Ever since UA cancelled their new EWR-ARN flight before it even got going, it is almost impossible to get to Stockholm this summer on award tickets. I have a cruise booked and payed for that leaves from Stockholm on Aug. 16. My original ticket was 8/13 MCI-EWR-ARN on UA flights. Then it had to be changed to MCI-EWR-MUC on UA, MUC-ARN on LH. Then changed by UA to MCI-ORD-MUC on UA, MUC-ARN on LH with a misconnect to arrive in Munich an hour after the flight to Stockholm left. Then changed to MCI-IAD-MUC on UA, MUC-ARN on LH by me spending 2 hours on the phone. Every time UA cancels a TATL flight to Europe it limits the options to go on from gateway cities to Stockholm. As it is, I am arriving 2 days before the cruise which is a good thing. If I was coming I the day of the cruise I would likely miss it.
How many more cancellations will there be between now and mid August? If I had not already made the final payment in full for the cruise I would be cancelling the whole trip and doing it next year. In over 30 years of flying with UA awards for vacations I have never had so many cancellations and changes to my award flights.