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}
Aug 3, 2016, 2:06 pm
#106
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
Programs: A3*Gold, SPG Plat, HyattDiamond, MarriottPP, LHW exAccess, ICI, Raffles Amb, NW PE MM, TWA Gold MM
Posts: 100,409
My fear is that .bomb will become like delta.com in which you can search multi-city itineraries but each leg will price cumulatively even if your search is just intended to specify a connecting city (for e.g., LAX-FRA on 08/03, FRA-IST on 08/04 currently prices as one one-way award since the stop would be less than 24 hours in FRA. I suspect that will be gone/disabled...).
Aug 3, 2016, 2:07 pm
#107
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Kansas City, MO
Programs: AA Gold
Posts: 3,648
Correct or even: USA-Japan, China-Thailand, Japan-USA
or: USA-Japan, China-Thailand, Johannesburg-USA (obviously you'd pay africa-usa mileage rate for the return).
The only real restriction they've placed on the ExPerk is that it has to start and end in the same region and your total ticket must start and end in the same region.
They didn't say if ExPerk needs to have anything else to do with your other flights.
or: USA-Japan, China-Thailand, Johannesburg-USA (obviously you'd pay africa-usa mileage rate for the return).
The only real restriction they've placed on the ExPerk is that it has to start and end in the same region and your total ticket must start and end in the same region.
They didn't say if ExPerk needs to have anything else to do with your other flights.
flew MCI-SFO on UA-Seoul-RGN on Asiana all the way through.
stayed 2 weeks in Myanmar
flew RGN-NRT on ANA. Had 5 day stopover. Flew NRT-DEN-MCI on UA.
Booked as a round trip award with a stopover in one direction. So now this would be 3 awards? Going to Myanmar one award, return 2 awards if I want to stopover in Japan?
Aug 3, 2016, 2:07 pm
#108
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: AUS TUS
Programs: AA PLT, UA GLD
Posts: 993
two or more one-way awards can be combined to form round-trip
Aug 3, 2016, 2:14 pm
#109
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 24
Confused. How would this work for a vacation award trip I took 2 years ago;
flew MCI-SFO on UA-Seoul-RGN on Asiana all the way through.
stayed 2 weeks in Myanmar
flew RGN-NRT on ANA. Had 5 day stopover. Flew NRT-DEN-MCI on UA.
Booked as a round trip award with a stopover in one direction. So now this would be 3 awards? Going to Myanmar one award, return 2 awards if I want to stopover in Japan?
flew MCI-SFO on UA-Seoul-RGN on Asiana all the way through.
stayed 2 weeks in Myanmar
flew RGN-NRT on ANA. Had 5 day stopover. Flew NRT-DEN-MCI on UA.
Booked as a round trip award with a stopover in one direction. So now this would be 3 awards? Going to Myanmar one award, return 2 awards if I want to stopover in Japan?
MCI-RGN
RGN-NRT
NRT-MCI
With current rules this is allowed. RGN was your destination, NRT was a stopover on the way home.
With the new rules since the ExPerk segment has to be in the same region and RGN and NRT are not in the same region, this would be ticketed as 3 separate tickets, you would not get RGN-NRT for free
In the below example RGN-BKK would be free since they are in the same region:
MCI-RGN
RGN-BKK
BKK-MCI
Aug 3, 2016, 2:18 pm
#110
Join Date: Apr 2003
Programs: UA *G 1MM LT United Club & Global Entry
Posts: 2,756
two or more one-way awards can be combined to form round-trip
If true this is a benefit for those who book the outbound as a one-way at T-330 to capture that availability, and book the return portion later.
SL
Aug 3, 2016, 2:23 pm
#112
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: London
Programs: UA GS
Posts: 2,438
It sounds like if you combine two one-way awards; you would only have one change or re-deposit fee for the total itinerary.
If true this is a benefit for those who book the outbound as a one-way at T-330 to capture that availability, and book the return portion later.
SL
If true this is a benefit for those who book the outbound as a one-way at T-330 to capture that availability, and book the return portion later.
SL
Aug 3, 2016, 2:23 pm
#113
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 24
It doesn't even have to be a real round trip: BKK-RGN(stopover) RGN-SGN(destination) SGN-SIN. This is no longer the case, that's a big devaluation.
Last edited by dlman18; Aug 3, 2016 at 2:27 pm Reason: added example
Aug 3, 2016, 2:31 pm
#114
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Kansas City, MO
Programs: AA Gold
Posts: 3,648
Let's take the layovers out of the equation since they don't matter. You had these flights:
MCI-RGN
RGN-NRT
NRT-MCI
With current rules this is allowed. RGN was your destination, NRT was a stopover on the way home.
With the new rules since the ExPerk segment has to be in the same region and RGN and NRT are not in the same region, this would be ticketed as 3 separate tickets, you would not get RGN-NRT for free
In the below example RGN-BKK would be free since they are in the same region:
MCI-RGN
RGN-BKK
BKK-MCI
MCI-RGN
RGN-NRT
NRT-MCI
With current rules this is allowed. RGN was your destination, NRT was a stopover on the way home.
With the new rules since the ExPerk segment has to be in the same region and RGN and NRT are not in the same region, this would be ticketed as 3 separate tickets, you would not get RGN-NRT for free
In the below example RGN-BKK would be free since they are in the same region:
MCI-RGN
RGN-BKK
BKK-MCI
MCI-RGN outbound
RGN-MCI return with stopover in Japan while passing through
80K miles each way in J
The confusion is about how many tickets one has. My original trip was ticketed as a RT award. It had 6 tickets in it as there were multiple flights. Seat was in business class and the whole trip took 160K miles.
