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Can you mix and match airlines on awards?

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Can you mix and match airlines on awards?

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Old Mar 31, 2015, 11:29 am
  #1  
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Can you mix and match airlines on awards?

Forgive me if the question sounds like a newbie but despite redeeming many awards, they've always been either on one airline or a codeshare with a UA flight number.

Can you mix and match airlines for an award, say Air Canada flight + United fight on the outbound and Singapore Airlines flight (no UA flight number) + Air Canada on the return. Or Lufthansa outbound and Austrian return? These airline combinations are made up.

Can you stitch together several semi-stopovers such that they are technically not a stopover but only a stop of 8-12 hours? For example, SIN-PVG/PVG-YVR/YVR-ORD with a quick visit to the cities of Shanghai and Vancouver?
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Old Mar 31, 2015, 11:33 am
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Originally Posted by Box5
Forgive me if the question sounds like a newbie but despite redeeming many awards, they've always been either on one airline or a codeshare with a UA flight number.

Can you mix and match airlines for an award, say Air Canada flight + United fight on the outbound and Singapore Airlines flight (no UA flight number) + Air Canada on the return. Or Lufthansa outbound and Austrian return? These airline combinations are made up.

Can you stitch together several semi-stopovers such that they are technically not a stopover but only a stop of 8-12 hours? For example, SIN-PVG/PVG-YVR/YVR-ORD with a quick visit to the cities of Shanghai and Vancouver?
Yes - this is all possible, and easier if you call in vs. using the web site. Hwever, UA now has a rule that one can have a maximum of 8 segments on a reward itinerary -- 4 in each direction. A stopover is counted when an international itinerary shows a break in travel of more than 24 hours in a particular city, so you can go far longer than 8-12 hours. I'd suggest you have a list of flights you want prior to calling in.
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Old Mar 31, 2015, 11:34 am
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Originally Posted by Box5
Forgive me if the question sounds like a newbie but despite redeeming many awards, they've always been either on one airline or a codeshare with a UA flight number.

Can you mix and match airlines for an award, say Air Canada flight + United fight on the outbound and Singapore Airlines flight (no UA flight number) + Air Canada on the return. Or Lufthansa outbound and Austrian return? These airline combinations are made up.

Can you stitch together several semi-stopovers such that they are technically not a stopover but only a stop of 8-12 hours? For example, SIN-PVG/PVG-YVR/YVR-ORD with a quick visit to the cities of Shanghai and Vancouver?
Yes to both questions.

Any stop less than 24 hours counts as a connection rather than a stopover.
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Old Mar 31, 2015, 11:36 am
  #4  
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Originally Posted by Box5
Forgive me if the question sounds like a newbie but despite redeeming many awards, they've always been either on one airline or a codeshare with a UA flight number. ...
awards are never booked as codeshare, only as native flight operator codes.
Originally Posted by Box5
.... Can you mix and match airlines for an award, say Air Canada flight + United fight on the outbound and Singapore Airlines flight (no UA flight number) + Air Canada on the return. Or Lufthansa outbound and Austrian return?
yes multiple flight operators can be used

Originally Posted by Box5
.... Can you stitch together several semi-stopovers such that they are technically not a stopover but only a stop of 8-12 hours? For example, SIN-PVG/PVG-YVR/YVR-ORD with a quick visit to the cities of Shanghai and Vancouver?
yes, as long as the stop is less than 24 hours.
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Old Mar 31, 2015, 11:44 am
  #5  
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Originally Posted by Xyzzy
Yes - this is all possible, and easier if you call in vs. using the web site. Hwever, UA now has a rule that one can have a maximum of 8 segments on a reward itinerary -- 4 in each direction. A stopover is counted when an international itinerary shows a break in travel of more than 24 hours in a particular city, so you can go far longer than 8-12 hours. I'd suggest you have a list of flights you want prior to calling in.
I thought the requirement is 4 on a one-way but up to 10 on a roundtrip (5 each way, including any stopovers or open jaws).

Just last year I flew this award itin :

JFK-FRA-BKK-SIN-(stopover)-TPE-HKG (5)
open jaw
PVG-MUC-VIE-JFK (3)

Using a combination of LH, TG, BR, CA, and OS.
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Old Mar 31, 2015, 11:47 am
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Originally Posted by VickyKing
I thought the requirement is 4 on a one-way but up to 10 on a roundtrip (5 each way, including any stopovers or open jaws).
It depends on the award. For a RT North America to South Asia, the current rule is eight transfers. It's not enforced 100% of the time.
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