dan9124

Were you able to locate your booking on the ET website? I just booked the same route yesterday and can't get the booking to pull up on ET.com

FlyingHighlander

Is it possible to do any kind of "same day change" on an ET award flight booked though UA?

I'm looking to book WDH-ADD-IAD for date I know I can fly, but as I get very close to the flight I may find I am able to travel 24hrs earlier - is it at all possible to call/show up at airport and try to fly the same routing exactly 24hrs earlier?

WineCountryUA

SDC does not apply to partner flights, so that would not be possible (plus exactly 24-hour SDC is generally not possible on UA itins).

Assuming this is not a part of a larger itin, if award space on WDH-ADD-IAD opens up on a better date, then subject to change fees, you can cancel the original and book the new dates. While not always needed, it best to do at least 24 hours prior to the new itin.

FlyingHighlander

Thanks. WDH-ADD-IAD is the entire itinerary on this ET ticket. My problem will be that I won't know until 4hrs before departure that I could make the flight ((the one that is 24hrs earlier than my scheduled one) (so 28hrs prior to my originally planned flight)). If there was award space available I'd be willing to pay change fees, but perhaps it's too risky tonl attempt.

As an aside, I am planning to look for a more desirable itinerary around 7-14 days before departure if, e.g. UA, SA, or LH, availability opens up.

susiesan

I have been watching for J award seats from MCI/ORD to ADD/WDH on ET flights for late Aug. or early Sept. 2020 for a Namibia tour. Up until two days ago there were plentyy of seats on the ORD-ADD leg. Now all of a sudden they are gone. The ET flights from IAH-ADD have a scattered dates available, but they don't work to go o not Windhoek. The return from WDH-MCI shows 4 days in September, but none involve the ADD-ORD flights. I don't want to book a return if I can't get to WDH in J.

Any idea why ET has suddenly made J award seats on the ORD-ADD route unavailable? When I search ORD-ADD and return none of the Chicago flights are there. Has ET eliminated this route for next year? Flying ET is the easiest way to get to Africa for a safari. The flights are long and the ET J cabin isn't the best, but it has the shortest time routing from the Midwest/Kansas City.

I remember 2 years ago when trying to book ET award flights to get to Tanzania for a safari that ET availability was gone from UA for 4-6 months. This was a UA glitch that took them a long time to fix. Perhaps something like this is happening again.

erik19283

If I book an award using United miles for a flight on Ethiopian Airlines in business class, which has a 45-minute connection in ADD to another flight on Ethiopian Airlines, and if the flight were to be late and I missed my connection, what would likely happen? Would Ethiopian Airlines book me on the next available flight? Would I have to contact United to be booked on the next available flight? Would I be stuck on ADD and need to get myself a new flight?

jsloan

The late-delivering carrier is always responsible for getting you to your destination. If your Ethiopian (ET) flight is late, ET will book you on the next available flight to your destination, preferring to keep you on an ET-operated flight. United may also be willing to help as a goodwill gesture, but ET has more latitude. (For example, UA could only book you onto another flight with award availability; ET could book you on any flight).

st530

Hopefully subject line is clear but in multiple attempts to try to book an ET award ticket on UA.com for IAH-LFW-ACC/LOS, UA is not showing any option to book direct to LFW then to the final destination; rather, it only gives me IAH-LFW-ADD, followed by a long layover in ADD, then a 5-hour flight from ADD back west to ACC/LOS. The whole reason (or at least a main reason) ET launched this flight was to provide easy one-stop connections from IAH to W Africa through the hublet at LFW. Forcing a passenger to continue on from LFW to ADD and then backtrack to W Africa makes no sense. So for now, I booked IAH-LFW-IAH (biz saver at 160 K miles round trip) and bought a separate revenue ticket for the short LFW-ACC-LFW segments.

WineCountryUA

Has ET released award space for LFW-ACC/LOS?

st530

How does one determine that?

WineCountryUA

Can you book it on UA -- just that award segment? Or you can try AC or ANA booking engines?

If ET has not released the space, then the presents a different problem.

st530

On the dates I was looking at (May 31-June 3), UA.com says no available flights (not even LFW-ADD-ACC, which is bookable as part of IAH-LFW-ADD-ACC).

JayhawkCO

ET doesn't fly ex-LFW to anywhere other than IAH, EWR, and ADD. They do, however, partner with ASKY Airlines for those one-stop flights you're referring to. The problem in your case is that ASKY is not a *A member, so hence, no award seats. You could book a revenue ticket and easily route IAH-LFW-ACC, but not as an award.

Chris

st530

Thanks, I knew it was ASKY but thought there might be an Edelweiss-type arrangement (maybe that will come eventually). In the end I booked IAH-LFW-IAH as an award and a separate revenue ticket for LFW-ACC-LFW.

susiesan

I am trying to change the date on 2 J awards I have on ET to go to Namibia for a safari vacation. These tickets were booked initially online with no problems, and are ticketed fare class business,(I) I see seats J available on the award calendar on the days I want to change to. When I click on select and go to make a purchase/booking, and I look at the details on that screen, the seats are now in coach (I).

I have called UA about this and they cannot ticket me into business. Is this a UA problem or a ET problem?

Edit: it is a week later and still no fix. It is impossible to ticket into business class on any ET flight from North America. Will this ever be fixed?
Edit: it is now a new month, March 6, and there are virtually no J awards from NA to ADD on any routes on any dates except the EWR flight. There are also no coach awards on the ORD-ADD and IAD-ADD flights for the next 4 months. I know in the past ET awards have disappeared from UA calendar for months and months. Is this a contract dispute? See post #215.