imundell

Hi all,

I am trying to do my first ever award booking for a trip for three to New Zealand in July 2016, looking to leave from PHL area on 7/1 and return around 7/21. If possible, a two day stopover in SYD on the way over would be nice but not mandatory.

I've never done this before, but I know saver award space in business class is going to be hard to find. It's too early to book the return, but I cannot find any saver award for the outbound trip. I'm trying looking at SFO-SYD, LAX-SYD, etc., figuring if I can find the award space I'll grab it and figure out the east coast-west coast part of it later.

Am I already too late to get the outbound award space? If I get up very early on the morning when the seats are released for the return trip, will I find saver award space, or is it a game of chance? If I have to I'll buy the economy seats and pay the upgrade fee, but that's a huge fee of course.

Any strategy that the experts can suggest, or am I just going to have to keep checking? We really want to get business class at least across the Pacific, and I'm concerned if I wait too long then I won't even be able to use miles/points to upgrade and we'll be stuck in economy class (which would equal a miserable spouse ).

Thanks!

aCavalierInCoach

Entirety of March and April have zero Sunday saver availability IAH-SFO (hub to hub -- really??).

Looking in january for SFO-SLC and vv -- zero saver seats in any class five months out on a non-holiday weekend? on a short domestic route?

EDIT: Holy smokes -- not a single n/s SFO-SLC saver award on any Friday after new years through the entirety of March.

anc-ord772

UNITED made a bad call post merger and increased capacity to international routes, while gutting domestic capacity. As a result, with a rebound of the domestic market, it's quite difficult to find domestic saver availability. UNITED is working very hard to get more narrow body aircraft in the fleet. In the meantime....

aCavalierInCoach

Capacity control issue, not capacity issue. Maybe you're referring to the lack of widebodies serving IAH, but capacity into SLC has never been higher -- used to be all CR2s, now you've got CR7s and a handful of mainline on some days. This is United gutting mileageplus, not domestic capacity.

Kacee

UA used to compete SFO-SLC, with all mainline and good frequency.

Domestic award inventory is funky; it will zero out then reappear.

kthpence

There are people on this forum that know more about the exact processes than I do (although I'm an avid saver award booker and have been for quite some time), but it's notoriously hard to get from SFO/LAX to AKL in Business as Air New Zealand rarely, if ever, opens up saver award space in premium cabins w/ United Miles.

However, flying SFO or LAX - SYD (or MEL) may be a bit easier (even then though, expect that you may have to fly through China, Japan or Korea w/ AC, ANA or Asiana, the latter two not necessarily being a bad thing, and I even hear AC's new business/first is nice). If I were you, I'd play around with the route a little (maybe try PHL - SFO - PVG/ICN/PEK - AUK or SYD - use "multiple destination" to do this). No, getting up early will probably not help, but signing up for a Pro subscription at Expert Flyer could help ... all you do is put in the fare class that you want (I believe it's I for business), and you'll get an alert when it opens up.

There are also companies now that you pay and will book the awards for you (although I can't vouch on how good they are as I've never used them). There seems to be very little rhyme or reason to United's Saver Award availability, but with some patience and luck, you'll probably be able to book at least two of you in I to SYD/MEL - getting from SYD - AKL w/ miles is eventually possible, but this far in advance is definitely not possible (looks like SYD - AKL w/ NZ is showing saver award space in coach up until March 2016 if that's any indicator). Good luck!

halls120

When MsHalls120 and I retire, one of our first trips will be Australia and New Zealand. We will fly to SYD on an award ticket, and then SYD-AKL-SYD on a separate paid ticket, because you can actually get award business seats to SYD.

kthpence

Yea that's what I did a couple years back ... F to SYD, then E on NZ to ZQN, which was honestly the best E experience I've ever had ... NZ is a great airline, I wish they had more availability w/ UA award ...w/ that said, if you've never been to Australia or NZ, be prepared for the sticker shock - $25 for a 6 pack of good beer is the norm (or you can get a bottle of terrible wine for $10) . Queenstown is one of my favorite places on Earth...I'd live there in a heartbeat.

aCavalierInCoach

Except C to SYD is 15 hours in 8-across -- shoot for the moon to get those f suites

halls120

MsHalls120 likes the A/B or J/K seats. But yes, we'll go for GF if it is even still around by the time we do this trip. I'm guessing it won't be.

kthpence

Are they really considered "suites" ?

aCavalierInCoach

I guess not, but palatial relative to C.

wco81

Do UA saver awards ever materialize for those?

I'm only seeing awards on OS, through ICN. Or maybe through China.

aCavalierInCoach

Well as long as MsHalls120 is happy

kthpence

I was joking a little bit, I think United does refer to them in suites...last time I flew GF, I was able to visit the Singapore FCL in Sydney, which was a real treat, but as soon as I was on the plane and w/ United FA, I was begging to be back in that lounge. One FA on that particular flight literally tossed my entree onto my tray table without any apology or anything. It made me never want to give my patronage to United again, but sadly, living in SF, it's nearly impossible not to.