Bonesaz

I'm still new here and hopefully this is not a totally stupid question, but If I'm on .bomb I can see the booking classes and I assume as long as I am in any class other than the "No Mileage credit" I earn EQM's? LIke M,H,Q,V,W,Y,B etc. What if I am on orbitz, priceline etc. How can I see the booking class to know if I will get EQM's or not?

Also, since I'm new to Mileage Plus as well if I buy the E+ option for the year, I assume when I book on .bomb I can select the E+ seats, but what happens when I book at another site?, do I automatically get moved to E+ (if available) once I book or do I need to call UA to do it after? Thanks

notquiteaff

Not sure if you can find out the booking class on third party sites. In general, Priceline "name your own price" bookings don't earn EQM or RDM. I've rarely found a need/reason to use a 3rd party site. It's not as if those "travel agents" offer you any service for your business.

Not sure if UA moves you automatically to an E+ seat if you enter your M+ number on the 3rd party site, but I think you should in any case be able to see the itin on the united.com site and update the seat assignment.

madnes

I am not sure how to tell directly, I have only been lucky by inferring. I typically check ITA and if the prices match, assume that the booking codes will in the end as well.

Only reason I have ever had to use PL or Orbitz for flights is if I am mixing carriers and OW tickets are more expensive.

LIH Prem

The only way to be sure is to read the rules of each fare, but there's only been a few reports of fares purchased directly from united that didn't earn miles. I believe those were some twitter only special fares out of LHR, and they may have even relented on those, I can't remember. If you are buying the tickets elsewhere, you better read that sites rules, but most published fares on united do earn miles.

I have to book my corporate travel through another site all the time. I wait until the flight is ticketed (you can tell by looking at the e-ticket receipt under your itineraries on united.com, if the flight has an actual ticket number, it's ticketed) and then change seats and do my upgrade requests.

Some sites will let you pick the premium seats and pop-up a warning about it. some won't. Even though I can pick them on the corporate site, I settled into doing it this way, which is what works for me. You will figure out which method works for you.

-David

matti2d

my company books through expedia and I do not get put into e+ seats (2p). I have to go back to dotbomb after the booking and re-seat myself.

Bonesaz

Thanks for the info, I'll stick with .bomb and I should be OK regarding fare rules and miles and then I can see E+ seats as well. I just wanted to make sure, since in the past I have booked a flight and received 0 miles. Appreciate it.

WIRunner

I've had to book on travelocity due to .bomb not wanting to book the fares that I'd like it to. (i've had it go all the way to payment then error out, especially with one-way tickets.)
Never had an issue with getting both RDM and EQM, but like mentioned before, you'll need to go in and change your seats to E+ if you have status otherwise you're in the back.

drklain

All of my business travel is booked through a DTS and a government travel agent. Even though it has my UA MP number, only seats visible are basic economy seats. Once i book the ticket I can then login to .bomb and move the booking to an E+ seat.

As an aside, I've learned that if you are doing the upgrade thing, do NOT initiate/request the upgrade in .bomb until the ticket has actually been confirmed purchased through a third agent as the upgrade request locks the record and then they often can't process things... Needless to say a real pain as many govt agencies have a rule that tickets aren't purchased until 3 days prior to departure...even if booked months in advance. Then again, I'm not paying for the trip so it's hard to ......