rflor

Looking for advice on how to plan an ORD--XXX--KIX J award booking for 2 seats (I'd love to find 4, but I am pragmatic I'll need to buy 2 with cash). This is for a booking in June 2019, so inventory hasn't loaded yet.

I plan to set up ExpertFlyer business saver inventory alerts for both ORD--NRT and SFO--KIX. My concern is if, for example, there's SFO-KIX inventory, but no ORD-SFO inventory. What are my options if that happens? I am Gold status, and *might* be Platinum by the time inventory opens up.

Any other suggestions on how to approach this? I'm agnostic to either ANA or UA.

Kacee

I don't know about ORD-NRT, but SFO-KIX is one of the easier routes for award space (SFO-NRT is also not bad, highly variable depending on date of travel).

Since this would be all UA, you could book the long-haul and add ORD-SFO later. But ORD-SFO in F will be impossible. Even XN may be tough.

jsloan

Your options are to book SFO-KIX and pay for a ticket to SFO; book SFO-KIX and hope to add ORD-SFO if it shows up later; or to wait. You're unlikely to find useful business saver inventory on ORD-SFO.

I would also be looking for ORD-HKG on UA, ORD-TPE on BR, ORD-HND on NH, and maybe ORD-ICN on OZ (they tend to use their older angle-flat product on that route, though). You'll also have a lot more options if you're willing to double-connect.

rflor

Yeah I have no delusions of getting F to SFO...I only care about getting J on the long-haul portion. Is it reasonable to consider a mixed booking where I book ORD-SFO cash and SFO-KIX on miles? If so, how would we handle checked baggage in that scenario?

Kacee

I would certainly consider that. And if you're agnostic between KIX and NRT, consider SFO-NRT as well, since that's a 77W flight. Though perhaps by next summer the 772 on ORD-NRT will have Polaris seats, too.

They should check your bags through at ORD, though some agents have difficulty handling a UA-UA interline on separate tix. You would definitely want to leave extra time for check in.

nycflyer1565

I'm still new here, so someone can correct me if I'm wrong. But you shouldn't need to do SFO-KIX with cash. It can be a mixed award booking. As long as there is XN space for ORD-SFO you can book the entire trip on a saver award ticket (ORD-SFO in Y, SFO-KIK in J assuming there is business saver availability on that segment). You can waitlist for ORD-SFO in the unlikely event that I space opens up. No reason to pay for ORD-SFO with cash, it won't cost more miles this way and you won't have any complications with checked bags as it's a single ticket.

There's a thread on waitlisting to F/J on award tickets but I can't post URL because I'm too new here.

Kacee

You're assuming OP will find XN for ORD-SFO. That's not necessarily going to be the case. Domestic saver award availability sucks in general, and hub-to-hubs are especially bad.

nycflyer1565

Yes. Presumes XN space for ORD-SFO. Still wanted to make OP aware of the option of booking mixed award as it's worth checking. I did this for EWR-IAH-SYD ~6 months out and had no problem with XN on domestic route. That said, EWR-SFO XN wasn't available at the time, which is why I'm through IAH.

Taoyuan

Supposedly all their 777s are lie-flat now.

rflor

This is great...confirms what I've been thinking, and creates a follow-on question on the ORD-NRT-KIX/ITM scenario.

Let's say I find space on ORD-NRT, but nothing on NRT --> KIX/ITM and purchase NRT-->ITM on ANA Is it possible for United to handle an UA-ANA interline scenario on separate tickets?

Personally, I'd likely prefer ORD-NRT if it means a Polaris seat.

jsloan

Yes; however, it wouldn't make much difference except in terms of any baggage fees. You would pick your luggage up at NRT, take it through customs, and then proceed to the domestic check-in area. IIRC, I think they ripped off my UA tag and replaced it with an NH tag anyway.

swingaling

I booked the following with UA miles as a single ticket partner award:

19 May -- TG603: HKG-BKK connecting to TG321: BKK-DAC
23 May -- CA901: PEK-ULN

I'm going to arrive in HKG on 19 May a few hours prior, but in the unlikely event of a very late arrival, I may miss the TG flights. I understand that TG may or may not accommodate me in those circumstances, and I'm willing to take that risk. It's more likely that the HKG-BKK will be late and cause me to miss the BKK-DAC flights, as there's only a 70min transit at BKK.

1. In the event that I do miss the TG flight(s), is there any way for me to protect the PEK-ULN flight?

2. Alternatively, is it possible to separate these flights on to separate tickets to prevent an auto-cancellation?

My main goal is to preserve the PEK-ULN flight in the event that something gets messed up with the HKG-DAC flights. FWIW, the TG and CA bookings have separate record locators, though not sure if that's necessarily relevant.

Jesperss

Did the ticket stay in limbo for six days, or was it cancelled and re booked?

FlyerTalker70

Is it just me or is it impossible to book J on TK using UA miles? I've put in a variety of dates and starting airports (i.e. ORD, EWR, IAD, etc.) and only managed to find 1 flight out of ORD on TK that got me to where I needed to go (DEL)? I see similar results with ExpertFlyer which leads me to believe that TK doesn't release much J availability.

Would appreciate insight into this and if there is someway around this.

Safe Travels,

James

findark

Hard to say for your dates, but historically speaking TK via IST has been a plentiful option for partner award space.