svellmann

I am looking at a trip to MAJ for next year fall (Sep/Oct) and finding it is all well available pretty much right after the schedule opens (except a 9/9-16/9 blackout on OZ), except for GUM-Japan.

For the name of god I can't find a single Y saver seat from GUM to any UA point (of which there are many!) in Japan after July 17th. On the outbound, that seems to dry out after July 13th but is not an issue for me as I'd be coming in through SPN from ICN on OZ.

Anyone any ideas why? Do they maybe load the space in batches and all of a sudden those two months currently without availability will appear? Or is there a full-summer blackout or something?

mh3265a

I normally pay when I go to Guam but there is some heavy Guam-Japan travel during those dates. I find getting ANY award space to Guam to be difficult unless you travel the early morning or late evening Japan flight times. I'd just keep monitoring and give it some time. At least X/XN space should open up especially on the 777s.

aCavalierInCoach

Could be either - I have found UA has become extremely stingy with far-out Saver awards. One approach, if you are plat or higher, is to book for whatever day you can find saver awards and waitlist for the days you want. Imperfect but it's about all you can do versus constantly checking.

rxziebel

It does seem to be strange when a flight is R=9 but no saver award space released. I do see the point of getting at least the coach fare and an upgrade instrument over a pure mile redemption from United's view.

svellmann

Yeah, there is coach standard awards widely available as well as business saver after July 17 almost every day through the end of the schedule. Just no coach saver whatsoever.

kthpence

I apologize if this is the incorrect thread, but upon searching, I feel like my query best fits here.

I'm looking to book two saver business awards from CDG-SFO on either Nov. 23 or 24th, however, it looks like because of the winter schedule, there is no direct flight on those days. Upon searching for availability from other cities to SFO (MUC, FRA, AMS, BRU, even BCN), there only seems to be one direct flight from Europe to SFO on those two days through LHR. Am I missing something here, or is LHR the only airport that accommodates flights w/ UA to the west coast the M&T before Thanksgiving?

With that said, is there a city in the US that I should look to route through that usually has more saver availability than others? ie. Should I look for awards through IAD instead of ORD or EWR (it seems like it's very difficult to get any award except for standard awards from EWR and ORD to SFO...)? Or should I hope one of the LH flights open up availability for FRA/MUC - SFO closer to the 23/24th?

Right now I could route CDG-FRA-IAD-SFO w/ IAD-SFO in X, but I don't want to book that and then have something more convenient open up and then have to pay for the change fee (I don't hold any status with UA).

As an aside, is it at all weird that UA doesn't operate any direct flights from Europe to SFO on the M&T before Thanksgiving? Seems like that would be fairly popular with expats traveling home for the Holiday...I appreciate any insight on this! Thanks.

Asiatraveler15

There are several award flight opportunities on those days for 70,000 miles with partner airlines CDG to ORD.

kthpence

Just searched for the umpteenth time - 0 saver awards in Biz on the 23/24th to ORD (at least for two tickets). That's not really my issue though - my issue/question is finding saver award from ORD/EWR/IAD to SFO ... I was curious if anyone had insight into which of those routes usually yields the most award availability. Right now I can find award space from CDG - IAD and EWR (routing through FRA), but getting from EWR/IAD to SFO is the issue...

aCavalierInCoach

Hub-to-hub saver availability is hugely problematic far out. Some of the calendars are staggering - a dozen straight monday/sunday combos with nothing on a trunk route like SFO-IAH.

kthpence

Ah, thanks that's exactly the information I was looking for. I suppose I'll keep looking to see if something opens up...thanks for the help.

Kacee

For the Monday or Tuesday before Thanksgiving? Two of the heaviest travel days of the year? I hate to be negative, but those are very slim odds.

kthpence

Actually, with a little googling, I found that the Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving are much less traveled than the Wed-Sunday thereafter. Also, most Fridays in Summer, Memorial Day, Labor Day, before and after Christmas & New Year's all have heavier travel than the M&T before Thanksgiving. I'll report back here if I'm able to get two saver awards in business ...

DebBrown

I have searched for months. I can find connecting flights but I can also do that on other airlines. I've been hoarding my UA miles for a direct flight to Amsterdam. Do these magically get snapped up at 2am or do they just never release any seats? Experiences?

TIA,
Deb

uber1K_Flyer

I've noticed this as well - this flight almost always goes with a seat or two empty in Business. Now it never happens

Kacee

When I flew this last summer, it was a non-rev party in BF. So it's not like they're selling all those seats.

Nonetheless, saver business space to Europe is just excessively difficult on pretty much any route. You're much more likely to have success if you're flexible on routing. Especially ex-ORD, where you have options into multiple *A hubs.