Originally Posted by
ckprivette
Right. I have 185k miles with United. I hope to leave from Charlotte (CLT) or Greensboro (GSO). I could leave from Raleigh (RDU) if I need to. I am flying into Delhi.
so my best bet is to book through United, then? when I try that online, I find nothing available. Would I perhaps have better luck on the phone?
thank you
For a round trip saver award, you'll need 120,000 in business or 160,000 in first which you have. Eastbound is probably more "normal" for this trip but as others have said, you have lots of options including Air Canada, US Airways and SAS for the transatlantic leg in addition to those already mentioned by vroom and others. the least complicated would be US to Frankfurt or LH to Munich followed by LH to Delhi or UA/US to EWR and then UA to Delhi (2 legs). If you add a third flight, then there are usually even more options: from North Carolina to any North American gateway, tons of carries over the Atlantic, and then the last leg from Europe to India.
One of the things that you may need to do is wait a bit. Star Alliance award availability is best far out or close in. I tried a search from both CLT and GSO for the week of Oct 15-22 and only found one flight with availability in first or biz (CLT-IAH-PEK-DEL). But for next week there are nine flights available on LH, Swiss and others. So you may have to wait to book close in if you're willing to take the risk. Part of the problem is the domestic connection. From ORD that week I also see Austrian via Vienna, Asiana via Seoul and ANA via Tokyo but no good connections from NC to Chicago.