whitethunder

Yeah that's what I figured thanks. ahh well Here's hoping the USA will change their tune in the next three months, I mean EU counties have opened to them, I don't see why then don't reciprocate ......

ezefllying

For about two weeks, I've been considering a trip from IAD to Europe (AMS and BER, or maybe BCN) this October. I have various United certificates, the remnants of canceled tickets, so I was trying to stay on UA metal. At the very least, I wanted to stay on the Star Alliance.

I've been frustrated that fares were so high on almost every carrier (in October, for over a week, in this environment). The only options under $2500 were a couple long layovers on TAP and some absurdly long backhauls via Istanbul. I'm a young professional in a good new job, but (a) it's not a $4000-for-leisure-flying job, and, on the other hand, it's not a "waste three weeks flying and no one will care" job.

Then, last week, I started seeing excellent, sub-$2000 fares on BA/AA from DC to almost anywhere I wanted to go. But, again, I wasn't prepared to spend $2000 on the alliance where I have no status for a trip I do not need to take.

Sure enough, though, Star Alliance retaliated with flights from Oneworld hubs. I finally held a ticket, through United's FareLock, from PHL to AMS and Berlin back to Philadelphia. I was not thrilled about the prospect of missing work to take the train from DC to Philly (and then an Uber to the airport), or having to fly back to IAD, then connect to PHL, and then take a train back at midnight. But, for $1898 before using my certificates, it seemed like the best deal available.

So when, on a hunch, I looked onto FT last night around 11:30 ET and saw $1500+ fares to Europe — nonstop from IAD — I jumped. Not right away; Amsterdam was not included in the fare sale, and I was debating between booking BER-EWR-IAD on United (the long leg on an old-layout 767) or booking FRA-IAD nonstop in the afternoon and sucking up the cost of a separate, $100ish BER-FRA ticket.

Around 12:50 ET last night, I decided not to wait. United updates its fares at 12 AM CT — 1 AM ET. The trip was three months out, but I knew United could pull the deal any day, and I hadn't checked the fare rules to get a sense of when. So, at 12:58 PM, I went through the purchase process for a FareLock.

At 12:59 AM, I hit "Purchase FareLock." The app slowly processed as the clock hit 1 AM. And then it popped up with a confirmation number.

At 1:03 AM, when I went back to view more routes out of curiosity, the fares were gone.

My FareLock receipt shows I locked in my ticket at 12:59 AM.

Thank you for posting these fares.

KL808

Was able to grab LAX-YYZ-FRA-LAX

LAX-YYZ on AC (B789) YYZ-FRA (B744) on AC operated by LH and FRA-LAX (B748) on LH.

These are P fares

Question

Can one accrue miles on multiple carriers? Example credit LAX-YYZ to A3 and YYZ-FRA on SQ or NH. IF SO, how or what would be the steps to do this? Thanks

Also, LH is offering $1250 USD pp to upgrade to F on the FRA-LAX route, is that reasonable? Can one upgrade with points, whatever program?

KL808

tr3k

Yes, you need to update the FF number before boarding the second (and any subsequent) flight. I've done that a few times - usually by approaching gate agents sometime before boarding (catch them while they are not too busy).

tobegold

My experience has been that by changing your FFP on a second or subsequent leg on a layover (less than 24 hrs) causes ALL legs to accrue to the last FFP selected. Maybe this will not occur on a stopover, but a least that was my experience a few years back involving AC and UA on my last leg.

dkc192

You can upgrade using LH's own M&M points, albeit at a very steep price (70k each way from P class). $1,250 might be a reasonable deal if the F class ground services have been fully restored--IMO that is the best part of LH F.

denkigroove

Indeed. There is a huge step from LH C 2-2-2 to F. As single flyer I would prefer LX/OS where you get a better C hardware and in this case 70k M&M for an upgrade (on LX) would be too much.

Kmxu

So, you are not interested in UA status. This trip alone will give you UA Premier Silver status.

tr3k

Is it because it is not UA-ticketed?

Kmxu

Yes. If it is ticketed on UA, your PQP is about 1400. Otherwise, total distance divided by 5 is your PQP.


United PQP/PQF + RDM Calculator

Flying Machine

I got in on the original $1655 trip to EU about a month and a half ago, and just took advantage of this $1544 fare on this offer. For the approximate $3000 of spend flying mostly AC, I’ll earn approximately 8000 PQPs on UA by crediting to them. With the bonuses that they’ve provided I’ll be short just a small amount of PQPs to make 1K. Happy I stumbled across these fares. If AC/UA combination didn’t reduce the 200% to 150% earning I would’ve clearly made it. Oh well

KL808

Both of the answers seem worrying. What if I leave them blank and just get them retroactively adjusted after the trip?
*Does anyone have any experience with AC ticket/flight # LH metal P fare being credited to A3. This is the whole reason for my question. LAX-YYZ is fine on A3 the next leg (YYZ-FRA) is questionable. I want A3 but if not possible rather claim to SQ or NH

Thanks that's good to know. Will do some research if they have restored the ground service.

Nah, I did some miles transfer to SQ (Redeemed a trip) and am now * Gold thanks to there offer. I'm actually wanting to fill up my A3 account since Im Silver (did some A3 flying over the summer in Greece) and have a together account.

flyerCO

IME most airlines see everything on the ticket, and if it qualifies it gets credited.

tr3k

Not sure how it is handled if flights are on the same airline, but if flights are on different airlines, they can accrue to different programs, even if booked on the same ticket (tested with UA + NH for example).

I believe what matters is what program is listed on each given boarding pass (or at least that's how it worked out in my case). I suppose if both flights are on the same metal - things might not work as well.

flyerCO

I was meaning in the example where you leave a FF off ticket and then request credit afterwards. When you provide the ticket number it sees all the flights and credits all of them.

IME you can get a different FF number entered for each flight. Ask before each flight, and get new BP printed showing it. This should cause each to post where you want. It's only an issue IME with all posting to one program if you leave number off and request credit after the fact.