jsloan

This is only true so far as pricing is concerned. You could absolutely ticket this together on a single itinerary -- which could be useful, as it would reduce the fees if you later needed to cancel or change both legs. However, it will price as if it were two separate awards.

OP -- unfortunately, the rest of what pushmyredbutton wrote is spot-on. The current system appears to require new availability beyond the ticket you already have.

Incidentally -- assuming you're willing to pay the extra miles -- are you looking to move BKK-NRT back a few days or NRT-JFK forward a few days? J award space between BKK-NRT is likely to be easier to find than F NRT-JFK. Your best bet would be to try to preserve the existing NRT-JFK space, if possible (and it might not be).

Good luck...

mh3265a

Prior to the 1 November changes my wife and I booked award ticket (one-way) from IAD-IAH-TPE-KUL. All segments were in Business except for IAD-IAH. Just today, I noticed the TPE-KUL segment changed and is departing at 6:40am not 9:30am as originally booked. This would cause an illegal connection at TPE (need 60 minutes...not 30 mins).

What are my specific rights? The easiest solution is to go IAD-LGA-JFK-TPE-KUL but that would require BR to open up Business space on JFK-TPE. Is that likely? Is that even possible? Would appreciate people's input on what my best options are regarding this matter.

I'm hesitant to accept the schedule changes for fear the system may recognize the illegal connection and kill a connection.

jsloan

Actually, the Minimum Connection Time for BR-BR is 40 minutes at TPE. Of course, that doesn't mean that you should try to fly it that way, especially since TPE-KUL is once a day. :-) But it may actually be a legal connection.

FWIW, I can't find that change on their schedule. Unless you're traveling in the next day or two, I'd give it a couple of days to settle. It could just be a glitch.

Assuming it's a real change, your rights are a rebooking or a refund. UA can (and will) open space on their own metal. For BR-operated flights, if you find open I space, you can ask UA to move you to it. If not, you can ask them to ask BR -- they have a Star Alliance Liaison desk for this purpose -- but there are no guarantees.

mh3265a

Thanks! The once a day flight moved from 9:30am to 6:40am. We arrive at 6:10am so we miss the legal connection by 10 mins. I saw the 40 min connection but it wasn't clear what it applied to. I'll see if they can contact the Star Alliance Liaison desk and see if BR will open up JFK space.

RobOnLI

Please provide your travel date. Eva.com doesn't even show a change to a 6:30a departure for the KUL flight. And given that they only operate the flight once a day I highly, highly doubt they will move it to a time that allows for zero connections from anywhere in the US or within Asia. I think it's a bug on United's website and it will clear itself quickly.

I've searched eva.com through August 2018 and BR227 is still scheduled at 9:30am.

-RM

mh3265a

Our flight is 24 Jan. Just searched Ev’a website and it reflects 6:40am departure.

jsloan

Fair enough; the IAH flight moves around a bit and occasionally arrives at 6:00. I wasn't sure if you were rounding 40 minutes down to half an hour. (You still could have argued with UA that you were uncomfortable with such a short connection).

I still see the 9:30 AM time in the GDSes, but I do see the 6:40 AM time on EVA's website, for both the 24th and the 26th that week. (I didn't look further).

As for flight options -- obviously you're aware that the JFK flight requires changing airports, which also means collecting any checked bags and taking them with you across New York City in January. You're the only one who can judge your wife's comfort level with that plan. :-)

BR has a great longhaul product and I don't blame you for wanting to fly them. I only see one option for two passengers that will preserve your IAH-TPE flight: BR to SIN at 9:55 AM, with a 2 hour, 25 minute layover, connecting to Singapore (SQ) at 4:55 PM, arriving at 5:55 PM.

For other options, just search for an IAD-KUL award and pick out any flight that's showing business class availability. (Everyday is fine -- UA can open award space accordingly). They seem to like routing you on the 787 to Singapore and then putting you on SQ. You can also go east -- IAD-FRA-BKK-KUL, via LH (or UA), TG, and TG will actually get you into KUL the earliest.

(For your sanity, skip the Air China options. :-)

Hope this helps!

NYCRachel

blech. I would have to move the NRT to JFK flight - not the BKK flight. Looks extremely slim.

That 155k extra points per person is insane. Each ticket cost 130k each. Is that definite?

Kacee

Not 155K extra, 155K per ticket. So 25K per ticket more than you've already paid. It's not avoidable. There are no free stopovers on an award ticket any more, so it has to book as two separate awards (110K + 45K).

jsloan

(And there never were any free stopovers on one-way awards).

NYCRachel

Gotcha. Another scenario:

My layover is only 55 min in NRT. When booking it warned me of the risky connection. It is not impossible that I miss that connection. If that happens, will I be able to maneuver onto a flight in a few days?

Kacee

TG would be responsible for rebooking you. It's anyone's guess what that reaccommodation would look like. Extra days are certainly a possibility. So is total loss of an F cabin seat.

EWRMAN

Want to get to budapest in J next October from EWR on award miles. I have loads of UA and amex. Can't find any biz class seats on united at any award rate.

Thinking of either doing EWR-MUC-BUD or EWR-ZRH-BUD. Are there better routes? I want to spend as much time in lie flat as possible but am almost mindful about needing alternatives in case my MUC-BUD or ZRH-BUD has irrops.

Dates 10/4/18-10/7/18

Kacee

You might consider a paid ticket . . . BUD consistently has pretty much the cheapest TATL J fares of any European city, at $29xx on *A.

I've done the FRA, MUC, and ZRH routings. I like ZRH best of those, as it has the best timing on the return. VIE is also an option, with OS offering probably the best overall J product.

TDC

Trying to book an award ticket around the upcoming holidays using the excursionist perk. It follows all the rules, but availability is a bit of a challenge for the last segment:
MEX-AUS 14 Dec
AUS-MSP 19 Dec
MSP-MEX 30 Dec

I'm constantly checking availability by doing one-way searches for 30 Dec. Today an option appeared! The routing is terrible, but I think I may do a SDC anyway. When I went to book the whole itinerary using the multi-city search, the last segment wasn't available. Tried a one-way search again, still there. Anyone else experienced this problem? Do I need to call? I'd really like to avoid it if possible for fees. Cheers.