Apr 3, 2019, 8:38 pm

FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides

Last edit by: WineCountryUA

This is an archive thread, the master thread is UA MP Saver Award/Upgrade Inventory (& partners) -when is it released?

United Saver Award/Upgrade Inventory (& partners) - when is it released? [Archive]

Closed Thread Subscribe

Thread Tools

Search this Thread

Sep 22, 2013 | 8:44 am

#1381

sharmaintl

Join Date: Sep 2007

Location: IAD

Programs: UA Gold + 1MM; HHonors Gold; Marriott Plat

Posts: 751

Quote:

Originally Posted by rufflesinc

I have had situations where the date is white and there was saver availability on partner. Now I will click every date I am interested in, regardless of color.

Example: Jan 1, 2014, one way PEK-DTW. Box is white, there is saver economy on CA and LH.

I have noticed that too, but typically these are option way in the bottom of the list, with long stopovers. Have you noticed similar situations? But yes, I too always look at the availability irrespective of what the color says.

Sep 22, 2013 | 9:39 am

#1382

JPG3392

Join Date: Dec 2011

Location: BOS, BWI, DCA, IAD

Programs: American, Delta, JetBlue, United

Posts: 2,395

Quote:

Originally Posted by FrenchCaliFlyer

Those are pretty rare (at least I've had a hard time finding them) so I figured someone may be interested to get the seat I freed up (decided to get bru-ord in first on my return instead and use try air canada's suite instead for less miles than this (50k vs 67.5k))

UA 952
ORD 01/19/14 6:00 PM
MUC 01/20/14 9:50 AM 772

First - Saver Award O 1

if there is a consolidated thread or forum I missed for First class saver award availability - let me know

That you freed up an award seat does not mean that an award seat is now available for someone else to book.

Sep 22, 2013 | 2:33 pm

#1383

FrenchCaliFlyer

Join Date: Aug 2013

Location: SFO

Programs: Air France Gold, Emirates Gold, former UA 1K, Marriott/Ritz Gold, Hyatt Diamond...

Posts: 157

Quote:

Originally Posted by JPG3392

That you freed up an award seat does not mean that an award seat is now available for someone else to book.

it should, no? (if the booking and the release are close enough that nothing else changed)

Last edited by FrenchCaliFlyer; Sep 22, 2013 at 2:34 pm Reason: missing coma

Sep 22, 2013 | 4:32 pm

#1384

karenkay

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Mar 2005

Programs: ua mm, aa plat, starriott LTPP, ihg plat, hh gold.

Posts: 13,056

Quote:

Originally Posted by goalie

Agreed ^ and it has been my experience (thanks to a tip from a fellow F/t'er) that as long as the date on the monthly award calendar is not white, there just might be a UA saver and/or partner surprise waiting for you when you select one of the colored dates

i've learned something today, thanks. ^

Sep 22, 2013 | 5:20 pm

#1385

exerda

Moderator, Omni, Omni/PR, Omni/Games, FlyerTalk Posting Legend

Join Date: Oct 2004

Location: Between DCA and IAD

Programs: UA 1K MM; Hilton Diamond

Posts: 72,470

Quote:

Originally Posted by FrenchCaliFlyer

it should, no? (if the booking and the release are close enough that nothing else changed)

Not necessarily.

Sep 22, 2013 | 6:15 pm

#1386

cerealmarketer

Join Date: Feb 2002

Location: NYC: UA 1K, DL Platinum, AAirpass, Avis PC

Posts: 4,599

Quote:

Originally Posted by goalie

And the logic behind it is this...

The award calendar probably works like the low fare calendar at places like Kayak. It's based on a snapshot in time, probably sometime earlier in the day, and accurate at that time.

But like with airfares, a seat or two may open up in the interim, so good to check through.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rufflesinc

And now the box is yellow with only that CA / LH route available.

So the calendar is capable of picking up the flight - no problem there. It's just a snapshot from an earlier part of the day so when you checked it hadn't run its sweep yet. That inventory was new to the system.

Last edited by iluv2fly; Sep 22, 2013 at 6:31 pm Reason: merge

Sep 22, 2013 | 8:27 pm

#1387

holland

Join Date: Feb 2001

Location: MCI ** UA Silver, Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium

Posts: 1,297

Mileage search?

I've got some UA miles I'd like to use over the Christmas holiday while the kids are out of school. I can travel any time between 12/20 - 1/5, and would prefer about a week someplace warm with a beach. We don't particularly care WHERE.

When I search common destinations like Cancun or Cozumel, all it comes up with are 60k mixed coach/business flights, or connections like Kansas City -> Denver -> Dulles -> Cozumel with 14 hours of layover somewhere along the way....

Has it really gotten this hard to use miles? Is there a better search engine I can use to find flights that are reasonable to take with a family of 5 (i.e. no overnight stopovers, minimal connections, etc)?

