dubkay

Hey Flyertalk:

Long-time lurker, first-time poster. I’ll be traveling to BKK a few times over the next 12 months for a short-term consulting gig, covering the flights myself. I have ~500k miles sitting in my UA account (mostly from credit-card spend, no elite status), but as United continues to withdraw from the SEA market, that card and these miles feel less and less useful for me. I was thinking I’d like to burn some on TPAC biz/first award seats.

By way of preface, I used UA miles for a couple SEA-NRT-BKK trips in the previous decade (‘00s). Now it all seems very different – UA doesn’t fly either of those routes anymore, miles have been devalued, and the free stopover has changed to an in-region-only “Excursionist Perk”.

So because it’s been a while since I’ve booked this trip using UA miles, and because biz/first seats are something I have virtually no experience with, I’d really appreciate some of Flyertalk’s collective wisdom. First, a few questions to make sure I understand the current rules:
1. If I’m booking a oneway award, I can no longer do a stopover en route. Therefore, probably no reason to fly TATL (eg, via FRA)?
2. If I’m doing a trip like SEA-Japan-Thailand, all of those stops are in different regions. Therefore, no free stopover en route because none of those legs would be eligible for an “Excursionist Perk”?
3. Saver awards cost 40k econ / 70k biz / 80k first (oneway). Partners cost 40k econ / 80k biz / 130k first. Can I limit the damage to 80k if, for instance, I fly UA first for the TPAC leg, and then partner biz for a shorter flight within SE Asia? Or is there some rule that if one leg is in first, all legs must be traveled in first? UA doesn’t even go to BKK anymore, so obviously I’d have to fly a partner airline for at least the last leg.

With those clarifications out of the way, I’m eager to hear folks’ suggestions about how to get the most bang for the buck out of these UA miles. Specifically for my first 2 trips:

• in ~30 days (early Oct): SEA-Osaka(stop)-Bangkok-SEA (or reverse: SEA-BKK-OSA-SEA), 1 pax, carryon only, any airport OK.
• in ~90 days (early Dec): SEA-BKK oneway, 3 pax, lots of luggage.

4. Which carrier – UA, OZ, BR, NH, LH, etc – has the best premium-class service from the West Coast (and/or likely availability for late 2017)?
5. Are my options markedly better if I’m willing to start from an airport farther away from home (eg, YVR, PDX, SFO, LAX)?
6. Is it somehow a better deal to buy a B econ fare with cash and then try to use a “Star Alliance Upgrade Award” (30/35k miles) to get biz class for the TPAC leg, versus using 70/80k miles to book a premium seat from the get-go?
7. Is there something clever I should be thinking about in terms of booking additional travel for the same amount of miles (eg, an onward leg within South Asia)?

Apologies if some/all of these are intolerable newbie questions. I’ve already searched other threads pretty extensively, but haven’t yet found answers. Thanks in advance for your help and advice!

mduell

1. Oneways never allowed stopovers. Only reason to fly TATL is for availability, but without TK service at SEA I doubt it will help much.
2. No, no stopovers anymore, and none of those legs are excursionist eligible.
3. Yes, you can do that, no requirement that all segs be in the same cabin (also you'll run into some fun arbitaryism here with combinability).
4. The Asian carriers listed are generally pretty loose with availability, and comparable to each other for service. UA is limited, LH has silly limitations.
5. Not for award travel.
6. No, and you'd be in coach for the 6 hour regional flight.
7. Take the excursionist within south asia when you need it, it's generally pretty easy.

Kacee

The best way to figure out options to BKK is to run a bunch of award searches to see what may be available and how UA will let you route.

There are very few tricks anymore. What the computer returns is what you can book.

restlessinRNO

dubkay - Welcome to FlyerTalk.

Regarding #3 , keep in mind that UA is gradually eliminating F class on its TPAC planes. Soon just Y and C. Depending on availability, you may wish to fly SEA-NRT-BKK with NH. 80K miles each way in C.

findark

Hello dubkay, welcome to FlyerTalk!

