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How to book LH F awards? when available? issues?

Old Jan 11, 2015, 1:33 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
Previous thread - How to book LH F awards? when available? issues? {Archive}

============= copied from bumfluff's guide on LH award F =========================
For the past 3 years I have been flying to Asia, twice a year, for medical relief work. During that time Ive booked a lot of LH F awards using my UA miles. This guide actually started as a how-to for my colleagues and I figured I could help some FTers along the way. DISCLAIMER: This info is solely based on my personal experience and in no way meant to be definitive. There are so many other great resources that I used along the way (links below), but in the end this how I got it to work for me. Hope it helps!

-Know the timings. It is widely understood that LH releases F awards to UA at around 15.00pst within 14 days of departure. I myself have only ever found bookable awards within T-10 days. Starting in 2008?, reduced to 7 days and at times 2-3 days

-Know inventory status. This is key. As long as there are available F seats theres a chance theyll open up for UA MP redemption. Use EF, kayak, or the LH site to determine how many actual seats are available in the F cabin. Use this info when youre more than T-14 days to determine what is likely to open up for awards redemption. If a flight is showing F8 or F7 you are almost guaranteed that one seat will open up at some point (T-14 through T-0). From my experience, if a flight shows F7-F4 it will open up around T-7 days, anything less than F4 will open up between T-3 to T-0. If youre looking to book 2 seats look for at least F6.

-Know the routes. Most people reading this post will be interested in ex-USA new LH F awards to Europe. Use the LH NEW PRODUCT TOOL to determine if the route you want has the new F product. At the time of posting (10/2013) the new LH F product is flying out of IAD, ORD, EWR, SFO, LAX, JFK, IAH, MIA to FRA and SFO, BOS, ORD, LAX, YUL, JFK, EWR, and CLT to MUC. International new F product can be found on FRA to DXB, DEL, NRT, HKG, KUL, BKK, SIN, PVG, PEK and select ex-MUC routes. Find other direct LH routes using the LH ROUTE MAP or Flight Mapper

-Some routes are more likely to open up than others. Heres the bad news, in my opinion, finding a LH F award seat out of LAX, SFO, or MIA is almost impossible. JFK, ORD, EWR, IAD and (surprisingly) IAH are a little easier. And, if you just want to fly the new LH F product keep an eye on CLT-MUC, in my experience this routing is usually wide open. Generally speaking, F awards into MUC are a little easier to come by. Check out the links below to get more info on which routes out of the US have the best availability. As for international routings, Ive found FRA-DEL, DXB and NRT to be pretty consistent. I have also had success booking FRA-SIN, BKK/KUL.

-Use the ANA tool less. Im going to get a lot of flak over this one, and the truth is the ANA site is still the MOST accurate solution to determine if there is a bookable LH F award. However, in my experience there is a ton of value in keeping an eye on the UA site, specifically I have found that the UA site is really good at predicting upcoming bookable LH F awards. In most cases, phantom segments eventually become bookable. Assuming you have checked the inventory and its greater than F4, it should become bookable (over the phone) within a couple days of showing up on the UA site as phantom. And that same award will not show up on the ANA site right away.

-Book over the phone. A common question is: Should I try and book this online or over the phone? The answer is: it depends, but probably over the phone. If you are only looking to score one segment (ie your entire itin is JKF-FRA) you could definitely book it online, and if its a phantom award (which it probably will be) the transaction will not go through but you will be waitlisted and be first in line when it does become bookable. If you have a ticketed itin and want to change to include a LH F segment, this is best done over the phone when it becomes bookable. If you try and make the change online (and its a phantom award) you will lose whatever segment you had and run the risk of the award never becoming bookable. Others have booked the phantom award as a separate itin online, which turns into a waitlist, and then if it does become bookable the strategy is to cancel the waitlisted segment and hope that it is quickly put back into active inventory to merge it with your original routing.

-Phantom awards open at 21.10pst. So this is going to be the most hit or miss piece of advice. While I have found it true that ANA will show LH F awards around 15.00pst, it is also my experience that the same award will be bookable over the phone with UA the night before between 21.00pst and 21.30pst. This is more of a recent revelation for me, but for the past year I have been calling UA to check the status of phantom awards on the UA site and have consistently been able to book phantom awards between that time frame. Even more recently, I was looking to switch my LH F FRA-DXB itin with a FRA-KUL routing, which was showing F available on the UA site but turned out to be phantom. I called back at 21.10pst and initially the agent told me there was no availability, she quickly followed up with Wait a minute, my system is refreshing. Can I put you on hold.brief hold Yes, we have a first class seat available. She went on to confirm that their system consistently reboots sometime after 2100pst. Again, this is totally anecdotal so take it with a grain of salt. But it has been working for me recently.

-Be 1k (or at least PP). Easier said than done, I know. But, not dealing with change/cancellation fees makes the whole thing way more straightforward.

-Be flexible. Anytime I was able to give myself a 1-week departure window I was always able to find at least one LH F segment, and many times I found a second connecting segment.

I hope this helps. See you at the FCT!

