I've got 80K in Ultimate Rewards from Sapphire and 60K from Ink and 20K in United. And 185K in Amex

I want to travel from NYC to BKK in Feb.

A few questions- first, I am finding what looks like super incredible redemption deals on United's website. There are several 80K Business Saver flights available! It almost seems too good to be true.

Within Ultimate Rewards, the business redemption is 300K!!! Why would there be such a difference?

Also, the 80K flights directly on United's site are operated by ANA, Asiana, Thai Airways, Lufthansa, and Brussels. I've heard that United's business class is pretty bad, but does "operated by" mean that I'll actually be flying another airline's plane? And can you recommend any of them over the others?

Finally, the reward flights are showing 80K + $100 or so in taxes each way. I've heard that if I use the United Chase card, the fees are waived. I just applied for the United Business card, but they may be onto me, as they need me to call in. Same thing happened when I applied for the Ink. I have all the Chase reward cards but I have not opened more than 5 reward cards (from any institution) in the past 24 months. If I wait until the card shows up in the mail, it could be only a few days before I plan to leave. Do reward flights go up in miles the same way regular flight prices fluctuate?

Thank you for your help! It is a bit overwhelming just starting out.

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Hello, Newman!



"I've heard that United's business class is pretty bad, but does "operated by" mean that I'll actually be flying another airline's plane?"



Yes, that's exactly what "operated by" means.



"There are several 80K Business Saver flights available!"



That's great availability, but hardly an exceptional value. Currently, AA only charges 55K miles for a Business Class one-way between NYC and BKK on Cathay Pacific and JAL. (Unfortunately, you do not have AA miles.) Just make sure that every flight on the Business Class award itineraries displayed on united.com is, in fact, in Business Class.



You can also transfer your Amex MR points to Aeroplan to redeem for one-way awards on Star Alliance carriers. But only the following Aeroplan partners offer surcharge-free redemptions:



Air China

Brussels

EVA Air

Egypt Air

Ethiopian

Scandanavian

Singapore

Swiss

Turkish

United

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Also, note that if you book a roundtrip award through MileagePlus, you are entitled to a free, en-route stopover (if desired). No free stopovers if you book one one-way with UA, and another one-way with Aeroplan.

Hellooo, Jerry.

Thanks, guy! Good to know 80K is not a good redemption value. To a novice, redeeming miles and $200 fees sounds like a great deal for business class to BKK. I'm not sure I can do much better with what I have now and I definitely want to take this trip. I'm going for 2 months.

Do you recommend any of the Aeroplan surcharge fee partners over others for business class?

Same question for Lufthansa vs. Brussels vs. Asiana or ANA?

[B]Just make sure that every flight on the Business Class award itineraries displayed on united.com is, in fact, in Business Class.

Do you mean avoid "mixed cabin"?

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"Do you mean avoid "mixed cabin"?"

Exactly.

As to other matters ....

Asian carriers' Business Class is generally considered to be superior to U.S. carriers' BC, and to many European carriers' BC, as well.

Have you checked to see how many miles Aeroplan wants for NYC-BKK one-way in Business? If you do not need a stopover and if Aeroplan does not have a close-in award-booking fee like UA does, you might be able to save some $$$ by using Aeroplan for the outbound, and MileagePlus for the return (assuming that your return date is at least 21 days hence).

The reason redeeming through Ultimate Rewards is so high is because you're using points to offset cash fares at a fixed amount, not using actual airline miles.

Which UA Chase card did you apply for? The Mileageplus club card waives the close in booking fee ($75) but doesn't waive any of the required taxes and fees.

Thank you!

Hellooo, Newman...

Oh, I wouldn't say 80K is not a good redemption value. Yes, if you can get CX J for 55K instead, that's much better. But between the devaluations that are going on in many programs (meaning it keeps costing more miles for a given ticket) and the increasing difficulty in bagging some award tix (such as CX J and F), 80K for a trip in the relatively near future isn't bad at all.

This is a crucial point regarding UR (and I believe Amex Membership Rewards points as well). Yes, you can use them to in effect "buy" tickets directly through UR, which is how you can end up paying the ridiculously high 330K you were quoted. But the far better value is to convert those points into a UR or MR partner airline's miles. These can in turn be used for award tix on that airline or a partner. Of course, you have to make sure there is award availability for a given trip.

To make a long, complicated story short, if by some chance there is award availability via SQ J or F for travel to BKK in February, you could convert your UR and/or MR points into SQ miles for the best travel experience available. It typically takes at least day or two for the conversions to take place, though, so you'd run a risk of the availability ending by the time you went to book the award tix. However, if you have some flexibility as to travel dates and you're seeing lots of SQ availability on multiple dates, your risk is substantially lowered.

One other thing to be aware of re SQ is that if you book SQ award tix online you get a 15 percent discount on the miles required.

Thunderroad, thank you so much! There actually seems to be a lot of availability for my itinerary. I'm taking advantage of the free stop over in Tokyo. Also, my dates are really flexible. I have found a great itinerary Using 180K miles and $160, but I also just applied for a United business Chase credit card and the card should arrive in 5 to 7 business days. I wanted to use that card to waive baggage fees and also get priority boarding. However, by the time I get my credit card, my departure date will be a week later. Is it worth the risk to wait for the card? Or should I just book it now? Thanks again!

Granted, I'm not familiar with the Chase Business United card, but you're booking international business class - there are no baggage fees for 2 bags per passenger and you get priority boarding automatically.

+1 Go ahead and book the ticket. Don't worry about the UA card's perks as they're irrelevant for this trip. And have a great trip!