Apr 3, 2019, 8:38 pm
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]
May 18, 2018, 12:39 am
#3331
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 56,470
Oh hold on, sorry, that's expanded availability for Premiers. I didn't think it was because usually they tell you that on the search results.
May 18, 2018, 12:41 am
#3332
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.997MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,859
Have a booked itin.
Call and ask to be waitlisted to for the non-stop
The wiki of Consolidated "Waitlist for Award Seats Questions/Issues" has more details but that basically it.
Call and ask to be waitlisted to for the non-stop
The wiki of Consolidated "Waitlist for Award Seats Questions/Issues" has more details but that basically it.
May 18, 2018, 12:53 am
#3333
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 56,470
Okay after I signed out I see your dilemma. I think if you wait, stuff will open up.
May 18, 2018, 10:05 am
#3334
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Honolulu Harbor
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 15,026
Wouldn't we all like to see this more often?
Upgrade at booking? No problem. Saver award? No problem. Cheap airfare? No problem.
May 20, 2018, 3:35 am
#3335
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 53
TG Miles Flights from SYD-LHR Not Showing on UA Web site
Hello Lovely People
I need some help please,
Normally I see at least one or two seats on Thai Business class from Sydney to London Via BKK each day
but from March 2019 there is nothing for the last week of March or the first 2 weeks of April
Has anybody else had issues UA showing Thai flights to be bookable on Miles for Business seats ?
Thank you
I need some help please,
Normally I see at least one or two seats on Thai Business class from Sydney to London Via BKK each day
but from March 2019 there is nothing for the last week of March or the first 2 weeks of April
Has anybody else had issues UA showing Thai flights to be bookable on Miles for Business seats ?
Thank you
May 20, 2018, 3:46 am
#3336
Join Date: Oct 2009
Programs: All of them, UA-Plat, 1MM*G
Posts: 881
If you see UA.com showing such seats to be available for other dates outside of your preferred range, it is more likely that Thai just has released no seats for these dates than it is that UA.com is just failing to show them. Maybe there is some big holiday in Thailand during that period?
May 31, 2018, 6:03 pm
#3338
Join Date: May 2018
Programs: mileage plus
Posts: 3
saver business class could use some help
hi, just joined,,,a google search found a thread on mileage plus awards and i noticed a few people complaining about how hard it is and I find myself in that category,,,however, i noticed several people that said it was pretty easy and i joined to pm them to get some advice. although, now i can't figure out the pm thing. but on to my question
ok, yes, this a last minute booking. the last time i used my mileage plus was on a trip to new zealand australia in 2002. i booked business class round trip and i remember it being a total of 80k miles. fast forward about 16 years, now with a 13 y/o son and 16 y/o daughter. my 13 y/o son and i are headed over to europe to "backpack" around with a eurorail pass. i have 588k miles saved up. i am extremely flexible on dates and destinations. i was surprised that even 2 months out i couldn't find a single saver business class seat. they are all 155k miles. if i go business class normal award, it is 155k for each of use one way, so that adds up to 620k miles which i don't have... plus they charge like 125$ per person per one way,,,so i am looking at all my miles plus $500 dollars. for someone who has been saving miles for 16 years,,, which includes about $1600 ($100 annual) in annual card fees,,, this does not seem like that great of a deal,, considering my friend, a baggage handler at american airlines, can get apparently get me a stand by pass business class for about 250-300 apiece (that includes the crazy taxes to fly out of london or and other big european city)
anyway,,, i have booked a flight to from las vegas to dublin in about a week via newark. i got it for 30k miles each (total of 60k) plus 80$ each. this is only one way to dublin, i ahve not figured out return since i can return from any city.
the seating assignment kind of sucks, i was hoping to fly business over the pond but it is out of my price range. all the good seats in economy are already taken, which i find hard to believe. the lady said i could get 2 seats together at boarding,,,which leads me to believe not all the seats are take as they have shown. my son is like 8 rows back from me. the few economy plus seats all pretty suck, especially for the $. bulkhead, or non reclining exit row or no window so i do't want to spend another 320$ for us to upgrade to those.
