Hello United FTers!

First a little introduction. I'm a newbie 2P (I'd be a 1p if I didn't let the wife talk me into trying SQ on a Q fare to TPE that didn't result in any EQM's ) and expect to do about 125-150k of travel on United in 2007. Most of that will be business-related travel, but since it's my own company I think I'll probably have a hard time paying for C or D, let alone F!

I've been here for a week or so reading everything I could get my hands on. Of course this just gives me enough information to be dangerous, so I have a few questions for the UA gurus here that I haven't yet seen answered.

In late January my wife and I will be traveling to PVG from PHX, staying for about 10 days. Since we'll be flying coach, I thought we might try to route through ORD to get on the 777 instead of the 747 from SFO (I prefer the 777 for coach). I'm using the "expert" interface on .bomb.

Just putting in PHX -> PVG on my travel dates gets me a round-trip fare for $806.50 with "The world on sale" promotion. There are no routings through ORD that come up so I try again with a multicity itinerary routing PHX -> ORD -> PVG -> ORD -> PHX which indeed works. However, the price is now $997.50 and this fare no longer has the little "world on sale" promotion icon next to each leg like the $806.50 fare did.

From this page I can see some sample fares. Both SFO and ORD are listed as origin cities, but PVG isn't listed anywhere as an example destination. The rules don't give me any clue as to why ORD -> PVG wouldn't be allowed on this fare either.

So I have a few questions:

1) How would a good FTer go about seeing the cities where this fare might apply?
2) Perhaps more specifically, how would a good FTer try get the $806.50 PHX -> PVG fare routed through ORD.
3) If #1 and #2 require a human at United to help, would the 2P line be the best place to start?
4) Any other suggestions?

If I'm missing something obvious, please be gentle. I've absorbed a lot of information in the past week or so; my mind is still organizing it all. That, and a new found addiction are a lot to swallow!