PM&M-LH F Toolkit

PM&M-How to Time LH F Awards

MMS-Award Availability on LH

FT-F Award Seats

FT-Anyone Booked LH F Awards Recently?

------------------------------------------------------------

2014 Update

So the 2014 United deval has come and gone and Ive flown on 5 LH F legs this year (2 were pre-deval 60K bookings), so whats changed?

Well, luckily, im not sure much if anything has changed. Yes, that F seat is going to cost you 120K o/w now. But outside spending more miles most of my booking strategy has stayed the same in 2014.

For all the talk in 2013 from LH, it really hasnt gotten any harder to grab these seats as a UA MP customer. Dont get me wrong, its still a serious mission to undertakepatiently checking .bomb, ANA, EF and calling UA endlessly. And the value of that time invested has dropped significantly along with the deval.

Obviously the USA LH F hotspots have changed, (as of this Nov. 2014 update) YYZ and BOS are pretty wide open. But Ive had luck this year with DEN, ORD, YVR, IAH, NYC, SEA and IAD (ICN and NRT internationally). In my opinion, its (still) nigh impossible to find LAX, MIA, and SFO (although there were reports of at least one SFO F seat showing on ANA earlier this fall).

As far timing goes, I have found a much smaller window of time that these seats are up for grabs. From my personal experience this year, it appears that much less is released T-2 through T-12. I have made most of my F bookings this year either right at the T-14 mark or within a couple days (sometime hours) of departing. But again this is purely anecdotal.

For what its worth I think that .bomb has gotten better at controlling phantom availability, but the issue definitely still existsalways check ANA.

Since starting this thread Ive gotten a lot of PMs, most want to know how EXACTLY I get these seats. Theres no secret or hidden trick, use the resources in this thread and I think the most important thing is to be flexible. Im lucky that I usually have at least a week to play with, give yourself two and Im positive youll find SOMETHING.

And if you just want to fly in a cool A380 F UA MP offers some great options with OZ and TG. But for ex-USA to EU, there really is only one choice, and its still possible, although itll cost you a little (a lot) bit more.




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How to book LH F awards? when available? issues?

Old Feb 8, 2024, 6:31 pm
  #196  
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: NYC, FLL
Programs: UA PP 1MM, Marriott Bonvoy LTTE, BA Bronze
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Originally Posted by fly747first
I don't know why UA flyers are so eager to fly LH F... it really isn't that impressive;
This thread is about availability and booking, not reviews.

Originally Posted by WineCountryUA
Yes it has been 3 days, sometimes 2, since 2018? Have updated the wiki
Definitely a hard trend to three this year, thanks for updating. Interesting to see SFO-FRA and LAX-FRA popping up in the last few days - haven't seen those in a long time...still at T-3 though.
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Old Feb 17, 2024, 2:26 am
  #197  
 
Join Date: Aug 2001
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Originally Posted by seanp7
This thread is about availability and booking, not reviews.

Definitely a hard trend to three this year, thanks for updating. Interesting to see SFO-FRA and LAX-FRA popping up in the last few days - haven't seen those in a long time...still at T-3 though.
Been watching this like a hawk recently, and as you say a (relatively) surprising amount of SFO-FRA and LAX-FRA (and on a couple of days LAX-MUC) opening up. It seemed to be clearly T-3 at 1500hrs PST... but...

I just had a massive win.
  • At T-4 at a little after 1800 PST 1 seat opened up SFO-FRA. I was looking for 2 (already had a J award SFO-MUC-XXX in place).
  • Booked the 1 at around 1900 PST to see if another one would open up (it was F3).
  • It didn't. So I released the 1. It immediately went back into inventory.
  • Then around 2000 PST I was looking at options via Aeroplan and Aeroplan showed me O2 for that flight.
  • Went back to UA - no dice only 1.
  • Then checked Avianca, because I didn't want to orphan miles in Aeroplan, and Avianca showed me O2 as well.
  • Was going to transfer to one of those (have never used LifeMiles before) but before doing so I thought I'd check UA one more time.
  • Lo and behold, at about 2005hrs PST T-4, I now had O2.
  • Booked it immediately, and it ticketed. Canceled the SFO-MUC in J, and my travel partner on this trip is going to have their first ever experience of international F, completely unexpectedly. What a win. For me too, as I changed jobs recently and no longer have the international J class travel that was getting me into LH F on a regular basis!
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Old Feb 18, 2024, 6:33 pm
  #198  
 
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Well, that win exploded, thanks to the LH strike.

LH declined to rebook us (there was F available on LX, BA, and AF that would have worked), saying it was UA's award ticket and they couldn't rebook it. Not convinced, but after 2 hours on the phone had to give up.

UA - lucked out with a fabulous agent who opened up IN space at a remarkably low rate to take us via LAX & ZRH. 2 windows in LH F have turned into 2 middles in LX C, but at least we're getting there. Unless the SFO weather messes things up of course.
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Old Feb 19, 2024, 4:10 pm
  #199  
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Originally Posted by cricketer
Well, that win exploded, thanks to the LH strike.

