Based on the info you have shared with us, it seems like you should try for an award on one of United's partners as that provides a more "gauranteed" value. The idea of SQ via SFO is the best one if you can make it work. One of our resident experts in burning UA miles for tickets that would otherwise cost a forture has indicated that availability on that SQ flight is tight-- and I'd tend to take his word for it.
Yeah, I remembered reading SQ awards were generally pretty tight when I used to frequent this forum more (hope I can get to that point again ... just felt like I haven't had much to contribute since I've been demoted to gate louse
).
Does UA allow checking *A awards online now, or am I still better off poking around NH's website to get a better idea of what's available? And yes, I know that NH's miles tend to be worth a bit more and may have availability that isn't available to UA.
Thanks,
Super