would like to return on july 17 from any city in europe,,, i can probably make that work. but once again,,, can't find any saver business in the 70k range. and apparently you can't do a search for "europe" lowest saver seat,,, you have to keep checking every city by itself. the people on here who seem to get good saver business seats,,how do you do it? thanks
ok, yes, this a last minute booking. the last time i used my mileage plus was on a trip to new zealand australia in 2002. i booked business class round trip and i remember it being a total of 80k miles. fast forward about 16 years, now with a 13 y/o son and 16 y/o daughter. my 13 y/o son and i are headed over to europe to "backpack" around with a eurorail pass. i have 588k miles saved up. i am extremely flexible on dates and destinations. i was surprised that even 2 months out i couldn't find a single saver business class seat. they are all 155k miles. if i go business class normal award, it is 155k for each of use one way, so that adds up to 620k miles which i don't have... plus they charge like 125$ per person per one way,,,so i am looking at all my miles plus $500 dollars. for someone who has been saving miles for 16 years,,, which includes about $1600 ($100 annual) in annual card fees,,, this does not seem like that great of a deal,, considering my friend, a baggage handler at american airlines, can get apparently get me a stand by pass business class for about 250-300 apiece (that includes the crazy taxes to fly out of london or and other big european city)
anyway,,, i have booked a flight to from las vegas to dublin in about a week via newark. i got it for 30k miles each (total of 60k) plus 80$ each. this is only one way to dublin, i ahve not figured out return since i can return from any city.
the seating assignment kind of sucks, i was hoping to fly business over the pond but it is out of my price range. all the good seats in economy are already taken, which i find hard to believe. the lady said i could get 2 seats together at boarding,,,which leads me to believe not all the seats are take as they have shown. my son is like 8 rows back from me. the few economy plus seats all pretty suck, especially for the $. bulkhead, or non reclining exit row or no window so i do't want to spend another 320$ for us to upgrade to those.
would like to return on july 17 from any city in europe,,, i can probably make that work. but once again,,, can't find any saver business in the 70k range. and apparently you can't do a search for "europe" lowest saver seat,,, you have to keep checking every city by itself. the people on here who seem to get good saver business seats,,how do you do it? thanks
Last edited by WineCountryUA; May 31, 2018 at 7:54 pm Reason: personal info removed
May 31, 2018, 8:18 pm
#3339
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: New York NY
Programs: UA Gold, CO Plat, CO Million Miler
Posts: 2,617
hi, just joined,,,a google search found a thread on mileage plus awards and i noticed a few people complaining about how hard it is and I find myself in that category,,,however, i noticed several people that said it was pretty easy and i joined to pm them to get some advice. although, now i can't figure out the pm thing. but on to my question
ok, yes, this a last minute booking. the last time i used my mileage plus was on a trip to new zealand australia in 2002. i booked business class round trip and i remember it being a total of 80k miles. fast forward about 16 years, now with a 13 y/o son and 16 y/o daughter. my 13 y/o son and i are headed over to europe to "backpack" around with a eurorail pass. i have 588k miles saved up. i am extremely flexible on dates and destinations. i was surprised that even 2 months out i couldn't find a single saver business class seat. they are all 155k miles. if i go business class normal award, it is 155k for each of use one way, so that adds up to 620k miles which i don't have... plus they charge like 125$ per person per one way,,,so i am looking at all my miles plus $500 dollars. for someone who has been saving miles for 16 years,,, which includes about $1600 ($100 annual) in annual card fees,,, this does not seem like that great of a deal,, considering my friend, a baggage handler at american airlines, can get apparently get me a stand by pass business class for about 250-300 apiece (that includes the crazy taxes to fly out of london or and other big european city)
anyway,,, i have booked a flight to from las vegas to dublin in about a week via newark. i got it for 30k miles each (total of 60k) plus 80$ each. this is only one way to dublin, i ahve not figured out return since i can return from any city.