LH declined to rebook us (there was F available on LX, BA, and AF that would have worked), saying it was UA's award ticket and they couldn't rebook it. Not convinced, but after 2 hours on the phone had to give up.

UA - lucked out with a fabulous agent who opened up IN space at a remarkably low rate to take us via LAX & ZRH. 2 windows in LH F have turned into 2 middles in LX C, but at least we're getting there. Unless the SFO weather messes things up of course.
prior to day of departure, thats not an easy rebooking. LX is doable, but it would take significant coordination between LH and UA to make it work. You can still claim EC reg 261 from LH for cancelling the flight - strike of LH personell is not a reason to not get payment from them.
Did you call the LH First class hotline or the regular CS line wrt LX F re-booking?
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Old Feb 19, 2024, 5:38 pm
  #200  
 
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Originally Posted by cfischer
prior to day of departure, thats not an easy rebooking. LX is doable, but it would take significant coordination between LH and UA to make it work. You can still claim EC reg 261 from LH for cancelling the flight - strike of LH personell is not a reason to not get payment from them.
Did you call the LH First class hotline or the regular CS line wrt LX F re-booking?
FC hotline was closed on Sunday, so called the regular hotline and waited forever, with the end result above - "no sir, this is United's problem, we can't rebook it"

Monday morning called the FC hotline, and they said they could and should have put me into LX F the previous day, but now the only option available was to fly in Y SFO-EWR and then connect to LX F from there.

Then at the airport in SFO today, went to the LH F counter and they tried like hell to get me onto LX39 in F in the evening - they had space, and held it, but they couldn't get anyone to ticket it because my rebooking now started with a UA flight to LAX. So am now at LAX flying LX 41 in J to ZRH. At least they were able to grab bulkhead (non-throne) seats for us.

Will definitely make the 261 claim! Mostly feel bad for my travel companion who had never experienced Intl F and may never do so now!
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Old Feb 27, 2024, 7:15 am
  #201  
 
Join Date: Oct 2016
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Award on LH

Currently scheduled next Tuesday (3/5) on IAH-FRA in a Business award at 88k miles.

This weeks midweek LH441 have First award availability opened up and hoping to see the same next week.

Two questions: am I right in thinking the F award space could open any time over the next week so I just need to keep checking UA? (Current load appears to be 2/8)

If it opens up - is there any issue with me keeping my J award booked on the same flight and then canceling as soon as F award is ticketed? I want to avoid a situation where I cancel the J and then find out F space is gone/was never available and I end up with nothing!
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Old Feb 27, 2024, 9:12 am
  #202  
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Originally Posted by mattg85
Currently scheduled next Tuesday (3/5) on IAH-FRA in a Business award at 88k miles.

This weeks midweek LH441 have First award availability opened up and hoping to see the same next week.

Two questions: am I right in thinking the F award space could open any time over the next week so I just need to keep checking UA? (Current load appears to be 2/8)

If it opens up - is there any issue with me keeping my J award booked on the same flight and then canceling as soon as F award is ticketed? I want to avoid a situation where I cancel the J and then find out F space is gone/was never available and I end up with nothing!
Award space these days opens 3 days prior.

You have a short period of time till UA and LH will detect the dupe booking and cancel one of the two. Book and cancel right away usually works. With space available I would hesitate to just changing the from J to F, but I understand the hesitation.
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Old Mar 1, 2024, 10:57 pm
  #203  
 
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Originally Posted by cfischer
Award space these days opens 3 days prior.

You have a short period of time till UA and LH will detect the dupe booking and cancel one of the two. Book and cancel right away usually works. With space available I would hesitate to just changing the from J to F, but I understand the hesitation.
Thanks for the help!

Ive been checking frequently over past few days, and a few hours under T-4 days, space opened up in F with a slightly later connecting flight to UK than I already had booked in J (IAH-FRA seemed to open up exactly at T-4 days)

Made my reservation in F and then immediately canceled the existing one in J and all seems ok so far. Got ticketing confirmation from UA and new reservation shows up on LH profile. Scheduled connection gives 4 hours in FRA so hopefully enough time to use FCT (first time for me in LH F!)
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Old Mar 2, 2024, 7:30 am
  #204  
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Originally Posted by mattg85
Thanks for the help!

Ive been checking frequently over past few days, and a few hours under T-4 days, space opened up in F with a slightly later connecting flight to UK than I already had booked in J (IAH-FRA seemed to open up exactly at T-4 days)

Made my reservation in F and then immediately canceled the existing one in J and all seems ok so far. Got ticketing confirmation from UA and new reservation shows up on LH profile. Scheduled connection gives 4 hours in FRA so hopefully enough time to use FCT (first time for me in LH F!)
Enjoy, I have an LH F r/t in 10 days. Read up how you get to the FCT. These days they pick up at the arriving gate, tell the PA you want to go to the FCT and not FCL B. Itll take you probably 15 mins to get to the FCT if you are a fast walker and you know where you are going. On the plus side they will drive you to your connecting plane from there.
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