quanmama

I am still fairly new to the redeeming miles game and would like to know what to do in our case. We plan to fly roundtrip SFO<-->LHR next summer, outbound 6/14/2014 and inbound 7/5/2014. My question is should I book the outbound as one way first at the 330 days mark and then add the inbound segment later once it is available (assuming there are seats available). Would I be able to add the inbound segment? Or is it okay to just have two one way reservations? Does that matter in terms of fees? What do you do when you redeem your miles at the 330 days mark? Thank you!

BTW, we really enjoyed our Business First class seats for our just finished vacation and thank you for all the advice and suggestion. Now we are hooked!

DavidRS4

I always book 2 one way awards or buy 2 one way tickets when ever I can as it makes it easier if you need to change something later.

aacharya

Two one-ways is fine, but if you have to change both, you double the fees.

This also does not allow stop-overs.

WineCountryUA

yes
this is the potential downside. It could cost 2x to cancel and deposit 2 OWs versus RTs unless you are exempt from change fees.

quanmama

Thank you for all the responses. I will do the 2 one way reservations. Hopefully I could get everything with the Super Saver award!

UA-NYC

Note - it's really like 336 or 337 days out now...

DavidRS4

I forgot about change fees - as a 1K there are no change fees for award tickets

poverty.jet.set

But can you add the return flight, at its 330 day window, to the original one way and make it a round trip (thus allowing a stopover and open jaws)

WineCountryUA

But for sub-Plat level elites there will be a fee for changing the original ticket.

alex_b

As a 1k it isn't worth booking standard awards a long way out, as you have last seat availability, so you may as well wait until something appears. Get a MP Explorer Card so you get last seat standard award availability, that way you can wait and see if saver inventory opens up. What you may wish to do is book saver economy awards if they're available and waitlist for saver business. This could be considered a high risk strategy for a non-elite.

When looking for awards make sure you're properly logged in (go all the way into an existing reservation or your recent MP activity) as you'll want to see the extra award availability for elites credit card holders and ua.com can be flaky at showing that.

It may also be worth investing in an Expert Flyer subscription to alert you for award seats becoming available.

Because of the very high taxes flying out of the UK in long-haul business, you may save money by having a couple of days elsewhere in Europe on the way home. Unfortunately this would necessitate booking as a roundtrip (again you could book the return in saver economy and waitlist saver business).

CFFrost

I'm trying to figure out the best strategy for a non-elite booking a trip like this that includes a stopover. Especially with the new award fees, it sounds increasingly difficult to avoid fees. I want to fly SAN-LHR-CPT with a ~1-week stopover in LHR.

With the new fee structure it sounds like converting a 1-way award to a round-trip (to accommodate the stopover) would cost $175 for non-elites. This would be $350 in fees for a couple traveling together. Or, am I wrong that the $75 "Making a change 21 or more days prior to the date of travel (no change to origin/destination)" and the $100 "Making any change less than 21 days prior to the date of travel; or changing origin/destination at any time" fees stack?

alex_b

I don't believe fees stack (or at least they didn't use to). I'd set an EF alert on SFO/LAX/EWR-LHR and LHR/FRA-SFO/LAX/EWR for the dates you want to depart and return, SAN-gateway and back and the LHR-CPH bits should be fairly straightforward to find when the longhaul segments appear.

rankourabu

Is 330 days mark really necessary?

There are so many options SFO-LHR!

BearX220

Maybe for summer peak.

jbsay

Right now, I see 2 saver awards in GlobalFirst on UA 901, SFO-LHR, on 7/1/2013 (this Monday). It's peak travel season to London but UA still held up 2 GF seats until the week before the flight, hoping to sell them. Now it realizes that ain't happening, so it's likely a couple lucky non-rev will be sitting up front in two days. Also, on 7/3 and 7/5, there is one UA flight each day with 2 BF saver awards (one to LAX, the other to ORD).

The point is, odds are the availability you want *will* open up; it's just a matter of when it happens. Find a few routings you really want, set up EF alerts, and sit tight. Award booking gurus such as Gary Leff report that award seats routinely open up well after 330 days out, and often the best awards open up far closer to the date of flight.

If EF doesn't show any availability on your ideal award routings by, say, 90 days before flight, book whatever you can get in a decent premium cabin. But keep an eye out for last-minute openings in best-in-class cabins (e.g., Lufthansa F SFO-FRA on A380) that many FTers would deem very worth of a $175-per-person change fee.