Are you saying this would be 3 awards now, one MCI-RGN one RGN-NRT and one NRT-MCI? That would take a lot more miles than the way it was before 195K vs 160K.
Aug 3, 2016, 2:35 pm
#115
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 24
I doubt this will change, actually, if only because it requires more backend changes than I expect them to be capable of. The pricing engine is the same for all tickets (paid and award) and will always attempt to re-price a ticket (even retroactively) using any search method after another segment is added.
Aug 3, 2016, 2:37 pm
#116
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: EAU
Programs: UA 1K, CO Plat, NW Plat, Marriott Premiere Plat, SPG Plat, Priority Gold, Hilton Gold
Posts: 4,712
It's also now easier for me to give money to other airlines.
More importantly, they just killed a lot of the good will they'd gotten with the switch to Oscar by making a negative change and calling it an "enhancement".
I mean, really, don't treat me like I'm stupid.
Aug 3, 2016, 2:39 pm
#117
Moderator: Budget Travel forum & Credit Card Programs, FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: YYJ/YVR and back on Van Isle ....... for now
Programs: UA lifetime MM / *A Gold
Posts: 14,429
Aug 3, 2016, 2:41 pm
#118
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 24
I had these flights:
MCI-RGN outbound
RGN-MCI return with stopover in Japan while passing through
80K miles each way in J
The confusion is about how many tickets one has. My original trip was ticketed as a RT award. It had 6 tickets in it as there were multiple flights. Seat was in business class and the whole trip took 160K miles.
Are you saying this would be 3 awards now, one MCI-RGN one RGN-NRT and one NRT-MCI? That would take a lot more miles than the way it was before 195K vs 160K.
MCI-RGN outbound
RGN-MCI return with stopover in Japan while passing through
80K miles each way in J
The confusion is about how many tickets one has. My original trip was ticketed as a RT award. It had 6 tickets in it as there were multiple flights. Seat was in business class and the whole trip took 160K miles.
Are you saying this would be 3 awards now, one MCI-RGN one RGN-NRT and one NRT-MCI? That would take a lot more miles than the way it was before 195K vs 160K.
Everything is one way tickets now so it's easiest to look at it as one ways rather than a round trip with a stopover.
MCI-RGN 80K (assuming not flying united metal)
RGN-NRT 35k
NRT-MCI 75k (assuming not flying united metal)
The reason why you have to pay for the RGN-NRT is because those two cities are not in the same region (NRT is in japan region, RGN is in south asia region)
Last edited by dlman18; Aug 3, 2016 at 2:44 pm Reason: clarification
Aug 3, 2016, 2:46 pm
#119
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: Ewa Beach, Hawaii
Posts: 10,909
Anybody have some Alka Seltzer? Looks like the Munoz party is coming to a close. Lots of downgrades in this new announcement.
Aug 3, 2016, 2:47 pm
#120
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: East Coast US
Programs: Free Agent
Posts: 192
You had 6 segments/flights (not tickets). It was one RT award at 160K, and one ticket.
Under the Oct 6 changes and logic, it would still be the 6 segments/flights assuming those set of flights were options the computer/agent offered when you said you wanted to go MCI-RGN, then RGN-NRT, then NRT-MCI. Supposedly, they would price as 3 one way awards totaling 190K (1 North America-Southeast Asia, 1 Southeast Asia-Japan, 1 Japan-North America). These could be all included in one ticket and PNR, or up to 3 tickets and PNRs with combinations of each origination and destination as you wished.
No more stopovers, just destinations. Layovers at connection points would supposedly be allowed if the computer/agent offers a routing that includes them. And the new "Excursionary Perk" that offers a free one way intra-region award outside your starting region if you are on a roundtrip award with the same starting and ending region. This ExPerk doesn't work for your itinerary as dlman18 indicated because RGN and NRT are in different MileagePlus regions. Of course, that's the theory, the implemented logic could be quite different.
Under the Oct 6 changes and logic, it would still be the 6 segments/flights assuming those set of flights were options the computer/agent offered when you said you wanted to go MCI-RGN, then RGN-NRT, then NRT-MCI. Supposedly, they would price as 3 one way awards totaling 190K (1 North America-Southeast Asia, 1 Southeast Asia-Japan, 1 Japan-North America). These could be all included in one ticket and PNR, or up to 3 tickets and PNRs with combinations of each origination and destination as you wished.
No more stopovers, just destinations. Layovers at connection points would supposedly be allowed if the computer/agent offers a routing that includes them. And the new "Excursionary Perk" that offers a free one way intra-region award outside your starting region if you are on a roundtrip award with the same starting and ending region. This ExPerk doesn't work for your itinerary as dlman18 indicated because RGN and NRT are in different MileagePlus regions. Of course, that's the theory, the implemented logic could be quite different.
I had these flights:
MCI-RGN outbound
RGN-MCI return with stopover in Japan while passing through
80K miles each way in J
The confusion is about how many tickets one has. My original trip was ticketed as a RT award. It had 6 tickets in it as there were multiple flights. Seat was in business class and the whole trip took 160K miles.
Are you saying this would be 3 awards now, one MCI-RGN one RGN-NRT and one NRT-MCI? That would take a lot more miles than the way it was before 195K vs 160K.
MCI-RGN outbound
RGN-MCI return with stopover in Japan while passing through
80K miles each way in J
The confusion is about how many tickets one has. My original trip was ticketed as a RT award. It had 6 tickets in it as there were multiple flights. Seat was in business class and the whole trip took 160K miles.
Are you saying this would be 3 awards now, one MCI-RGN one RGN-NRT and one NRT-MCI? That would take a lot more miles than the way it was before 195K vs 160K.
Last edited by jigri2003; Aug 3, 2016 at 2:57 pm