Kacee

Not sure why you're so hostile. As noted, I checked random dates (July, August, September). Had no idea what your specific dates were. But thanks for sharing. I see SFO-FRA in J (AC and TK) on September 11 and 12. The issue is UA's website isn't linking those flights to available LH inventory on FRA-TXL. That's not uncommon since UA ruined the award search function.

You could probably find saver J from SFO/LAX to other European gateways (ZRH, MUC, WAW, CPH, etc.).

We booked that flight the day it was loaded into the schedule. It's been very very difficult for years to book west coast TATLs in saver J.

RNE

Don't give up hope. Anecdotally, I've noticed J opening up like two to three weeks after the award window opens. Good luck. Enjoy your cruise. Kind of late in the season though.

threeoh

In addition to looking for positioning flights on this side (e.g. fly to LAX or ORD on your own dime, get an award ticket from there), also look for positioning flights on the other side. E.g. fly SFO-FRA and then buy your own FRA-TXL transit (hourly flights for about $100, or hourly train service (4.5 hours on ICE) for $35-$100). Also check MUC, AMS, CDG, etc.

Paulchili

If you saw SFO-FRA on 11 & 12, it is no longer there. The flight to IST is there but no connection out.
I am aware of the OS flight as I just flew back this Monday VIE-LAX-SFO in J - booked last year when it could be booked as a single award. I looked for it this year but no luck.
Thank you and others for your help - I'll keep trying.

Kacee

These are available for one pax:



The TK flights are available for two pax.

I didn't recheck September 12.

Paulchili

Thank you - I do see it again. It was there and then disappeared and it's back again.
I assume I do not need Turkish visas as I am in transit? At the present Turkish visas are not available for US citizens.

akcae

Turkish visas are not needed if you're only transiting and do not plan on leaving the airport.

Anecdotally, it does appear that it is possible for US citizens to obtain a visa on arrival (NOT e-visa) if one is coming from a third country (so not arriving from the US). It's a bit of a convoluted process, but seems to have worked with some folks. But again, if you are only transiting, visa is not needed.

Paulchili

Thank you - that is what I thought and was hoping for.
I went ahead and booked the award to FRA and bought a ticket to TXL.
Thanks to all for your help.

madmike283

I'm hoping for a little help deciding how to get wife and I to Ireland ultimately from DEN and back. Award search and booking rookie, but have read a bit about it. I'm playing with the EF full version trial this weekend searching for ways there. Would like to go in J for our first TATL trip. Prefer mid-late May or early Sep next year.

I don't see much of anything for May, Sep has some options on AC. I can't seem to find anything at all for UA J saver awards for any popular routes into LHR, FRA, or otherwise. Are they holding off on these until after Nov. 1?

I see some interesting options from YYZ-LHR/FRA/MUC the first week of Sep that could work for us since May seems like almost no selection. I see a complete DEN-YYZ-LHR mixed-cabin award for 70k. I thought if I added a second leg of a multi-city from LHR-DUB the next day after arrival I wouldn't have to pay more pts. It looks like it's another 8k when I piece it together that way. Is that correct? Or am I going to have to pay from LHR-DUB one way or another?

I'm thinking about taking EI back to the mainland from DUB, looks like awards are limited to BOS, EWR, or JFK for the dates I see that would work.

Any other options I should look at? I'm learning as I go, trying to figure out who flies where.

jsloan

I sincerely doubt Nov. 1 has anything to do with it. Saver award space on popular routes is difficult to find, especially this far in advance, for precisely that reason -- the routes are popular. UA believes it can sell the seats so it prefers not to give them away for award miles, especially 11 months in advance.

Any use of the multi-city search will now result in the award being calculated point-by-point. However, LHR-DUB will be eligible for the Excursionist Perk if booked as part of a roundtrip itinerary. So, if you book DEN-LHR/LHR-DUB/DUB-DEN, LHR-DUB should be zero miles.

