pnoobus

I've been seeing if I can book an SQ001 SFO->HKG flight on SQ metal using the united.com search, but nothing appears to come up. Is there any way to force this to come up, or is a phone call to book required? Thanks.

chavala

I hope if they're going to inflict this rule on us they'll make it easier to book other *A carriers online.

waxearwings

Interesting thread. Does it matter if a UA code share exists for the same flight you want to book? If it exists, are agents 'forced' to book the UA code share, as the fare is often higher?

sbm12

Phone call.
They are not forced to do one or the other.

FC ORD

I have a trip to Dubai and then to Seoul coming up. I'm trying to book flights ORD-DXB then DXB-ICN then ICN-ORD. United.bomb will not show any flights from Dubai to Seoul even though SQ and CA fly there in one stop.

Is there a way to book it online? Will calling be more successful?

Thanks

WineCountryUA

Try multi-destination taking in account the stop.

Calling should work fine.

Does this need to be on a 016 ticket for PQDs?
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...itinerary.html

sabbasolo

My TA issues all *A tickets on 016 since I asked

mduell

TG too.

Mike Jacoubowsky

Back in the day, on the "old" UA website, you could book a paid (not award) itin on ua.com with little effort. The only "trick" was that you might have had to use the price-by-schedule option.

Today? I can't get UA to allow me to book anything that's not a code share. Why does this matter? Because I'm trying to match up an award itin to a paid one, and there's a lot of ways to get SFO-BKK via saver awards (in Y, C & F) that simply cannot be booked as a paid ticket.

Is this just the website or is it a formal change, such that you can't call in and get an agent to book it either?

Thanks-

emcampbe

It will pretty much only bring up codeshare options if UA codeshares on the flight. i.e. you won't be able to book the ANA ORD-NRT segment as NH-marketed using the UA website on a revenue ticket. It will only bring up the codeshare. At least IME. Where it will bring up non-codeshare options is on non-partner carriers. For example, when I was looking at flying to DPS, it brought up an itinerary to HKG on UA metal, then onward on a CX flight.

There are a couple of potential ways it might be able to be done using UA. Best way to match up your flights is to use the multi-city option, specifying the connection cities. For example, if you are looking to go SFO-PVG-BKK, try a multi-city search for SFO-PVG, then PVG-BKK. You'll still likely get codeshares, but if the point is to get on the same flights as your companion, it shouldn't really matter who is marketing the flight - you all board and sit on the same plane.

One potential way around the codeshare altogether using the web site is to search for the itinerary as an award. Before you pay, there is almost always an option to purchase the ticket for $XXX. Obviously, the award availability has to be there for this option, and if on non-UA metal flights, the equivalent of saver. While I've clicked on this option before to see, I've never actually tried to go through with the purchase, so YMMV. Also, may not really book into the lowest fare class available if price is important. This option will even be there for flights that don't touch the US (i.e. BOM-BKK, for example). Again, not sure if the system will actually allow the purchase.

Third option, if you really want to book through UA, is to call and see if they can do it on the phone, though of course, you'll have to pay the phone booking fee. Last option that I can think of is to just use a TA, even an OTA should work. They should be able to do easily book whatever you want.

Mike Jacoubowsky

We're on the same page.

The multi-city option isn't working for non-codeshares anymore though, or at least not in most cases. It shows nothing at all for NRT-BKK for example, except UA's own flight. Nothing. An award search turns up a ton of saver fare options using *A carriers.

And in those few instances where you go through the booking steps on an award ticket on *A carriers and it gives you an option to purchase, the fare basis for the *A carrier (on a non-codeshare flight) is in Y, even when less-expensive buckets are available.

No phone or booking fare, since I'm Plat. For now.

Very frustrating to say the least.

WineCountryUA

Some related issues / observations discussed in http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...itinerary.html

Mike Jacoubowsky

So it's not just me!!!

Sometimes you can go through the initial process of booking an Award ticket and have the missing carrier show up there... then it may give you the option of purchasing the ticket instead. Trouble is, the purchased ticket is often sky-high because it defaults to booking the non-UA segment in Y (if it's not a code-share flight). This is really causing me grief trying to book an award ticket for my wife and a paid ticket for myself, because there's no award availability (at saver rates) for 100% UA itin, and the non-UA segments showing up for awards cannot be booked as paid flights (on UA's website).

Mike Jacoubowsky

Thank you, that thread did evolve into discussing my issue.

So question for you- did you find that thread because you remembered it, or did a search? I tried a search and couldn't come up with anything. And again, thank you for pointing me in the direction of that thread!

WineCountryUA

remembered it and remembered seeing it linked in the http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...ification.html wiki. Did not search.