FlyinHawaiian320

Tried looking for an answer to this but either couldn't find it or I'm just a lousy searcher. I'm a lowly silver member and want to fly to LAX (from EWR) with 3 other people (none of which have status). I personally would like to use my miles for the flight, but somehow put the 3 people on my reservation (but use my credit card for their airfares). The reason I'd do this is to save $50 in baggage fees for each person (first checked bag is free for each flight). Is there anyway I can book my flight, then book their flights together and somehow get them out of baggage fees? I see that it's not really possible to link PNRs. A united rep told me to book them separately and "chance it" with the gate agents the day we fly and explain that we're all together.

Thoughts?

WineCountryUA

To be on the same PNR, all passenger need to be booked in the same manner
- same dates
- same itin
- same fare class ( this also means all would have to be mileage tickets {from the same MP account} or all paid tickets )

Seems you are asking for something that would not be all mileage tickets from the same account -- so can't be a single PNR.

Even if your credit card has a bag waiver, the rules require the primary cardholder and the 1 (one) eligible companion be on the same PNR.

So the advice was correct, you best (although poor) chance is some counter agent will ignore UA policy and provide fee bags to your friends.

The better solution is for you to be on the 3 person paid single PNR (even if this means writing checks to reimburse you) and you put one of the others on an award ticket (with your miles). Have the award ticket person reimburse you the airfare. You are in some fuzzy ground here (selling / bartering award miles) but just don't provide any extra info to the agent. This is not uncommon for families to do.

FlyinHawaiian320

This is an awesome solution. Thank you!

aacharya

Just a thought: Right now, EWR-LAX is sub $300. Might just be best to save your miles (25K) for another use, book a 4-person PNR all in cash, and be done with it.

Of course, if you're cash-poor, miles-rich, that's another story. But this way, all get your Premier benefits (baggage, Boarding Group 2), and two of you will enjoy E+ at OLCI.

travellingwineO

I'm trying to plan a trip to S. America for family of 4 using UA miles. I see Saver award for 2 from BOI-SFO-LAX (on UA) and saver J LAX-SAL-LIM (on TA)for 4. If I book award tix for LAX-SAL-LIM and purchase seats on the BOI-SFO-LAX will united link the two itineraries, avoiding IRROPS trouble?*

*Two of us would be booked completely with miles, while two would have purchased seats (on the same flight) to get to LAX with award seats on the LAX-LIM.

sbm12

No.

"Linking" is a courtesy thing but provides no real value.

That said, assuming it is all booked through UA you'll likely be fine and able to convince them to accommodate you. I have been successful on such every time in the past I've tried and the carrier causing the problem is involved in the ticketing.

travellingwineO

Thanks for the response. Low enough risk that it would be worth booking my wife & I in the revenue seats so we can earn miles while the two kids (11 &13) fly on the award tix?

BH62

I have a vague recollection that at one time this was possible, but maybe not. Recently booked a TPAC for both BH's, but in order to apply GPUs from each account, we *had* to do this under two separate PNRs. So here we are; exact same itinerary, different PNRs. Is there any way to link them so that any changes/circumstances that might arise would apply to both?

WineCountryUA

Short answer - no.

And in this case the itins are not identical with the upgrade support coming from two different accounts.

You can have a comment placed in the PNRs referencing the other but computers don't read the comments and generally anytime an agent might see the comment, you are probably talking to the agent, so it gains little.

avneeshj

I am trying to issue a UA Award using my AI miles on the route LAS-EWR-DTW. AI reps are telling me it is impossible to issue this on a single PNR. They are trying to issue 2 tickets for LAS-EWR and EWR-DTW separately. Since my itinerary only has a layover of ~1 hour I was wondering if there is a way to merge the PNRs so as to enable me to check bags through to DTW and also be protected in case of IRROPS. AI is unable to give me any answer regarding this. According to them United is not letting them issue this ticket as this is considered backtracking.

david_oz

My girlfriend and I are booked on a multi city YYC-SIN/SIN-NRT/HND-YYC next February on the same reservation. I am 1K and she is gold, so we both get free E+ and same day changes.

Our friend is looking to join us on the trip, but she has no status. Is it possible to "join" our reservations if we are on the exact same combination of flights? If so, what is the best way to do this?

i would especially like to get my friend into economy plus so we can all sit together, and also to swap our HND return flight to NRT to avoid lugging our bags around all day since Tokyo is a full day stopover on the way home.

Thanks

Dave

JVPhoto

Not sure about the flight changes but you can call the 1K desk and give your friend's name/confirmation number and they can move them to E+ with you.

WineCountryUA

Not possible to merge / join reservations made separately.

That is no problem, just call and request it. You can not do this online


That will cost you a change fee and potential fare change.

jsloan

You won't be able to add another person to an existing itinerary. As already stated, you can call and get your friend moved into E+ with you as a courtesy. (It's not technically within the rules, but it's generally provided without complaint).

It's unlikely that you'll be able to switch airports without paying a change fee (and any difference in fare), whether you attempt to do it via SDC or not.

mherdeg

It is very close to impossible. It's not a supported operation.

Under the hood, something like this may be able to be done by an extremely motivated agent manually creating a brand-new multi-passenger itinerary (possibly forcing open inventory in the appropriate fare class to do it), then manually tying the new reservation to the existing e-tickets (I think I have read one example of a time that UA did this).

Should just be able to call in that E+ seat request (same reservation not needed, they just need to see yours and your friend's).

That's probably a reservation change which you should assume will cost money (depending on your fare rules and unless there's a special travel waiver). You could call it in and get a price quote.

Your best bet given that you need to transit NRT-HND anyway is probably to store your bags at a train station, probably either Tokyo station or Shinagawa station for the typical NRT-HND transit options.