Consolidated "No International Award Space Throughout the Year" Thread [Merged]
May 21, 2010, 9:31 am
#61
Join Date: Jun 2007
Programs: UA, AA, LH, Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott, Hertz
Posts: 1,759
Hope its ok to tag onto this thread 
I am hoping to get award space in F SYD-SIN-LHR (or CDG) for two people in April 2011.
I was hoping to try SQ but it appears that you cannot book award seats using UA miles on either the A380 or the 773 ER, only on the 773W. Of course once you get to SIN there is no way to get the older 773W because they do not fly them to either LHR or CDG (my final destination).
I would consider doing it on UA metal but for an F award via the USA, its going to cost far too much.
Anyone have any ideas on what I should do please? I am a total newbie when it comes to booking award travel
.
I am hoping to get award space in F SYD-SIN-LHR (or CDG) for two people in April 2011.
I was hoping to try SQ but it appears that you cannot book award seats using UA miles on either the A380 or the 773 ER, only on the 773W. Of course once you get to SIN there is no way to get the older 773W because they do not fly them to either LHR or CDG (my final destination).
I would consider doing it on UA metal but for an F award via the USA, its going to cost far too much.
Anyone have any ideas on what I should do please? I am a total newbie when it comes to booking award travel
.
May 21, 2010, 9:35 am
#62
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: SFO
Programs: AY Plat, LH FTL
Posts: 7,384
Hope its ok to tag onto this thread
I am hoping to get award space in F SYD-SIN-LHR (or CDG) for two people in April 2011.
I was hoping to try SQ but it appears that you cannot book award seats using UA miles on either the A380 or the 773 ER, only on the 773W. Of course once you get to SIN there is no way to get the older 773W because they do not fly them to either LHR or CDG (my final destination).
I would consider doing it on UA metal but for an F award via the USA, its going to cost far too much.
Anyone have any ideas on what I should do please? I am a total newbie when it comes to booking award travel .
I am hoping to get award space in F SYD-SIN-LHR (or CDG) for two people in April 2011.
I was hoping to try SQ but it appears that you cannot book award seats using UA miles on either the A380 or the 773 ER, only on the 773W. Of course once you get to SIN there is no way to get the older 773W because they do not fly them to either LHR or CDG (my final destination).
I would consider doing it on UA metal but for an F award via the USA, its going to cost far too much.
Anyone have any ideas on what I should do please? I am a total newbie when it comes to booking award travel
.There are people who charge for award booking assistance and you may find such services to be appealing. Personally, given all the resources and expertise within the Flyertalk community, you may find it relatively easy to put something together yourself if you have some flexibility and know where to look.
Feel free to follow-up via PM.
May 21, 2010, 10:14 am
#63
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Sydney, Australia
Programs: VA Gold, UA, SPG Gold, HH Diamond, Marriott Gold, IHG Ambassador
Posts: 3,644
TG to S Asia and then TK and/or LH on to Europe may be viable options for you.
There are people who charge for award booking assistance and you may find such services to be appealing. Personally, given all the resources and expertise within the Flyertalk community, you may find it relatively easy to put something together yourself if you have some flexibility and know where to look.
Feel free to follow-up via PM.
There are people who charge for award booking assistance and you may find such services to be appealing. Personally, given all the resources and expertise within the Flyertalk community, you may find it relatively easy to put something together yourself if you have some flexibility and know where to look.
Feel free to follow-up via PM.
I remember we met a few years ago at goalie's dinner in SFO.
Sorry but what airline is TK ?
Todo: I kinda had my heart set on SQ F
but clearly I will need to think of other alternatives since that door is shut 
Last edited by Downunder girl; May 21, 2010 at 10:20 am
May 21, 2010, 10:33 am
#64
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: SPI
Programs: AA Gold, UA LT Plat, Mar LTT
Posts: 18,147
May 27, 2010, 6:15 pm
#65
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Sedona, AZ
Programs: Alaska Gold
Posts: 1
UA Saver Awards for Biz and 1st
Now that I have achieved Premier Ex and over 400K miles I thought time to book award travel and knew I needed look well in advance...so I looked and see that to MEL, SYD, FRA, LHR, AMS there are ZERO 1st class seats in Saver and very few in Standard. I even called too because I thought there was an error in the web display. How can there be ZERO seat between now and April 2011 to MEL or SYD? What has UA done?