the seating assignment kind of sucks, i was hoping to fly business over the pond but it is out of my price range. all the good seats in economy are already taken, which i find hard to believe. the lady said i could get 2 seats together at boarding,,,which leads me to believe not all the seats are take as they have shown. my son is like 8 rows back from me. the few economy plus seats all pretty suck, especially for the $. bulkhead, or non reclining exit row or no window so i do't want to spend another 320$ for us to upgrade to those.
would like to return on july 17 from any city in europe,,, i can probably make that work. but once again,,, can't find any saver business in the 70k range. and apparently you can't do a search for "europe" lowest saver seat,,, you have to keep checking every city by itself. the people on here who seem to get good saver business seats,,how do you do it? thanks
ok, yes, this a last minute booking. the last time i used my mileage plus was on a trip to new zealand australia in 2002. i booked business class round trip and i remember it being a total of 80k miles. fast forward about 16 years, now with a 13 y/o son and 16 y/o daughter. my 13 y/o son and i are headed over to europe to "backpack" around with a eurorail pass. i have 588k miles saved up. i am extremely flexible on dates and destinations. i was surprised that even 2 months out i couldn't find a single saver business class seat. they are all 155k miles. if i go business class normal award, it is 155k for each of use one way, so that adds up to 620k miles which i don't have... plus they charge like 125$ per person per one way,,,so i am looking at all my miles plus $500 dollars. for someone who has been saving miles for 16 years,,, which includes about $1600 ($100 annual) in annual card fees,,, this does not seem like that great of a deal,, considering my friend, a baggage handler at american airlines, can get apparently get me a stand by pass business class for about 250-300 apiece (that includes the crazy taxes to fly out of london or and other big european city)
anyway,,, i have booked a flight to from las vegas to dublin in about a week via newark. i got it for 30k miles each (total of 60k) plus 80$ each. this is only one way to dublin, i ahve not figured out return since i can return from any city.
the seating assignment kind of sucks, i was hoping to fly business over the pond but it is out of my price range. all the good seats in economy are already taken, which i find hard to believe. the lady said i could get 2 seats together at boarding,,,which leads me to believe not all the seats are take as they have shown. my son is like 8 rows back from me. the few economy plus seats all pretty suck, especially for the $. bulkhead, or non reclining exit row or no window so i do't want to spend another 320$ for us to upgrade to those.
would like to return on july 17 from any city in europe,,, i can probably make that work. but once again,,, can't find any saver business in the 70k range. and apparently you can't do a search for "europe" lowest saver seat,,, you have to keep checking every city by itself. the people on here who seem to get good saver business seats,,how do you do it? thanks
Jun 1, 2018, 12:05 am
#3340
Join Date: May 2018
Programs: mileage plus
Posts: 3
i think i figured mine stuff out.. got my tickets,,,kind of a huge ordeal,,, couldn't get the flight i wanted to dublin but got a decent flight back. still don't know how people are getting business saver seats. they sure seem far and few between
Jun 1, 2018, 12:26 am
#3341
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,417
Don't look for travel to Las Vegas. Look for travel to a hub city -- you'll often get a lot more options. For example, NCE to ORD is available for 70K miles for two people on 7/17 (departing 6:05 AM, connecting through Munich, arriving at 12:40 into Chicago). Of course, you could also just book from Munich if you prefer. Book that, then look for ways to get to Las Vegas -- either a paid ticket, or possibly calling UA to ask if you can extend your award ticket. From ORD in particular, I don't see a lot of great award ticket options; there's a 10:40 PM flight through San Francisco, with an overnight stay and a connection to Las Vegas in the morning. There are also a couple of one-stop choices the next morning if you'd care to spend the night in Chicago. (All of these are in coach, BTW -- it's extremely difficult to find business saver awards for domestic legs).
