kenn0223

A travel agent or a United phone/reservations agent? I don’t think any third-party travel agents have access to the actual loads of flights. The GDS only provides inventory of 0-9 for each fare bucket from which you can imply that F, J, and Y represent the total inventory and even then that’s just the number of seats UA is willing to sell which almost always includes overbooking.

kb1992

Per suggestion from another GS, I called GS desk this morning and asked not to cancel my reservation. I explained the situation of 40% capacity of UA 857 mandated by the Chinese government. I told the agent that I planned this trip 6 months ago and I have already arrived in SFO to comply with requirements by PRC Consulate in SF about 7 day self isolation and 3 COVID tests. I told the agent that UA will soon, maybe today, cancel a lot of peoples tickets booked on the 5/8 flight to PVG. I asked the agent to talk to the China desk or send a message to protect me. The agent put me on hold, talked to her supervisor and told me that I am on the flight. She said that my ticket won't be canceled unless China throws another hardball at United which is out of United's hands.

Few hours later, about 100 people received notifications from United that their reservations on 5/8 UA 857 are canceled.

For now, I am safe.

I think you are right, I was desperate because if my ticket is canceled, then there is no more seat on 857 until July.

The same travel agent told me that UA 857 on May 8 is booked 148/350, slightly over 40% cap, in anticipation of some last min cancelations.

Don't know how he got that number. But he has been pretty accurate based on his China travel blogs.

UA_Flyer

Perhaps give us daily update in the China Forum or Trip Report Forum while you are in quarantine for three weeks. It will be facinating to read.

kb1992

Will definitely update. For now, I am waiting to see if I can get a nice quarantine room, preferably a suite of a 4-star.

5 star is impossible (unlike HK).

PsiFighter37

Do folks who have flown this have any experience in understanding if PlusPoints upgrades have a pretty good chance at clearing? It seems like UA is zeroing out J award availability, but looking at the seat map, I cannot imagine they are actually filling the plane up with 60 paid J seats (especially at the current prices). Looking as I am evaluating the options for getting a relative back to the US from China.

moondog

Upgrades seem to reliably clear at the gate. But, preemptively, I suggest you reserve a seat towards the back of the plane on 857 because you stand a good chance of getting three seats to yourself. This strategy doesn't work quite as well on 858 because there are no capacity limits, but its load factor has still been low.

857 is apparently back in the penalty box starting Monday or Tuesday for 14 days, fyi. I don't think 858 is affected by this (i.e. they will fly empty planes over).

PsiFighter37

Thanks, appreciate the color. There was a suggestion of booking Premium Plus mentioned, but if loads are that low booking I will buy the cheapest Y ticket I can get (it seems like they zero out all award bookings within 30 days - so no dice on that).

Kmxu

The cheapest is to spend 35K miles for PVG-USA and get a GS to sponsor the upgrade. This ticket won’t be available before Sept 29.

August is very full because students return to school.

moondog

Even during August, it's possible to get from China to the US for a little over $1000 if you are flexible with airlines and routings.

However, I'm not planning on leaving until the reverse direction becomes cheaper/easier. Now that the direct flight requirement has been removed, it's no longer necessary to fork over $7k for AA, DL, UA, MU, etc. You can save a bundle by stopping over in Korea or Taiwan (if you have permission to enter). However, under the current rules, you need to spend 2 or 3 days in the transit country in order to complete the testing requirements.

Then, of course, you have to plan on 7-10 days of hotel quarantine (much better than 14+ days we previously had to endure) upon arrival in China.

Hopefully, we'll get more flights and relaxed entry restrictions after the October "meeting".

The following thread is about London to China, so it might not appear relevant to US-China travel, but it is if you don't fly direct because much of it deals with getting from country B to China, assuming you don't fly direct.

Best way to travel from London to China

imackie

Is this an up to date figure? I only see economy tickets pricing at 400k miles through October, 300k through June, and a couple 200k days in July (330 days out)

ysu92

United still releases saver awards from time to time on the PVG-SFO route, the same thing for the PN/PZ inventory. I was lucky enough to get my parents confirmed into PZ early this year.

moondog

I've also seen PVG-SFO (858) pop up at the saver level. However, the reverse (857) seems to be completely impossible most of the time. If you want to use miles for SFO-PVG, SFO-ICN (and, then paying ~$500 cash for ICN-PVG a few days later) might be the best you can do for now.

lsquare

I'm confused. Does GS have some sort of upgrading privileges?

angetenar

GS get access to upgrades on awards, and I think that they can use their plus points to upgrade awards for others as well.

lsquare

In this situation, what's the difference between GS and 1K?