers - they almost always clear the waitlist.