Anyway, repeat this process for various European departure cities and US gateways, and you'll eventually find something. Don't forget to check the less obvious places, like DTW and DFW -- Lufthansa flies to both of those, so even though they're not UA hubs, it may still be possible to find award tickets there.
Good luck!
Jun 1, 2018, 12:36 am
#3342
Join Date: May 2018
Programs: mileage plus
Posts: 3
Welcome to FlyerTalk!
Don't look for travel to Las Vegas. Look for travel to a hub city -- you'll often get a lot more options. For example, NCE to ORD is available for 70K miles for two people on 7/17 (departing 6:05 AM, connecting through Munich, arriving at 12:40 into Chicago). Of course, you could also just book from Munich if you prefer. Book that, then look for ways to get to Las Vegas -- either a paid ticket, or possibly calling UA to ask if you can extend your award ticket. From ORD in particular, I don't see a lot of great award ticket options; there's a 10:40 PM flight through San Francisco, with an overnight stay and a connection to Las Vegas in the morning. There are also a couple of one-stop choices the next morning if you'd care to spend the night in Chicago. (All of these are in coach, BTW -- it's extremely difficult to find business saver awards for domestic legs).
Anyway, repeat this process for various European departure cities and US gateways, and you'll eventually find something. Don't forget to check the less obvious places, like DTW and DFW -- Lufthansa flies to both of those, so even though they're not UA hubs, it may still be possible to find award tickets there.
Good luck!
Don't look for travel to Las Vegas. Look for travel to a hub city -- you'll often get a lot more options. For example, NCE to ORD is available for 70K miles for two people on 7/17 (departing 6:05 AM, connecting through Munich, arriving at 12:40 into Chicago). Of course, you could also just book from Munich if you prefer. Book that, then look for ways to get to Las Vegas -- either a paid ticket, or possibly calling UA to ask if you can extend your award ticket. From ORD in particular, I don't see a lot of great award ticket options; there's a 10:40 PM flight through San Francisco, with an overnight stay and a connection to Las Vegas in the morning. There are also a couple of one-stop choices the next morning if you'd care to spend the night in Chicago. (All of these are in coach, BTW -- it's extremely difficult to find business saver awards for domestic legs).
Anyway, repeat this process for various European departure cities and US gateways, and you'll eventually find something. Don't forget to check the less obvious places, like DTW and DFW -- Lufthansa flies to both of those, so even though they're not UA hubs, it may still be possible to find award tickets there.
Good luck!
thanks! i am kinda stuck coming back from anywhere in europe to newark and i did find a flight from frankfort to boston to newark for 70k with business seats from frankfort to boston,,, i just booked it.
but i do have leave las vegas because that is where i live so at first i was open to anywhere in europe but the more i thought about it,, starting in dublin was good so we can go straight from there thru england and then into france. and then to where ever as long as we wind up back in frankfort.
i did just get a bit of bad news ,,, apparently england and scotland and northern ireland don't honor the eurorail passes,,,, i have no idea why,,, the last time i went from paris to london on the tgv in 97,,,, we went super fast until we got into england and then slowed down to a crawl all the way to the london station. i remember it was kind of like going from a nice neighborhood into a kinda bad neighborhood. maybe it is different now.
Jun 27, 2018, 10:47 pm
#3343
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 3
Potentially dumb question - but trying to gauge when is the best time to be booking saver award availability to Europe?
For context, trying to fly biz class for my honeymoon next fall to Italy. Ideally from LAX to FLR and then NAP back to LAX. Is the best course of action generally to book it as soon as I see availability for next year? Or an optimal time to book based on when they release saver awards? Unfortunately have basically no flexibility on dates given work schedules..
For context, trying to fly biz class for my honeymoon next fall to Italy. Ideally from LAX to FLR and then NAP back to LAX. Is the best course of action generally to book it as soon as I see availability for next year? Or an optimal time to book based on when they release saver awards? Unfortunately have basically no flexibility on dates given work schedules..
Jun 28, 2018, 12:49 am
#3344
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.997MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,859
Welcome to FT!, wtphock
The best time is when you can find the space.
