Originally Posted by
ft543
Can anyone help me understand what's going on? The only way I can explain the $9,000+ prices when searching using the FFC is that it's also repricing my original Polaris ticket based on the segments I actually flew.
Which, of course, is exactly what it’s doing.
Originally Posted by
ft543
If that's the case I guess there's no real value in my FFC and I should just avoid using it, but wanted to make sure.
There is great value in your FFC if you need a one-way trip from Asia back to the US this year. But you can’t use credit from a partial ticket to book something completely unrelated the way that you’re trying to do — at least, not without a fare difference that makes the whole thing pointless.
Other options, if you are sure that you will not need a one-way trip from Asia to the US:
- If you’re certain that the one-way price for SFO-ICN is less than the round-trip price you paid, is to see if UA can re-price the ticket and refund the remainder (if it’s a refundable ticket) or issue residual (must be used by the same passenger, but otherwise no-strings-attached) FFC for the difference. In most cases, one-way international travel is not half the round-trip price — it’s more.
- You can change the return to a combinable flight in economy — it doesn’t necessarily need to be ICN-SFO, depending upon the fare rules, but Asia to North America is going to be required — and the rest should be returned as above (refund or residual FFC). Of course, it’s against the rules to book a flight you don’t intend to take, but… (Note that if there’s a significant schedule change to the replacement flight, you might be able to get that part of the fare refunded).