Leedsflyer

I can book LHR-LAX-SYD as an award but only at 70,000 miles not 55,000 in Y (whereas routings LHR-SYD via Asia are all 55,000). To get a route at all I had to do it as a multi-seg (X and XN respectively). Called 1K agent and they said married segment issue and it had to be 70,000 miles. Are they right or is it worth calling again to get a different agent?

thanks

rufflesinc

i don't think you're allowed to route Europe-oz via americas.

Leedsflyer

well, back in 2010 I booked a UA award ticket SYD-LHR via the USA at the regular miles with no problem. But that was pre-merger. I have noticed that also previously whereas I could get sensibly priced paid flights LHR-SYD via LAX/SFO, in Y, nowadays they are always highly priced Y/B only. Maybe this is change of valid routings indeed. :-(

Leedsflyer

I rang back and got through to a different agent who thought it was strange; didn't bring up anything about married segments and after a long hold has reissued the ticket at 55,000 miles :-). still to see the redeposit of the balance presumably that will happen overnight...

54austin

Update - No problem with 4th connection. I could have added the TPE-TYO segment for a total of 120k (not the 110k N America - Japan) for one-way first, but decided against it. Instead I added LGA-DEN to the beginning, which was better for me and probably less iffy since it was a domestic connection.

BTW, DEN-FRA-PVG were great flights. We had first class on the 747 to ourselves on the first leg and shared with one other passenger on the 380 to PVG. Fantastic service and fine food (lotsa caviar!). We also easily made the earlier PVG-TPE flight, thanks in part to the escort provided by LH/F. Otherwise, the min. connection time in PVG Term 2 is insanely long.

cacohenassaf

Hi guys,

I'm a few hours away from my flight, booked on award business class with one leg in economy.
I see and confirmed 2 seats available for purchase in business.
All my calls to UA got me the same answer, based on my status I will be upgraded.

No one giving me 1st priority over paid upgrades.
Funny thing is I don't even see myself on the upgrade list and I am checked in.

What am I doing wrong?
I am not at the airport so I only call the 1 k desk.

Thank you.

B6UA

I just booked an award flight KUL-FRA-DEN. Based on the award chart, I assumed this would price out at 80,000 miles in business class since it's a one way from South Asia to North America. Unfortunately it priced out at 115,000 miles.

When I called UA about it, they said I couldn't route from South Asia to NA through Europe without buying 2 one way tickets, that's why it was 115,000. Is this an illegal routing?

weirdlyndon

Unfortunately with recent changes to MileagePlus in 2014, the agent is correct. You can no longer route South Asia to NA via Europe.

Kacee

Definitely prohibited by the fare rules for that award.

Nonetheless I would keep trying to book online, as united.com will still sometimes allow that routing at the 80,000 mile level. Just don't count on being able to make changes.

yvr1971

For what it's worth I just tried on at least 10 different dates, and was able to see plenty of award availability between North America sand Central/East Asia via Europe on United.com. Even from the west coast. So it is definitely possible online.

Cody1484

Hello everyone,

I'm wanting to book an award ticket, but before I called in to UA to try and book it, I wanted to get some opinions on routing, and if you thought UA would allow this.

I need to travel from ICN-SYD in F for 50,000 miles. If you strictly search that on the UA website you are given:

ICN-BKK TG C 777
BKK-SYD TG F 747

However, I've tried to be a bit more creative with the routing in order to experience more and different cabins. I came up with (all showing saver award availability)

ICN-NRT OZ C A333
NRT-SIN ANA F 777
SIN-BKK TG C 777
BKK-SYD TG F 747

Do you think a UA rep would allow this routing, and if so would it price out at 50,000 miles or 60,000 miles bc routing through Japan ?

Thanks so much for any advice !

JVPhoto

I'm all for "flying out of the way" to do something new (I'm doing it BR J JFK-TPE & TPE-NRT so I can experience Royal Laurel AND Hello Kitty) but maybe if it just means it's a stop vs. non stop...but 4 flights instead of 2? I'd just go with the all TG routing.

sbm12

Routing should be OK but transit over Japan has a habit of bumping the price up. Unclear if that's supposed to happen or if it just does, but plenty of examples in the past where it is the case.

Kacee

Sometimes it just won't price. I had that problem with a BKK-NRT-ICN-LAX routing. Computer wouldn't price and rate desk refused to price it manually.

Cody1484

When I try and price this route online via the multi city option is gives me an error. But I get an error 95% of the time when I try and price multi city trips. I tried to call the UA office in Seoul, but they couldn't do anything, and told me I needed to contact the US office.