United Award booking systems
Sep 25, 2018, 5:31 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: Ventura
Programs: Gov't Travel Aficionado, UA Plat
Posts: 288
United Award booking systems
So I'm sort of familiar with EZR, I'm not sure what the technical term is for the system they're using now. I've assessed a few things over my limited time (about one year of loyalty) using United:
1) The award booking system that most* phone agents use now is EXACTLY the same as what you can see when you look at award bookings on the United website. In some cases I've found that that phone agents actually see less than what I am able to see when I search online, signed into my account or not.
2) The mythical EZR is the old way of award booking, where airlines release saver availability and as long as you follow the rules (not longer than 24 hr layover for int'l, 4 hr for domestic) you pay the start to destination fare i.e. if saver availability for SFO to AKL to SIN to NRT was available and all layovers were under 24 hours, you'd pay United's SFO to NRT rate if you can find a competent phone agent able to string it all together.
Overall, is this assessment correct? How does SHARES differ? Seems like some agents are able to access EZR, would like to know the extent that my requests can be fulfilled if I ever manage to get ahold of one of them again.
I booked a ticket from MEL to SMF but the layover got extended by four hours since booking ticket. Regular phone agents told me good luck but when I got ahold of one who knew EZR they were able to rebook me a AKL to SMF flight that got me back at the same time as my original flight but one day earlier, which is exactly what I wanted. And even more so the change didn't affect the price, 32,000 miles instead of 40,000 miles each way as the promotion had been a couple weeks ago.
So a few questions, It's pretty clear that I could change my origin or destination within the same region without affecting the price (the phone agent I spoke to used some special term like "equitable fare" or something like that), could I have rebooked more than 24 hours from my original purchased ticket?
I've noticed that booking one way fares have far more availability that multi-city fares or fares that include the "excursionist" perk, especially when utilizing *A partners, can EZR bypass those limitations and give me whatever I want so far as it adheres to the "excursionists" rules and saver availability exists? It is not that simply as I see it when I search online.
Any other distinct advantages to EZR over the current system that I may be missing?
1) The award booking system that most* phone agents use now is EXACTLY the same as what you can see when you look at award bookings on the United website. In some cases I've found that that phone agents actually see less than what I am able to see when I search online, signed into my account or not.
2) The mythical EZR is the old way of award booking, where airlines release saver availability and as long as you follow the rules (not longer than 24 hr layover for int'l, 4 hr for domestic) you pay the start to destination fare i.e. if saver availability for SFO to AKL to SIN to NRT was available and all layovers were under 24 hours, you'd pay United's SFO to NRT rate if you can find a competent phone agent able to string it all together.
Overall, is this assessment correct? How does SHARES differ? Seems like some agents are able to access EZR, would like to know the extent that my requests can be fulfilled if I ever manage to get ahold of one of them again.
I booked a ticket from MEL to SMF but the layover got extended by four hours since booking ticket. Regular phone agents told me good luck but when I got ahold of one who knew EZR they were able to rebook me a AKL to SMF flight that got me back at the same time as my original flight but one day earlier, which is exactly what I wanted. And even more so the change didn't affect the price, 32,000 miles instead of 40,000 miles each way as the promotion had been a couple weeks ago.
So a few questions, It's pretty clear that I could change my origin or destination within the same region without affecting the price (the phone agent I spoke to used some special term like "equitable fare" or something like that), could I have rebooked more than 24 hours from my original purchased ticket?
I've noticed that booking one way fares have far more availability that multi-city fares or fares that include the "excursionist" perk, especially when utilizing *A partners, can EZR bypass those limitations and give me whatever I want so far as it adheres to the "excursionists" rules and saver availability exists? It is not that simply as I see it when I search online.
Any other distinct advantages to EZR over the current system that I may be missing?
