1KChinito

You can spend money and fly, doing mileage runs to earn your status if status is that important to you.

UA YYZ to SIN - 2.4cpm 21,410 miles for $515

DG206

Probably a stupid question, but want to make sure I am 100% Have not found may recent accounts and maybe varies between airlines?? I am looking to book Excursionist award flight, SEA-ICN-TPE-SEA. SEA-ICN is on Asiana and TPE-SEA is EVA. Do the partners generally allow paid Premium Economy upgrades if available since UA wont let you book those with MP miles? Seems like based on some data points, paid E+ upgrade on UA metal = ok, but with partner metal some coding issues occur.

Thanks. Sorry, still pretty new to MP here. Was lifelong DL flyer for many many years and trying to get all this straight....

Kacee

OZ doesn't offer PE. They do offer "Economy Smartium," which is equivalent to E+, on their 350s. It appears to be a flat fee per seat, just like UA.

I don't believe BR (Eva) allows paid upgrades on award tickets, but you might want to ask on the Eva forum to get a definitive answer.

EmailKid

EVA has some wicked good fares at times, but since I could never figure out how to u/g to PE just passed on them. And yes, my one and only journey on EVA was in PE, and I thought it was very good ^

.Benjamin.

HI,

Maybe a random question. But my relative owns a very big travel agency, and I am wondering if they get better rates then us (regular costumers)? If so, you guys think I should just book VIA his company?

cfischer

they probably do. Now, if you buy cheap tickets .... like N, G, K, L, T fares etc. there is essentially no discount for anyone ... no matter how big of a customer. For full fare tickets discounts and agent kickbacks can get very substantial, like 25%. Doesn't hurt to ask them I guess, but unless you buy refundable, expensive tickets ... it will unlikely matter.

FlyerTalker70

They may, it really depends on what you're looking for. If you're looking for the lowest possible fare (i.e. something from an N or G bucket) the fare differences will be minor at best. However, if you are purchasing biz class, or a more flexible economy ticket (i.e. Y,B,M,W,Q) you are likely to get a better deal since UA is known to discount those fares from time to time for travel agencies/consolidators. Why would you want to purchase a more flexible economy ticket? The main benefits there are tow fold. First depending on the fare you may earn more PQM (i.e. with Y/B fare). Second and most importantly upgrade offers are a lot more attractive on those fares (i.e. co-pays are lower with milage upgrade awards, a Y fare is more likely to clear into business than a deep discount G fare). There is some evidence that a higher fare basis (i.e. a Y fare) results in a lower upgrade offer during OLCI than a deep discount fare, all things being equal.

Another benefit to choosing a travel agent/consolidator over purchasing the ticket direct thru United is that sometimes the fares they have access to speciality tickets which earn award miles on a rate based on distance flown (versus a multiple of how much you spent on the ticket). Hence, a EWR to SFO flight on UA might earn roughly 5000 award miles roundtrip in M whereas the same fare purchased through United might only earn 3500 miles!

Safe Travels,

James

salisboss

Can I book my wife an award ticket with my miles without transferring her the miles? The transfer price is stupid.

jsloan

Absolutely. Just list your wife as the traveler during the booking process. No need to transfer.

Aussienarelle

Exactly what @jsloan said, with the caveat to ensure you put in her frequent flyer number so she can track the reservation. For my last couple of award tickets for friends and family their reservation is not listed in my account. Recent change which is very frustrating.

You can manually add the reservation to the app but not on the web area of My Reservations. My friends and family are normally travelling with me and sometimes United changes the flights and then we have a mismatch when we are all trying to travel together and now I have little visibility to ensure we continue to travel together without checking the app (which is not something I do until I am actually traveling).

Ezrp

Last month, I booked a flight with my young child to Thailand in late February as follows: DCA-EWR-HKG-BKK. We have layovers of 1.75 hours in EWR, and 3.75 hours in HKG. We are meeting my wife in EWR (who is flying EWR-HKG-BKK). We have Polaris upgrades confirmed on HKG-BKK. After thinking about the itinerary more, I have a couple concerns.

(1) The United express flights commonly have delays (and there may be weather delays) on DCA-EWR. How can I be proactive on making the EWR-HKG flight? Apart from expensive change fees, I think my options are hope for a schedule change or call within 24 hours and try to change to an earlier flight. There are DCA/IAD - EWR flights that leave 4 hours earlier, which seem safer.

(2) The HKG-BKK flight (operated by Hong Kong Airlines Limited) arrives at 2:20AM. If possible, I would like to get in earlier. (There is a Hong Kong Airlines flight 3 hours earlier, which would mean a 45 minutes in HKG). Is there an efficient way to get on an earlier flights on Hong Kong Airlines or another airline (i.e. check no baggage and go standby)? Alternatively, what is best lounge that we have access to in HKG? We arrive on Polaris business, but fly out in economy.

Thanks in advance!

WineCountryUA

UA offers Same Day Changes (SDC) for $75 (if no status) -- it is actually better than same day because once you are within 24 hours (the day before) of the original departure, you can select an earlier flight if space in your fare class is available

UA Same-Day Travel Change (SDC) Fees/Questions (with Wiki)
For more see

Changing flights will be up to HX and generally asian airlines do not offer free standby / same day changes, you will need to check with HX

You will have access to the HKG UC (a nice lounge -- but no Polaris Lounge in HKG yet) but not to any of the other *A lounges as you are not departing on a *A carrier

1KChinito

Read in another FT thread and successfully added my friend's reservation onto mine.

• At bottom of current reservations, type in confirmation number and last name
• You will see your friend/family's trip to XXX
• At bottom of his/her reservation, click on "Save to My trips"
• You will see Trip saved!
• Go back to your Current Reservations, you shall see his/her reservation

Aussienarelle

(1) What is your status? Assuming this is all one reservation, then once you are checked in and if you are 1K then you should be protected for the class of travel if seats are available on the next flight. If not 1K I will let others opine on the issue for protection of the class of travel as I do not know those rules. You can try and SDC to the earlier domestic flight but as you note call in so as not to mess up the reservation. Or as you say hope for a schedule change.

(2) I caught HX in July and the fee to upgrade to J was quite reasonable and meant I could use the HX lounge at HX that was quite nice. During my longish layover (approx. 6 hours) I caught the train to Kowloon and rode the Star Ferry across Victoria Harbour. There are luggage holding facilities at the airport and at the train station (for the carryon luggage). It was a nice break and relaxing way to spend a few hours in Hong Kong. Not sure I would want to have only a 45 minute layover in Hong Kong - too many things to go wrong.

WineCountryUA

Protection?
This is clearly two reservations one is departing from EWR and the other two from DCA
Protection does not come into play until there are delays (it will not be done proactively with 1.75 hour connection)
Protection on a once a day flight is not a great approach, SDCing to an earlier DCA-EWR flight is a much better idea