747FC

it is quite simple: Supply and Demand. Award availability is best on least desirable flights. That is the reason I can't get a nonstop flight LIM-IAH, but get routed to BOG. It is why my O-class award from. LHR-SFO routes through FRA rather than nonstop.

WineCountryUA

But OP states there is award availability (as an individual flight) on the more desirable flight.

energydj

Today was a good day!!!!

Got the bad weather/change your flights email for my flight.

Changed to the previous day and EI biz MCO direct for ZERO!!!!

For a change I am loving bad weather!!!!!

rinconmike

Hi. I am a 1K. I am booking some award flights from my sister-in-law and 2 kids. I want to confirm that as a 1K I can cancel any time to include the day before and get the miles put back in my account. Looking at the united site, that seems to be correct, but I wanted to just double check. I plan on booking several flights to get better routing and cancel the ones I do not need. I have plenty of miles to do that.

thanks,

Mike

WineCountryUA

correct


UA frowns upon duplicate, speculative booking -- but folks rarely get caught, but it can be ugly.

Landscaper

how many award miles will I need for business class from Honolulu to Sydney? (and how what flights will I have to take?)

JHake10

Just by choosing Hawaii and Australia on the below link you're looking at 50K each way on the saver level. I'll let other folks here chime in on the best routing. I would guess NH to TYO then connecting onward.



https://www.united.com/web/en-US/app...ardTravel.aspx

WineCountryUA

Hawaii-SYD will not be UA operated unless connecting back via US Mainland and that routing would be more miles.

If a partner routing - the higher partner rate would apply and there are no standard awards for partner operated segments.

So 60K each way (Partner Business) will be the min. Mainland routing with UA will be 70K.

Explorer789

Pretty much anything to SYD is going to come down to luck to grab a saver ticket and highly depends on flexibility with dates. A one-stop with OZ is probably best bet, though you may only find one saver for that route. Everything else is typically two stop.

Kacee

One stop TYO routing to Australia is not really viable in J, as NH rarely (if ever) opens business class award space to SYD.

I concur with prior comment that ICN is probably the most likely option. BKK is also a common routing but will require two stops.

Interestingly, I see .com offering the YVR routing on AC for 60k.

mjstallion

Is there a way to do a flexible award search (doesn't matter the date) and specify a specific stopover?

I need to pick something up in a specific city so even a 3 hour stop is fine, and I've had this city popup as an award itinerary in searches before.

jsloan

In the advanced search ("All Search Options" from the main page), you can pick a "preferred connection" point -- click on "My search preferences" -- or you can use the filters at the bottom of the screen on the search results page.

You can also use multi-city search, but then you will likely be charged extra mileage for the same set of flights.

GetSetJetSet

Haven't used UA miles in a while, I understand some changes (aka downgrades) have been made. I am booked IAD-JNB-CPT at the moment. I am considering two option, wondering if either are legal routings for roundtrip awards, thanks.

1. Build the trip out from A. IAD-JNB-CPT to IAD-JNB-CPT(Stopover)-JNB-MRU(Destination)-JNB-USA or B. IAD-JNB-CPT(Stopover)-JNB-MRU(Destination) OPEN JAW-JNB-USA if the MRU-JNB leg and no MRU-Europe legs open.

or

2. IAD-JNB-CPT(Destination)-JNB-GRU(stopover)-USA

what's the consensus

jsloan

If you can find availability on #1, that's your choice. #2 will price as three awards -- US->S Africa, S Africa->S. South America, S. South America -> US. (No free stopover).

RWPhila

The United site explains that the new award system only has "one-way" trips.

" All United awards are one-way
And, because all the awards are one-way, you can mix award types to build the itinerary that fits your needs."

But then in the rules it states:

"You can also book a One-Way Award if you wish to travel one way. If you redeem a roundtrip award and only travel one-way, the unused portion of the award will be forfeited.

Different award types (Saver and Standard) and cabins may be combined to create a single roundtrip award."

And to add to the confusion, the rules also introduce the Excursionist Perk:

"The Excursionist Perk is a free one-way award within select multi-city itineraries. Members who book an itinerary with three or more one-way awards will be eligible to receive one of those one-way awards for free, if it meets all of these conditions:..."

So, I booked this for 160,000 miles in C:
XXX-ORD-NRT-HAN stopover
HAN-BKK destination
BKK-ICN-SFO-XXX

That is 3 one-way trips with the 2nd trip being 0 miles. But if I fly the first two and then cancel the third:

1. Will I get a refund for trip 3 or will it be forfeited per the "roundtrip" rule?
2. Is the roundtrip reference just left over from the previous system?
3. Will the refund trip 3 and charge me for trip 2?

Has anyone here experienced that scenario?

All my previous trips were booked as one-way since I never needed a stop-over. I have a hunch I should keep doing that and just by a cheap ticket from HAN to BKK.