Changes to *A Awards Without Incurring Additional Miles after 3-Feb-2014
Feb 11, 2014, 9:11 pm
#76
Join Date: Nov 2006
Programs: Marriott Platinum, Hilton Diamond, IHG Platinum
Posts: 3,721
FlyerChrisK: all the agents I dealt with did ask for more miles, which makes me think the system is doing that automatically. I just remind them my original ticket was in F, the changes I'm making are also in F with no region or cabin change (cabin here being what the ticket entitles you to), and simple changes like that should not trigger a reprice. Once I mention that, the agents seem to agree with the theory and are able to confirm with their supervisor. Know your stuff and make sure they sense it.
Feb 11, 2014, 9:25 pm
#77
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Jersey City, NJ
Programs: UA GS, AA Exec Plat, Bonvoy Ambassador, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 348
Just did the following change, nothing fancy, but just another data point:
From:
TPE-CDG BR J
CDG-VIE OS J
VIE-YYZ OS J
YYZ-EWR AC
To:
TPE-CDG BR J
CDG-VIE OS J
VIE-JFK OS J
side note: I've been monitoring OS J everyday and all of a sudden today there is a seat almost every day in parts of March
From:
TPE-CDG BR J
CDG-VIE OS J
VIE-YYZ OS J
YYZ-EWR AC
To:
TPE-CDG BR J
CDG-VIE OS J
VIE-JFK OS J
side note: I've been monitoring OS J everyday and all of a sudden today there is a seat almost every day in parts of March
Feb 11, 2014, 10:30 pm
#78
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: SFO
Programs: UA 1K, AA Plat, AS MVPG
Posts: 287
Not to rub salt, but just changed dates and carriers:
CPT-JNB, SA J
JNB-IAD, SA J
IAD-SFO UA F
to
CPT-JNB, SA J
JNB-MUC, SA J
MUC-IAD, UA J
The part that shocked me is that I did it online -- and the system (correctly) didn't request more miles. (I'm sure it wouldn't be that easy if I was trying to to do something more complicated..)
CPT-JNB, SA J
JNB-IAD, SA J
IAD-SFO UA F
to
CPT-JNB, SA J
JNB-MUC, SA J
MUC-IAD, UA J
The part that shocked me is that I did it online -- and the system (correctly) didn't request more miles. (I'm sure it wouldn't be that easy if I was trying to to do something more complicated..)
Feb 11, 2014, 11:30 pm
#79
Join Date: Dec 2004
Programs: UA-1K, MM, Hilton-Diamond, Marriott-Titanium
Posts: 4,432
Had a booking which was for all First. The LH segment from FRA was only available in Business. I just checked and the f cabin award out of FRA is now available. tried to do it online and got all the way through to the confirm and then got the error message. Called in and after about a 10 minute wait got the segment in F.
Feb 12, 2014, 3:50 am
#80
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Miami, FL
Programs: AA EXP, Hyatt Diamond, SPG Gold
Posts: 69
I wish this were this easy. I have LAX-PEK(F)-TPE(J) / TPE-NRT(J)-CDG (F, stop)-MUC(J)-YUL(J). Just so everyone is clear, this is a roundtrip award in F to Asia with a stopover in Europe. This is not a round the world ticket nor a multicity F-F-J ticket.
This ticket was originally CDG-FRA(J)-JFK(J), but when I saw MUC-YUL/YVR F availability open up, I called last night and the first agent changed it for me...
...when I got the confirmation email, I saw that she had booked me in J for MUC-YUL. I've since made 7 phone calls to United, some today, some yesterday, and had:
Any magic words I should be saying (that also won't get me a dreaded note if it back fires) to make this work? Given the other successes in this thread, I'm fascinated by how difficult this is
Do I need to kill my stopover in Paris, move up to F, and then rebuild my stopover? This is insane.
This ticket was originally CDG-FRA(J)-JFK(J), but when I saw MUC-YUL/YVR F availability open up, I called last night and the first agent changed it for me...
...when I got the confirmation email, I saw that she had booked me in J for MUC-YUL. I've since made 7 phone calls to United, some today, some yesterday, and had:
- 4 agents lecture me about how the award chart changed effective 2/3, and how I'll need to cough up additional miles.
- 1 agent look at this award, tell me that I'll have to cough up some miles, and then start lecturing me about how this a round the world trip, so I'll have to cough up even more miles than that.
