Originally Posted by BLRtoDFW

Successfully booked a UA award flight using Flying returns miles. ( SFO-DEN-MEM )

Data points - Had to call thrice to complete the booking. Called their US tool free number, and the agent was polite enough to transfer to the Star Alliance desk, and the second agent was good enough when I feeded him the UA flight numbers ( the award availability matched the UA website for X inventory ). Was placed on multiple holds throughout the call for the agent to check the flights, number of miles required, tax amount etc, but eventually the agent could generate a PNR and was asked to call back after couple of hours by when the agent said UA would confirm the availability ( I thought that happened instantly !! ).

Called this morning to check if I can get it ticketed, only to be informed that it's not possible yet. Called the third time and the agent walked me through the process of completing the booking, used a US credit card over the IVR and it went through successfully, was charged 15k miles plus 1532INR.( The same flight would have set me back by $320 )

Not the easiest redemption booking I have done by I must say AI is coming of age with their customer service, all 3 agents I dealt with were very polite and sincerely wanted to help, although I would appreciate AI giving their agents a bit more training when to comes to searching for awards.

Glad to help others if they have any questions.