RNE

Dear Kim Jeff Un:

Oh, Shining Star of Willis Mountain, Beloved Father, Sun of Life, Great Marshal of the Revolution, Mastermind of the Continental Domination of United . . . I would gladly pay UA ≤$100 per award booking for a saver-award notification service (or a waitlist that actually works!) so I don't have to check for award availability every gosh darn day!

RNE, your unworthy, obedient servant who is less than a dog (a delicacy on a Pyongyang restaurant menu, mind you. ).

P.S. I hope your ankle feels better.

Kacee

IIRC, they are not supposed to let you do that, although these waitlist requests are handled really inconsistently so YMMV. (Although that's complicated enough, I'm not sure I'd have the patience even to try.)

I think what I would do is stick with what you've got, and check daily for GF. GF is often more likely to open than BF on the long-haul routes.

Mike Jacoubowsky

Actually, there is. You can save the seat you want with the standard award. I've had no issues getting the standard award switched to saver and keeping the same seat. Done so many times. If you wait until saver seats are available, you may find yourself I a middle seat, possibly even E-.

Kacee

Depends on fee sensitivity. It's pretty expensive to change that award from standard to saver if you are not elite, particularly if there's more than one passenger.

Mike Jacoubowsky

Absolutely; this would get pretty expensive for lower-tier elites or GMs, who would have to pay redeposit and close-in fees. For me, it's one of the biggest advantages to being Plat. No fees, ever, on awards. Love it!

JohnMacWW

So if one can spot a saver award being available in at least one class of service for all segments of a trip, you can book the saver award in the highest class of service you want and that is available on at least one segment? You are are booked in the lower class in the other segments. You get waitlisted for the higher class in the other segments.

LaserSailor

Not the same as:


......for buying the full fare ticket......and cancelling....

UA-NYC

You need to re-read those posts again...nobody was saying anything about actually paying $ for tickets.

pdxdtm

Hey All - appreciate any info or guidance on this. I've got the reward ticket below booked. For some odd reason I can't get a direct ticket from PER-BKK on a Tuesday mid week in January, so I've got to double connect through SIN and BKK to get to Chiang Mai.

A few questions I'd welcome your thoughts to:

1.) Does SQ release more Business Tickets the closer you get to the date. I called the 1K line today and the CSR was able to see plenty of J SQ seats for flights less than 2 weeks out, but nothing really outside of that timeline. I'm hoping this has been others experiences too.

2.) If for some reason it doesnt work and I arrive in Singapore for my 5 hour layover off a Y ticket but am departing off a J ticket, I should be able to access the Business Silver Kris lounges at Changi rather than the KrisGold lounges for *A Gold card holders, right?

Thanks everyone. Really love this website and getting to chat with you all.

FLIGHT INFORMATION

Day, Date Flight Class Departure City and Time Arrival City and Time Aircraft Meal



Tue, 20JAN15 SQ216 X PERTH AU (PER) 2:05 AM SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE (SIN) 7:20 AM A-330

Flight operated by SINGAPORE AIRLINES.

Tue, 20JAN15 TG404 I SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE (SIN) 12:25 PM BANGKOK, THAILAND (BKK) 1:45 PM 777-300

Flight operated by THAI AIRWAYS.

Tue, 20JAN15 TG112 I BANGKOK, THAILAND (BKK) 3:05 PM CHIANG MAI TH (CNX) 4:15 PM A-330

Flight operated by THAI AIRWAYS.

crimsona

For Australia and New Zealand, yes, that's the case.

747FC

Thanks for the input.

1KChinito

Many of my waitlisted segments SFO-OGG, LAX-OGG and OGG-LAX for first half of June 2015 cleared over night/this morning. Interestingly I only see XN9, I do not see any X availability for these flights. Maybe UA is only making them available to elites.

RNE

Anecdotally, I'm suddenly seeing "a lot" of saver award economy and BF upgrade availability to at least a couple of destinations in Western Europe, specifically MUC and FCO, in late August. (Could be other destinations; I didn't look.) This morning, I snapped up two BF upgrades (20,000 miles + $550 ea.) to MUC. There were three upgrades available. If you haven't checked recently, you might want to take a look for destinations/routings of interest to you. Could be something there now that wasn't there before.

Something that is not there now is the third available. I made an irreversible error on one of my bookings this morning; I had to cancel it and rebook the whole thing again. That ate up the third BF upgrade. Eight hours later, it's still gone. Thus, as others have noted, upgrades don't necessarily get put back on the store shelf after customers return them.

RNE, recalling Steve McGarrett to say "Book 'em, Danno!"

chx1975

Is this going to get better? SFO-JFK, nil, LAX-JFK, nil, YVR-ORD and YVR-IAH redeye only. Is it typical for United to release seats somewhat closer to August or am I stuck?

Indelaware

Seldom are seats released as far out as I like to plan, and even more so now that US has left *A. Wait and see is often the name of the game these days with awards.

That said, you don't indicate exactly when and where you want to go. I see a fair amount of availability for YVR-EWR in August.