Jsloan -- as always the thorough insight is appreciated
Originally Posted by
jsloan
Check the price of a Z fare, or P-out, Z-return, etc.
Should have mentioned if I officially revise the return flight to originate from any of the Rio airports the fare jumps by about 3x the current ticketed fare (I'm guessing based on advanced purchase requirements or combinability or...? Interestingly if I try to begin the return in Rio UA also seems to pretend Azul doesn't exist and does things like putting me on COPA out of Brazil to Panama or someone else to Chile...normally I'd be all over that, but in the current circumstances it seems the fewer countries I involve in the itinerary the better.
The net lower fare is accomplished by just inserting a one-way RIO-SAO on the same date as the INTL departure so to be honest I'm not sure that really gains all of the benefits, but have to imagine that at least being same PNR is better than different PNRs if anything goes sideways.
Originally Posted by
jsloan
I mean, at that point, you're throwing good money after bad. You'd be spending money for a less-convenient ticket, in order to try to get some UA PQD on the original flight that would otherwise be forfeit? Unless you're right at a cutoff for PlusPoints, and you're always able to use all of your PlusPoints, it seems like a waste.
Logical truth here. Really don't need the PQD since I've already clocked $11k in 2020 and there's no way I'm going to get to the next barrier for PP unless something really unexpected happens with multiple clients between now and 12/31, have more PP than I'm going to realistically use anyway (though have been burning them domestically with general success)
Part of my brain is taking great offense at having paid UA several hundred dollars and just letting it vaporize (vs. earing the RDMs from that spend) if I buy the ticket from Azul directly it's about a US$50 purchase
Originally Posted by
jsloan
Two problems:
1 - UA seems to have stopped allowing ETC as an option in most cases
2 - OP wants Azul segments on the single PNR, which makes an ETC particularly problematic -- there'd have to be another intermediate, all-UA reservation at the right price first.
Add a 3rd problem: If I re-buy the outbound and return on a new ticket the return flight is no longer available (looks like the domestic F cabin is fully sold) and the closest schedule wise is about $6k more than the current ticket I hold (closest fare wise is about $600 more) completely defeating the purpose of the exercise.
Me thinks I'm just going to let UA keep the money as much as part of my brain finds this distasteful. Perhaps something UA could consider under the no-change-fee-but-we-keep-the-residual line of thought: Award RDM/PQD based on total
paid for a ticket rather than total
fare for the ticket