- 1 agent telling me that my destination is truly Paris (no, it's not, I'm spending several days in TPE and I can't route via Asia to get to Europe on United), so this is two awards, a first class award to Paris and then a business class return from Paris (don't mind that I paid for a roundtrip in F to Asia).
- 1 agent telling me there is no F availability on MUC-YUL for my day of travel. ANA's search disagrees.
Any magic words I should be saying (that also won't get me a dreaded note if it back fires) to make this work? Given the other successes in this thread, I'm fascinated by how difficult this is
Do I need to kill my stopover in Paris, move up to F, and then rebuild my stopover? This is insane.
I just told the agent I couldn't do it online and I have the flight #'s in front of me and I can just give him those. He took down my new routing and at the end told me it'll just be change fees to make those changes and he did it while I was on the phone and at the end told me the extra taxes + change fees needed and mentioned no extra miles are needed.. I think it just depends who you get and it might also be confusion with the agents regarding your route
Feb 12, 2014, 5:17 am
#81
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: SEA, FLL, Martha’s Vineyard
Programs: AS MVPGold75K, Hilton Gold, IHG Platinum, Pan Am million-miler
Posts: 2,019
On US-SE Asia are we allowed 3 connections or 4?
Feb 12, 2014, 12:32 pm
#82
Join Date: Nov 2006
Programs: Marriott Platinum, Hilton Diamond, IHG Platinum
Posts: 3,721
Feb 12, 2014, 12:50 pm
#83
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Washington DC
Programs: Premier Executive, Continental Platinum, SPG Gold, IHG Platinum, Velocity Gold, Alaskan MPV Gold.
Posts: 461
Be Carefull
I changed my flight from IAD-FRA-BBK to IAD-NRT-BBK all on-line. No more miles and just the change fee ($50). I tried to get a seat on ANA but they couldn't see the confirmation number but could see the ticket number. United said it was confirmed. I called and they wanted another 70k miles for the flight and that the website was incorrect (surprise, surprise!). I was told by the agent to always call when you want to make a change to an award reservation because the website is incorrect many, many times.
I was looking forward to 14 hours in 1st on ANA, never done it before.
I was looking forward to 14 hours in 1st on ANA, never done it before.
Feb 12, 2014, 1:01 pm
#84
Join Date: Nov 2006
Programs: Marriott Platinum, Hilton Diamond, IHG Platinum
Posts: 3,721
Feb 12, 2014, 2:44 pm
#85
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 834
Just did an online change from BKK to ORD via FRA. Change dates and flights for end of May to BKK-FRA TG 380 O class and FRA-ORD UA 777 O class with no additional miles or money. Hope to change FRA-ORD on LH when the flights open up. Good luck to all and safe travels! 
Feb 12, 2014, 2:59 pm
#86
Join Date: Apr 2012
Programs: UA Premier 1K, Hyatt Diamond, Marriott Platinum, Hilton Gold
Posts: 59
Two online changes to the same one-way ticket in the past 72 hours:
Original:
NRT-ORD ANA Y
Change 1:
ITM-NRT-ORD ANA Y
Change 2:
KIX-SFO-ORD UA Y+
Both changes recalculated taxes but did not charge additional miles. Both ticketed almost instantly.
Original:
NRT-ORD ANA Y
Change 1:
ITM-NRT-ORD ANA Y
Change 2:
KIX-SFO-ORD UA Y+
Both changes recalculated taxes but did not charge additional miles. Both ticketed almost instantly.
Feb 13, 2014, 4:16 am
#87
Join Date: Nov 2013
Posts: 855
Simple change for me: Same routing, different dates (slightly different scheduling and different flight numbers). No carrier changes (TG/OZ/UA).
The website wanted to charge more miles (up to the current level), but the phone agent changed the reservation quickly without saying anything about extra miles.
The website wanted to charge more miles (up to the current level), but the phone agent changed the reservation quickly without saying anything about extra miles.
Feb 13, 2014, 7:29 am
#88
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: LAX
Programs: UA-1K, Hertz-Gold, Marriott-Gold, PC-Platinum, SPG
Posts: 2,777
Feb 13, 2014, 10:49 am
#90
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: LAX
Programs: UA-1K, Hertz-Gold, Marriott-Gold, PC-Platinum, SPG
Posts: 2,777