sbm12

Just call BR if you don't want to call UA.

zcat18

Thanks. I'll just call UA. Just wanted to make sure it wasn't accessible online somewhere first.

MyXa

Not an option for me. I'm 3k miles short for an award ticket and since they had a sale, decided to add them. I'm not flying with United before that so...

sbm12

Why not? Buy a ticket like EWR-FLL, let it issue, buy the extra miles then cancel the ticket. My guess is that EWR-FLL at ~1,000 miles will give you the opportunity to buy ~3,000 as one of the two options. If not then try other options.

Save yourself some cash on the 3,000 miles without too much work required.

michaelpowell44

Are there any tips/hints to getting transferred to a call center in USA as a non-elite.

GDaoV

Got some awards tkts from UA for in-laws from IAH>FRA on UA then FRA>BKK>SGN on TG. At checkin @ IAH, they'll get their UA boarding tkts only, right? Once they arrive in FRA, they will need to go to the TG desk for their remaining boarding passes?

alex_b

If it's booked as one reservation I'd expect them to get all boarding passes at IAH.

GDaoV

1 reservation; however, UA does not have their seat assignments for the TG segments. I do have the seats for the TG segments assigned. I called into the premier line and the CSR can't see the TG seats. She said they'll get their boarding passes in FRA with the seats. A 2.5 hrs connection so I will assume that they'll be ok getting from 1C to 1B. I'm just trying to verify on FT. Maybe another case of HUACA...

alex_b

I know when I connected EWR-FRA-PNQ (FRA-PNQ on LH) even though I couldn't see my LH seat assignment on United the agent at EWR still managed to get me my boarding pass. Same with JFK-LAX-AKL-NPE last year, checked in with UA and was given both my UA and NZ boarding passes without issue (until I got to LAX and the TSA idiots decided I needed a BP printed by NZ to get through the checkpoint - another one of those "local rules").

PS 2.5 hrs is fine for a non-EU to non-EU connection in FRA. There is a transfer desk once you deplane and prior to reclearing security, they'll need the onward BPs by the time they clear 1B security.

Yes call late afternoon/early evening EST and you're more likely to get Houston or Hawaii.

skagen

Looking to book some award travel in an obviously difficult-to-book time.

Was able to secure the one-way with saver-awards from MSP to CUN on November 24th. Ideally would be returning November 30th or December 1st (the Sunday or Monday after Thanksgiving).

There was never any saver-award availability that opened up for the return flight. My guess is that it's not going to happen and I should just use $$ for the one-way home, but if anyone has any experience with this I'm wondering if they've seen saver-award availability open up later on down the road for a date like this where it never seemed to have availability to begin with.

jackal

I don't think that matters. The check-in system is a different component of the system than the reservation system. Interline check-in/boarding pass issue goes through a different channel. Not all airlines can issue boarding passes for all other airlines--they have to have a specific agreement to do so and be linked together through a computer network for which I can't recall the acronym (starts with an A, IIRC). That system should pull the correct seat assignments in real-time from the operating carrier, even if the reservation itself hasn't been updated on United.com.

In these cases, though, the BP you'll receive for your connecting carrier won't do a lot of good, as the barcode format may be unreadable by the connecting carrier's gate scanner. The connecting carrier may need to reprint a BP that their own scanners can read. It still doesn't hurt to have it, though.

actie

I'm a newbie FTer soon to make his first ever award redemptions, so apologies for what's undoubtedly a fairly novice question.

I'm planning to book award tickets for two people for JFK-NRT. At the moment the best option for the dates we're considering appears to be flying in Y (technically X) on NH. (We could also go NYC-ORD-NRT on United metal, with the long haul in F, but the reviews of United's Global First product are mixed, so I'm not sure it's worth blowing so many points on that.)

My question is this: If I do end up booking us on NH in coach using UA miles, would there be any chance of upgrading to J using miles (for instance, if later on the flight in question released some J award availability)? Failing that, even premium economy would be a nice improvement—is it possible to upgrade to that later on (whether with miles or cold hard cash)? Or is it generally just not in the cards to upgrade to a higher class on partner airlines when booking with MP points?

alex_b

If award space opens up then you can switch for the appropriate change fee and additional miles. Bear in mind after 1/31 there will be an uplift in premium partner awards so the change may be pretty steep. If there is saver Y availability on the EWR-NRT flight (UA) you can waitlist for saver C.

leonidas

I am flying DCA-EWR-BOM-MAA. The first two segments are on UA and the last one on 9W, all on one ticket (016) but there are two PNRs for UA and 9W. Can we crecit the DCA-BOM miles to UA and BOM-MAA to 9W FF programs? The 9W flight is V class which doesn't earn any miles on UA.

scratchphysics

Can someone explain award change rules? If I want to change a saver award to a different date, it must be available on that date right?