sfo789

One workaround if agent can't help -- book the one-way, then hit "change ticket" within the reservation and add the return legs. Has worked for me before for itins that only show on the site when booked as o/ws.

jsloan

Your Excursionist Perk needs to be within a single region, but it can be in any region besides your starting region, provided that it falls between your outbound and return dates. The intention is that you use it in your destination region, but you can do anything that makes sense to you. So, you can’t go to Morocco or Egypt, but you can go from Morocco to Egypt. Of course, that’s only useful if you have another way to get to/from North Africa.

Agents should still be able to book multi-city trips in order to take advantage of the Excursionist Perk, if each of the flights from an origin to a stopping point show up on one-way searches. While you can no longer hook up individual flights in order to try to create custom connections without adding to the mileage cost, you should still be able to book e.g. SFO-HKG / HKG-SIN / SIN-SFO as a single award by calling if the flights you want show up on SFO-HKG, HKG-SIN, and SIN-SFO searches.

srte93

Hmm gotcha, when you did this did it still factor in the excursionist perk? So I could initially book the one way that I want, then immediately add in the stopover and return flight and still come out with the same cost in miles?

jsloan

It should do that, yes. When I’ve made award flight changes online — which I don’t recommend as a normal matter of course, especially for itineraries that include partner segments, as UA doesn’t always update downline systems properly — the system has re-priced properly.

And, even if it didn’t, you could just call and cancel within 24 hours for a full refund. So, there’s no reason not to try it.

Flying Machine

Hello, I am seeking some assistance/strategy in booking a coach award for my Son (Platinum sponsored)

I would like for him to travel on 11/21 to LAX and on 11/25-26 back to BOS

No Savers are available, as I would assume, however.. many UA Explorer/Premier options available at 25K OW (Standard)

Never redeemed a UA Standard Domestic award before (too rich for my blood)..

I'm hoping once I ticket I could request Saver if for some reason space opens (may be moot due to the Holiday) But if that's what I'm trying for what is the best procedure to do so.. (are free changes to lower classes permissible?)


Cash fares are so high it makes the Standard plausible..

Any advice regarding this query would be greatly appreciated

And I assume I should do this before November 1st the 25K may go up then?

Thanks in advance and Safe Travels

findark

As jsloan noted, any Hawaii to CONUS replacement would be fine. You need to find award space and pay a change fee, but otherwise you should be good to go.

You can cancel at any time for free, and only pay the change fee when you actually rebook the new itinerary, but you have to complete the change within 1 year of the original ticketing date or the miles will be forfeit.

Normally, my advice would be this:

You have no close-in fee as a Plat, and a Standard Award is last seat availability. In this case, you should wait to book until ~1 day before departure as a Saver award might open up. Only blink and pull the trigger if you preferred itinerary is actually about to sell out.

However, the Nov 1 devaluation is throwing a wrench here. Quite likely a Standard Award will jump up after then for your dates. If you book now, it's $50 to change to a Saver Award later (you cannot waitlist); $100 for both segments if booked separately.


If you are more interested in getting a preferred time and/or routing (like nonstop), I would book now and eat the change fee if a good Saver Award shows up. If saving miles is worth being flexible about routing and maybe coming home Saturday morning, then potentially worth gambling on the extra miles and swiping space close-in.

IamHungry

Can I skip excursionist perk flight and still fly the rest of my itin?

Flying Machine

Thanks I see, yes the November 1st change seems to be an issue as cash fares are high.. so will probably increase to 32.5K OW (unbelievable).. So, I'm unsure to book now and pay $50 later to change (is that per segment if RT is booked on 1 PNR)? or if both segments clear at different times would it be $100.. Additionally, can you waitlist for the lower class as you can do with Intl Business?

findark

Yeah, it's entirely up to you how much you value a good routing versus saving the miles. I would guess that subject to the constraints: outbound BOS to LAX 21-Nov and inbound LAX to BOS 25-Nov -or- 26-Nov, the chance of seeing a Saver Award r/t is at least 65%, and 90% for at least one direction. However, this might involve things like BOS-EWR-MSP-LAX leaving at 6am.

Each time you change a PNR, it is $50. If you book it all on one PNR, it's $50 to change if you are able to confirm both segments in Saver at the same time. Otherwise, it's $100 for two changes, and it would be easier to have separate PNRs as there is a good chance that the unchanged Standard segment will reprice if you do a change of the other segment.

No, you cannot.

Flying Machine

Thank you so much for the timely and detailed reply I have a strategy now. I didn't think that there's a 65% chance of something opening up on a saver level it's a bit of a gamble with the November 1st change so I have a few days to work on this so I'm not in a rush to book today. I guess it may be worthwhile to keep a very close eye on this. Thanks again and safe travels

chuckywang

If I understand you correctly, I can only change to a Hawaii-CONUS flight? Not a CONUS-Hawaii flight?

findark

I should couch my words in reiterating that the 65% number includes things like "on Thanksgiving day, a Saturday morning LAX-EWR-BOS or LAX-EWR-overnight-BOS opens up", but yes you certainly have a shot.

Good luck!

I believe so, but only 90% sure. The rules should require you to change like-for-like but it's probably worth asking an agent (when you're ready to rebook) if you want to try that change.

Paulchili

UA is now booking into late Sept '18 and I am checking my itinerary SFO-TXL very frequently (almost daily). Have not seen a SINGLE J award for the entire month.
Do you still feel this is due to it being "the most difficult month for J awards".
I definitely do not. Something has happened although I do not know what but it is a remarkable difference from what was available for July & August when I was checking frequently and lots was available.
To not see a single J award - not even a "mixed award" - for the entire month is more than a coincidence.
JMO.

Kacee

Coincident with what?

TATL from the west coast has always been a challenge. Nor has it ever reliably opened at the beginning of the schedule. The only way we were able to book in advance to Europe this past April was to grab OS LAX-VIE as soon as the route was introduced.

Also, note that UA's award calendar is not accurate and regularly gives false negatives. You have to actually click on dates to see if there are available flights. For example, the calendar shows totally blank for TATLs from LAX and SFO next summer, but on many days there are actually saver J award seats. I checked a handful of random dates and saw J on AC, LO, LX, and TK.

The absence of advance LH J awards is a bit unusual and has previously been commented on by Gary Leff.

Paulchili

I have a window of 3 or 4 days as we are flying in for a cruise. I have clicked specifically on those dates without finding anything - either when the booking first opened or since. I also explored leaving from LAX - no difference.
I am aware of the OS flights and was willing to pay for SFO-LAX if the OS flights were available out of LAX but none were. I even looked specifically for TK flights, even though they involved overnight stay in IST and we know what the current situation with that is. No matter as those flights were not available anyway.
The point I am making is that I was closely monitoring these routes for 2 months in order to prepare myself for all my options when my date arrived. There were many options with UA, LH, TK, OS and LX during those 2 months but nothing for September.
Please tell me what YOU see for that route from Sept 11 to 14th.