May 27, 2010, 6:48 pm
#66
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Virginia, USA
Posts: 4,514
How about SIN next March? It has some present availability & its a great city. Wait a couple of months and SYD availability for next June & July will show up, although that is Oz "Winter." But you have to act fast for these tickets.
May 27, 2010, 7:03 pm
#67
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: NYC
Programs: AA EXP, UA Platinum, Alaksa MVP 75K, Air Berlin Gold, HHonors Diamond, Marriott Gold, Hertz PC
Posts: 2,389
Now that I have achieved Premier Ex and over 400K miles I thought time to book award travel and knew I needed look well in advance...so I looked and see that to MEL, SYD, FRA, LHR, AMS there are ZERO 1st class seats in Saver and very few in Standard. I even called too because I thought there was an error in the web display. How can there be ZERO seat between now and April 2011 to MEL or SYD? What has UA done?
May 27, 2010, 7:12 pm
#68
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: ORD, LAS
Programs: AA-EXP, BAEC Silver, Hyatt-Globalist, Hilton-gold, SPG-gold
Posts: 855
forget trying to fly on united. call an agent and have them check air new zealand for you. You even get a free stopover in new zealand that way! Just think of united as a good way to get into star alliance carriers. good luck
May 27, 2010, 7:36 pm
#69
Join Date: Jun 2004
Programs: UAL 1K MM, AA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 187
Something is hinky in your searches. Premium saver awards are always hard to find to Australia but Standard Awards were available on all the dates I checked. Standard awards are not inventory controlled so if there is space in F or C, you should be able to get a Standard award.
That said, 400K doesn't go far using Standard awards given that a C awards in Standard is 270K miles and an F award is 320K.
Limit your searches to LAX-SYD and SFO-SYD. If you can find that segment, you may be able to get a Y award for SYD-MEL and waitlist for the premium cabin. If you search for F on LAX-MEL, you'll only see it when an F seat is available for both segments.
Finding two tickets is much tougher than finding one. If you can find one, you might want to consider taking it and either using miles+dollars to upgrade a purchased ticket on the same flight or using a standard award for the other ticket. For example, there are single seats available in C on SFO-SYD a couple of days in March and single seats for some return dates in April. A saver plus a standard is 405K so that would work. Or go some place like SIN where it's easier to find award space.
As suggested, Star Alliance is another option although Air New Zealand is a tough award to find as well.
That said, 400K doesn't go far using Standard awards given that a C awards in Standard is 270K miles and an F award is 320K.
Limit your searches to LAX-SYD and SFO-SYD. If you can find that segment, you may be able to get a Y award for SYD-MEL and waitlist for the premium cabin. If you search for F on LAX-MEL, you'll only see it when an F seat is available for both segments.
Finding two tickets is much tougher than finding one. If you can find one, you might want to consider taking it and either using miles+dollars to upgrade a purchased ticket on the same flight or using a standard award for the other ticket. For example, there are single seats available in C on SFO-SYD a couple of days in March and single seats for some return dates in April. A saver plus a standard is 405K so that would work. Or go some place like SIN where it's easier to find award space.
As suggested, Star Alliance is another option although Air New Zealand is a tough award to find as well.
Last edited by tannebil; May 27, 2010 at 7:43 pm
May 30, 2010, 7:50 am
#70
Join Date: Nov 2002
Posts: 205
Help!! Air New Zealand Biz award HKG-AKL
Hi All,
I am trying to get an award tix on the non-stop from HKG-AKL. I looked for various dates in Oct, Dec, Feb and even in April 11 and it looks like there is practically nothing available for any day at all between these two location on Air New Zealand non-stop.
Have any of you guys had any luck in the past on redeeming it?
