MiltonFreedMan

Planning a trip from IAH to Europe sometime later this year for two of us; preferably Venice/Rome and I want polaris/lie-flats for the long leg.
From what i can tell I seem to find 90k/leg from time to time.
Am I wrong in thinking i can get this thing booked for around 400mi RT for both of us or is that going to take a remarkable amount of luck?

my schedule will be flexible enough that i can go 30-60 days out.

nsx

Yes that would require luck. If I or IN class is ever offered on a nonstop, it would be 11 months out (not routinely available) or less than 3 weeks out on a lightly loaded flight, or it would be a short-lived mistake. For summer season, your odds are worse because flights are full. The last really good I class availability was in 2021 before Europeans were allowed to fly to the USA.

jsloan

UA rarely opens I or IN inventory 11 moths out. Within 3 weeks, yes; however, there's been a growing trend to add more IN than has existed in the past: flights that would previously have been PN9 PZ9 IN0 are now PN9 PZ0 IN9, meaning, Platinum and above saver award space, but no upgrade space except for Global Services. So I wouldn't say it's a lost cause by any means. Also, IAH to Venice or Rome is going to be a minimum of one stop anyway, so that gives OP plenty of options. I'm not saying it's a slam dunk, but it's far from impossible.

MiltonFreedMan

Yea as I've been watching it looks like (at least for now) in October there are options with Turkish or AC.
Neither really exciting to me but I guess that's reality.

cfischer

TK has more 789 and 350 to the US than they used to. These are GREAT options ...

MiltonFreedMan

Does the 777 have the same lie flats? I had trouble finding out on sg

ZenFlyer

Good evening, I would be grateful for any advice regarding the following situation.

My sister and I recently booked United award tickets ORD-SFO-TPE-BKK. The first two segments are on UA metal, and TPE-BKK segment is on EVA air. We searched for itineraries that had 2 available seats, but as we did not have enough miles to book both tickets out of the same account we had to book them sequentially. When my sister booked hers, she got the itinerary we wanted, with the last fight departing TPE at 8:45 pm. When I went to book mine, that option was no longer available, but I was able to book the something very close -- the same UA flights, but a different flight on EVA, departing TPE about 2 hours later at 10:30 pm.

Obviously, we'd prefer that both tickets be on the same EVA flight if possible, and preferably the one that departs at 8:45. I've checked the United site in subsequent days to see if the same itinerary but with 8:45 pm departure from TPE popped back up as an option, but no luck. However, the same 8:45 segment does appear to be available as an award on Aeroplan. In view of the latter circumstance, is there hope at all that if I called United, they might be able/willing to contact EVA to see if the last segment of one award could be switched to match the other? Or is that beyond hopeless? I'm also considering calling EVA directly, but I don't know whether they will be willing to touch a United-generated ticket at this stage. I would be grateful for any any feedback or suggestions. It's going to be a long trip so luggage will need to be checked, otherwise I would simply purchase an extra ticket for the 8:45 pm flight.

jsloan

I mean, you can call, sure. What you're asking the agent to do is borderline against the rules, may or may not work, and if it fails, may leave you without a ticket on EVA at all. Agents aren't supposed to stitch together award tickets like you've described, and if they do, they're supposed to re-price them based on current availability and mileage amounts.

They can't reissue a MileagePlus award.

Were you to try this, there's a good chance EVA would cancel one or the other of your bookings anyway.

ZenFlyer

Thank you for the reality check jsloan! We will survive a two-hour gap in arrival times, just wanted to be sure I was exploring all options.

mariol

It's not impossible that EVA will let you standby for the earlier flight anyway -- I have no idea what their policy is but worth asking on their forum (after searching).

jsloan

You can check the forum, but US-style standby is almost unheard of outside of North America.

mariol

Some reports of success:

EVA AIR - Economy Standby at Airport?

(old, looks like a hassle, but may be possible...)

F23Coupe

Is there a "guide" or some tips on how to check the dynamic pricing of awards? I couldn't book 4 award tickets due to not having my party's info at the time and noticed that saver awards (XN) are no longer available when we need to fly and replaced with YN being available at a much higher rate. We're about 22 days out from travel, so should we wait until it's 21 days? Thanks!

SPN Lifer

No, there is no magic date for award availability. It is purely based on supply and demand, and UA inventory and revenue management. The hoped-for change may never come.

It would help help to evaluate your chances if you knew the revenue fare class availability.

oskidunker

Question regarding miles



requirement for one way business from Melbourne to SFO next feb 26.

i am tracking the availability for next Feb. some days require 250 k miles. Some 200. You cant count on Wed being 200. Sometimes its Tuesday and Friday. Any thoughts on what is driving this?Also sometimes the 200k days change to 250 after a week or. two

my wife has 200 k. I am short and waiting fir the 60000 credit from new xplorer card. Hoping I dont have to buy miles