Joe Schoomer

I'm going to try and not make this too complicated. But please bear with me. Thanks.

I'm making a trip to South Asia (with my family - 3 people total) in Dec. 2014 using my United miles so I'll be be booking in Jan 2013. My departure date is Dec. 20th 2014 so I can book the one-way in Jan. for 32,500 miles (coach) per person instead of 40,000 miles. However, my return date is Jan. 2nd 2015 which means I can book that only after Feb. 1st 2014 when the devaluation kicks in! :-( Because of this, I am falling short by 21,000 miles. That is, I will have 99,000 miles when 120,000 are required. This 99,000 miles does NOT include the 16,000 miles in my 8-yr. old's United MileagePlus account. Also note that getting a new Chase card for the miles or using MS is not an option. I do not have points in any other rewards program to transfer to United.

Thus, my current options are as follows:

1. Purchase 21,000 miles from United to add to my account (99,000 miles) and buy 3 one-way tickets. Cost: $790
2. Transfer my son's 16,000 miles to my account, and purchase 5000 miles to add to my account and buy 3 one-way tickets. Cost: $240+$30 (processing fee)+$109 = $460
3. Purchase 24,000 miles to add to my son's account and buy 1 one-way ticket from his account. Cost: $903
4. Purchase the 3 one-way tickets before Feb. 1st 2014 for an earlier travel date (for 32,500 each), and then call back after Feb 1st 2014 to change the 3 tickets to the correct date. Cost: $75+$75+$75=$225

Are there other options that I am missing? If not, I am guessing you would recommend #2 or #4, correct? I don't know if #4 is even possible. If #4 is possible, what are the risks? I think, coach award seats availability isn't going to be an issue since I'm booking 11 months ahead.

Please advise.

Thanks,
JS

P.S.: I am trying to earn United miles by signing up for United MileagePlus Dining and shopping from their mall. But I doubt I will be able to accumulate more than 7000 miles doing this.

KennyBSAT

United does run sales and promos on transferring and buying miles, so sign up for their promo emails and watch for those. I would NOT do #4 as you would likely have to pay the extra miles as well if the routing or airline changes, and you have no way of knowing if 3 seats will even open up during the 12 month window after booking.

summerdayshopping

Don't just buy the miles from UA directly. After you book a ticket, you'll be offered "Buy Award Accelerator® and earn extra miles with this trip" under "Recommended Add-ons" (right below the listing of your reservation). I have 2 upcoming Southeast Asia bookings with these offers:

offers from booking #1:
- purchase 20,458 miles for $471
or
- purchase 40,916 miles for $942

offers from booking #2:
- purchase 19,832 miles for $457
or
- purchase 39,664 miles for $913

About $0.023/mile, not really good especially after the devaluation, but still something to think about...

Neil35

Lucky wrote an article about buying Wyndham points and converting to United.
Should You Transfer Points to United MileagePlus?
http://boardingarea.com/onemileatati...d-mileageplus/

expressboy

I recommend #4.

SanDiego1K

Book your return earlier than you want to come back, before the deval goes into effect. As long as you only change dates, thus not triggering a repricing it is my understanding that you can then change to the dates you want without paying more miles.

Of course this assumes there is availability on the same route, which is tricky, but there is no downside to trying.

astroflyer

Yep, this is in fact just what I was going to suggest. Depending on your status at the time, the fee is at most $75/person which is way cheaper than your options above.

There is one additional option, which is to ask nicely for an exception. Explain very clearly what you want to do and see if you can get approval. This might take a few calls/e-mails and SD-level approval, but I don't think it's out of question, especially since you're looking for an economy award instead of the new super-priced premium partner awards.

adrocky

What would constitute a change in routing? I was assuming if the origin and destination were the same (including any valid stopovers or open jaws), you would be ok and not charged any extra mileage. So if the exact same route isn't available, it would be considered a change? Does this go down to the flight number level or is it just the airports on the intineary?

Joe Schoomer

Thank you so much for all your replies.

#4 Purchase the 3 one-way tickets before Feb. 1st 2014 for an earlier travel date (for 32,500 each), and then call back after Feb 1st 2014 to change the 3 tickets to the correct date.
More posters are recommending #4 which has a fixed cost of $225 ($75+$75+$75). But of course, it carries some risk (minimal, however, since I'm booking coach seats 11 months ahead) that I might not find 3 award seats on the same itinerary for my real dates.

#2 Transfer my son's 16,000 miles to my account, and purchase 5000 miles to add to my account and buy 3 one-way tickets.
With #2, if I am able to get 6000 to 7000 miles through United MileagePlus Dining and Shopping (on expenses that I would anyways be making), then I would only need to transfer my son's 16,000 miles (or less) to my account for a cost of $270 ($240+$30 (processing fee)) and buy 3 one-way tickets.

Given the pros and cons of the two options above, I guess, it makes sense to go with #2.

Regards,
JS

PV_Premier

if you do #4 and you can't get the same routing later, is it conceivable that you will have earned more RDMs by that point from flying that could be applied to the change if one is charged?

Joe Schoomer

What are RDMs?

WineCountryUA

ReDeemable Miles -- the type of miles used to book award tickets (as separate for PQM - Premier Qualifying Miles)

CaptUA

You should be able to purchase your tickets up to 337 days before departure. Unless I'm missing something, that would give you Jan 30 & 31, 2014 to purchase both legs before the change - assuming you can get saver availability at that time.

DziVang

Well, if #2 costs same as #4, I would go for opt #4 to save 16k miles for domestic trip or build another 24k for one-way SE trip again

azepine00

if your return is in early january - peak holiday travel - the risk is actually quite high even way in advance if your routings are limited