Originally Posted by
Eclipsepearl
Sorry if I sound like an idiot. The story is that I've never cashed in miles before. Not even sure I can!
1. How do I do this if I'm traveling with my three kids together? Each has a separate account with different amounts of miles so how does that work?
2. I'm not allowed to check that this is a Mileage ticket until the purchase is made because I'm not in the U.S. Does that mean I have to actually buy the ticket completely on the site? How do I tell if I can even use them (have enough)? We all have different amounts because I was given 10,000 as compensation for a baggage incident and my son wasn't with us last year when we went.
I've tried googling how to redeem miles but all the questions have to do with U.S. travel. Can't find anything dealing with families together, and doing this while living outside the U.S.
FYI, I'm flying FRA to SFO with my son as an adult (13 yo) and daughters 11 & 8.
A good starting point is
MileagePlus air awards &
UA MP Travel and Upgrade Award Charts
From the second link, you will see FRA-SFO requires 60K miles for a round trip (RT) saver award.
The difference between starting in the USA or elsewhere are minimual to none. For all the kids, they will be considered an adult for mileage award tickets. Only a lapchild (under 2) is different.
As
AZjohns mentions, each ticket must be funded from a single account and not from multiple accounts. If that is not possible but you have a enought total miles, there are some tricks (but will not mention them at this time to keep things from getting too complex -- let's us know if that is needed).