aero0729

Wow... well The Grass is WAY less brown over at American!! I can call and customize any routing I would like as long as its 4 segments. This stinks.

Does anyone know how to work united.com so you get more options?

threeoh

Search for a one way, book it, and call within 24 hours to add the return (or just book two one-ways). That way you get 200 options there and 200 options back instead of 200 total combinations.

aspro

Thanks to all for the replies. Does this mean that the Checked Baggage Calculator linked to before is not a reliable guide? (If I search a number of routes under the "any flights" tab, many carriers come up as first-bag-free (when specifying the carrier in the "marketing carrier" field), but for instance, domestic US flights show the first bag is not free.

Kacee

Your e-ticket receipt is the best guide. The calculator may work fine on a single segment itinerary. The complicated issues arise when you're flying more than one carrier on a single itinerary.

aspro

This actually just got more confusing - I called United (Asian call centre) and was told emphatically that economy awards would be treated by each carrier as equivalent to the most basic economy class, meaning no baggage on Aegean and Croatian. Being slightly sceptical, given the mixed feedback on FT, I called United (US) and was told emphatically that the first bag is always free on international award itineraries on partner airlines.

Kacee

Just keep calling until you get the answer you like. They're making it up so you'll get there eventually.

Whatever you do, don't listen to what people are telling you here on FT

FlyerTalker70

From my experience, how LOT handles premium cabin buckets on GDS is a bit off. For instance early this year it was possible to book F on LOT for the same price as J in spite of the fact that they don't offer a F product. My recommendation would be to call United and/or LOT to see what's going on here. My guess is there is availability but the GDS isn't talking to the LOT reservation system correctly (i.e. requesting from aF bucket in spite of the fact LOT doesn't offer F).

At the end of the day what matters is the MPM (Maximum Permittable Mileage) of the itinerary you are trying to book. Generally speaking, airlines will allow you to go between 5-10% over the shortest possible path between where you are travelling from and going to. In your case FLL -> HND is 7,458 miles so in theory UA should permit itineraries between 7,830 and 8,203 miles on a one-way. Checking out GCMap it seems like a routing through Europe is easily over 10,000 miles which means at least in theory this itinerary is not possible. That being said these aren't hard and fast rules, and the computer can sometimes allow exception to it.

If you're stopping over in Europe, things can start to go sideways depending on how the computer calculates the fare. It could see the fare as follows:

• ORD -> FRA (Charge First Class Rate North America to Europe)
• FRA -> LHR (Free per Excursionist Perk)
• LHR -> HND (Charge First Class Rate Europe to Asia)

The point I'm trying to get at here is that it's difficult as it is to find a suitable routing through Europe to Asia, trying to stop over in a European city is only making matters worse.

My recommendation is keep trying the United Premier number. The level of assistance you get from UA agents varies to god awfully poor to top notch. Hopefully you'll find an angel who can work their magic on the dragon!

WineCountryUA

UA does not use MPM.

jsloan

The Excursionist Perk is only allowed on an itinerary that returns to the original region -- North America, in this case.

OP: My best advice is to try different origin cities until you find something that works for you... or, get something that's as close as possible to what you want, and then call within 24 hours to see if you can convince an agent to adjust it. Sadly, there's no magic bullet here.

Specifically, UA does not use MPM on award tickets. They have an unpublished concept of which awards are allowed to route through which zones, but mileage is irrelevant.

Kacee

Which has become virtually irrelevant since they ruined the award booking engine. Now the main constraint is not the unpublished routing rules, but the black box filters.

cheltzel

For some destinations AA is a much better program to redeem awards in. However for some it is much worse. Try getting J awards to Europe without paying exorbitant fees for BA. On UA I can still get European J awards on LH, LO, OS, LX, and SK pretty easily. IMO AA and UA J saver awards to Europe are about as hard to find.

aero0729

Agreed on J awards to Europe. Either way.. nothing more frustrating than finding the perfect flights, but not being allowed to book them.

Kacee

Have you tried lately? LH availability has dried up. Virtually impossible to find anything from the west coast. And LO won't ticket.

Not that I'm saying AA is any better.

IME, UA miles have become very difficult to burn from SFO.

cheltzel

I can find LH availability and I understand LO has its "nuances" but it can be ticketed (after a lot of calls and up to a week). But then again my perspective is booking award travel from ORD. SFO (or any other UA hub city for that matter) could be totally different.

jmanirish