First Timing Booking Need Help!!
 

Hi. I am going in circles and feel like I am missing something.
I need to book 2 tickets to Europe (1 stop at Newark hoping its not bad). I want to do an MUA ticket for premium plus. I hope it will be upgraded and if not then at least PP.
I am a united business card holder.
When I look at tickets for 1 adult the pricing is cheaper than if I book for 2???
Is it a bad idea to book them individually?
If I do, how can I join them together after the fact? Can I list my plus MileagePlus # on both tickets even though one is for me and the other a family member?
Or should that member get their own or can I add them to mine? - I want to be sure that we could be/would be upgraded together. Is that possible or is it only each of us even though I am paying for both tickets.
Thanks for any words of wisdom for a newbie to booking flights at all.

Welome to FT.

We often see when there is only one seat left in a particular fare bucket within economy class such that booking two tickets separately can save you some money. How much $ are we talking about? The person on the cheaper ticket will have the lower upgrade priority (assuming same status) versus someone with a higher fare class if your upgrade does not clear at time of booking.

You cannot place your MileagePlus number in for another person - there is a name/MP match and the system will reject it.

If you book two separate reservations, they cannot be joined together, but they can be cross-referenced in notes in the PNR.

Thanks. Its close to $1000 difference. You mean the letter fare type right? What if they are the same? Basically booking the same ticket.

Correct, the letter fare code.

You're saying, for example, both are W but one is $1,000 higher than the other on exactly the same routing/flights?

For $1K, I would certainly book separately! Would be interested in details because I'm not familiar with such a discrepancy in price under the same fare class.

If you provide details of exactly what you are trying to book, it's easier for people here to help or suggest alternatives.

Question.. Your right
So when I book 2 the codes are B/A then O/B
But when I book for 1 its B/r than O/B
What's the difference between A and R based on eth status you mentioned. Thanks!!!

Sorry Yes!
April 18th from Bos to Barcelona on the 4:54pm flight
April 24th Barcelona to Boston on the 11:15flight
Booking the premium economy.
Its the fees and flight cost a bit that add up.

Big difference between A and R in terms of Premium Plus pricing - R is the cheapest premium economy fare bucket IRRC.

Ok. So I need to decide if the savings is worth the possibility of the upgrade at least on the first leg of the trip. And the likelihood of even being upgraded --right now the Pz? or is it PN shows zero! But that will change as it gets closer?
And would they upgrade us together since we are on the same reservation lets say if I bought both together or would it be separate?Thanks!!!!!!

PZ is what you need unless you have Global Services status.

Seems to me you are already positioning yourself well for an upgrade by buying directly into premium economy instead of economy - that puts you ahead of everyone in economy class, even 1Ks.

Will your upgrade clear, though? Too early to tell.

But the $1K savings is substantial...and worth splitting up, IMO.

R would be the lowest (cheapest) Premium Plus cabin seats. R (lowest) < A < O (highest)

I still think of R as the old PZ! ;)

And another thing...
 

That 4:54 departure from BOS makes for a tight connection in EWR - just a couple minutes over an hour. Might be OK, but if there's a delay you could be stuck until the next day. I'd go with the 3:20 departure instead which would give you 2.5 hour cushion to connect to the same BCN flight at 7:30. You could burn your one time passes at the United club while you wait.

If you are on a single reservation, then prior to about 24 hours before your departure (from BOS), you would clear together or not at all. At that time, if you haven’t been upgraded yet, the system will split you automatically and then you could clear separately. If you are on separate reservations, you will clear separately, and there’s no way to change that.

If you’re a gambler, you could try waiting and hoping to see R2 on the outbound, which would allow you to book both tickets at the cheaper price. Of course, there’s a very real chance that the price goes up rather than down. You have a second problem — the return is more heavily loaded in Premium Plus than the outbound, and currently inventory is at O9 A2 R0. That means you’re trying to book what are currently the last two seats in the A fare bucket. If you book one ticket, the system may zero out the A bucket. I’m not saying it’s likely, but it is possible — inventory is dynamic, but UA does seem to update it when it sells a seat, and while the most likely outcome for you buying one seat is that it goes from A2 to A1, it is not the only possibility.

Can't you do the thing where you load up two purchase screens for the two tickets separately and then hit buy at the same time?

One of the two purchases will fail to ticket. UA revalidates inventory during ticketing.