The more flexibility you have, the better. Also, if it's possible for you to find an inexpensive cash fare on one end of the trip or the other, that can expand your options significantly. For example, it's often the UA leg that has availability problems on transoceanic flights. So, if you can find a cheap DEN-ORD fare, e.g., you may open up a lot more options. (Note that if you use this approach, you should allow plenty of time at the intermediate city, as you won't necessarily be protected against a missed flight if your earlier flight is delayed. I'd go with 6 hours minimum, and overnight if possible).

Note that it is possible to waitlist for a business award on a UA flight if you can find confirmed saver economy space. There's no guarantee that it will open up, but it's always a possibility.

If you don't mind transiting FRA, LH tends to have pretty good award availability, not only on the DEN-FRA nonstop flights, but also on flights to non-UA hub cities (e.g., DTW, DFW).

Finally, don't panic. Award availability changes on a daily basis as the airlines reevaluate how many seats they think they can sell. If you're patient and flexible, you should eventually be able to find something.

Good luck.

madmike283

Thanks for all the good info jsloan.

I thought the sooner the better, so I was worried when I didn't see hardly any UA availability. I spent some time yesterday trying to figure out who flies where and searched high and low for our timeframes. Sept definitely has a bit more availability with some nice options from AC. However, after looking hard at May I was able to find something that looked good to us.

I took your advice and searched from the major hubs rather than DEN to open up possibilities not seen before. I have plenty of WN points and CP, so I could get to any of them pretty cheaply. I found ORD-AMS with a 2-hour layover in ZRH on LX J 777-300ER. Stopover in AMS for two nights then on to DUB for a week on EI Y. Then return from DUB-DEN by way of ORD on EI J A330. We just need to transfer from MDW to ORD on our departure since WN, gave ourselves 6 hours as suggested.

After reading mixed reviews of the UA Polaris I wondered how hard I wanted to look for that anyway. The AC options in Sept looked neat, but we'd really prefer to go earlier in the year if I could find something. I figured LX J and the longer haul to ORD vs BOS on EI J would make for a decent first TATL experience.

Thanks for the help.

Portolan

Last Friday on the United web site, I booked two one-way business class awards IAD-DUB-LIS on Aer Lingus. Almost immediately I got an "Airline partner ticketing delay notification” email. At that time, the record showing under my United account had a similar message. About 24 hours later, the record on my United account now says, ”Thank you for choosing United Airlines. Your purchase is confirmed. You will be promptly notified once the internal processing of your reservation has been finalized so that you can request additional receipts, export to Microsoft Outlook, check-in, cancel, or email or print your itinerary.” It also has an Aer Lingus confirmation number which, on the El web site brings up the flights with our names. The El information is sparse with no indication of any more details. No ticket numbers appear anywhere (UA or El). The list of upcoming itineraries on UA say “not ticketed” and there is no option for getting a receipt.

So, yes, I clearly understand that without ticket numbers, this hasn’t happened (at least yet). The reason for my port is 1) has this (having the United record state “Your purchase is confirmed.”) happened to anyone else? (a search of this thread found one other message without follow-up), and 2) pointing out that this is unlike most of the issues in this thread where the posters misinterpreted the “working on it” emails as confirmation. It’s hard to see how the "confirmed" statement above can/should be viewed as anything other than confirmation.

I’ll report back after I try to get this sorted out once we reach 72 hours (shortly).

Kacee

72 hours? If it doesn't ticket within 24 hours, you almost certainly have a problem.

Portolan

for an earlier partner issue, I'd received an email that said it could take up to 72 hours to resolve.

Anyway, after calling United, and about 15 minutes of back and forth, it's been ticketed.

I guess my underlying point is that having a message on the record stating that, "Thank you for choosing United Airlines. Your purchase is confirmed. You will be promptly notified once the internal processing of your reservation has been finalized so that you can request additional receipts, export to Microsoft Outlook, check-in, cancel, or email or print your itinerary,” would likely make most people (not FT skeptics) think that everything was OK and to just give it a while.

jsloan

The message is misleading. "Confirmed" is a terrible choice of words. And, yes, I've seen the same message in the same circumstance and also had to call to get it ticketed. So, I agree. I'm glad things worked out for you, though.

And, EI would, in fact, have 72 hours to confirm availability (standard IATA rules). The 24-hour rule is a *A policy.