Dec 27, 2016, 9:23 pm
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
United's Announcement and FAQ
Kacee's Interpretation
Main Impact Since October 6
Useful Links
This is an archive thread, the active thread is Award booking questions/ issues/ routing/ excursionist problems / help
Kacee's Interpretation
Main Impact Since October 6
- Fee Changes such as platinum members are subject to various award fees
- No more free stopover - replaced with Excursionist Perk
- Agents no longer have the ability to find routings that do not show up on united.com
- Manually constructing trips using multi-city search results in multiple award fares being charged
- Changing any segment MIGHT require current availability for all existing Os&Ds in the PNR (as if a brand new booking is made) - YMMV
- Singapore Airlines segments are priced separately (add-ons)
Useful Links
This is an archive thread, the active thread is Award booking questions/ issues/ routing/ excursionist problems / help
UA award booking,change questions/fees/issues/routing/excursionist problems {Archive}
Apr 8, 2019, 9:00 pm
#3121
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,417
Just an update for @WineCountryUA and @jsloan. Against your advice I tried to do it anyway using the app, since the app was showing 100% correct info about the cost and whatnot. Unfortunately it wouldn't ticket and I got an email saying to call in, and after 50min on the phone with UA I got various different reasons why the booking was not valid (have to return to canada, last flight must come from outside US, 6000 mile price for LAX-SFO was an error, etc) and I eventually just said to put the booking back the way it was, which it seems they did do correctly. I appreciate your responses and info though; you were right about UA agents being unwilling to do it.
I would take the time to make sure that the ticket number in your receipt hasn't changed, or, if it has, that AC has the updated number on their side as well. When things would go sideways after award changes, it was normally due to a failure by UA to communicate updated ticket information to the operating carrier, who'd end up dropping the segment because it wasn't ticketed.
Apr 8, 2019, 10:03 pm
#3122
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.997MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,859
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Apr 8, 2019 at 10:15 pm Reason: misunderstood
Apr 8, 2019, 10:11 pm
#3123
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: SFO/YYZ
Programs: AC 25K, AS MVP Gold, BA Bronze, UA Silver, Marriott Titanium, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 2,472
Glad they were able to restore, that is not always possible Just double check as jsloan mentions.
BTW, did not catch this earlier but the excursion leg you were seeking was not "legal". You were orignating at YYZ and an excursion (SFO-LAX) in the originating region (Mainland U.S., Alaska & Canada) is not allowed
BTW, did not catch this earlier but the excursion leg you were seeking was not "legal". You were orignating at YYZ and an excursion (SFO-LAX) in the originating region (Mainland U.S., Alaska & Canada) is not allowed
Air Canada's horrendous IT (people on this forum may think UA IT has problems but it's pretty powerful compared to AC) doesn't show the ticket number online for partner booked flights, and due to 737 MAX madness it's impossible to get them on the phone so I asked them on twitter to confirm the ticket #. The booking is using the old AC PNR and ticket number though so I think it's good.
Apr 8, 2019, 10:11 pm
#3124
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,417
Glad they were able to restore, that is not always possible Just double check as jsloan mentions.
BTW, did not catch this earlier but the excursion leg you were seeking was not "legal". You were orignating at YYZ and an excursion (SFO-LAX) in the originating region (Mainland U.S., Alaska & Canada) is not allowed
BTW, did not catch this earlier but the excursion leg you were seeking was not "legal". You were orignating at YYZ and an excursion (SFO-LAX) in the originating region (Mainland U.S., Alaska & Canada) is not allowed
Apr 8, 2019, 10:14 pm
#3125
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.997MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,859
Apr 8, 2019, 10:16 pm
#3126
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: SFO/YYZ
Programs: AC 25K, AS MVP Gold, BA Bronze, UA Silver, Marriott Titanium, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 2,472
I think ultimately they will crack down on the rules with the new dynamic awards, because people are going to start appending cheap one way domestic tickets to get nearly free hops in Europe or Asia. They'll probably require that the start and ending legs both go between two different regions.
Apr 10, 2019, 10:27 am
#3127
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: SFO/YYZ
Programs: AC 25K, AS MVP Gold, BA Bronze, UA Silver, Marriott Titanium, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 2,472
Apr 12, 2019, 10:03 am
#3128
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: PDX
Programs: United Premier Gold, HH Diamond, Hertz #1 Gold 5*
Posts: 266
I'm planning an award trip across a couple of continents well in advance, hoping to book Busienss saver awards. I can get the routing I want, but I'd like to convert one of the 14 hour layovers into a 3-4 day stopover. Is that possible?
