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UA award booking,change questions/fees/issues/routing/excursionist problems {Archive}

Old Dec 27, 2016, 9:23 pm
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Last edit by: WineCountryUA
United's Announcement and FAQ

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)

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This is an archive thread, the active thread is Award booking questions/ issues/ routing/ excursionist problems / help
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UA award booking,change questions/fees/issues/routing/excursionist problems {Archive}

Old Apr 3, 2018, 10:36 am
  #2371  
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: SJC / DPS
Programs: AS G75K, UA Silver
Posts: 1,752
Originally Posted by jsloan
Incidentally -- which route were you hoping to ExPerk in F? There are so few eligible routes these days. ORD-EWR and ORD-IAH are still sometimes sold as three-class...
Actually I think you're right. I was looking for PEK-PVG, but F is sold as J it seems.

I don't think there are any intra-region F routes left outside of SIN-CGK, EWR-ORD and ORD-IAH. SIN-MNL looks like it should be eligible (old F product) but no availability is ever released.
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Old Apr 3, 2018, 11:41 am
  #2372  
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Originally Posted by pushmyredbutton
Actually I think you're right. I was looking for PEK-PVG, but F is sold as J it seems.

I don't think there are any intra-region F routes left outside of SIN-CGK, EWR-ORD and ORD-IAH. SIN-MNL looks like it should be eligible (old F product) but no availability is ever released.
Yes, intra-China F is sold as partner J even though it books into O. And, yes, I haven't seen F awards on SIN-MNL either. The schedule is really inconsistent there; they have a mix of A330, 77W, 772, and 773 with no obvious pattern. That may play into the decision not to release O inventory.
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Old Apr 4, 2018, 11:45 am
  #2373  
 
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: CVG, originally LAX/SNA
Programs: UA MileagePlus Premier Platinum, Hilton Honors Gold, SPG Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 77
Originally Posted by WineCountryUA
Plus it is risk to make an online change with a partner flight. If anything goes wrong, you end up with neither the original nor the new itin.
given the new rules, better to book OWs vs RTs (no excursion but that is of limited value to me); and bookie new and than cancel old -- no changes.
If the reservation is canceled, does the partner space of the previous ticket immediately open back up for rebooking or will partners try to suck that space back up?
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Old Apr 4, 2018, 11:53 am
  #2374  
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Originally Posted by InterPlace55
If the reservation is canceled, does the partner space of the previous ticket immediately open back up for rebooking or will partners try to suck that space back up?
There's no guarantee. The partner may release the space again, or they might not.
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Old Apr 4, 2018, 11:56 am
  #2375  
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Join Date: Jun 2007
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Posts: 66,581
Originally Posted by InterPlace55
If the reservation is canceled, does the partner space of the previous ticket immediately open back up for rebooking or will partners try to suck that space back up?
No definitive answer possible -- they may, they may not. Best not to assume it will.

When space was initially released and you reserved it, the partner felt it was the right thing have that space available. However, if the reservation is canceled or released, the partner may want to re-evaluate what it wants to do with the space. Generally, there is not a fixed quota of award space but rather it will be variable based on paid space activity.
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Old Apr 6, 2018, 7:17 am
  #2376  
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Can you route across the Pacific when traveling between the West Coast and the Middle East. Like SFO to Muscat via Narita and Bangkok for example.
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Old Apr 6, 2018, 10:06 am
  #2377  
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: SFO South Bay
Programs: UA 2MM
Posts: 3,052
Can United add a segment to the beginning of an award ticket after it is booked? For example, I see much better availability for last minute LH F space LAX to FRA than SFO to FRA. But for some reason, the online tool often does not show the SFO-LAX-FRA-XXX routing. So I was planning to snag the LAX-FRA-XXX LH ticket when it pops up, and then call UA to add the SFO-LAX segment afterwards. Would they do it or would they force me to redo the ticket and thus risk losing the LH F space.

I ask because it is often easier and faster for me to snag a ticket online than call UA.
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Old Apr 6, 2018, 10:10 am
  #2378  
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 2,530
Originally Posted by blueman2
Can United add a segment to the beginning of an award ticket after it is booked [when that routing does not show up with the online search]?
This thread seems to be 85% no, 15% yes. I HUCAed 3 times and couldn't get them to add a FRA-TXL (that didn't show up online) to my ORD-FRA leg. Online tool and phone agent only gave me the option for a 6-hour connection even though plenty of saver space open on the earlier flights. But others on this thread have had luck on rare occasions.

The new regime seems to be "they can only book what you see online" except for rare agents.
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Old Apr 6, 2018, 12:13 pm
  #2379  
 
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Austin, TX -- AA Life Platinum; QF Life Silver; UA Silver
Posts: 5,462
Convert one-way to open-jaw+excursionist?

Is it possible to convert a one-way award to a roundtrip/open-jaw with excursionist perk? Possible issue is the original outbound itinerary isn't showing available anymore if they need to reticket the entire itin.

Booked AAA-BBB. Want to do AAA-BBB//BBB-CCC//DDD-AAA. AAA-BBB no longer available at least with my current routing.
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Old Apr 6, 2018, 12:21 pm
  #2380  
Moderator: United Airlines
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
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Programs: UA Plat 1.99MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,581
Originally Posted by hauteboy
Is it possible to convert a one-way award to a roundtrip/open-jaw with excursionist perk? Possible issue is the original outbound itinerary isn't showing available anymore if they need to reticket the entire itin.

