I'm looking to travel OW, from SFO-ICN, non stop only using my UA miles on Sat 6/9/18. (actually there are 4 of us, which I know is really tough to get, but that's why I'm looking this far in advance).
I'm pretty sure the only nonstop flights are on Asiana metal and UA metal.
Blackout dates for 2018 for Asiana flights using UA miles I presume is the same as what Asiana lists on their own website as their peak award dates: 5.12~7.1, 12.5~12.23
6/9/18 is just now available on the UA award calendar. No Asiana filghts are showing up for the whole month prior (nothing back until 5/12/18). However, I also know there is a UA metal flight but I can't find any availability on that and even when I search for several months back it's always the standard fee (HN class) for 80k OW in economy. I found one date in January that had the saver far for 35k.
There are other dates for saver fare of 35k on Asiana, but nothing after 5/12 (interesting 5/12, even though it seems like it's a blackout date)
however when I choose that flight on 5/12 and look at the fare details under blackout date, it says, "none"
So if I'm looking for 6/9/18, do I just keep looking? it seems like an Asiana flight on that date will likely never appear (assuming blackout dates are in effect) and any UA flight on that date will likely be 80k only.
I called in to United and of course the agent was pretty useless. He had no idea about blackout dates and told me to just keep checking and that Asiana nor UA may have loaded their seat inventory
Any thoughts? Thanks