Even on connections through SQ or something, practically nothing is coming up. There seems to be some Y seats available, but I really want to C.
Ideally, i want to go to Fiji...but I am not even able to get to AKL. I don't mind paying that portion, but the HKG-AKL part is almost impossible.
Anyone have any tips on how to work through this? Appreciate your response.
Thanks
UALFLYER1
I am trying to get an award tix on the non-stop from HKG-AKL. I looked for various dates in Oct, Dec, Feb and even in April 11 and it looks like there is practically nothing available for any day at all between these two location on Air New Zealand non-stop.
Have any of you guys had any luck in the past on redeeming it?
Even on connections through SQ or something, practically nothing is coming up. There seems to be some Y seats available, but I really want to C.
Ideally, i want to go to Fiji...but I am not even able to get to AKL. I don't mind paying that portion, but the HKG-AKL part is almost impossible.
Anyone have any tips on how to work through this? Appreciate your response.
Thanks
UALFLYER1
May 30, 2010, 8:48 am
#71
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: East Coast
Programs: AA CONCIERGE KEY & 1MM, HILTON DIAMOND
Posts: 11,970
Hi All,
I am trying to get an award tix on the non-stop from HKG-AKL. I looked for various dates in Oct, Dec, Feb and even in April 11 and it looks like there is practically nothing available for any day at all between these two location on Air New Zealand non-stop.
Have any of you guys had any luck in the past on redeeming it?
Even on connections through SQ or something, practically nothing is coming up. There seems to be some Y seats available, but I really want to C.
Ideally, i want to go to Fiji...but I am not even able to get to AKL. I don't mind paying that portion, but the HKG-AKL part is almost impossible.
Anyone have any tips on how to work through this? Appreciate your response.
Thanks
UALFLYER1
I am trying to get an award tix on the non-stop from HKG-AKL. I looked for various dates in Oct, Dec, Feb and even in April 11 and it looks like there is practically nothing available for any day at all between these two location on Air New Zealand non-stop.
Have any of you guys had any luck in the past on redeeming it?
Even on connections through SQ or something, practically nothing is coming up. There seems to be some Y seats available, but I really want to C.
Ideally, i want to go to Fiji...but I am not even able to get to AKL. I don't mind paying that portion, but the HKG-AKL part is almost impossible.
Anyone have any tips on how to work through this? Appreciate your response.
Thanks
UALFLYER1
May 30, 2010, 8:52 am
#72
formerly Baxter&Bessies'Mama
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 311
Last fall I tried to get an award for this fall on NZ Biz US-OZ, eventually I looked at EVERY SINGLE day for the following 300 days. NOTHING, NADA, ZERO. Quite a few Econ here and there, but Biz, nope.
May 30, 2010, 10:01 am
#73
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Tucson, AZ
Posts: 1
I have been having the same problem the last month trying to book West Coast - AKL Air New Zealand Biz Feb. 2011. About to give up.
May 30, 2010, 4:37 pm
#74
Suspended
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Ravens Country
Programs: UA-1K, Marriott-Gold, SPG-Gold, IC RA/Plat, Amtrak Select
Posts: 3,887
I have had trouble finding XC or XF space to Europe through August from IAD.
It may be that I am booking in May which is a couple of months out but I dont even see any in August.
Maybe more people are buying C/F or maybe they are planning on opening up more seats as the days come closer.
Finding IAD-LHR used to be easy but with the 4th daily summer flight gone it has become impossible.
It may be that I am booking in May which is a couple of months out but I dont even see any in August.
Maybe more people are buying C/F or maybe they are planning on opening up more seats as the days come closer.
Finding IAD-LHR used to be easy but with the 4th daily summer flight gone it has become impossible.
May 30, 2010, 5:19 pm
#75
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Canada
Programs: UA*1K MM SK EBG LATAM BL
Posts: 23,338
Thats only using a quick search on co.com that doesnt cover LX/LH/OS
Aside from it being non-stop, I really dont see any advantages on redeeming your miles on United metal....