SEAskyrider

I'm trying to visit Africa on an award in November flying on Ethiopian. The UA website shows zero economy space for ANY ET flights in a random sample of dates and routes throughout this year and 2017. I checked SEA-ADD, ADD-DKR, ADD-JNB, ADD-IAD, other random city pairs. Nothing but Business space. Phone agents can't see any economy space either. I'm guessing this is a problem on UA's end, but with MP changes looming in Oct, I'm running out of time (I want to use the current award rules).

What should I do besides hope it fixes itself in the next month?

Update: See post #109 below for resolution.

WineCountryUA

Do you see ET space on AC or ANA/NH systems?

SEAskyrider

Oh I forgot to mention. Yes, I see Y space on ET via Aeroplan for all of my desired flights and days (SEA-HGA, ADD-DKR). Have not checked ANA.

SEAskyrider

Update: It took me almost 2 hours on the phone with a UA agent but by being persistent and walking her through the flight numbers, she was finally able to book me an Ethiopian economy RT award to Africa. At first, the agent kept denying the flights were available, as she was seeing the same thing I was on UA.com, that only Business space is available. I told her it's strange that ZERO economy seats were available on any ET flights I checked between now and next summer on various routes. She didn't seem to think that was bizarre and gave a standard speech about how award space comes and goes. When I was persistent that the flights existed (because I saw them on Aeroplan and as recently as a few weeks ago on UA.com, I was sure the flight had Y space), she eventually asked some other support team. Then magically the flights were available and I was able to get her to book them. At the end of the call, she wanted to charge me the $25 booking fee, but I got it waived since the award isn't bookable online. No explanations given for the technical issue.

Xyzzy

I'm trying to book ET flights as UA awards and see all sorts of phantom inventory on the UA site that then turns out not to be bookable. S, I'd guess that this issue is still very much alive and well. Regular agents were of little help. After calling the UA ESD we were able to walk them through to find flights that have real inventory. As mentioned above, it took a loooong time.

glx

I've been trying to get a decent award routing for IAD-CPT on 12/27 or 12/28, and for literally months I see options for Ethiopian flights that are unbookable - by me or by agents.

"Error

Due to rapidly changing partner availability the following flights are no longer available. Please choose another flight or modify your search criteria.

Ethiopian Airlines flight ET707 - 12/28/2016 - 9:35 p.m. - Frankfurt, DE (FRA) to Addis Ababa, ET (ADD)
Ethiopian Airlines flight ET847 - 12/29/2016 - 8:30 a.m. - Addis Ababa, ET (ADD) to Cape Town, ZA (CPT)
"

There are actually more direct options (IAD-ADD-CPT) that also result in the same booking error. Why hasn't United fixed this? Any known way to exclude those results when searching?!

Mike Jacoubowsky

Have you flown ET before? If you have ever had issues with United's IT systems, you'll love ET. Their internal communications aren't bad, but if there's a run on string & orange juice cans, there'll be trouble coordinating with UA. The stories I could tell...

I would also recommend staying away from the ADD routing, since any hitch there is going to be tougher to re-route than FRA etc.

If ET is your only option, see if you can get someone to call ET on the phone, rather than just via computer.

OK, did a bit of playing around. You might also look at flying IAD-MUC-JNB then book a paid JNB-CPT flight. Or if you're adventurous and the schedule works out, you could take the overnight train from JNB to CPT.

narvik

The "Other Middle Eastern African Airlines" forum is not exactly bustling.

I'm trying to decide whether or not to book Ethiopian from ADD to EWR on ET508 on a United award ticket in business for travel this week..

Does anyone have experience with this flight? Do they allow you to exit the plane in Lome during the refueling?

IADOrange

Be aware that a lot of ET availability on UA.com doesn't actually exist - when you try to book, you'll find the web site errors out, and phone agents will tell you the buckets are zeroed out.

I haven't flown this specific flight, but my guess would be that exiting the plane in LFW will not be allowed. Other ET flights with a stop don't permit leaving, and you're only on the ground for 60 minutes, which is not enough time to really do anything anyway.

ET 787s are nothing special. Only a few of them are lie-flat, the rest are angled flat seats. ADD-IAD-EWR would get you lie-flats on the ET 777 but with a stop in DUB. IST is also an option.

riphamilton

beware that if you're getting to ADD on LH, their LH598 (listed on united.com as FRA-ADD) actually flies FRA-JED-ADD.

i flew a friend to KGL with my miles to attend a funeral; we only found out about the tag upon his arrival to FRA. just a heads up!

TomMM

Yes, I flew it on an award ticket for Christmas. Great flight. You can't exit the plane in Lome.

mike_L

ET business beat UAs one easily. I flew ADD to IAD with a stop over in Rome for 1 hour. The aircraft parked at a remote location, only crews can get in and out.

RobOnLI

I'm pretty sure the flight stops in FCO to let passengers off who are flying ADD-FCO, no?

-RM

narvik

THANKS to all.
The thought of being in that plane for so long isn't exactly encouraging me to book this flight this week. In the end I was able to snag a COMPLETELY different route with CA and AC.
This ET flight intrigues me though, and I might chose it in the future just for the fun/experience, if it becomes available again.

The refueling stop seems to be all over the place - another search ADD-IAD showed a 1 hour stop in DUB (Dublin).
Added: apparently they changed from Rome to Dublin in May 2015

Again, many thanks for all replies.

ETStar

Ethiopian started using Dublin as a technical stop in June 2015 instead of Rome. It only stops at Dublin when flying the ADD-IAD sector, the IAD-ADD sector operates nonstop.

While in its early years ET has done ADD-FCO-EWR-IAD and back, it did used to pick up and drop off passengers on the ADD-FCO-ADD sector during some peak seasons to supplement existing dedicated flights to FCO. All other flights did not have the ability to drop off pax on the ADD-FCO sector. I also understand that ET has for years tried and been unsuccessful in getting additional rights into FCO.