To be clear - I'm going AAA-BBB-CCC-DDD and would like to stop in CCC for a long weekend.
I'm fine booking the whole trip (AAA-DDD and then DDD-AAA) as one-ways or round trip if that matters.
Follow-up question: If it's possible, what magic words do I need to say to get them to do it? (Currently GM status with MP Visa card - if that matters).
To be clear - I'm going AAA-BBB-CCC-DDD and would like to stop in CCC for a long weekend.
I'm fine booking the whole trip (AAA-DDD and then DDD-AAA) as one-ways or round trip if that matters.
Follow-up question: If it's possible, what magic words do I need to say to get them to do it? (Currently GM status with MP Visa card - if that matters).
Apr 12, 2019, 10:12 am
#3129
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,417
I'm planning an award trip across a couple of continents well in advance, hoping to book Busienss saver awards. I can get the routing I want, but I'd like to convert one of the 14 hour layovers into a 3-4 day stopover. Is that possible?
To be clear - I'm going AAA-BBB-CCC-DDD and would like to stop in CCC for a long weekend.
I'm fine booking the whole trip (AAA-DDD and then DDD-AAA) as one-ways or round trip if that matters.
Follow-up question: If it's possible, what magic words do I need to say to get them to do it? (Currently GM status with MP Visa card - if that matters).
To be clear - I'm going AAA-BBB-CCC-DDD and would like to stop in CCC for a long weekend.
I'm fine booking the whole trip (AAA-DDD and then DDD-AAA) as one-ways or round trip if that matters.
Follow-up question: If it's possible, what magic words do I need to say to get them to do it? (Currently GM status with MP Visa card - if that matters).
If they are in different award zones, you can book it, but you will be charged the mileage for each leg separately: AAA-CCC + CCC-DDD + DDD-AAA.
Apr 12, 2019, 10:44 am
#3130
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: PDX
Programs: United Premier Gold, HH Diamond, Hertz #1 Gold 5*
Posts: 266
Apr 12, 2019, 10:53 am
#3131
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,417
With MileagePlus, Turkey is in Europe and the Maldives are in Central Asia. Based on your profile, I assume you're starting the award in North America. A partner business class award from North America to Central Asia is 85K each way, or 170K round-trip. This award would be priced as North America-Europe (70K) + Europe-Central Asia (55K) + Central Asia-North America (85K) = 210K total.
Apr 12, 2019, 11:35 am
#3132
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: PDX
Programs: United Premier Gold, HH Diamond, Hertz #1 Gold 5*
Posts: 266
Thanks! I really appreciate it - even though you dashed my hopes of seeing Ephesus.
Apr 12, 2019, 12:15 pm
#3133
Join Date: Apr 2019
Programs: UA & AA
Posts: 4
Business class reward redemption
HI, I try to book an award flights ORD-LAS, TPE-PEK, PEK-IST-ORD in biz class. I can see the seats are available if don't have a stopover in IST. However, if I change it to stopover (say one day) in IST, all the biz class tickets (for the entire route) become unavailable. For some reason, I can only see economy ticket availability. Is it true that only economy seats can have a stopover along with open-jaw and excursionist perk? Also, is there any route of domestic biz/first class have less than 35K points requirement? While the economy is now available for as low as 5K, it seems the biz/first stays above 35K or above?
thanks,
thanks,
Apr 12, 2019, 12:36 pm
#3134
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,417
HI, I try to book an award flights ORD-LAS, TPE-PEK, PEK-IST-ORD in biz class. I can see the seats are available if don't have a stopover in IST. However, if I change it to stopover (say one day) in IST, all the biz class tickets (for the entire route) become unavailable. For some reason, I can only see economy ticket availability. Is it true that only economy seats can have a stopover along with open-jaw and excursionist perk? Also, is there any route of domestic biz/first class have less than 35K points requirement? While the economy is now available for as low as 5K, it seems the biz/first stays above 35K or above?
thanks,
thanks,
As soon as you try to add a stopover at IST, it's going to charge you for PEK-IST and IST-ORD separately. The Excursionist Perk was intended as a replacement for the award stopover, not an addition to it.
Domestic business saver awards are 25K, but they're very difficult to find. I haven't seen any reports of sales on business saver; the discounts, so far, have only been on economy saver.
Apr 12, 2019, 3:43 pm
#3135
Join Date: Apr 2019
Programs: UA & AA
Posts: 4
Thanks, jsloan, for your quick response.