MTJTraveller

I'm trying to connect up with my mother in ORD from my regional airport in GJT next October, flying on to VCE. Some business saver award service for the two of us just opened up I like from ORD but there is currently no saver award GJT-DEN-ORD on the day or any day near to get me to Chicago. My question is do/can I:

1) book the GJT-ORD in standard award now and would I be able to change that part of the ticket to saver once it opens up and receive 12,500 miles back

Or

2) book the ORD-VCE for both of us and add the GJT-ORD once it becomes available, if I can even do this.

I really want to secure the ORD-VCE asap as the inventory has been so sporadic.

I don't have any status other than "happy". 😊

Thanks for any advice given!

WineCountryUA

you can not mix standard and saver segments in one direction of travel. You could book a separate standard award ticket GJT-ORD and if later saver space occurs, cancel the standalone standard and add the saver segment to the TATL saver award. For non-elites there will be fees.
adding segments is not a problem -- but for non-elites there will be fees.

username

Between UA opening inventories late and other *A airlines opening seats earlier than UA, a lot of the time we have no problem getting in/out of the US gateways but have problems getting to the gateways on UA. You end up having to do this.

In your ORD-VCE PNR, you might be able to have them waitlist GJT-DEN-ORD. Of course, some agents will let you and others won't. You also only get 2 flights maximum (so you have 1 routing), they might clear at different times and there are fees each time as WineCountryUA said. If you are Platinum or above, then no worries on the fees.

MTJTraveller

Thank you so much for your answers- on Thanksgiving no less! When I was doing my initial search I wasn't logged into my Mileage Plus account. After logging in I was able to find Saver award flights to ORD the day prior to ORD-VCE. Yea! This way I can meet up with my Mom and we can go (back) to O'Hare the next evening together.
I was a bit frantic in my question because I was trying to secure Business seats for the two of us to VCE. Special trip for mom. And the availability has been horrid.