PVDtoDEL

Compare against the AS website.

solstys

That doesn't work. I tried to book using AS miles and it didn't work. Called in and agent couldn't get it either for multiple dates. Both AS and UA are showing availability, but Expert Flyer shows none for almost all dates.

lobo411

So this is kinda my fault I guess, but I got in a situation with my EI award booking today. I originally booked AMS-WAW-LAX for July 4, 2020 on LOT in J last night on united.com. I really didn't want to fly on LOT because the reviews are so mixed, but it was 1 AM and I wanted to get my flight set up. I'll be helping out at an off-the-grid goat ranch next week and I just wanted things to be settled.

Today I decided to try a trick I used successfully once before. I changed my flight manually on united.com by using the award booking change tool to book FRA-DUB on Lufthansa in J for July 4, 2020 and DUB-LAX on EI in J for July 5, 2020 (less than 24 hr layover). To my surprise, the system accepted it...no extra charge. But then I got an email from United saying that there was an error and I needed to call.

The agent said that the EI segment had come back unconfirmed/phantom availability, and after she tried a bunch of stuff and spoke with a supervisor, it was agreed that the best thing for me was to cancel. I ended up re-booking my original LOT flight, which had returned to inventory in the meantime.

gnomey

Has anyone have success booking EI and SN, in one PNR, using UA miles?
If yes, I presume this requires a phone call? Waiveable fees? Any caveats I should be aware of?

At present, I can see EI space on UA website, but not SN (which apparently is quite typical)
I can see SN space on AP website, but obviously not EI space

So I want to book EI and SN using UA miles.

Any past experience in doing similar bookings will be appreciated.

nwflyboy

EI award seats shown on united.com is generally phantom inventory.

gnomey

(it says there are 4 seats left)

at what stage would you realized it is phantom?

at the very final step, after you click submit payment?

Edit - hmm, sounds like it will just appear in limbo as non ticketed even after booking. not good news

nwflyboy

Look at other dates. You will see the same 4 seats on every flight, every day.

It's not real. If you book, it will tell you they have sent a request to their partner to confirm availability. Next day you'll get an email canceling the booking and telling you it could not be booked.

EI (AI) award inventory shown on other partners' websites (eg Alaska Airlines) does the same thing. It's all fake.

RobOnLI

AI or EI? OP is talking about EI (Aer Lingus) while you mentioned AI (Air India).

-RM

chavala

I just got fooled by this EI phantom availability booking for my nephew. How annoying. How/Why is it showing like this?

nwflyboy

Hah, no not Air India. EI Aer Lingus, as I pointed out in previous post. "AI" was just fatfingered. I don't know anything about Air India (other than it's reputation as an airline I'd probably rather avoid). Aer LIngus on the other hand is perfectly fine, and I'd happily fly them again (if their award inventory shown on united.com was actually bookable).

nwflyboy

Because when it comes right down to it, United simply doesn't give a rat's arse about its customers, and has devalued and de-prioritized its loyalty program to the point where their website shows "fake news" when you go to book an award flight. It's a deception that they benefit from - like so much of what's shown about award programs, filled with half-truths and outright lies, all designed to make them look so appealing when in fact they are a con game. United has grown too fat and too lazy to fix this and many other things, and they treat customers like...well, ask that doctor they dragged off the plane.

jsloan

If the same phantom inventory is showing up on all EI partners, I think it's a bit of a stretch to blame United for it. All they can do is report what their partner airlines tell them.

OxfordBlue

After reading this thread, I called UA about the redemption I had pending (LHR-SNN). I had booked it online, and noticed the day after booking that an Aer Lingus PNR had appeared as well as the UA one. However, more than 24 hours had passed, and the reservation wasn't ticketed.

I got an agent who knew what she was doing (thankfully). I explained I needed to get it ticketed, she had me hold for a short while, and then came back to ask for payment for the TFC (even though I had provided that online at the time of booking). That got done, and she assured me the reservation would be ticketed shortly.

It was, and I got confirmation of the booking, with e-ticket numbers. It's visible on EI's site and I'm pretty happy I actually have a plane ticket now. Thank you to all who have posted in this thread and I will add my voice to the others - you must call UA to get EI itineraries ticketed after booking.

OxfordBlue

Just a data point here. I have (through two separate bookings, admittedly) secured five seats on the same EI flight (whole family travelling together) without difficulty. I have 2 separate bookings because we were burning miles from 2 different UA accounts (my wife’s and mine); 2 pax on one booking, 3 on the other.

This is for a UK<>IE hop but I imagine same principle applies for TATL.

We are also travelling back on same flight, that was done part through UA and part through Avios but again I imagine it’s same booking class (T) and same inventory.

It’s all ticketed too, not just reserved. So, not all of it is fake..

Ericka

I was just able to book LHR-SNN as an excursionist perk on the UA website. So it’s not all fake.