Reward Travel Continental vs United
Jan 30, 2012, 1:57 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: BWI
Programs: UA Gold; Marriott Gold
Posts: 54
Reward Travel Continental vs United
I have been looking at reward travel from IAD to BKK for me and my wife and I have noticed it’s much easier to find a super saver award on continental vs united. From what I can tell continental includes star alliance partners in the search and united does not. Is this a glitch and something that will go away when the merger is complete?
Jan 30, 2012, 2:03 pm
#2
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,821
I have been looking at reward travel from IAD to BKK for me and my wife and I have noticed it’s much easier to find a super saver award on continental vs united. From what I can tell continental includes star alliance partners in the search and united does not. Is this a glitch and something that will go away when the merger is complete?
Jan 30, 2012, 2:18 pm
#3
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: DEN
Programs: UA 1P-1MM, Marriott LT Titanium
Posts: 3,930
My one complaint about the CO engine is that it doesn't let you easily filter by cabin, so you get a ton of flights that may not match what you are looking for (e.g. looking for F but lots of Y flights showing).
Jan 30, 2012, 2:22 pm
#4
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Illinois-downstate
Programs: UA 1K, UA MM, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 955
I so hope that the information is correct, that we will continue to be able to use the CO booking tools. I've given up on trying to book saver awards on UA, but opt for CO and can usually find what I want. I really don't mind looking at all of the options that pop up, even if I might only be looking for first class! UA doesn't begin to come close to this selection on CO.^
Jan 30, 2012, 2:52 pm
#6
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: gggrrrovvveee (ORD)
Programs: UA Pt, Marriott Ti, Hertz PC
Posts: 6,091
I, too, have found the CO award booking tool much easier to use and having much greater saver award availability than UA.
But at least CO gives you way more options than UA.
But at least CO gives you way more options than UA.
Jan 30, 2012, 4:45 pm
#7
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: BWI
Programs: UA Plat, AA Plat, Hyatt Diamond, PC Plat, HH Diamond, National Exec Elite
Posts: 129
Be careful with the CO award tool if looking for a specific cabin. They color code the days with the availability of each class. I have noted several times that the color code up top says only saver coach is available, but while scroling through the list of options it will have saver business or first.
Jan 30, 2012, 5:43 pm
#8
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: ORD
Programs: UA 1K/MM, MC Life Plat, HH Gold
Posts: 722
I've found useful features on both sites that the other is missing and have also found both to be somewhat bug-ridden in different ways. The bottom line is that I often do parallel searches on both sites. Regardless of which site is better, we'll soon lose one of them and I'm not optimistic that the other will get any better soon.
Jan 30, 2012, 5:54 pm
#9
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: PDX
Programs: AS 75K, BW Plat, Marriott Gold, IHG Plat, Hilton Gold
Posts: 10,723
Also, with the CO metal flights, at least domestically, there is the possibility of getting the EUA if you are a Chase card holder but not (for now at least) on UA metal...which is why I steer away from the UA metal flights when I'm flying on miles....as a Silver/2P, I've been EUA'd on 4 out of 5 reward travel flights so far which I think is good.
Jan 30, 2012, 6:11 pm
#10
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: ORD
Programs: UA 1K/MM, MC Life Plat, HH Gold
Posts: 722
Also, with the CO metal flights, at least domestically, there is the possibility of getting the EUA if you are a Chase card holder but not (for now at least) on UA metal...which is why I steer away from the UA metal flights when I'm flying on miles....as a Silver/2P, I've been EUA'd on 4 out of 5 reward travel flights so far which I think is good.
Another nice feature on the CO site is that you can cancel/refund an award ticket directly from the site (although you still need to call in to change flights).