Originally Posted by EPS
I just ran into this problem, as well as a few others. As long as passengers are willing to fork over $15 for the "privilege" of talking to a telephone reservation agent, I suspect United has a strong financial disincentive to make the web site actually usable for premium cabin award redemption...
Try taking your entire family on an award vacation - I've booked two this year. I got IAD-MCO during March (spring break time), and we're going to KOA in December.
Guess how I did it? I called. I had the CSR on the phone a good half hour to an hour both times. At least. It took that long to go through all the permutations of various award inventories trying to get a family of only three on award flights.
Try doing it on the web where you can't see all the inventories. It can take literally hours. And that's if you know what you're doing.
Given the time it takes, $15 is a cheap fee to pay. It's not like you're calling the CSR for a seat assignment after an upgrade. That call is over in 30 seconds. Booking award travel takes a whole lot longer. So UA is hardly making money on that fee.
Oh yeah, except that I'm 1K. The fee was waived. UA has no incentive there.
