Happy w/Miles Redemption for Multi-Leg Business Class
Sep 14, 2016, 12:35 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 31
Happy w/Miles Redemption for Multi-Leg Business Class
Just booked ATL-ATH (economy); FCO-LHR & LHR-ATL (business) for late April-mid-May for 87,500 miles, or net $.04/mi value. Booking two separate itineraries for outbound and inbound would have required 102,500 mi, which I did at first, because I wanted the ability to cancel one or the other in order to check out other carriers redemption rates before finalizing (particularly BA, for the stopover in London benefit). Be aware that in order to get this reduced redemption rate, I HAD to book business class on the last two legs, FCO-LHR and LHR-ATL. When I selected an economy flight on the FCO-LHR leg, the miles redemption amount was MORE than 87.5k.
Thanks to flyertalk, I read posts about the mileage "break" for booking 3 legs when departing/returning to the same airport. Total taxes of about $400 weren't bad, either, particularly in comparison to double that amount on BA, as well as much higher mileage redemption rates.
A second ticket, all economy, was also booked, for 60,000 mi, compared to Delta, who wanted 95,000 for the same itinerary & times.
United's web site is tedious to use, though, and it took me quite a few hours to book/cancel/rebook the flight combinations I wanted. And I would get different redemption requirements, depending upon whether I logged in under my ff# or my spouse's. I even tried google incognito to see if it would give me better results, but it didn't.
Also, United's web site was experiencing "difficulty", and I had to call international customer service today to ask why my cancelled flight miles had not been restored. She said there was no record of my cancellation, but I had printed out the document that appeared after I had cancelled, that said: "Award miles to be redeposited to MileagePlus account and refund of taxes to be credited to your VISA card. Please note that it may take up to seven days for your payment to be refunded and up to 14 days for your miles to be redeposited." So she redeposited the miles, and they showed up immediately.
The reason I called was because my spouse's cancelled itinerary resulted in miles restoration right away. So very glad I didn't wait for 14 days to pass before asking miles to be restored!
Thanks to flyertalk, I read posts about the mileage "break" for booking 3 legs when departing/returning to the same airport. Total taxes of about $400 weren't bad, either, particularly in comparison to double that amount on BA, as well as much higher mileage redemption rates.
A second ticket, all economy, was also booked, for 60,000 mi, compared to Delta, who wanted 95,000 for the same itinerary & times.
United's web site is tedious to use, though, and it took me quite a few hours to book/cancel/rebook the flight combinations I wanted. And I would get different redemption requirements, depending upon whether I logged in under my ff# or my spouse's. I even tried google incognito to see if it would give me better results, but it didn't.
Also, United's web site was experiencing "difficulty", and I had to call international customer service today to ask why my cancelled flight miles had not been restored. She said there was no record of my cancellation, but I had printed out the document that appeared after I had cancelled, that said: "Award miles to be redeposited to MileagePlus account and refund of taxes to be credited to your VISA card. Please note that it may take up to seven days for your payment to be refunded and up to 14 days for your miles to be redeposited." So she redeposited the miles, and they showed up immediately.
The reason I called was because my spouse's cancelled itinerary resulted in miles restoration right away. So very glad I didn't wait for 14 days to pass before asking miles to be restored!
