Kugball

What can/should I do?
Booked 2 Global First seats on UA ORD-FCO for next May, long leg was 777-200 global first for 135k miles each (on milesaver award). Equipment and schedules all got changed and now im on 767-400 in bus/first both directions. Please tell me they have to refund the 35k diff pp because we're in bus/first now and not Global-First?!!???
1) Should I just call now and try and get the mileage refunds or wait until we're close when it seems certain equip will be same and we'll be in bus/first. OR
2)Can i try and get them to change us to other flight route with global first on the planes? (no milesaver avail on those flights but some anytime awards right now)
3) Is it even worth it now with the new bus/first seats supposedly almost as good as a global seat anyway?
thanks!!!

j1j2j38

They should refund the difference in miles, which seems like the best option to me. I hadn't noticed before that the difference between the business and the first award cost is so big for trips to europe. 35,000 mile roundtrip difference for europe vs only 20,000 mile roundtrip difference to asia. ORD to FCO isn't even that long of a flight. Unless you have a ton of miles so barely value them at all, definitely seems like you actually come out ahead as long as they get refunded, which they should.
They may let you do the other options if you prefer... changing to a different flight or opening up availability on a different flight, but the latter seems unlikely, and you can do the first option yourself for free if you have platinum or 1k status.

GBadger

I'd say your chances of getting your 35k miles back are equal, so it doesn't necessarily matter whether you call now or later in this respect.

You can certainly try (it doesn't hurt to ask). If you want to go this route, I would do it sooner, rather than later to ensure that you have as much availability/flexibility as possible.

I can't say I've flown both, but if you're doing it solely for the seat then, no I wouldn't worry about switching.

Depends on where you're flying to in Asia as well. If you're going to Japan, it's only 15k difference between J and F. I'm certainly not complaining!