jsloan

Sadly, the online change tool for UA is frequently broken. If you call, you will be able to change the award. If you were to cancel online, the miles might be redeposited automatically and might not. I run about 50/50. There should be no fee to change via the phone, although wait times on the non-status line can be long sometimes.

kellyo22

Hi! I booked a multi-city award flight - PHX-LIS, LIS-FCO, and FCO-PHX. I want to change just one leg - PHX-LIS to BOS-LIS. I found the flight I want, and it is the same amount of points as the original booking. I understand there is a fee to change the flight. However, I am being told by the agent that it is impossible to change just one leg on an award flight, that they must cancel and rebook the entire flight. And since the FCO-PHX flight now "costs more" points, I am being told that I must use 40k more points to "rebook" that leg, even though I am not changing it. Has anyone successfully changed one leg of the flight? I have never run into this problem, and it seems absurd to pay 40K more points when I am making no changes to that leg of the flight!

Thanks!!

WineCountryUA

Welcome to award changes 2017. if partner flights are involved, that is the answer

kellyo22

Wow, that's really awful - and it was my first award booked with United!

jsloan

Welcome to FlyerTalk! Sorry you had this negative experience.

Yes and no. While I agree that they do seem to have to re-validate inventory, it's not clear if that's what's going on here. If that were the problem, I'd expect United to say "that flight is no longer available." "No longer available at the Saver rate" is absolutely something that they should be able to fix, because Saver vs. Everyday is a United-only* distinction, and they should be able to hold the existing inventory from the original reward.

kellyo22: Sadly, UA agents often give you misleading or even incorrect information. Before surrendering a bunch more points, I would try calling back a couple of times to try to get the change that you want. Be polite, don't argue with them, and if they say it's going to be more miles, tell them you'll have to think about it, hang up, and try again.

Good luck!

* And Copa, I've recently found out. But I'd be shocked if there were any Copa flights on this itinerary.

macdonaldj2

SA just changed my flight, downgraded from A340 to A320 and pushed my flight 4 hours later. Original A340 still operating but under a different flight number, don't care about the plane type at this point, just don't want to spend another 4 hours sitting in JNB waiting to connect. What are my options?

Kacee

You could try calling SA and asking them to reopen space, but not sure that's going to help. Otherwise, UA will let you change to any itinerary with award space available. UA can't force SA to open space on the other flight.

GiantCow

Are we able to discuss UA award bookings made with a partner in this thread? (Didn't want to clog up the main forum for a simple question).

I have a trip booked with Aeroplan that involves a few domestic UA flights. Most legs are in J but the UA flights didn't have any space in first so I'm booked in economy, the Aeroplan agent said I'd be waitlisted for first on those flights.

I'm curious where I would stand in terms of priority on the waitlist. Not a big deal since the flights are all under 4 hours so it doesn't matter where I sit, just curious what the waitlist priority order is for UA.

Kacee

The agent was wrong. You will not be waitlisted for F. If you see I space (saver F) open prior to departure, you could call AP and ask to change your ticket. That would be subject to applicable AP rules and any fees.

kellyo22

Thanks for this advice! I called several times, and I finally got someone to make the change manually!

GiantCow

I see, thanks. Good thing they are short flights then, no big deal.

IAHoaaang

This is probably a long shot but I thought I'd give it a go... Maybe someone has been searching this similar scenario & found something. I am trying to fly from Europe back to MSY (New Orleans) on January 1st, & am trying to get it at the saver award (30k award miles). I am flying to Frankfurt in late December from Houston, and was able to get it for 30k miles. However coming back to the US, the cheapest I can find is 70k for that one way. I have tried pretty much every combination of cities (from Frankfurt/Paris/Geneva/Munich to Boston, Dulles, new York, MSY, etc), & all are 70k each way. I did find one from Heathrow to MSY, for 30k, but the taxes are like $200, and I would have to buy a one way from Frankfurt to Heathrow which is about $250. So worst case scenario I will do that, but wanted to see if anyone maybe had any other possible ideas I could try at all that maybe I am missing? Is it possible they release more saver award tickets in the next 2/3 weeks? Thanks for any help!

Cryotia

I actually had a (relatively) straightforward experience with this. Called in to change an existing booking to a set of flights that weren't showing up online. First agent said it couldn't be done, had to be done as a multi-city, need 170k miles (instead of 90k for Asia-North America), etc. Asked to speak to a supervisor, who was able to build the award manually. Ticket changed after about two hours on hold.

Kacee

The tools to do this still exist. The trick is finding a UA agent who (1) has access to them, and (2) is willing to use them. The ability has mostly been taken away from the front line agents.

WineCountryUA

Yes possible but absolute no guarantees ... especially on such a peak travel day. You check a couple times a day and hope you get lucky. You chance would improve if you were willing to travel on an adjacent day.