Originally Posted by
TravelTheWorld66
Thank you. These are the sort of tips that I was looking for when I made my original post. I do have a few questions, so bear with me.
1) If I see a refundable W fare one-way IAD-SGN with R availability, should I lock it down now, and try to book a one way SGN-IAD later? Or would the potentially high price of a return one-way negate any savings I think I'm getting.
Try pricing the one-way, but in most cases for international fares you will not find a one-way to be a good value. (And UA selling, say, a W fare as part of a roundtrip does not mean they publish a W fare for the one-way, FWIW.)
Originally Posted by
TravelTheWorld66
2) It makes sense to search segment buy segment to see R availability for the long haul flights specifically. Domestic upgrades aren't important to me. So if I find a HKG-EWR flight with R availability for example, would I then try to find a reasonably priced SGN-HKG-EWR-IAD itinerary with that particular HKG-EWR flight (in W, V, Q class, etc.)?
Exactly.
Originally Posted by
TravelTheWorld66
3) Lastly, is there a service out there that will do all of this searching for me (for a nominal fee?)
Unfortunately, UA prevents ExpertFlyer from searching their award & upgrade inventory any longer. They also went after several other services with cease & desist letters...