Apr 10, 2019, 1:10 pm
UA award booking questions / issues / experiences for Air India (AI)
Apr 10, 2019, 7:13 pm
#31
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: WAS/TYO
Programs: UA 1K, AA EXP (3MM), DL PM, BONVOY TITANIUM, HYATT GLOBALIST, HILTON DIAMOND, IHG DIAMOND AMB, et al
Posts: 5,917
Seems like UA has clearly not fixed all of the recent award issues with AI. Spent about 90 minutes on the phone with a great agent today. She could see the exact same AI inventory that UA.com displayed, but every segment that she attempted to ticket ultimately came back as unconfirmed by AI. She definitely seemed to know what she was doing and reached out to other desks to document the issue. On the plus side, she was able to manually piece together, correctly price, and ticket a four segment award on UA/NH/TG to KTM that UA.com would have never even offered me and that allows me to avoid AI altogether. I felt like it was 2016 again and wasn't aware agents were still able to do this.
-FlyerBeek
-FlyerBeek
Dec 30, 2022, 2:42 pm
#32
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 2,141
United award tickets for Air India
Guys - can somebody reiterate their experience snagging award tickets on air india? The only one I ever found was a phantom award for a flight that doesnt exist, looking for NYC to BOM. I see they are starting a non stop in Feb too. Thanks
Dec 30, 2022, 6:17 pm
#33
Join Date: May 2017
Posts: 2,299
Air India runs into problems with phantom award availability moreso than other *A carriers, IME. As I also recently discovered, their system aggressively flags and cancels duplicate bookings for the same flight, usually within a minute of it being created (most of the time before it can even be ticketed). So if you're holding a reservation with another carrier (LH, AC, revenue ticket direct with AI etc), for the same flight you're now trying to book as an award with UA, it will almost certainly fail until those other reservations get cancelled out.
Dec 31, 2022, 7:56 am
#37
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 2,141
Side question - does it matter if I hit reply or quote when responding to you? Do you get notified either way?
Dec 31, 2022, 8:37 am
#38
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: NYC
Posts: 9,149
I've done QR, EY, LH, KL, UA, VS, BA, and AI in J and F (NYC -DEL mostly). My preference would always be the non-stop from NYC. Despite the subpar product - AI typically has the best arrival time and I sleep comfortably in the J seats.
. Youd have to use an @
Dec 31, 2022, 2:00 pm
#40
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 2,141
Also can anybody moment on AI flight staff tolerance to go back and forth between classes or exchange seats for a few hours? I dont expect 4 award seats to become available so may have to compromise with 2 in business and 2 in coach but our kids are young so well have to check with them often. Thanks
Jan 1, 2023, 11:59 am
#41
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: NYC
Posts: 9,149
Also can anybody moment on AI flight staff tolerance to go back and forth between classes or exchange seats for a few hours? I don’t expect 4 award seats to become available so may have to compromise with 2 in business and 2 in coach but our kids are young so we’ll have to check with them often. Thanks
Award availability used to be quite OK but I haven't checked since covid so no idea.
Jul 9, 2023, 9:38 pm
#42
Join Date: Apr 2008
Programs: QFF
Posts: 241
Is United Filtering out AI Awards?
Have another issue when searching award. United seems to be filtering out some awards.
They are visible for a brief time and then they disappear.
example: searching for ewr - del - briefly shows the AI option, but a couple of seconds later it disappears
then a second later
Any idea on how to get around this issue?
They are visible for a brief time and then they disappear.
example: searching for ewr - del - briefly shows the AI option, but a couple of seconds later it disappears
then a second later
Any idea on how to get around this issue?
Jul 10, 2023, 5:38 am
#43
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: BOS/EAP
Programs: UA 1K, MR LTT, HH Dia, Amex Plat
Posts: 32,263
Have another issue when searching award. United seems to be filtering out some awards.
They are visible for a brief time and then they disappear.
example: searching for ewr - del - briefly shows the AI option, but a couple of seconds later it disappears
then a second later
Any idea on how to get around this issue?
They are visible for a brief time and then they disappear.
example: searching for ewr - del - briefly shows the AI option, but a couple of seconds later it disappears
then a second later
Any idea on how to get around this issue?
Jul 10, 2023, 3:32 pm
#45
Join Date: Apr 2008
Programs: QFF
Posts: 241
Is United Filtering out Awards?
Noticed this when searching for awards on AI metal.
YVR - DEL on September 19th.
Both EF & AC show availability.
But when searching on united, the screen briefly shows the AI option, but it disappears a second later.
I have made a screen capture of this issue
screenshots:
AI appears when the page is loading
But disappears a second later.
Any tips on how to avoid this issue?
YVR - DEL on September 19th.
Both EF & AC show availability.
But when searching on united, the screen briefly shows the AI option, but it disappears a second later.
I have made a screen capture of this issue
screenshots:
AI appears when the page is loading
But disappears a second later.
Any tips on how to avoid this issue?
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Jul 10, 2023 at 3:44 pm Reason: Please do not post duplicated queries, it is a FT rules violation, and could lead to deletion -- for now will merge