naseefc

Posting here instead of United forums since maybe there area ideas about how I can do this with other program's points.

Basically I need to get a quick 50-75k United points to buy some holiday travel tickets. But here is the thing, I already got my United card and will get the 50k bonus miles at the end of my first statement which is 11/28. I would just like to buy the tickets now because these are for 1/1/13 and will probably not last very long. Is there a quick way I can earn or "borrow" 50k points somehow for like a month? I do have some Chase UR points, but not enough. I also have 100k Avios sitting around but I didn't see a way to convert those.

Thanks for the help.

Dad to GO

Is there a reason that you have to use United? If you are sitting on 100k Avios you know that you could use those with American Airlines. Go to the BA site and book with Avios. When it says that they do not fly that route make sure you click the "search partners" button. Hopefully there will be some availability with American and you could book that way. What is the routing you are looking to book?

You could have someone transfer you some Ultimate Rewards points but you risk having Chase shut your account down since that is against their terms. While a lot of people have done it without any problems... you run that risk.

naseefc

Ah how I wish I could use my Avios. I have not found a way to use my Avios. Any routes that I am interested in are always "not available". Maybe all routes out of SEA is always instantly sold out, I don't know. I even called them, asked them to check a few routes from me 11 months out and it is still "not available". Don't get me started with how much I hate Avios.

And no I don't have to use United, but it is the cheapest I have found so far at 25k points per leg. I am looking at SEA-PBI. Something like flying out around Christmas, don't care before or after, although I would prefer before, and flying back on the 1st.

clacko

change your cc billing date to a few days from now....mi may post shortly thereafter....but perhaps you need more spend....

Stubtify

When you call them are they checking avail with Alaska Airlines as well? Alaska won't show on their website, but if you can see it on aa.com then you can call in to British and give them flight numbers.

A good rule to follow: if it shows up on AA.com at the saver level you SHOULD almost always be able to book it with avios. Give the phone agent flight numbers and it should help.

penner42

Warning on this: I've seen people report that when you change your billing date, it delays it instead of makes it sooner. For example, if he changed it now from the 28th to the 2nd, it would not close 11/2 but 12/2.

penner42

Transferring from UR to someone else's mileage account is not against the terms. It's only transferring UR points to someone else's UR points that is. But this doesn't help unless there's a way in the near future to transfer the 50k points back.

Dad to GO

Yes you are correct... and I assume they would want them back in UR points. Thanks for the clarification!

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

The ba.com website does a poor job of showing available award redemptions on AA metal that involve connecting flights. And ba.com is not capable of showing any award availability on AS metal.

Here's my suggestion: Go to aa.com, and search for SAAver availability separately in each direction, making sure that the "Include Partners" radio button is clicked. (You might also try searching to/from FLL if you can make that airport work for you. I believe that AS now has a SEA-FLL nonstop, to compete with AA's SEA-MIA nonstop.)

If you find an all-AA itinerary, go to ba.com, and try to book each leg separately, if the connection does not appear. If aa.com displays a SAAver itinerary that involves a combination of AA and AS metal, you can try booking the AA segment at ba.com, but you must call the BAEC Service Center to book the AS segment. Caveat: If you call BAEC and try to book both AA and AS flights on a single itinerary, you will be charged the much higher multi-partner redemption rate.

With a little luck, you'll be able to use your Avios in one direction, and your UA miles in the other. But don't blame BAEC if neither AA nor AS has SAAver seats available to and from Florida over Christmas: BAEC has no control over what low-tier award seats partner carriers make available, and Avios can only be used on low-tier award seats.

living

You could open a bunch of Netflix accounts with the 2k/4k sign up bonus. They post relatively quickly.

Obviously its high risk, but you could end up with a good chunk of United miles relatively cheap.

naseefc

This was not on this specific itinerary, but I HAD checked AA.com earlier, found saver level reward available for the flight I wanted, then called BA to book it since I couldn't get it on their website. Same problem though, they say it is not available to them even though I can see it on AA.com. Maybe it was the operator, I will try again.

Thanks for all the responses.

TTnC4me

It has to be milesaaver, not aanytime. You'll be hard pressed to find AA availability (which will rule out BA) unfortunately. As another suggested, maybe some large spending (GCs?) or prepay some bills to have points on the next statement closing. Or, have a relative sign up for a credit card?

naseefc

Thanks for mentioning AS, I didn't think about checking them. Unfortunately no SAAver level awards available, but I supposed I could transfer my SPG points directly to AS and redeem that way.

samineni3

You can Buy US airways Dividend miles with 100% bonus or share with 100% bonus promotion. You can book same itinerary with US miles instead of United.

CFFrost

When do your other UR accounts close out? If they close out sooner than the United card you could sign up for some magazines (I say this only because magazines.com is at 30k) or buy some other stuff with big bonuses.