jsloan

I'm worried that they're in the middle of a system revamp, but I can confirm that neither this approach nor the more traditional excursionist perk currently work for me.

What?

This is not at all what UA was intending when they put this together. None of their examples included this. The intent was clearly that interregional travel was required, and they neglected to include that requirement. The next big UA award system change is likely to correct this oversight.

Yeah, they can be very difficult to change, and when they do change, the pricing can be wrong. I still wouldn't call with one like the OP's unless I absolutely had to do so. Every time an agent's attention gets called to something like this, it brings the day of reckoning nearer.

I would never call UA to book something like this. That's even worse than calling to change this kind of award. At least with a change, you can hope that the agent's not paying attention to whether or not the various segments make any sense together.

winkny

We can thanks for this the bloggers.

Yesterday one of these blogs post this"Leveraging the United Excursionist Perk to save miles"

https://frequentmiler.boardingarea.c...to-save-miles/

and less then 24 hours later the excursion perk no longer work.

I hope all this is just a coincidence and they just update the system.

And by the way this is a perk (which replace the free stopover for RT) not a trick , ( trick was more then year ago when was possible to make some very crazy routing and the free segment can be the last segment.

pushmyredbutton

In fairness, this has been exploited by bloggers since this first came out in 2015(?). UA hasn't really done anything about it since then, so I doubt a recent one-off post would have caused them to reconsider.

Likely it would be too complicated for UA to implement logic that allows the perk only when it makes sense (aka: regions that are close to one another). Personally I do take advantage of it in some ways that it was likely not intended for, and I fully agree with all of the above points: It is best to take it for what it is, and avoid getting an agent involved. Also, consider the itinerary completely unchangeable once booked and you'll be fine.

jsloan

Also, I recommend flying all segments, rather than booking a throwaway segment without any intent to travel. Throwaway ticketing is expressly prohibited by UA's CoC, so even while you can claim that these awards are within the rules (albeit not what was intended), throwaway ticketing is not.

pushmyredbutton

Definitely, yes. One good note is that I've had little pushback changing the 3rd and final segment.

I usually book my last segment far into the future, and I have a small stash of unused final segments that I can call and change to a closer date/different airport without much issue. Only works if the 'free' segment is marked as flown.

symphonicman

I guess ascribing intent to a large corporation is impossible, anyway, so we'll have to disagree, but I don't think the UA-cozy bloggers would be out there talking about it so close to launch if UA didn't intend it. We'll see if there's a policy change coming and that's always a risk, but there are only two simple illustrative examples on the MileagePlus Air Awards, and the rules have a lot more leeway than that. Also, the requirements for (1) sequential segments and (2) travel complete within a year of ticketing limit abuse.

Agree with other posters to avoid throwaway ticketing on these. Pretty sure UA would want to reprice the middle segment if you didn't fly the last one.

Morrissey

IAD1k

a couple weeks ago, i booked a flight in IN using UA miles at the saver level MAD-FRA-IAD. MAD-FRA is in X but the most important segment, FRA-IAD in biz, so no problem. I just saw on united.com that MAD-FRA is now available in I. i called UA to switch since i paid I level miles but the agent couldn't make it work and said that MAD-IAD is not available in I, even if that segment is. am i a victim of married segments? it's a short intra-EU flight in an economy seat anyway, so i am not losing any sleep, but the response sounded weird. if both segments are available in I, why not issue the ticket in I?

findark

Does FRA-IAD currently have I space? If so, then yes you're getting hit by a married segment penalty. If no, then it's downline revalidaiton.

IAD1k

good question, and no, the current flight i am on FRA-IAD does not have I space left. what is downline revalidation and do i have a recourse?

RobOnLI

Downline revalidation basically means that you must be re-validated in "I" space on your FRA-IAD flight when you attempt to change the MAD-FRA flight to "I". Since "I" is not available on FRA-IAD you cannot be revalidated and, therefore, you cannot change your ticket. In effect, UA has to rebook your ticket for both segments in "I" but can't pull inventory that doesn't exist, even if you are already booked in it.

United allows you to pay the miles for "I" class and waitlist for the business cabin if you are booked in coach only on United flights. This does not work for partners. Therefore, when you booked your flight you accepted the fact that you were in coach on MAD-FRA. To change it requires "I" class all the way through.

BTW, the agent not seeing "I" space on MAD-IAD is a result of married segment logic. However, married segment logic does not apply in this case here for your needs. "I" space is open MAD-FRA (according to the OP) so the agent could book just that leg if that's all you wanted. However, since "I" is not open all the way to IAD they cannot rebook your ticket as explained above.

-RM

splaif

Ran into the problem described above re: excursionist perk today. First call to 1K desk didn't yield any help. Later I called again and the agent had to contact a supervisor who could fix the reservation to allow for the perk to be at no mileage cost. She also said the website was an error and that she logged an issue. I pressed a few times about whether the perk has gone away and she never answered.

Kacee

A cs agent is not going to have a meaningful answer to that question. And a published MP benefit won't be removed until it's been announced and disclosed on the website. As jsloan notes, they may well be tweaking the award booking functionality to take away the ability to book segments that are outside the intent. Or it could just be typical UA website issues which will quietly go away.

jphripjah

I'm trying to book an award ticket from Bangkok to Auckland to Rarotonga.

The website offers me a 5 hour layover in Auckland. It prices at 22,500 points in economy for the BKK-RAR-AKL routing.

I'd prefer a 21 hour layover in Auckland. The website won't offer that. If I use multi-city option and force in the 21 hour layover, it prices at 47,500 miles.

Is there any point to me booking the 5 hour layover and calling in within 24 hours and trying to change it to a 21 hour layover for the same price?

Or do agents still have no power to assist here if the website doesn't show the routing?

jsloan