Cant you use a ticket search site to look for certain booking fares?

Wow what time frame? All Iam seeing is $3k SFO-HEL

In late February and early March UA, AC and LH had some really great P fares to Spain.

I got ORD-MAD in late June for around $1900.

Later on there were fares to BCN, DUB and HEL.

Yeah I recall those but poster said he just booked Sfo-Hel for $1900.... I would be all over now if I could find deals below $2k

Unfortunately, you have to book them when you see them. I have lost way too many good fares by second guessing myself.

When I see a business fare that has a cost per mile near $0.10 (after class and elite bonuses), I jump on it.

My Spain trip is about $0.14 per mile. In retrospect, I could have gotten a cheaper fare if I waited a couple of weeks. The BCN fares were a little cheaper than the MAD fares.

I booked IAH-EWR-IST July 5, WAW-MUC-IAD-IAH July 15, intended to book Y, but I got the "upgrade to BF for $X" message, and the total fare in BF (P class) for the whole itinerary (including the LH leg WAW-MUC) was $3,400 (versus $1,800 in Y), so I snagged it. This seems like typical Europe summer sale pricing.

Mid $3K is typical 60 day Z/P fare. Summer fares have been as low as the mid-$2K.

I haven't gotten a mid-2K fare ex-IAH in 2-3 years. Not saying they don't exist but I haven't found them in awhile. Not like late-2000s when I got them every summer.

all from 2012
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...le-london.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...ss-z-sale.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...urope-aug.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...rope-sale.html

As an earlier poster noted, there was about a day in late January (I think) when the fares in P were crazy low. I got SFO-PRG for about $1850. The availability was spotty (I ended up SFO-LHR-FRA-PRG and PRG-FRA-ORD-SFO) but I'm not complaining. Haven't seen anything near that since.

Those are not really relevant. First one is ex-LHR only. Second doesn't mention IAH and is a flash sale. Third is a question about fares dropping to the $2K range, not a thread about fares actually being in that range. Fourth is Thanksgiving, not summer.

In the mid-to-late-2000s, every summer CO had a sustained, 30-day or more sale period when one could buy $2K BF fares for most of the summer (as long as seats remained available at the price). Haven't seen that kind of sale in several years.

just tried this past weekend, not possible on CS computer anymore. The FFP number is locked. I told the agent i used to be able to and she turn the computer to me and asked me to see for myself...

CS computer = ??

You're saying UA will not do this anymore?

I do this all the time at the gate. Rarely any issues except when the GA is super busy and possibly annoyed with my request. I've never had a request denied by UA, NH, LX or TG in this regard.

Mileage program change on second flight leg
 

I'm traveling from Toronto to Newark on Air Canada, then to Hong Kong on United. Both bought on lowest discount economy fare classes. I have both Aeroplan and MP. I checked MP's website, and it says that inter-continental flights like my YYZ-EWR can not earn any mileage accrual, but I can on my EWR-HKG flight.

I'm wondering is it possible to use my Aeroplan from Toronto to Newark (and earn the 50% accrual rate according to Air Canada), and then from Newark to Hong Kong use my Mileage Plus? Can I do a mileage program swap on my second leg at the Newark counters?

Thanks!