Last edited by therossinator; Sep 25, 2018 at 5:48 am
Sep 25, 2018, 8:32 am
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: BOS/EAP
Programs: UA 1K, MR LTT, HH Dia, Amex Plat
Posts: 32,048
UA can override pretty much everything and anything on their own metal. An 'even' exchange is SOP for major schedule changes including flying in/out of close-by airport as/if needed.
Jun 12, 2023, 7:38 am
#3
Join Date: Jun 2023
Posts: 2
So I'm sort of familiar with EZR, I'm not sure what the technical term is for the system they're using now. I've assessed a few things over my limited time (about one year of loyalty) using United:
1) The award booking system that most* phone agents use now is EXACTLY the same as what you can see when you look at award bookings on the United website. In some cases I've found that that phone agents actually see less than what I am able to see when I search online, signed into my account or not.
2) The mythical EZR is the old way of award booking, where airlines release saver availability and as long as you follow the rules (not longer than 24 hr layover for int'l, 4 hr for domestic) you pay the start to destination fare i.e. if saver availability for SFO to AKL to SIN to NRT was available and all layovers were under 24 hours, you'd pay United's SFO to NRT rate if you can find a competent phone agent able to string it all together.
Overall, is this assessment correct? How does SHARES differ? Seems like some agents are able to access EZR, would like to know the extent that my requests can be fulfilled if I ever manage to get ahold of one of them again.
I booked a ticket from MEL to SMF but the layover got extended by four hours since booking ticket. Regular phone agents told me good luck but when I got ahold of one who knew EZR they were able to rebook me a AKL to SMF flight that got me back at the same time as my original flight but one day earlier, which is exactly what I wanted. And even more so the change didn't affect the price, 32,000 miles instead of 40,000 miles each way as the promotion had been a couple weeks ago.
So a few questions, It's pretty clear that I could change my origin or destination within the same region without affecting the price (the phone agent I spoke to used some special term like "equitable fare" or something like that), could I have rebooked more than 24 hours from my original purchased ticket?
I've noticed that booking one way fares have far more availability that multi-city fares or fares that include the "excursionist" perk, especially when utilizing *A partners, can EZR bypass those limitations and give me whatever I want so far as it adheres to the "excursionists" rules and saver availability exists? It is not that simply as I see it when I search online.
Any other distinct advantages to EZR over the current system that I may be missing?
1) The award booking system that most* phone agents use now is EXACTLY the same as what you can see when you look at award bookings on the United website. In some cases I've found that that phone agents actually see less than what I am able to see when I search online, signed into my account or not.
2) The mythical EZR is the old way of award booking, where airlines release saver availability and as long as you follow the rules (not longer than 24 hr layover for int'l, 4 hr for domestic) you pay the start to destination fare i.e. if saver availability for SFO to AKL to SIN to NRT was available and all layovers were under 24 hours, you'd pay United's SFO to NRT rate if you can find a competent phone agent able to string it all together.
Overall, is this assessment correct? How does SHARES differ? Seems like some agents are able to access EZR, would like to know the extent that my requests can be fulfilled if I ever manage to get ahold of one of them again.
I booked a ticket from MEL to SMF but the layover got extended by four hours since booking ticket. Regular phone agents told me good luck but when I got ahold of one who knew EZR they were able to rebook me a AKL to SMF flight that got me back at the same time as my original flight but one day earlier, which is exactly what I wanted. And even more so the change didn't affect the price, 32,000 miles instead of 40,000 miles each way as the promotion had been a couple weeks ago.
So a few questions, It's pretty clear that I could change my origin or destination within the same region without affecting the price (the phone agent I spoke to used some special term like "equitable fare" or something like that), could I have rebooked more than 24 hours from my original purchased ticket?
I've noticed that booking one way fares have far more availability that multi-city fares or fares that include the "excursionist" perk, especially when utilizing *A partners, can EZR bypass those limitations and give me whatever I want so far as it adheres to the "excursionists" rules and saver availability exists? It is not that simply as I see it when I search online.
Any other distinct advantages to EZR over the current system that I may be missing?