DougDons

I am a 1K and I just booked the following ticket for two from the US to Tokyo with all Saver Awards:

IAD-FRA UA916 - 777-200 GlobalFirst (ON)
FRA-BKK TG921 - A380 Business (I) Stopover for 3 days
BKK-NRT TG676 - A380 Business (I) Destination, will stay for 7 days
NRT-JFK NH1010 - 77W First (O)

I was charged 280,000 miles plus $216.60 for both tickets, does this sound right? My mileage activity is showing two SaverAward YF72 deductions for 140,000 miles. Looking at the United website, for US-Japan saver first/business it should be 120,000 miles plus 15,000 miles for "First Class when both Business Class and First Class are offered". So even if all segments were in first, I am not sure why I was charged 140,000 miles per ticket since it seems like the most would be 135,000 (120,000 + 15,000).

Also, my goal is to try to get on the LH 747-8i from IAD-FRA in business/first (I know it might be a long shot traveling with two) and move to first on the Thai segments. If I am able to get all my segments in first, will I need to pay more in miles and/or cash?

Thanks for the help!

rankourabu

you were (correctly) charged for BKK, not NRT.

BKK is your destination, and NRT your stopover.

you dont have to pay any more miles if you switch business to first. Cash depends on exchange rates and airport tax changes.

If it was me, I would have probably saved 10,000 miles for the IAD-FRA - and just taken business, its a short overnight flight - I personally dont feel UA F is worth 10,000 miles just for that segment.

You can then still have BKK-NRT-JFK in first for a total of 130,000 miles.

DougDons

Great, thanks for the quick reply and thanks for the advice.

Any idea why the trip is considered US-BKK and not US-NRT? I booked the trip on .com if that matters. Just curious on how it all works.

tomasem

My guess would be that it has to do with how the computer auto-prices given that the current haziness in terms of routing rules, etc. It's probably seeing the most expensive point along the way (in your case, SE Asia) as what it should charge.

You could always call and ask about it, although my guess is that given the 5k difference you probably shouldn't (some agents will probably see your itinerary and claim its a RTW, others will ahve no idea what to do, in any case you'll be on hold for hours).