Ah ok gotcha. I guess I should know these things as a multi-year 1K but I have always booked on the operating carriers website, but in this instance I also found it on UA.com and it made me stop and think. I had always been under the assumption ua.com was always more expensive - not always the case! Think of all the miles I might have missed out on.

Thanks a million for the help findark!

UA site prices significantly lower on Star Alliance itin, is it safe to book
 

Dear all,
I am looking on Google Flights for a Europe - > US return trip. I find several options on other Star Alliance carriers that can be purchased on UA website for 25% less than any of the other carriers sites (which all respectively show the same price), apparently only because one or more segment are "Marketed as UAxxxx" - no UA metal in the itinerary.
This seems a little too good to be true, can I safely buy on UA site anyway - or am I missing something obvious that explains the price difference and that will hit me later ?
Example: all-LX outbound, all-LH return -> LX price = LH price >> UA price. I am looking at economy fares, and I don't care about award mileage.

Many thanks !!

Thanks guys for all the advice, I booked biz via UA.com for my OZ flight and everything is ticketed and confirmed!

Now I just need to figure out how to upgrade my parents' reservations (they're stopping through Korea on their RTW trip as part of my mom's recent retirement) I feel a little guilty sitting up front when they're all the way in the back........ They booked on OZ directly.

Thank you very much ! The fare does remain unchanged from Google through to a dummy booking on UA - so it looks like we will be good. Greatly useful info, much appreciated !

J-

Help me decide: 016 ticket or non-016? P Fare.
 

DEL-YYZ-IAD RT in Business Class (P fare) for about $2600 booked via United or Air Canada website . I am United Silver and don't care about status or PQDs. However, I wish to earn maximum possible redeemable miles on MileagePlus.

If I book 016 ticket, I will only earn about $2000 x 7 = 14000 miles.

If I book non-016 ticket, I will earn distance flown x 2 + 25% = 30000 + 25% = 38k miles approx?

Is the math above correct? Sorry, I'm confused reading up this information online. Any other considerations. I'm assuming baggage allowance, lounge access etc. will be unchanged since it's a Business Class ticket.

I think one benefit of booking via Air Canada might be that they might offer cash upgrade to F.
Thanks.

Yes, your math is correct, assuming that all the segments are operated by Air Canada. On a non-016 ticket you would earn 225% of the 15,492 "flown" miles (YYZ-IAD rounds up to 500), which is substantially more than the other case. If you don't care about PQD then the AC ticket is much better for you.

Just double-checking the AC operated part, as Air Canada does not offer First Class.

OP's math is almost, but not quite, correct. It's not 30K + 25% = 38K, it's 30K + (25% of 15K) = 34K. In other words, the 25% bonus is based on the flight miles before the class of service bonus.

It's still substantially better than you'd get from a 016 ticket. The only people who should be ticketing this on 016 are US residents who need PQDs.

All else being equal (i.e., price), you're pretty much always better off booking directly with the carrier rather than an OTA (such as Expedia).

5x for AMEX Plat really seals the deal.

Similar type question, I can't seem to find it in a search, so please if anyone can point me in the right direction I would greatly appreciate it. I am interested in booking an international itinerary on UA metal but for some dumb reason, although exact same flights, its much cheaper booking it on a 3rd party than booking direct through United on their website. I also understand that flying LH would give the same PQM but I am still preferring to fly on UA metal and there are several options for both. Is there a way to just search for UA metal? When I try to restrict my search to just UA flights, LH flights come up being marketed as UA ones just saying something like "operated by LH" so although they are apparently being sold as UA flights (?) , still being actually LH flights. Does this matter with regard to earning lifetime miles? I mean if I want to earn these on UA, do I need to make sure I am on UA metal or is booking the ticket sold as UA enough?

Also, are there any advantages to booking something billed as UA even though its LH in reality, as opposed to just booking same in LH or vice versa? I just do not understand what the difference is, like if I book an itinerary, being marketed as either an LH flight but in actuality a UA flight or a UA flight in actuality being operated by LH, is there any benefit to MP in booking one over the other? Is there an explanation about this concept somewhere here? Please let me know if any other information is needed. Thanks so much!

I also forgot to ask, is there a way to find a listing of current polaris routes, like those using the newer format planes, I see there is currently a viable option for me on FRA-SFO but just wondered if there was an easy way to find this other than going into each flight detail and see the plane types? Thanks

There are several possible reasons for that. One is that prices may differ depending upon the country of purchase. However, it's also possible that you're looking at a bulk-type ticket, which has its own set of earnings rules.

You can do so using matrix.itasoftware.com. Click "Advanced controls" and then use O:UA+ in the routing codes box for "one or more flights operated by UA." Because, as you've pointed out, operating carrier and marketing carrier may differ, you might still see flights marketed by other airlines, but they'd be codeshares for the UA-operated flights.

Operating carrier, not marketing carrier, is what matters. You only earn UA lifetime miles for flights operated by UA.

You may get a better price, and you may be able to buy the ticket on United.com, which means your (redeemable) earnings may be different even though your PQM will be the same.

Other than as just described, no.

You're describing codeshares. They're basically used to allow airlines to collaborate to sell seats in ways that might otherwise be challenging.

Not really, no. You can do an equipment search on the same matrix.itasoftware.com site: in the extension codes box, you can put aircraft t:781 t:77w. All 77W and 781** aircraft in UA's fleet have true Polaris seating. However, retrofit planes can't be tracked this way; they're not loaded into the schedule until the last minute, and there seems to be little pattern.

* certain adjustments might be able to be done via a simple revalidation, if the carrier and number of stops doesn't change, but I'm not 100% sure and the experience that I had from trying to SDC a non-UA ticket doesn't make me want to push my luck. :)
** I really liked 78J, but, alas, 781 it is. :)

On UA,com, yes
Go to Advance Search options and select "My search preferences" and then UA only

This is a multi-faceted question. Only LH booked on UA ticket stock earns PQDs. Award miles are different for LH depending on ticket stock, but not for UA flights. There are some case for upgrades where native flight number are required

See
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...ris-seats.html
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...ris-seats.html