I am doing my third MR this coming weekend, and I have a few questions for the professionals.
My itinerary is:
Fri, Feb 29, 2008 - SEA to MUC
United 0958
Depart: SEA 08:10 AM
Arrive: LHR 05:55 AM
Next day
Mar 1 1-stop
11h 28m
Plane change
4,801 miles traveled
Booking class: S
Flight: Confirmed 16A, 26A
<<< connecting to >>>
United 9228
Operated by: Deutsche Lufthansa Ag
Depart: LHR 09:35 AM
Arrive: MUC 12:20 PM Non-stop
1h 45m
Airbus A321
590 miles traveled
Booking class: S
Flight: Confirmed N/A
Sun, Mar 02, 2008 - MUC to SEA
United 8855
Operated by: Deutsche Lufthansa Ag
Depart: MUC 09:00 AM
Arrive: ORD 12:00 PM Non-stop
10h
Airbus A330-300
4,535 miles traveled
Booking class: S
Flight: Confirmed 37K
<<< connecting to >>>
United 0575
Depart: ORD 03:00 PM
Arrive: SEA 05:28 PM Non-stop
4h 28m
Boeing 757-200
1,721 miles traveled
Booking class: S
Flight: Confirmed 16F
Paid $490, including the use of a 10% off coupon.
Question #1. My outbound flight has a stop and a plane change in ORD, and I am getting jobbed on the "direct flight" mileage bit. I have read that if I can get another flight to ORD with a different flight number, they will credit me for the two flights instead of just the faux SEA-LHR route. With such a cheap S class ticket, what is my best strategy to get united to do this?
Question #2. Somewhat related to question 1, but .bomb is showing only 4 open seats for the initial SEA-ORD leg of the flight. Seatcounter shows more availability than that, but who really knows. If that is not possible, what are the odds of trying to get a VDB with a refund/credit towards future flights
and credit for miles flown on the itinerary in lieu of VDB compensation? That would, in essence, make it a MR without really flying or spending money...if they would go for it.
If anyone has a creative ideas on how to solve either problem, please let me know.
Thanks!