sinfonia

Both of these comments are quite helpful. Thank you for the insight and information. We will definitely go ahead and grab what we can now and then try to waitlist.

financialhippie

When does Swiss open up award availability for United MileagePlus? Looking to book BOS-ZRH-(DRS, PRG, or something else) on on April 11th, 12th, or 13th. This one has a big enough stop in Zurich that I figure I could hop out and check out the city for a bit. Not sure if I missed the window (ie. should have booked ASAP), or if Swiss hasn't released space yet. 3 travelers, economy, and I have the Chase MileagePlus Explorer card for extra availability.

Also open to other alternatives if anybody has ideas on other cities to stop in. Not looking to book an actual United stopover, juts a long layover.

Kacee

There is no pattern. LX may open space tomorrow, a month from now, or never.

financialhippie

Hmm thanks Kacee! I'll keep an eye out in the meantime then

Kacee

Yup. Check every day if you can.

agciv

Not sure if this is the right place to post, so apologies if it isn't.

Is anyone familiar with UA award flight out of MRU? My understanding is that TK tends to release/ become available when or soon after UA opens award booking. I have been searching for business seats on the MRU to IST route in Oct. 2018 since award space opened up last winter. Expert flyer has not show any availability, even though TK has availability in its own award program. I have not had any success finding TK biz seats on the date I need, or any other date for that matter, through UA award bookings. I have mixed award ticket as is, but I'm in economy from MRU to IST and IST to TLV, but I have biz from TLV to SFO.

In short, am I searching in vain for an UA biz award ticket on TK metal from MRU to IST?

Thanks

gottaluvNW

Does United typically open up a lot of last minute award seats ex Chicago towards Europe?
I can find plenty of availability this week and next. But none, thereafter.
Makes me think they follow the LH/LX model of releasing seats 14 days prior.

I need a one way ticket ex Chicago to anywhere in Europe (ideally Heathrow) in a few weeks and wondering whether the strategy of waiting till 14 days prior makes sense.

Would any Mileage Plus gurus care to comment?

FlyerTalker70

What class or travel? I'm currently seeing some good Y deals out of ORD to KEF and LHR on AC & UA. For instance:

• Sep 20-27 - ORD -> KEF on AC - $349 USD [Google Flights]
• Sept 20-27 - ORD -> LHR on LH(UA) - $543 USD [Google Flights]

This would also earn you PQM/RDM and allow you to burn GPUs/miles on the upgrade (supposing there's availability).

OTOH if you're looking strictly for J availability could you share the dates you're intending to travel and some of the places you've look so far so we can identify places off the beaten path so to speak that may still hold availability (i.e. ZRH & GVA, hubs for Swiss, OSL a hub for SK, WAW a hub for LO, VIE a hub for OS, FRA & MUC hubs for LH, etc.)?

Safe Travels,

James

jsloan

There's no hard-and-fast rule for UA award space the way there is for LH F. However, if they don't manage to sell the seats, they may eventually offer them for awards -- possibly even as late as the day of travel. I wouldn't necessarily take upcoming inventory as a guide toward the future, though; it may just be that there isn't a lot of business travel to Europe in late August, since many Europeans are on vacation.

It sounds like you have quite a bit of flexibility, so the idea of waiting is reasonable, as long as you have a sensible backup plan. The last-minute booking fee is cheaper than the last-minute change fee, so that's another consideration. However, I wouldn't rule out the possibility of booking plan B now, assuming you can find something that approximates your needs, and then calling UA to waitlist for the flight that you really want. You can only waitlist on UA metal, and you can only waitlist when you have a confirmed reservation. But, if you can find something like ORD-DUB-LHR, you can book that and then waitlist the ORD-LHR nonstop, and it gives you some peace of mind.

gottaluvNW

James, thanks for the comments.
I do need a business class seat. One way. Needs to be on any *A carrier into Europe (preferably not TK).
I am flexible on my dates - between 26 and 29 Sept would be ideal...
I have looked everywhere from United to Miles and More websites. Nothing. Nada...

flyguy6

I was looking at the DEN-LIH route on the 757-200 with lie flat seats in first for 2 people. My dates are flexible but I can't find any save award space. Any tips on getting a saver seat on this high demand route?

mahasamatman

Start looking 11 months out. But even that's no guarantee.

If you see even a 1-stop or 2-stop in F, book it. The way United loves schedule changes, it should be relatively simply to get on the non-stop after a major change.

jsloan

You've answered your own question. UA knows that they can sell those seats, so they rarely will open them up for awards. If seats aren't sold, they may open some up for last minute travel -- for example, you can get 2 seats from DEN to LIH this Sunday -- I doubt there was much demand for the Sunday of a three-day weekend.

If you can find saver economy seats -- itself a tough proposition at times -- you can call UA and waitlist for business class saver instead. There's no guarantee you'll clear, but you'd at least have a chance.

Kacee

16 seat F cabin. Going to be extraordinarily difficult. Hawaii on lie flats is mostly pay for F this days.

FlyerTalker70

Sorry for not responding so soon your message "slipped through the cracks". Good news, there appears to be J Saver availability on some of those dates...here's on to LHR (via FRA):



These flights are operated all by LH which if my understanding is correct will grant you access to the Polaris lounge at ORD, the LH lounge at FRA and the UA Arrivals lounge in LHR (thanks to an agreement LH and UA have on lounges?)

I should also note that award bookings don't work on a principle like logic! Normally, the savvy traveller would purchase tickets weeks or months in advance, especially when flying international in premium cabin to get the best deal. At the same time airlines aren't eager to release inventory of their flights as award space which they could easily make more money selling as a revenue ticket (hopefully). However, airline seats are a perishable commodity, the value of those seats goes from several thousand to 0 once the wheels of the plane leaves the gate. Hence, the closer you get to departure date the more likely you are to snag a premium seat award (especially with LH where that seems to be the rule not the exception)! Indeed award bookings are best used for last minute travel when the fares are high and the airlines are desperate to unload those seats they won't sell!

Hope this helps.

Safe Travels,

James