Originally Posted by
swingaling
I booked the following with UA miles as a single ticket partner award:
19 May -- TG603: HKG-BKK connecting to TG321: BKK-DAC
23 May -- CA901: PEK-ULN
I'm going to arrive in HKG on 19 May a few hours prior, but in the unlikely event of a very late arrival, I may miss the TG flights. I understand that TG may or may not accommodate me in those circumstances, and I'm willing to take that risk. It's more likely that the HKG-BKK will be late and cause me to miss the BKK-DAC flights, as there's only a 70min transit at BKK.
1. In the event that I do miss the TG flight(s), is there any way for me to protect the PEK-ULN flight?
2. Alternatively, is it possible to separate these flights on to separate tickets to prevent an auto-cancellation?
My main goal is to preserve the PEK-ULN flight in the event that something gets messed up with the HKG-DAC flights. FWIW, the TG and CA bookings have separate record locators, though not sure if that's necessarily relevant.
1a. If you miss your connection in BKK, I don't think you should worry. I have done this before (missed a connection on a UA partner award flight; missed connection; re-accommodated on a later flight; no change to or problems with my return flight a week later) and I can't imagine this would be a problem (though stranger things have happened).
1b. If you miss the initial flight in HKG, and TG accommodates you under a flat tire rule situation, you should be fine. If they tell you that you are SOL and you have to buy another ticket, then I would definitely call CA or UA or anyone who will listen and try to get them to preserve the PEK flight for you.
2. I think the answer is "yes, but you have to pay the change fee (depends on status)
and there has to be availability right now in all unflown segments". I think the number of required miles for a multi-city vs two one-ways is the same here.