BF263533

Don't see any ANA flights tonight. Hope this is just for tonight.

potm

BF263533

Thai (TG) would not allow me to book United flights to & from Houston to connect to my trans-Pacific ANA (NH) flight to Tokyo.
They said the trip was "too long." I don't know if was related to this TG-UA problem or if TG limits Star Awards to three (3) segments in each direction.

I am happy that I was using up the Thai miles this year rather than the United miles because at least I was able to book a TG & NH first class round trip.

Even if they allowed me to book the flights to & from Houston the UA flights would have been in coach to connnect to a first class flight to NRT.

Remember the days when Continental would open up the domestic first class inventory if you were booking a business or first class international award?

fone

All of the domestic ANA flight I was looking at, was gone. Called the call center and they claimed to see 0 availability as well. Called SQ and they see availability, so it has got to do with UA's availability.

Kacee

Actually, it's TG's limitation. OP booked a ticket through TG's Royal Orchid program. Post belongs in the TG forum.

jsloan

I can't read. . Thanks.

Kacee

It's a natural assumption in the UA forum that we're posting about UA awards

UA Digital Insider

We are aware of the issue with not being able to book award travel on ANA (NH) on-line. This is a technology issue only impacting certain booking channels. Agents should be able to book over the phone, though.

Doug

wpcoe

There have been reports of folks (above) having success in finding TG space when changing existing reservations, whereas it's not showing for new bookings. On your Air China booking, if you try to change it on united.com, do any TG options appear?

goodeats21

That is a good thought, but unfortunately, no TG options appear when I try Change Flights on the itinerary. It is not until December, so I am hopeful an alternative is found before then...

Unrelated - I will be in Jomtien late March if you are around and want to grab a drink...

wpcoe

Thanks for checking that out. I was curious if that were a dependable way to find TG award seats.

Re: The Jomtien meeting, it will depend on my doctor. I had eye surgery and the recovery period has been slow. I'm *hoping* to be away from Thailand in March, but don't know yet. Stay tuned (via private message...)!

worldtrav

The issue with TG, TP and SQ has been going on a lot longer than the one with NH, is United doing anything about that?

Are you waiving the phone booking fee for using an agent?

nwflyboy

According to posts here and elsewhere, United phone agents see the exact same thing on their internal system that customers see on their public-facing website -- that is, nothing. Award inventory for all the mentioned carriers simply does not appear in their systems (because United is explicitly and intentionally blocking all of it).

I would say that building a system where it's an option to intentionally block all award availability on partner airlines is pretty consumer-hostile, and when United encounters some undesired glitches with award inventory (which was their original explanation for blocking all award inventory on all these airlines, back in December), the first action they take is to flip the "block everything" switch, then they quietly sit on it for weeks without owning up to what they did, reveals a lot about United's inclinations and their attitude towards members of their loyalty program. It sure makes United look like they don't give a damn about their customers.

Of course, letting it just sit like that for now nearly 2 months only reinforces that image of United as a company that treats its customers with contempt. Not quite the same as viral video of a bloody passenger being dragged off a plane, but a lot of people have had their travel and family holiday plans completely disrupted because of this, and it's pretty obvious to anyone who's paying attention that this just is not a priority for UA.

Kacee

I'm extremely frustrated by the blocked award space, as it's directly impacted my ability to book tickets. I'm also less than thrilled with UA's communications on the subject.

That said, I've had a number of interactions with cs personnel at various levels over the past year or so that have left me no doubt that UA does care about my business, and generally wants to do the right thing (consistent, that is, with its status as a for-profit corporation).

BF263533

Do we know that TG award issues with United flights are definitely arising from the TG side and not the United side?