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Award Booking to Asia in C

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Award Booking to Asia in C

   
Old Mar 25, 23, 10:15 am
  #1  
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Award Booking to Asia in C
On all recent searches, the miles needed to pretty much any city in Asia from IAD in C are 200k miles each way. This seems really high. is this now the new normal? Should I expect them to go down as more inventory opens up?
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Old Mar 25, 23, 10:57 am
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Just did a search for IAD-TYO awards in business:

The 70k days are mostly IN, your profile says 1K so you should have access to that space?
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Old Mar 25, 23, 11:08 am
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Originally Posted by sharmaintl
On all recent searches, the miles needed to pretty much any city in Asia from IAD in C are 200k miles each way. This seems really high. is this now the new normal? Should I expect them to go down as more inventory opens up?
You need to find I/IN bucket space to get the discount biz seats (enable "expert" mode in your account settings to see available fare buckets). To Asia, I've noticed that IN starts showing up (albeit rare) around 5-7 weeks out. It's usually only going to be available from one hub out of 7 for each date. For instance, I see IN3 available on UA 79 (EWR-NRT) on 2 MAY, and IN2 on 3 MAY, etc.

Good Luck!
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Last edited by zombietooth; Mar 25, 23 at 11:41 am
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Old Mar 25, 23, 11:26 am
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Originally Posted by zombietooth
You need to find I/IN bucket space to get the discount biz seats (enable "expert" mode in your account settings to see available fare buckets). To Asia, I've noticed that IN starts showing up (albeit rare) around 5-7 weeks out. It's usually only going to be available from one hub out of 6 for each date. For instance, I see IN3 available on UA 79 (EWR-NRT) on 2 MAY, and IN2 on 3 MAY, etc.

Good Luck!
Note that expert mode only appears when you search for paid tickets. If you're only looking for awards, you may as well just use the award search. If you're considering upgrades or awards, then the paid search with Expert Mode is the way to go. In either case, make sure that you're logged into your account before searching.
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Old Mar 25, 23, 11:43 am
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yeah, plenty of tickets right now at 70k, not sure what the OP is looking at ...
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Old Mar 25, 23, 3:44 pm
  #6  
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Why do we have thread after thread asking if 180k/200k/200k+ is the new normal just because that's all they found on some narrowly scoped search?
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Old Mar 25, 23, 6:15 pm
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Originally Posted by mduell
Why do we have thread after thread asking if 180k/200k/200k+ is the new normal just because that's all they found on some narrowly scoped search?
They have the same threads in the DL forum, except it's 600k.
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Old Mar 25, 23, 7:06 pm
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Originally Posted by mduell
Why do we have thread after thread asking if 180k/200k/200k+ is the new normal just because that's all they found on some narrowly scoped search?
Most people don't have flexible travel dates?
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Old Mar 25, 23, 7:43 pm
  #9  
 
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Originally Posted by sharmaintl
On all recent searches, the miles needed to pretty much any city in Asia from IAD in C are 200k miles each way. This seems really high. is this now the new normal? Should I expect them to go down as more inventory opens up?
Unfortunately, air travel is still not back to normal even in 2023 with there being a shortage of workers and high demand still continuing. I assume you’re searching for very specific dates, perhaps summer high seasons for east Asia?
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Old Mar 26, 23, 4:46 am
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Originally Posted by clearday
Unfortunately, air travel is still not back to normal even in 2023 with there being a shortage of workers and high demand still continuing. I assume you’re searching for very specific dates, perhaps summer high seasons for east Asia?
Or it might be just another UNITED rip off of Mileage Plus
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Old Mar 26, 23, 7:44 am
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Originally Posted by angetenar
Just did a search for IAD-TYO awards in business:

The 70k days are mostly IN, your profile says 1K so you should have access to that space.
Unfortunately no longer a 1K - just a lowly Gold after the COVID pause in travel . Updating my profile.

Originally Posted by zombietooth
You need to find I/IN bucket space to get the discount biz seats (enable "expert" mode in your account settings to see available fare buckets). To Asia, I've noticed that IN starts showing up (albeit rare) around 5-7 weeks out. It's usually only going to be available from one hub out of 7 for each date. For instance, I see IN3 available on UA 79 (EWR-NRT) on 2 MAY, and IN2 on 3 MAY, etc.

Good Luck!
Thanks. Will keep searching. I am hoping more IN space will show up as we get closer to our vacay dates (in late July). We are flexible on the exact dates, but not by weeks.
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Mar 26, 23 at 1:55 pm Reason: merged consecutive posts by same member
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Old Mar 26, 23, 8:50 am
  #12  
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Originally Posted by sharmaintl
Thanks. Will keep searching. I am hoping more IN space will show up as we get closer to our vacay dates (in late July). We are flexible on the exact dates, but not by weeks.
As a Gold, you need I space, not IN. It will be very challenging to find. You may have better luck with partner space, as some partner airlines tend to be more generous than United when it comes to award space.

You may also need to connect.
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Old Mar 26, 23, 8:56 am
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Originally Posted by jsloan
You may have better luck with partner space, as some partner airlines tend to be more generous than United when it comes to award space.
But not NH. To Japan, UA is currently the most likely option. Without IN access, it is pretty grim though.
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Old Mar 26, 23, 9:04 am
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Originally Posted by Kacee
But not NH. To Japan, UA is currently the most likely option. Without IN access, it is pretty grim though.
I started seeing quite a bit of I on NH. When is the last time you checked?
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Old Mar 26, 23, 9:12 am
  #15  
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Originally Posted by Kacee
But not NH. To Japan, UA is currently the most likely option. Without IN access, it is pretty grim though.
OP's original request was "any city in Asia." From IAD, that's going to include a lot of TATL routes as well as TPAC. However, this summer looks absolutely brutal at the moment; I'm not really seeing much of anything except very scattered dates on Ethiopian via LFW/ADD.
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