Originally Posted by
acousticbiker
Thanks for the insights - didn't know how it worked so this is helpful.
(I actually got Saver for departure week between Christmas and New Years but for return Savers not available until mid January - would like 1st week)
A related question: I have a family of 5. If I go ahead and get Standard Award tickets for my return, will I decrease the chances of Savers being released (by decreasing the number of award tickets available)? Trying to decide whether to get Standards now or wait to see if Savers pop up
No one knows for certain whether or not there is a certain number of award tickets that UA will release; however, adding five passengers to a flight, paid or award, certainly may make UA less likely to release additional seats, as it's that much more likely that they can sell them all.
The more flexibility you have the more inclined I'd be to wait. If you're willing to try different travel days or connection points, or to split your group across two or three flights, you're more likely to be able to find what you want. If you're trying to get onto a specific routing on a specific date, your chances are tougher.
If you happen to have UA status, or a Chase UA credit card, you have access to last-seat availability for standard awards on UA-operated flights. That makes it much safer to wait, because you can be more confident that standard award seats will be there if you need them later. If you invest in an ExpertFlyer subscription ($9.99/month; free five-day trial), you can set an alert to let you know when some* new saver inventory becomes available. And, if you care to pay the appropriate fees, you can always book something now and then change it later -- either book the standard award and hope to change to the saver award, or book the saver awards on the date they're available and hope to change to the dates that you want.
* the inventory that's available for everyone, including partners. Elites and credit card holders get access to inventory that can't be searched in EF.