oskidunker

I need to go to Santiago for a cruise which leaves Feb 13, 2016.
I have about 134,000 miles. I have no status.

I need 2 one way tickets. I would like to fly business but don't see anything available for coach or Business on that date.

What would be your strategy? Should I call United? Are more seats likely to open up later on?

If I buy tickets and upgrade with cash and miles, what routing might offer the best chance of success? Hoping someone who flies this route might have some information.

The primary goal is to get two free tickets.

Thanks

aacharya

While you can call UA, the best approach is to do the legwork yourself.

As in:

1. What routings get to SCL from SFO, even non-obvious ones (SFO-EWR-SCL).
2. Which aspects of such routings do or don't have availability.
3. What partners have availability?

On a quick search, SFO-SAL-LIM-SCL is available in business on February 13th.

Assume, however, you need to leave well before that date to get to the cruise on that date.

oskidunker

I noticed standard award available in coach from Houston to SCL. But nothing from SFO. I guess I could pay for a flight to Houston. seems like United would have some openings on SFO-Houston.I guess they don't really want to provide this.

Yeah, I need to be in Santiago before noon on feb 13.

endrond

I flew SFO-SCL mid-December 2014. At that time UA was offering a massively-discounted P fare routed SFO-PHX-IAH-SCL-IAH-SFO. As the day of travel approached, the business class cabin filled up (and I think that R>0 never happened, but I'm not sure because I wasn't monitoring that very closely).

I'm not sure this is very relevant for you, because of two factors. First, the route was only 1 week old when I flew it. More importantly I flew at a very busy time for travel between the US and Latin America.

I tried to SDC onto SFO-IAH-SCL 24 hours before the flight, but the PHX stop had married segments so that wasn't possible. However, a helpful 1K agent at SFO made the change once I pointed out that I risked a misconnect in PHX. (That might be useful for you if you wind up on SFO-XXX-IAH-SCL).

So I'd advise looking for weird routings, without getting your hopes up too much. Kinda like how you should approach kal's prospects for breaking the Big Game losing streak.

channa

There are Saver Business flights on Feb. 10 SFO-SAL-BOG-SCL on AV (BOG-SCL is on the 787) and on Feb. 11 late out of LAX on CM (LAX-PTY-SCL), arriving in the evening of Feb. 12.

Be aware of those products, specifically the Copa product (it's like domestic first, but better, but it's not lay flat business like it would be on UA out of IAH or on AV BOG-SCL).

The reason nothing is coming up for those dates is because UA does not show the AV routing in the award calendar (but it comes up on the search results at the bottom), and on the other, UA has nothing for SFO-LAX to get you to pick up the LAX flights. There is coach space MRY-LAX if you can do that (MRY-LAX-PTY-SCL will yield results). SMF-LAX has no Saver space, and UA no longer serves SJC-LAX or OAK-LAX.

oskidunker

I doubt a United reservation agent would be as knowledgeable or helpful. I am a little hesitant making too many connections because if I miss one, I could miss the 23 day cruise.

I will explore all your options.

channa

Understood. The Feb. 10 departure on AV (SFO-SAL-BOG-SCL) gets in early on Feb. 11. There's plenty of cushion to recover from any hiccups, and you get a couple days in SCL.

oskidunker

Also the flight to SAL is not lie flat, right? Not sure what COP is.

aacharya

He wrote Copa - as in Copa Airlines.

oskidunker

Also when I go to the Avianca site there are many flight choices per segment. If you have the flight numbers of each segment, that would be great. Or I could search it to be sure everything matches

channa

Book through United.

SFO-SCL will give you the result.

Yes, it's 55K per person all the way through in business. BOG-SCL is flatbed, the others are not.

EmailKid

Due to strange time zones in Latin America this may appear to be a longer flight than it really is @:-)

My one and only visit to SCL was on Copa a decade ago, and PTY-SCL redeye was too short to get any real sleep

oskidunker

Glad you told me to scroll down as it is not easy to see.I booked it. Thanks again.Now to see if I can get seats assigned.

dr

aCavalierInCoach

Not a lot of *A options here outside of UA via IAH. Copa is inexpensive but doesn't have a real int'l business experience. Your non *A options are Delta via ATL, AA via DFW or MIA, or LATAM via LAX.

Personally, if you're forking up for biz, I'd say go with AA via MIA -- and I never recommend AA! 767 for the transcon and then 777 down to SCL. A little bit longer but probably the best business products available unless UA gets Polaris onto the IAH-xxx latam routes.

Edit: *A you can also do Air Canada through YYZ, which could be good if you can get the 787 on the transcon (though you are going the wrong direction for part of the day; I am also not a fan of YYZ). Aeromexico can also 1-stop via mex; don't know much about their J cabin.