pinkhighlighter

Hi all,

I stumbled upon this forum while looking for help planning our trip to Europe next summer.

Our family of 4 (2 parents, a toddler, and a baby) are headed to Umbria, Italy for a family reunion at the end of June (1 week, Sat to Sat). We'd like to extend our vacation for about a week ideally before the family reunion. But we're using United miles, so we're flexible.

Right now, it seems like I can get saver award RT to Italy on Wednesdays, so we'd spend a few days before and after the reunion. This is less than ideal. We'd like to just spend 1 week in 1 location before or after the reunion b/c it's difficult to move around with the two little guys.

All this to ask, is there a good way to search for award flights for any European airport? We're pretty flexible on location. If we had our choice, we'd love to do Sevilla, but there doesn't seem to much for Spain available for saver awards.

Any guidance, thoughts, etc. would be greatly appreciated!!

USFFlyer

United's award booking tool is great for simple itineraries, but doesn't do well for multi-city trips. Best advice you will get is to search segment by segment, make a note of dates/times/flight numbers and then call in to have the tickets booked. Not sure if you have any MP status, but even without it you may be able to ask that booking fees be waived if your itinerary is overly complex.

You may also get some more help if you let us know from where you're departing, your preferred class of travel, dates, etc.

SanDiego1K

If you are on the west coast, see if you can take advantage of the new IST-SFO route that TK is opening in April next year. TK announced the route last week, and inventory was wide open with 4 seats in business class for each flight. Yes, it requires flying backward then to Italy, but it could be worth it in order to get award space easily.

Welcome to FlyerTalk.

pinkhighlighter

Thanks, USFFlyer! I've been trying just to check one-ways, but it seems I have to type in each location individually. It would be great if I could see what's available for all of Spain or Italy, for example. And using the 300 mile extension doesn't seem to actually work.

Here are the details on our trip:

Must be in Umbria, Italy from June 20-27, 2015. Closest airport is Rome.

We would like to add a week on to this vacation.

We are departing from the San Francisco Bay Area (probably SFO, but are open to anything in the Bay Area or Sacramento...).

My husband has the lowest level of UA status (elite??). Between the two of us, we have about 300 miles available.

We were hoping to do a week beforehand in Sevilla, Spain, but we're flexible. We will be traveling with an infant and toddler, so something that allows us to just wander, see some fun (kid-friendly) sites, eat good food. So, places that are really about museums are out. But otherwise, just nice cities/towns would be great to explore.

Any thoughts are VERY welcome!!

Kacee

I wonder if that was a mistake. Because I'm not seeing any availability on that flight from April through June, even in Y.

SanDiego1K

20 days in June show 3 seats in biz on each day, IST to SFO. A couple days less show availability for 4. All but 1 day also show coach availability. Award space is only open til June 24.

dsauch

what you are looking for does not exist for free.
You can try something here
or do the necessary research on your own.

What alliance are you flying? - Star Alliance
Who files direct to your closest airport in *A? - UA check with them
How else can you get there? - with stop over on other alliance members
Who are *A members? - LH, LO, TK, OS etc etc
What are their hubs? - check wikipedia (ie FRA, MUC, etc)
start checking segment by segment, daily etc. be prepared to potentially get to hub and get to your destination using cash. Ie if you can get to FRA on miles and spend $80 on AZ.

Read up on infant tickets/fees - there are several threads on FT that describe rules and issues others had.

Keep in mind main rules of award booking - be flexible.

This should get you started

PS - it may all be in vain, doubt 300 miles will get you anywhere

Kacee

Hmm . . . I'm searching SFO-IST and not seeing anything at all. Though I now see what you're talking about from IST-SFO.

I would love to fly TK J on miles again . . . .

rufflesinc

Can I ask what the fascination with TK is? Their J is 2-3-2, one seat away from UA's dreaded 2-4-2.

USFFlyer

Mmmmm, okay. So you have two smaller children = minimal connections. The only way to get in or out of SVQ on a *A partner is via Lisbon on TAP or via Brussels on, well, Brussels. You could do SFO-JFK/EWR/ORD/IAD-BRU-SVQ on UA and Brussels. You could also do SFO-EWR-LIS-SVQ on a mix of UA and TAP, so you have some options there. The other idea would be to fly into Madrid and then take the AVE high speed train to SVQ. Its very quick, on-time, and could be a fun experience.

I would honestly say if you spend your week in Sevilla, you'll be better off just buying a couple one-way tickets on Vueling from Sevilla to Rome rather than deal with finding award space out of Spain and trekking several hundred miles out of the way by air (and connecting somewhere again). I lived there for two years and aside from Iberia, there isn't much in the way of legacy carrier service.

The return home should be relatively simple. I would gun for Rome to a Lufthansa hub and then ride Lufthansa straight home to SFO. You could also fly FCO-EWR-SFO if you want to stay on United metal. It sounds like your husband has Silver, so you would also be eligible for free economy plus seats at check-in, which would make this all more comfortable.

Feel free to PM me if you need any help with Sevilla, happy to give you a few suggestions on things to do.

Kacee

Have you flown it?

The seat is better, the service is fantastic, and the food is amazing. One of the nicest flights I've ever had.

1KPath

Agree!! One of my favorite airlines...I just returned from IST last month and their service in J approached, and in some cases surpassed, the best of the Asian and Middle Eastern carriers. This is my airline of choice going to Eastern Europe and beyond...and I have backtracked on them to FCO a number of times with no regrets!

Besides, can Kobe and Messi both be wrong

rufflesinc

I wouldn't mind flying their old 1-2-1 F suites but they don't have those anymore. 2-3-2 with great soft product when other airlines have 1-2-1 is well, putting lipstick on a pig. You can bring your own food on board but not your own seat ...

UA-NYC

Again - have you flown it? Do you know how comfortable the seats are? How long they are? The amount of room at your feet?

TK is great.

USFFlyer

Okay, getting this back on topic. As of right now (12am PDT) there are 3 seats available on the itinerary below (I assumed the baby would be a lap child). Its not perfect, but you'll definitely have a significant schedule change sometime in the next year, and that will allow you to route more directly on United metal (regardless of available award space). This needs to be booked out of an elite account because some of the space is available to elites only.

Outbound--6/14

SFO-YVR 7:55a 10:08a UA784
YVR-FRA 4:10p 10:50a +1 LH493
FRA-MAD 1:15p 3:50p +1 LH1114

From here, take the AVE to Sevilla. You may also want to spend your time in Madrid. From either Madrid or Sevilla there are cheap flights on Vueling to Rome. Coming home from Rome is below:

Inbound--6/27

FCO-FRA 6:55a 8:55a LH243 (This leg is biz class awards only, but you can change it later and its the only way this whole thing works.)
FRA-YYZ 10:00a 12:15p AC873
YYZ-MSP 2:40p 3:40p AC7943
MSP-SFO 5:05 7:05p UA372