jsloan

Correct that it wouldn't work as an excursionist perk. It is at least marginally possible as an award if you're willing to pay for each leg separately -- but I doubt you're going to find availability.

ITA Matrix doesn't actually have anything shorter than NAN-AKL-PPT; $555+ in economy on NZ with a 9 1/2 hour travel time. There may be local ULCCs that don't publish to the global distribution systems.

threeoh

How to get between Fiji and Tahiti?

Looks like options other than going through AKL are very slim.

Hipplewm

That is what i meant by "Island Hopper" not the UA official thing around Guam and all, I meant like something like https://www.airtahiti.com/ or even go by water taxi/ferry

jsloan

Air Tahiti doesn't serve NAN, and Fiji Airways doesn't serve PPT.

It's over 2,000 miles. I don't think a water taxi or ferry is likely to be an option.

Hipplewm

Grrr - maybe BOB - I know Air Tahiti services there....

1111aaaa

Most of the options seem to have a connection in PTY. Is that the reason?

jsloan

Connecting through PTY would definitely make it ineligible for the Excursionist Perk, yes.

JHake10

Just to keep venting from my above frustrations. SQ actually has MNL-SIN-SFO for 2 in I class (visible on Aeroplan). Yet, not bookable via UA. I just want to burn these miles and be done with UA at this point.

MBS MillionMiler

Wow. This thread is eye-opening for me--I never knew the rules changed a few years ago. For decades I'd been changing single segments on a one-way award without trouble. Now, I regret booking a less-than-ideal one-way, 2-segment award booking, thinking I could simply change one of the segments if space became available later. Which it did. But 2 phone agents wouldn't move move me...I booked:

AAA - BBB - CCC, where AAA-BBB is a 6AM departure with a 6-hour layover at BBB.

Now a 10AM AAA-BBB became available, now leaving a 2-hour layover at BBB.

...Thus saving a family of four, including a 5 and 3-year old from a hell of a long travel day...But United told me 'no', twice, since BBB-CCC has no X/XN availability...Even though I'm holding 4 XN seats on that flight. I was told to either go pound sand or cancel the existing, and hope they re-allocate those 4 XN seats...Ha! And, "Thanks for being a 1K, we value your business."

The kicker is that all segments are on a CR2. I'm actually fighting to ride on this abomination of an aircraft...Twice (4 times for the round trip). But it is over Christmas to the in-laws, and a GREAT redemption value, 20K each R/T versus $600.

TA

Hi all -- it's been a while since I've had to remember about married segments, etc. on award tix, so hoping you can give me the latest advice.

I was able to secure 2 C/J award seats on Swiss using UA miles, where the return portion of the itinerary is ATH-ZRH-EWR. Turns out we no longer want to return from ATH but rather IST. We could even entertain buying separate tickets to get to ZRH, and only taking the transatlantic portion.

Is it possible to reticket to achieve this, without risk of losing the space?

I don't want to have to release the overall ZRH-EWR ticket or space in trying to do this -- it comes available so rarely. Is it possible to remove / reticket without the ATH-ZRH leg, without having to cancel overall ticket, which has no guarantee of the space reopening? And after that even try to add the IST-ZRH alternative? I guess that would be a repricing, as it's no longer EU.

Is this possible with some capable agent help? Or not even to be attempted? Thanks!

athome

No. The moment you miss a leg on your itinerary, Swiss will cancel the rest of the ticket.

TA

Thanks, but I'm not talking about skipping the leg. I'm talking about modifying the itinerary well in advance. Edited above to make that clearer. Sorry the title can be misconstrued in that regard.

jsloan

Turkey is considered Europe for MileagePlus purposes.

That said, there are no guarantees here. There have been sporadic reports of success. There have also been quite a few refusals, as the newer system that the agents are supposed to use can only do this if award space is still available on all partner segments.

The older system can do it; unfortunately, it also has a nasty habit of -- sometimes -- failing to confirm the ticket update with the operating carrier properly, causing awards to be cancelled without notice. If you decide to try this, make a note of your current ticket number; call to make the change, and then ask the agent for your updated ticket number, which must be different. After you do that, you'll need to check with the operating carrier to make sure that their system has the updated ticket number from UA.

OP doesn't appear to be asking about skipping a segment, but rather changing their itinerary ahead of time.

TA

Thanks for the info -- interesting, well this first option is too bad because if the space were there I'd just rebook a new ticket myself.

Do you know what is the system or method that I would request if trying this? Thanks!

jsloan

I wouldn't recommend trying to talk your way into this. If you get an inexperienced agent who's trying something they're unfamiliar with, I'd worry that the chances are better that the end result is messed up. Rather, just be prepared to HUCA. That is -- call, explain what you want to do, and be prepared to be polite if they refuse. Then try again.