Thanks,
rich

Sep 22, 2013 | 8:35 pm

#1388

WineCountryUA

Moderator: United Airlines

Join Date: Jun 2007

Location: SFO

Programs: UA LT Plat 2MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat

Posts: 72,959

Quote:

Originally Posted by holland

.... I can travel any time between 12/20 - 1/5, and would prefer about a week someplace warm with a beach.
.....
When I search common destinations like Cancun or Cozumel,

.... all it comes up with are 60k mixed coach/business flights, or connections like Kansas City -> Denver -> Dulles -> Cozumel with 14 hours of layover somewhere along the way....

with a family of 5 .....

Has it really gotten this hard to use miles? ....

attempting to book peak holiday to highly popular locates for 5 passengers less the 3 months out is likely to involve comprise. That has never been an easy option.

An option is to build the routing segment by segment. Start at the destination or original and build segment by segment until you arrive at a satisfactory outcome.

Sep 22, 2013 | 8:39 pm

#1389

FlyWorld

Join Date: Jun 2005

Posts: 4,645

Quote:

Originally Posted by holland

You have chosen the most expensive time of the year. For many destinations, those dates are sold out. This is not a fault of the mileage program. Your best bet is to pick a business oriented route with no holiday leisure travel. But, in the last 2 years, I've noticed they cancel those flights rather than fly empty.

Your odds of getting saver inventory on those dates are very slim. Like, really close to zero. If you fly 2 weeks earlier or later, you will find space.

Sep 22, 2013 | 8:40 pm

#1390

holland

Join Date: Feb 2001

Location: MCI ** UA Silver, Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium

Posts: 1,297

Quote:

Originally Posted by WineCountryUA

Those were just sample destinations - I'm looking for a cheap, quick, getaway. I did it a few years ago to CUN, booking about 6 weeks out. Guess I just got lucky. Is there a way to find out where the economy seats that are left are, and build a route to someplace "beachy" from that? How do I build the routing segment by segment?

Quote:

Originally Posted by mitchmu

Unfortunately, that's the week my kids are out of school, so I don't have much flexibility there. I'm surprised this is so busy to leisure destinations - I figured everyone was going "home" to visit family over the holidays.... not trying to get away. That's usually what we do.

Last edited by iluv2fly; Sep 22, 2013 at 8:47 pm Reason: merge

Sep 22, 2013 | 8:44 pm

#1391

FlyWorld

Join Date: Jun 2005

Posts: 4,645

Quote:

Originally Posted by holland

How about Florida?

Just search segment by segment for all possible routes.

Also, consider Expert Flyer to explore them easily.

Sep 22, 2013 | 9:57 pm

#1392

Bigshaker

Join Date: Dec 2001

Location: SPG Lifetime Plat, Hyatt Diamond, Hilton Gold:AA Plat, Now retired but previous NWA PLAT 2 Million +, United 1K plus etc etc

Posts: 541

You just have to be flexible..I recently booked 3 low points awards seats for March Spring Break to Europe..took a bit of searching and had to have a few choices of alternate cities but was able to make it work.
Nothing to complain about here...just be glad you don't have SkyPesos to burn.

Quote:

Originally Posted by holland

I just spent 10-15 min searching for you..obvious destinations not avail for 5 people however did find you MCI-SJU outbound Dec 24 or Dec 25 in First, returning Dec 31, Jan 1,2,3 for 5 people 65k each (mile saver 1st 35k, anytime coach 30k)

Last edited by iluv2fly; Sep 22, 2013 at 10:24 pm Reason: merge

Sep 23, 2013 | 9:11 am

#1393

JPG3392

Join Date: Dec 2011

Location: BOS, BWI, DCA, IAD

Programs: American, Delta, JetBlue, United

Posts: 2,395

Quote:

Originally Posted by FrenchCaliFlyer

it should, no? (if the booking and the release are close enough that nothing else changed)

I know it seems logical, but that is not the way award travel operates. When you cancel an award booking, it makes a seat available, but not necessarily an award seat. Airlines constantly re-calculate (on the basis of their own internal deliberations) how many award seats to allocate on a particular flight; they don't necessarily maintain the same number that they set aside when the flight first became available for award booking.

Sep 23, 2013 | 9:15 am

#1394

aacharya

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Sep 2008

Location: Jersey Shore/YYZ

Programs: UA 1K, Marriott Plat, Hilton Diamond, Hertz PC

Posts: 12,529

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bigshaker

You just have to be flexible..Nothing to complain about here...just be glad you don't have SkyPesos to burn.

I just spent 10-15 min searching for you..obvious destinations not avail for 5 people however did find you MCI-SJU outbound Dec 24 or Dec 25 in First, returning Dec 31, Jan 1,2,3 for 5 people 65k each (mile saver 1st 35k, anytime coach 30k)

I think the other issue is looking for 5 tickets in X/XN. Perhaps OP could book some with miles, some with cash.

Sep 24, 2013 | 8:12 am

#1395

stimulus

Join Date: Sep 2013

Posts: 71

Saver Award

I don't quite understand how this works -

basically I am trying to book a flight using my UA Miles (transferred from Chase UR) for 7/3 - 7/6 from JFK or LGA to Las Vegas

Is it because it's a holiday weekend that's why its showing no availability or did i miss it already (all filled up)