UA Saver Award/Upgrade Inventory (& partners)-when is it released? Ever any business?
 

Still having issues with finding IAH-EZE on the lower redemption level saver fare - we used to see inventory 2-3 months out, and/or sometimes inventory would open the week you want to travel, if youre flexible enough (we are!)

I know EWR-EZE cancelling doesnt help

Has anyone had any luck getting a POLARIS saver fare IAH-EZE?

Saver fares in general--ESPECIALLY for nonstops--are few and far between. Try a connection with a different origination like SAT, AUS, etc. to see if it looks better.

Just checked the calendar, doesn't look like there are any I class flights. Could be some IN, but those aren't always picked up in the search. I'm guessing no IN's available either though, as there are very, very few dates with even economy-saver fares.

relatedly, does anyone know the I fare price for EWR/HNL? Or in general an I fare chart? I don't think it is officially published anymore.

40k Miles ... but will be pretty much impossible to find on that route.

There used to be inventory the week of travel

Booking Business Saver Awards This Summer
 

I was trying to find a business saver award for this summer for 4 people and there are basically zero flights available. Quite disappointing. I tried looking basically everywhere, then use the excursionist perk to get to my final destination (which is still unknown for certain but that can be done later)

I found some flights for saver awards to Zurich in business with Luftansa connecting in Munich. When I go to find a direct flight to Munich, the saver awards are no longer available. Should I call United to book?

Also - would I have better luck using Aeroplan versus the United website?

Welcome to FT!, chriis

This is not a new phenomena -- while bit better during the COVID years TATL *A business award space has been steadily dwindling. And 4 seats are even more difficult. in 2022 seats were selling out with cash customers. AMS or BRU for UA seems to be the best chance. And if using partners, adding / changing a excursion segment post booking is not a given.

UA agents can only book what you are seeing, LH is well known for married award segments,

Using AC miles is not likely to change the picture except to exposure more AC flights, and less UA flights. Other TATL partners should be the same.

Looking for 4 saver awards on same flight immediately puts you into "low/no chance" status. Best to look for flights that UA adds and that are just loaded to system and haven't had their fare class buckets altered to "normal". For example, a 2nd LAX-LHR was added a couple of weeks ago and the fare buckets, including business saver, were wide open for a day or two.

Per the answers received above about the difficulty of finding TATL awards, if you're just trying to get to Munich and these 1-stop flights have a reasonable itierary, I would book them immediately. Especially if you've found 4 J tickets -- that's not easy to come by. Note that these days you can also cancel award flights without any penalty. Good luck!

Does Lufthansa release saver awards for business 30 day before? Also, are the odds better changing flights as I get closer to my travel date?

Summer travel and needing 4 tix do not work in your favor..

Assume availability, using Aeroplan points might require less points since UA technically removed points charts. I redeemed AC 60K points to LHR on AC, but that was more to clean out my Aeroplan account. Have no use for AC anymore.

Ex-BOS might be a good place to start. I have found wide availability for my desired travel dates (not summer).

You could look in other programs as well, but again, traveling in summer and needing 4 tix would not be easy.

You can change your flights anytime, for more miles. Getting 4 saver awards as time progresses generally gets worse. Airlines don't seem to follow a schedule for increasing or reducing inventory of their fare class inventory (incl. awards) - it's a continuous process based on sales/redemptions to date and predicted inventory demand going forward. You should keep your expectations very low on redeeming for anything better than you already see - especially for 4 seats.

Business travelers often try to use their miles for family trips to Europe during summer months. The carriers have little incentive to release much in the way of saver awards to Europe during the summer when they know 1) they can sell the seats outright, or 2) sell PremiumPlus seats or Coach seats to those looking for upgrades to Business, or 3) get people to redeem for full mileage, or 4) outright sell upgrades. Each of these is better for the airlines than releasing saver awards.

BOS-LHR is IN > 4 for Saver J on June 12,13 - but since you didn't post your origin/destination and MP level, I'm not sure how useful that would be.

Try June/Sept rather than July/Aug. Hotels will be cheaper too.

No. There is no fixed schedule for LH (or UA) award releases.

For one or two seats, possibly. Four seats? Probably not.

Some friends were just relaying their experience redeeming AA miles to Europe for fall 2023. It cost them 600k miles for two J tickets. They had not realized how the game has changed over the last four or five years.