findingflow

I have an awards flight next week: SFO->YVR->ICN. The YVR->ICN leg is on Air Canada. I don't currently have status on United.

I see that United has two direct flights SFO->ICN leaving a couple of hours after my SFO->YVR departure.

Assuming availability, is there any chance that United agents at SFO could re-route me to fly on one of those two direct flights?

If the answer is "Hell No - Get Out of Here!!!" - I'd appreciate any insight into their processes.

Thanks.

jsloan

I’m only aware of one UA nonstop SFO-ICN flight at the moment.

That said, if there is availability in the award fare class, you should be able to make this change under the same-day change policy. If it’s a one-way flight, you could also just change it whenever you see award availability between now and then. (If it’s a round-trip, and you also have partner flights on the return, it can be trickier to change in advance).

Have you looked at the current inventory? (Add Expert Mode to your profile; do a search as if you were going to pay cash). Is this an economy or business class award?

Kmxu

SFO-PVG makes a technical stop at ICN. OP misreads it as the second SFO-ICN.

jsloan

Ah, I forgot they were still doing that. Of course, that make sense.

OP: UA does not market any seats from SFO-ICN on that second flight. In fact, I don’t think passengers are even allowed to deplane at ICN. UA893 is the only one that you might be abl to get onto.

WineCountryUA

Generally airport agents will not handle discretionary changes, they will tell you to call or change online. If their is inventory and this is oneway, make the change yourself as the previous poster mention, don;t wait as availability may disappear.

findingflow

A google search turns up UA857 and UA893. I'm getting some conflicting information about whether the second one is cargo or carries passengers.

It is an Economy Saver award.

There does appear to be availability (for money, and for a higher level of miles than I paid) on at least one of those flights.

That gets to the root of my question - if there's availability at a higher award level but not at my saver level, and the flight has empty seats hours before departure - can and will they re-route me?

Where is the "Expert Mode"?

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cfischer

If X/XN is not available then you can't 'SDC' for free. You might be able to 'SDS' but that only works if the flight leaves earlier. A day before UA often opens up X/XN ... just keep looking for it

IAH-OIL-TRASH

Same day change requires same fare class availability. UA is not going to let you grab the higher mileage award for nothing - if they did it routinely and the practice became public, it would create chaos on day of departure systemwide. Every bozo and their mother would be trying to get on better flights. There's a reason UA provides flight options at a range of redemption mileages - the most convenient ones usually cost more and the less convenient, less. UA isn't going to blow that up.

Somewhere in your account setting there whould be an "Enable expert mode" toggle. Once you opt in, you'll see fare classes under "details" in flight searches. For more details on how to enable expert mode access, please see link in post below...

WineCountryUA

Perhaps a little more detail?

Expert Mode Update: better upgrade visibility and opt-in to see fare bucket data.

dkc192

857 is a SFO-ICN-PVG passenger flight; ICN is purely a technical stop and you cannot fly only the SFO-ICN leg and get off at ICN. 893 is a SFO-ICN passenger flight, which is the one you want to be monitoring for X class (economy saver award booking class) as your day of departure nears.

wcalvert

Any recent info on how stingy they are being with I/IN? Any "typical" movement at T-24 or is it all algorithm generated?

Lux Flyer

This is only true if you have status with UA. If the OP is non-status then even if X or XN opens up closer, they would still be on the hook for any fare difference. Unfortunately this being a week out, the sure fire way of getting what they want via a schedule change is essentially no chance of happening, but given how much of a dumpster fire AC has been lately, maybe they'll stumble into a lovely advanced IRROP sitaution that allows them to reroute before depoarting SFO.


https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly...t-changes.html

jsloan

X/XN awards don’t really vary in price, though. At most, the close-in surcharge might be due (generally between 2-3K additional miles).

ETA: On some routes, you’ll occasionally see deep-discount XN inventory, so you might have to make up the amount to the normal X/XN fare. But there’s still a cap in place, unlike HN/YN awards, which can go to any amount.

cfischer

IME you can SDC once SDC is available no matter what you paid (same booking class) incl. no close-in surcharge.

VegasGambler

I've had them open up same-class space for me on request, to enable a SDC.

Having said that (1) I have status (though only Plat), (2) it was not an award, and (3) it was domestic. The fare difference would have been a few hundred dollars though, and the flight I was changing to was pretty full, so I was happy.

I'm guessing that this would not work for a long haul international award flight but then again I've never tried.