ranles

Finally I may have found a flight that we can use some miles in Business on a cruise! One way travel.

Cruise ends in Copenhagen (CPH). Need flight back to San Diego on UA. There is actual inventory in saver. It is mixed cabin legs, but I can get to SFO in business.

Questions:

1st flight leg on SK (who?, seems to get mixed up with SAS, which is not a partner of UA, if I am correct)?

Category is I. Terms go on and on and on, most restrictive of category. If we decide not to go, can we redeem my points? Are we more apt to be bumped? Any other issues.

Wife and I have our own accounts. Do I call to book this travel, so the points come out of each account, or do I take a chance and book one then the other? Is there a way to book both with two acct #'s? Any charge to book thru the 800#?

We will be staying in Copenhagen for a few days after the cruise, so there should be no problem with coordination of our flights and getting to the AP.
Will be checking the Denmark site for activities. May book tour with cruise line (HAL) or find a tour with a bus company that will give us some flavor. Never been to Denmark.

Tried to book the starting leg of this trip with UA in a multiple Dest. reservation, getting to Ft. Lauderdale from SAN in B. Got an error message from UA site. Does this mean that UA cannot get me to FT Lauderdale?

Our alternative to get to Ft Lauderdale are to book with the cruise line, then they get us to the ship, or book using Alaska miles. Leaning toward sing the ship, and paying up. Comments?

Thanks. We should be booking our cruise within the next several days and the air, before August 1.

WineCountryUA

SAS is a *A partner and its IATA code is SK

I is the fare class for business saver award. Awards tickets can be cancelled and miles refunded but there may be a fee based on UA elite status. The chances of being bumped are very rare but award tickets tend to have less priority. UA does not, on purpose, oversell with the intent of bumping award tickets.


Award tickets can be funded only from one account. Typically best to call to make sure there are two seats but unless you have high elite status, there may be a fee.

You can do online but be absolute sure their are multiple seats available. Note you can refund an award ticket in the first 24 hours after purchase for no penalty.

not necessarily -- the online award booking engine fails on more complex itins many times.

waiting to book award tickets is risky - inventory can change without notice.

Have a great trip

transportprof

I've yet to meet a discerning traveler who was satisfied with an air-sea flight booking made through a cruise line. These are often bulk fares and get second class status for seat assignment, FF mileage, priority in case of IRROPS, bumping, etc. Then there's flight timing and connections - you get what's best for the cruise company's bottom line, not your schedule. Who knows where they'll route you, or how long/short your connection(s) will be? And if you prefer some aircraft types to others e.g., no regional jets, that's another choice you give up in an air-sea booking through the cruise line.

Almost any form of direct booking (miles, points, cash) will give you more control, and selection, on your flights to FLL, as compared to booking through the cruise line. As long as you can fly in the day before departure, there is zero upside to booking flights through the cruise line.

Kacee

+1, and with emphasis.

If you are seeing business award space on SK from CPH to SFO, it is probably not going to last more than a couple of days (if that).

ranles

Thank you all. I was so convinced that I booked after reading your posts. Who knows how long the rates have been sitting there all ready. We have had a very poor record of getting B or F since my wife retired. That 1k-G becomes ZERO in no time.

We did manage to book a Sunday flight CPH-LHR in bus., LHR-LAX in bus-F, and LAX to SAN in coach on a coach only flight. It is a saver award, 57500 plus $100 plus a booking fee of $25. Yes, I decided to book it with UA on the phone, rather that chance inventory. I don't know how to check inventory.

We have 24 hrs to change without fees. Later a ticket reload fee is $200/pp, $100/pp change fee and another fee that I missed.

The Sunday flight did not have the 1 hr 5 minute connect time that the one's during the week do. My wife tells me that can be iffy. Happy wife, happy life. Cut the stay a couple days. the flight go thru LAX instead of SFO.

Anyone know what the procedure is with SK to get the seat assignments, and how long before the flight this can be done?

aacharya

Good to see this worked out.

One comment - it's not that the SAN-FLL leg was too complex for UA - but you can't book an open-jaw such as: SAN-FLL (stopover) CPH-LHR-LAX-SAN as there is no true destination that fits within the OJ rules. In addition, you can't book open-jaws on one-way tickets.

ranles

Thank you. Probably don't understand, but not necessary. I was looking to see if I could book the flight to the cruise and back from the cruise. Always meant to do then separately but saw the multicity tab and thought that might work.

Now to see if I should use UA or Alaska points to get to Ft Lauderdale from SAN in business. Need to check with wife if coach is okay. Also need to do some research to see if a couple days in Ft Lauderdale makes any sense for us.

Thank you again

transportprof

Mrs. Transportprof would say that coach is ok for me to travel in if I want to save some points.

You really want to book at least 24 hours in FLL between your flight and the cruise. Unless you're taking only carry on, you need this cushion for delayed luggage, not to mentioned your own delayed arrival.

If your cruise is trans-Atlantic, they aren't going to send delayed bags via Sea King helicopter and lower them onto the deck of your ship.

After you sail, you won't see delayed bags again until Europe.

ranles

Thanks.

We definitely will show up at least the day before, Don't see a lot for Us to do in FLL, so may not be more than that. Prefer not to rent a car. Likely stay when there is AP pick up and has transport to Port. I saw a "lessor" Marriott for $199, Sunday night before cruise. Might even have a freebie with them by then. They charge $8 pp to port.

We are just glad we could snag a UA saver ticket back to USA from Denmark!