Originally Posted by
MarkXS
Sure you can have a stopover in a region on an intl award. That's how my upcoming Bangkok/Phuket trip is set up. DEN-HKT is the origin/destination. Connections in LAX and BKK on the continuous outbound to HKT. The return from HKT via BKK has a 5 day stopover in BKK before the BKK-LAX-DEN final legs.
Your problem might be what other posters mentioned upthread - you may be looking for something that is neither within MPM nor on a published routing. Not because it's a same-region stopover.
But call again. Sometimes you'll get an agent or supervisor to go the extra mile.
The award rule that has led to so many subjective interpretations by RAs is as follows:
"† One stopover en route to your final destination or one open jaw is permitted for a flight award on United between the continental U.S. and Hawaii or between the U.S. and the Caribbean, Asia, Australia, Central America, South America, Middle East or Europe. No stopovers are permitted within a geographic region. "
The underlining is mine. IMO a "geographic region" means within a specific region such as S. Asia, Central Asia, N. Asia, etc. as described in the various award regions serviced. So, your BKK/Phuket would fall within that category of same geographic region where no stopovers are permitted. If this is correct, as one post suggests "sometimes you can get them to make mistakes in your favor..."