applegrcoug

Is it just me, or do business saver awards even exist when traveling across North America? I am looking at maybe going to Berlin, and a lot of connections go out of EWR, but I'd go out of either PDX or SEA...

So you can get EWR-Europe in business, but from here to EWR is always in X. Same thing with IAD....X every time. Well, almost every time...It was available on the 4th of July and that is it.

Call me crazy, but it somewhat defeats the purpose to travel 30-40% of the journey in the back.

Chicago isn't AS bad, because it is an hour closer than New Jersey, but still...

I can't be alone in noticing this.

jsloan

They're rare, but they do exist, especially close-in when seats fail to sell.

You can also book a coach saver award and then waitlist for a business saver award.

mduell

Not much, particularly following the push for First Class Monetization.

findark

It's extremely rare. Easier to find *A I space from the West Coast. SEA-FRA is a particularly good bet.

Kacee

Yep. And award space on the intra-Europe flight (FRA-TXL) is usually pretty easy. DEN-FRA and DEN-MUC are also good options.

And this is a better, more efficient routing anyway. Plus UA often flies the 764 EWR-TXL - my least favorite UA J seat.

applegrcoug

That is what I did last year when I went SEA-ORD-FRA on LH. In this instance, I was actually in F clear through on LHs newest 747-8. Beautiful bird and oh so smooth. I actually routed out of my way for that experience.

Back on topic...

Leading up to the flight out of SEA, there was tons of unsold seats and they started disappearing due to premier upgrades. By the day of the flight, there was one left and I was the lucky winner of that one...

Indeed. Finding UA availability to Europe even out of SFO is non-existent. I have noticed a fair amount out of SEA on Aer Lingus. The big caveat is, it has to be available on those days. I came home on the FRA-SEA flight last year.

Again, at times the only stuff it shows is EWR or IAD. ORD isn't as bad; it is a little closer and that Polaris lounge has a tasty filet steak.

CIT85

I have a worse problem, I can't even find X and XN for RIC-ORD and IAD-ORD so that I can get BR I award flights.

garykung

Either people will pay ton money for the J class seats, or upgrade from expense Y tickets. Given how FFP is designed, there is no incentive to offer award J class seats in the TCON market.

But FWIW - if you change how you book your award ticket, premium award seats are indeed available.

mduell

Also, since you're looking at a connection, there's divorced segments availability impacts.

sexykitten7

The trouble is UA releases more intl biz seats than domestic (at least percentagewise). As others note, you can roll the dice with Plan B. Hey, it beats the obverse (confirmed domestic, waitlisted intl). There are many here who are happy to sit in the back for 40% of the trip (paid or award!) but I am no one of them!