tmo454

Hello All,

I need to travel to Cape Town in October from Chicago. Trying to book in J class, if I look on the United site there are a few options but all of them over $11,000 for Business Class. However if I look on Kayak I see an option with Turkish for around $4,000. Knowing that Turkish is a Star Alliance member, why can't I see that option with United? If I book through Turkish can I change it to a 016 ticket number as I believe I get additional PQM's or PQD's right?

aCavalierInCoach

Definitely cannot change to 016 after booking. You might call in and see if they can't print on 016 stock, but they probably don't have access to the fare you are seeking. This happens frequently with Air Canada where UA can only print full fare tix up front.

escapefromphl

If you have time do a Google flight search and select track prices to receive notifications when prices drop. From the west coast to CPT the LH/UA flights seem to vary from around $5K to 11K - I'm assuming the same thing happens for ORD.

venomtrilogy

My understanding after encountering this before is that Turkish's ticketing system does not really get along well with United's. It's not quite as simple as "All Star Alliance flights should be available through any Star Alliance carrier's website."

tmo454

What am I really losing by booking through Turkish as opposed to trying to get an 016 ticket as a 1K flyer? Will I still get all PQM and PQD's ? Just maybe not BIS miles for lifetime ?

jmanirish

Star Alliance does not mean their fares are the same. If you see a Turkish (TK) fare you like, then suggest you book it. UA doesn't show TK fares because 1) many require the ticket be issued by TK (I pulled up a few they all have the following sales restrictions - "GENERAL RULE - APPLY UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED TICKETS MUST BE ISSUED ON THE STOCK OF TK OR HR"). 2) UA doesn't want to sell you TK fares TATL as shown by the fact they don't codeshare.

Fair warning - even full fare business (C) on Turkish only earns 100% PQM (e.g., much less than the 200% you'd get if you flew UA/AC/LH/LX, etc.)

mduell

It's pretty normal for the deep discount fares to have a requirement to be on the carrier's own ticket stock.

Can you point to where Star Alliance told you otherwise?

tmo454

No one told me otherwise, I didn't mean for it to come off as an expectation. Just as question about if it was possible.

jmanirish

You won't get PQDs (requires the ticket be on 016 - which isn't possible as noted). PQMs will be based on distance (100% if in J, or 125% if C, D, Z, K).

Make sure you read up here (worth a few passes because the nuances are confusing):
https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly...-airlines.html

fumje

The nuances make sense – the language is confusing!

mduell

Ok, weird preface to the question.

WineCountryUA

Booking on TK ticket stock will not provide UA PQDs. Booking a TK flight will not provide LT BIS.
The UA PQMs will depend on the carrier used, not the ticket stock
The UA RDMs (award miles) will vary based on the ticket stock (UA ticket stock will use a multiple of the PQDs, non-UA operated flights on non-UA ticket stock will use a multiple of the miles traveled)


What you are running into is called "plating restrictions", many airlines are restriction their best fares to only be purchased on their ticket stock or a few others. This is undermining the value of alliances and has been around for years but these restrictions have been significantly increasing over the past year or two.

Very understandable this is a surprise to many, it is one of those "insider" things that most travelers are not aware of but is regularly discussed on FT.

jsloan

aacharya

OP is a 1K, and assumedly if this is this year, he or she is already at 12K spend, so the lack of PQDs will not impact him/her.

OP will still get the same PQMS on a TK or a UA ticket - the RDMs would differ (200% of BIS on TK, while 11x the spend on UA).

If I didn't need the Lifetime MIles or the spend, I'd book on TK.

tmo454

Thanks for all the replies everyone. Although I am well past the 12k Spend I only have a few more long hauls this year. Trying to get the golden goose of GS for the first time. Sitting at 36K spend so far so I need all the PQD's I can get but was hoping to spread it around on a few trips and not spend 14K on one flight...

Anyway, thanks again for the help, Always appreciated.