Looks like mduell covered the basics, but I'll chime in on a few points:

3. Your thinking is exactly correct - the "overwater" segment is the determining factor for the mileage cost. A popular TPAC award option is UA F (if you have a route still flying it) for 80k, but you can connect to partner intra-Asia J for the UA J rate if flying UA on the TPAC segment.
4. I've generally seen BR commended as having the best J product across the Pacific. But award space is tight these days, so take anything you can find. I strongly advise against attempting to fly CA via PEK or PVG, due to numerous issues with them canceling award reservations peremptorily.
5. Not for award travel, but if willing to position to YVR there have been some excellent fares to Asia (ca. $2,000 rt ai to SIN) in J.

EmailKid

Not just SIN

There is a glut of carriers flying west from YVR, and many of them participated in the $2K fares a couple of months ago.

I'd check, there may be more availability ex YVR v SEA, but I'm guessing many like myself snapped up some of those Biz seats

Despite of that NH sadly subbed 788 recliner equipped plane from original 789 full flat.

I will second suggestion to avoid transit via China and avoid their carriers in general.

chavala

I am trying to fly my sister and niece to BKK from BUF next summer using her non status account. They are very flexible so the TPAC is not a problem from EWR, YYZ, ORD etc. on one of the partners -- nada on UA. However I can not find award availability from Buffalo to anywhere.
I am trying to make her understand how risky it is to buy a separate ticket and she is better off just driving to Toronto. I think the inventory will eventually open up, but that means a reticketing change fee I assume? Any advice on how to go about this?
Planning this trip has really made me value my status as inventory is wide open thru my account.

WineCountryUA

Have you sister apply for a MP credit card (assuming her financial situation allows) and in days she will have access to XN inventory (and some bonus miles after some additional spend).

prestonh

I just got off mainly BR flights ex SEA. availability is excellent out of here and YVR. I flew all the way to SYD on 80K saver. NH availability pops up at 10-15 days out. BR availability comes and goes but is usually plentiful at last minute (i.e. last week of booking) all the way through TPAC. Their service is the best. ANA lounges however are much better but I really liked the BR lounge in BKK, less crowded for the long layover and an excellent shower facility with a baggage locker and more than helpful staff with excellent food.

chavala

Thanks! They say the bonus miles won't post for 6-8 weeks but I didn't know having a CC opened up xn inventory. She just applied so we shall see.

findark

The miles post a few days after the statement with the spend cuts. The XN availability should show up soon after getting the card though - as soon as it is attached to the MP account.

dubkay

Thanks to all for your replies -- and thanks also to the moderator who plugged me into this thread in the first place! I've now read through the entire thing -- tons of helpful info. I'll post my results after I get the tickets booked.

For now, a follow-up question. Trying to book BKK-TPE-SEA on the way home. Ideally, the TPAC leg would be BR 26 (TPE 1140p - SEA 730p). Having a hard time getting the United site to get me an efficient connection to that flight. For instance, I see availability on TG 636 (BKK 540p - TPE 1020p), but the site won't let me book that for some reason. Best it seems to allow is a ~12 hour layover (early departure from BKK, or TPAC travel the following morning). Is there a way to manually force a more efficient connection in TPE?

Thanks again for the help!

mduell

Awards involving 2 or more flights are limited by UA's new segment marrying system, and there's no consistent/reliable way around it. One option is to wait, I've seen the available options change over time for my upcoming BKK-IAH award without changes in the individual flight availability.

Or you can pay more miles for 2 one ways to get the flights you want; use the multi-city search option.

dubkay

Huh. As I'm sure all of you must have remarked hundreds of times by now, that new way of doing business straight-up sucks for customers.

For my outbound TPAC leg, I'm currently choosing between UA SFO-KIX vs. NH SEA-NRT. Similar total travel times (for SEA-OSA), Google says both are 787 lie-flat in J. Any preferences in terms of lounge, service, other variables?

Then for the middle leg (OSA-BKK), choosing between burning more miles on TG vs. paying $166 for an LCC flight (Scoot KIX-DMK nonstop). Currently leaning Scoot, does that seem crazy? Thanks again.

Kacee

Where are you originating - SEA or SFO? I'd be leaning towards NH regardless, but if originating at SEA, I would definitely do NH to avoid a potentially risky SFO connection.

The one wildcard here is the Polaris lounge at SFO (which is still under construction and not scheduled to open until some unspecified time in 2018). If you're looking at travel later in 2018, that might be a factor in UA's favor.

That's a 7 hour flight.