There are no regular rules on when space might be released (if ever). Sometimes at beginning of schedule, roughtly11 months out. Sometimes 6 months out, sometimes 1 o=month out, Sometimes never. Note this concerns saver award space on UA or partners. Everyday Awards are more readily available -- for UA only and are very pricey.
There is less or no availability during peak travel periods.
Business class is much, much more difficult than economy.
Having fixed travel dates does not help but that is life for many.
Don't limit yourself to UA operated flights.
Consider flights to more available European airports and using trains to get to the desired destination.
You will need some flexibility, some persistent, and some luck. (I did SFO-Germany/Rome-SFO last Oct)
Congrats on the future nuptials
Potentially dumb question - but trying to gauge when is the best time to be booking saver award availability to Europe?
For context, trying to fly biz class for my honeymoon next fall to Italy. Ideally from LAX to FLR and then NAP back to LAX. Is the best course of action generally to book it as soon as I see availability for next year? Or an optimal time to book based on when they release saver awards? Unfortunately have basically no flexibility on dates given work schedules..
For context, trying to fly biz class for my honeymoon next fall to Italy. Ideally from LAX to FLR and then NAP back to LAX. Is the best course of action generally to book it as soon as I see availability for next year? Or an optimal time to book based on when they release saver awards? Unfortunately have basically no flexibility on dates given work schedules..
There are no regular rules on when space might be released (if ever). Sometimes at beginning of schedule, roughtly11 months out. Sometimes 6 months out, sometimes 1 o=month out, Sometimes never. Note this concerns saver award space on UA or partners. Everyday Awards are more readily available -- for UA only and are very pricey.
There is less or no availability during peak travel periods.
Business class is much, much more difficult than economy.
Having fixed travel dates does not help but that is life for many.
Don't limit yourself to UA operated flights.
Consider flights to more available European airports and using trains to get to the desired destination.
You will need some flexibility, some persistent, and some luck. (I did SFO-Germany/Rome-SFO last Oct)
Congrats on the future nuptials
Jun 28, 2018, 5:06 am
#3345
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 114
Hi All,
I've been spending quite a while searching for UA (more specifically partner) business saver awards for May 2019 for our honeymoon (towards the end of the month) from ORD to NCE, which has been a struggle for flights that work out well schedule-wise. I normally start my search being picky and then loosen up based on what my options actually are.
I'm seeing quite poor availability from ORD to most major European cities non-stop for next May, is that common? Maybe I'm wrong but looking at May 30, 2019 as an example, there's no non-stop business searching from UA's site from ORD to any of these cities: ZRH, GVA, CDG, FCO, MAD, VIE, ATH, MUC, or FRA. I did not have this problem 2 years ago for our trip to Europe on AA.
I get that summer-time awards are harder to come by, but I've been religiously checking every single day for about a month now. I've been using ExpertFlyer to help search too, but coming up empty-handed there as well. With ORD having such a large UA presence, I guess I would think there would be more than 1 in a blue moon non-stop business award available...
Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated!
I've been spending quite a while searching for UA (more specifically partner) business saver awards for May 2019 for our honeymoon (towards the end of the month) from ORD to NCE, which has been a struggle for flights that work out well schedule-wise. I normally start my search being picky and then loosen up based on what my options actually are.
I'm seeing quite poor availability from ORD to most major European cities non-stop for next May, is that common? Maybe I'm wrong but looking at May 30, 2019 as an example, there's no non-stop business searching from UA's site from ORD to any of these cities: ZRH, GVA, CDG, FCO, MAD, VIE, ATH, MUC, or FRA. I did not have this problem 2 years ago for our trip to Europe on AA.
I get that summer-time awards are harder to come by, but I've been religiously checking every single day for about a month now. I've been using ExpertFlyer to help search too, but coming up empty-handed there as well. With ORD having such a large UA presence, I guess I would think there would be more than 1 in a blue moon non-stop business award available...
Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated!