aacharya

You can use award searches (last screen gives revenue options) or google.com/flights to book on UA directly.

TravelinSperry

Fair enough. But what I'm trying to ascertain is how to ensure PQDs are eligible. I read the rules and it says it must be 016 ticket stock. When booking via google flights as you suggest (or direct) I see the UA flight # but it says Operated by a *A airline. I can't find anywhere where I can see the ticket 016 before purchase. Can I?

aacharya

If you book on United Airlines, it will ticket on 016.

Kacee

Exactly. If you buy it through the UA website, and it's on a *A partner, it will count toward PQD.

Caveat that the TG flight will cost more through UA than if booked directly through TG, as UA typically only sells full fare (Y, J, F) TG tickets when you book through these methods.

kb1992

Trying to book NZ J class PVG-AKL.

1) united.com never shows the nonstop option for revenue search
2) NZ doesn't release J awards for this route
3) google.com/flights doesn't show UA option

What can I do?

arisaa

Can anybody clue me in on how to ticket this itinerary on 016 stock? Tried on UA website as revenue and as award to no avail.


Air Canada Flight 8108
7:05am Sun Jun 12
Houston, United States (IAH)
11:07am Sun Jun 12
Toronto, Canada (YYZ)
Business

Air Canada Flight 87
1:00pm Sun Jun 12
Toronto, Canada (YYZ)
3:15pm Mon Jun 13
Shanghai, China (PVG)
Business

Air Canada Flight 88
5:10pm Sun Jun 19
Shanghai, China (PVG)
7:00pm Sun Jun 19
Toronto, Canada (YYZ)
Business

Air Canada Flight 8115
8:55pm Sun Jun 19
Toronto, Canada (YYZ)
11:07pm Sun Jun 19
Houston, United States (IAH)
Business

zrs70

Are you looking for full business or discount? One option is to check online for any date where the award is available. When you find it, opt to purchase for revenue instead. Ticket it, then call UA to change to the dates you want.

PV_Premier

Hipmunk or google flights will probably give you this option.

jsloan

Indeed, if I put that itinerary into Google Flights, it comes up with four booking options (all prices USD): Air Canada $4,622, CheapOair $5,080, Orbitz $5,080, and United $5,487. (For the United purchase, it's changing the last leg to the UA codeshare of the same flight, for reasons known only to Google).

So, while you can do it online, you may do better by calling UA and asking them if they can get you the lower price. (The AC price may not be obtainable -- looking at the fare rules, it says "sale is restricted to specific agents," which may preclude UA. However, when I looked at the fare rules for the Orbitz / CheapOair price, I didn't see a plating restriction or any other reason that UA couldn't offer that fare).

alexperi

I just tried to make a booking with no UA segments - out with Brussels Airlines, back with Lufthansa. United.com kept giving me an error message. Phoned up and the agent said she couldn't ticket me a flight with no UA segments. HUACA. Second agent went ahead and ticketed it. (Right now it is not fully ticketed, it is on "24 hour hold" waiting for Brussels Airlines to confirm the space).

Assuming it gets confirmed - this is yet another example of inconsistency between phone reps. Kind of annoying...

nerdbirdsjc

Nearly all discounted TAP fares require plating only on TP ticket stock.

nerdbirdsjc

To be fair, while United's "willingness" to ticket bookings with no UA segments on non-016 stock is an awesome thing for us, it is decidedly *not* a company or industry best practice for many circumstances discussed in the thread.

nerdbirdsjc

Every IATA carrier effectively behaves like a travel agency when booking space on another airline, and is supposed to abide various industry resolutions, best practices, and carrier-specific booking rules.

Airlines can and do receive debit memos -- much like travel agents do -- for OAL ticketing violations.

sannmann

Has anyone recently had experience booking a *A revenue itinerary on 016 stock without any UA segments? I booked one on united.com about six hours ago involving three *A carriers. I got the "codeshare ticketing delay" e-mail and suppose I may have to wait up to 24 hours for ticketing. What should I do if it doesn't ticket by then?

Starman

Please do let us know if it eventually tickets automatically! This is a problem many of us are interested in, and there seems to be no uniform experience base. One might guess that if you phone in and talk to a human about this, you'll end up worse off! Do I understand correctly from your post that not only is there no UA metal, but also no UA codeshare flight numbers? Sounds like you're pretty lucky to have the website even forward it for ticketing. I've never been able to get the website to even offer me all *A itins with no UA flight numbers, but that's a separate issue.