How to switch award reservation
 

How to switch award seat:
I needed 80k UA miles to make a reservation. I had only 50k and I was expecting another 50k in a few weeks.

So I had a Global services friend make the reservation for me using his miles. He also made a reservation for himself.

I have got the miles now but there are no award seats anymore.
I was going to transfer mine to him. But that costs close to a $900.

Well it appears now that he is not able to travel.

So here is what I will like to do
1) Have a conf. call with UA with him on the phone with me.
2) He will cancel his own booking (no cancellation fees for him since he is Global Services)
3) Hope that the seat goes back into inventory right away
4) Make a new booking for me using my miles right away on the phone
5) If I get it the seat using my miles, in the next minute I will cancel my seat that was booked using his miles. (no fees since he is GS)

How can I improve my chances of getting the released seat?

Will UA allow two bookings for the same name for a minute or two?

To make things complicated:
1) It is business class seat on Turkish
2) I need exact same flights since my son is on the same flight with a confirmed booking
3) For some reason, the route does not even show up on the Award Booking page. Even when I booked it a few weeks ago, I had to call and have the CSR make the booking. Only they could make the booking.

Hi gtggtg, welcome to FlyerTalk!

Unfortunately, that's not how inventory works. Canceling an award ticket does not necessarily release the seat back to award inventory, and especially since the ticket is on a partner (TK) then it is a situation over which UA has no control. If you see award space again on that flight any time between now and departure, you could do it then. Otherwise, you can offer to make your GS friend whole by purchasing an 80k award ticket for him at some point.

Findark, thank you so much for your reply.
I realized I had missed adding the fact that my current booking is also using the GS miles. And hence it is cancellable too.
I have updated my Original Post with additional details. Does it make my situation better?

PS: He wants the miles back in his account and I understand that. He can make cancellable award reservations. If I make it for him, it is not cancellable.

The biggest pr:(blem with this plan is expecting the seat to go back into the same availability bucket. Two reservations for a bit won't cause a problem.

So is it better to attempt this now or closer to the flight date (July 2017)

Not really because the decision to release the award space is made by TK, not UA.
The only reasonable solution is for you to book a future trip for you GS friend and you eat the fees if any.

If your risk canceling your present award space the odds are poor TK will release teh space immediately or ever. The cost of moving the miles is very high -- hence the above suggestion.

Even if the flights had been all operated by UA, the GS members would have had to be the one requesting and it would have taken some effort with no guarantee of success. Throw TK into the mix and the situation becomes bleak.

The other option is there's a reasonable chance that TK will release more award seats some time between now and departure. If that happens, book a new award for yourself with your miles, and then let your GS friend cancel the first reservation.

Yes, if that happens there is an easy solution but that is speculative if space will return -- not something the OP should be depending on.

Please note that I am flying business class no matter what. My son is on the flight. So if it means I pay $900, so be it.

The question is WHEN should my GS friend cancel his reservation and release his seat. Is it better to do it now or closer to the flight date or on the last day or at the last hour?

Turkish is the only airline that has a one stop flight from ORD to JRO. (We are going to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro)
Everyone else has 2 stops and long delays.
So I suspect this flight is going to be busy.

No telling what will happen to TK reward availability when a ticket is cancelled. It could show up again in real-time, get released later in a batch sweep, need some kind of manual review by TK, or never appear again. Just check it often.

If availability never appears again you can always ask your friend if you can keep the ticket he booked for you using his miles, and then book a trip for him at a later date using your miles.


SL

Nobody knows when or if TK is going to release space. I'd keep the ticket your friend booked and then keep an eye out for space opening. If it doesn't then buy the friend a ticket with your miles and eat whatever change/booking fees you incur in booking/canceling/changing whatever you book for that friend. Those fees have g;)t to cost a lot less than $900.

You mention a couple of time having to spend $900 to transfer miles to your friends account. Per the UA website:

Buy or transfer miles
You can easily transfer miles from your account to another MileagePlus member. Mileage transfers cost $7.50 per 500 miles, plus a processing fee of $30 per transaction.

So if the mileage amount is 80,000 miles the transfer cost would be more like $1,230.

At that point IMO it would be better to just buy you friend 80,000 miles @ $.02 each for $1,600, and thereby keeping your original 80,000 miles in your account for a net of $370.


SL

I am not a GS customer but rumor is some of the exclusive GS CSR can "do miracles".
I would recommend your friend calls the GS CSR and explains the situation.
They may be able to call Turkish and make some kind of arrangement.
In the old days, UA CSR would have done it for one of their "good customers".
Tell your friend to call; you have nothing to loose except the time.

Why does a GS care about having 80K miles in their account right now? I would expect GS to have tons of miles.

Tried to do something like this, tho' not quite as complicated, for a short OS flight between HND and GMP. I don't think that award seat I canceled ever went back into inventory. I definitely wouldn't risk losing your seat by canceling your seat with your friend's miles before you book a seat using your own miles.

That seems super complicated, I wonder how much it is to just buy a seat outright? With all the fees to transfer, maybe purchasing a seat is your backup plan.