Booked AAA-BBB. Want to do AAA-BBB//BBB-CCC//DDD-AAA. AAA-BBB no longer available at least with my current routing.
IF AAA-BBB is not UA operated, little chance of making this chance.

If a partner, the new ticket would have to essentially be booked as a new trip. You could take the chance of canceling AAA-BBB and if you get really lucky it may come available again.
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Old Apr 7, 2018, 12:33 pm
  #2381  
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
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Originally Posted by SkyTeam777
Can you route across the Pacific when traveling between the West Coast and the Middle East. Like SFO to Muscat via Narita and Bangkok for example.
No, unless you want to make it two separate awards, i.e., SFO-NRT and NRT-MCT
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Old Apr 9, 2018, 10:27 am
  #2382  
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Posts: 47
Is it possible to link the PNR on a paid ticket with an award ticket? I was looking at award flights to Europe for the family, but also wanted to buy one ticket. Wasn't sure if it was possible to link the party together in that scenario or if we needed to be either all paid or all award for that to happen.
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Old Apr 9, 2018, 11:06 am
  #2383  
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Originally Posted by QS Dreamer
Is it possible to link the PNR on a paid ticket with an award ticket? I was looking at award flights to Europe for the family, but also wanted to buy one ticket. Wasn't sure if it was possible to link the party together in that scenario or if we needed to be either all paid or all award for that to happen.
Not in any meaningful way, no. All award or all paid in order to be on a single PNR.
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Old Apr 9, 2018, 4:07 pm
  #2384  
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: HNL / SIN
Posts: 87
[Excursionist Help] Planning a RTW

Hello!
I'm trying to better understand the excursionist perk with relation to a RTW trip I am planning and am hoping I might be able to get some ideas! I've heard of it before but am only now getting into the detailed research on it.


Generally, I'll have an itinerary that goes like this:
SIN->HNL->Europe->USA (wedding)->N. Africa->S. Africa->N. S. America->Central/South S. America


In terms of a bit more detail, it's like this:
  1. SIN->HNL
  2. HNL->Europe
  3. Europe->Europe (travel within Europe for 2-3 months using a variety of buses/trains/flights)
  4. Europe->SAN (USA)
  5. SAN->SFO
  6. SFO->RAK
  7. RAK->CAI
  8. CAI->JNB
  9. JNB->CPT
  10. CPT->LIM
  11. Travel in Central/Southern S. America for 2-3 months
  12. GRU->SIN
  13. SIN->Japan for 1-2 months
  14. Japan->SIN
Within the above, I can identify a couple areas where I might be able to take advantage of the excursionist perk with some modifications to my itinerary:
  1. Europe->SAN->SFO->Return to Europe instead of RAK and I get the SAN->SFO flight free
  2. Integrate my Europe and N. Africa portions so that I can do Europe->RAK->CAI->Europe Someone rightfully pointed out that I incorrectly tried to bundle RAK and CAI together when they're in two separate zones. Argh
  3. I could get 1 award ticket with SIN->Japan (start of trip, as part of item 1), and then Japan->SIN (item 14), and then choose anywhere between to add a free 1-way flight. For this option, though, I would end up having to spend about 27.5k United miles to get from Japan->HNL as part of my item 1 which might just end up canceling out the cost of whatever 1-way ticket I can get for free (or even negatively outweighing it considering there won't be as many 27.5k 1-way trip tickets I can get?)
If anyone has any ideas on ways to modify the above trip to better optimize the excursionist perk, I'd greatly appreciate it! I'll have about 8-9 months for the above, so I have some flexibility to make some changes. Thank you in advance!

Miles-wise, I have:
  • UR: 96k
  • United: 78k
  • Asiana: 50k
  • Delta: 80k
  • AA: 75k

Last edited by goodtasting; Apr 10, 2018 at 8:28 am
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Old Apr 9, 2018, 4:39 pm
  #2385  
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Originally Posted by goodtasting
I could get 1 award ticket with SIN->Japan (start of trip, as part of item 1), and then Japan->SIN (item 14), and then choose anywhere between to add a free 1-way flight. For this option, though, I would end up having to spend about 27.5k United miles to get from Japan->HNL as part of my item 1 which might just end up canceling out the cost of whatever 1-way ticket I can get for free (or even negatively outweighing it considering there won't be as many 27.5k 1-way trip tickets I can get?)
There's no need to do this. You can combine SIN-HNL with Japan-SIN and still get an Excursionist Perk in between.

All that matters is that take one flight that begins in a given region, then take an intra-regional flight in a different region, and then the last flight of your itinerary finishes in the region where you started. So, SIN-HNL / ARN-BCN (e.g.) / NRT-SIN is perfectly valid, and ARN-BCN would be free.

Any region that you will visit twice is a candidate for an Ex Perk. Of course, I don't see many of those...

I wouldn't spend a minute trying to get SFO-SAN for free, though. I'd use it for intra-Europe or intra-South America. You can fly SFO-SAN cheaply on several carriers -- and I'm guessing you're not going to have enough miles to get the whole trip for free, so you may as well focus on using your miles for the most expensive flights.

Have fun! And... good luck with seat availability.
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