For United experts:One Way Savers Seat, Bus Class to Rome
Jun 13, 2010, 4:12 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Tucson, Arizona
Programs: Delta MM, Marriott Plat, SPG Plat, United Premier Silver
Posts: 239
For United experts:One Way Savers Seat, Bus Class to Rome
I am Platinum on Delta where I know the ins and outs. I rarely fly United.
I have a United Visa card and I have managed to accumulate enough points for 2 Business Class Saver Tix to Rome. Since I only need a one way flight (cruising back), United is perfect.
How hard is it to get one way business class savers (this will be for November 2011) and what is the strategy? Is it the old 331 days out, or is waiting better?
I have a United Visa card and I have managed to accumulate enough points for 2 Business Class Saver Tix to Rome. Since I only need a one way flight (cruising back), United is perfect.
How hard is it to get one way business class savers (this will be for November 2011) and what is the strategy? Is it the old 331 days out, or is waiting better?
Jun 13, 2010, 4:24 pm
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: SMF
Programs: UA Gold, 1 MM
Posts: 11,632
331 days out is always a good strategy, but you never know. A couple of years ago, I was able to score 4 UA biz award tixs RT for SFO-FCO by making the reservation as soon as it was possible to book it. Of course, there's no guarantee about availability, so you take your chances.
Good luck!
Good luck!
I am Platinum on Delta where I know the ins and outs. I rarely fly United.
I have a United Visa card and I have managed to accumulate enough points for 2 Business Class Saver Tix to Rome. Since I only need a one way flight (cruising back), United is perfect.
How hard is it to get one way business class savers (this will be for November 2011) and what is the strategy? Is it the old 331 days out, or is waiting better?
I have a United Visa card and I have managed to accumulate enough points for 2 Business Class Saver Tix to Rome. Since I only need a one way flight (cruising back), United is perfect.
How hard is it to get one way business class savers (this will be for November 2011) and what is the strategy? Is it the old 331 days out, or is waiting better?
Jun 13, 2010, 4:44 pm
#3
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: N Charleston South Carolina
Programs: UA PM (by 2MM), DL GM (by 3.5MM), Marriott Lifetime Plat
Posts: 1,655
What I would do is the following:
I'd always plan to get to FCO a day early, just in case something goes wrong on the way over.
So, starting about three days before that + 331 days, I'd go online and look for flights.
Say your cruise starts on Saturday. The temptation would be to fly Friday, arrive Sat morning and take the cruise.
I would always fly there the day before, on Thursday. Now, you don't know if seats will be available on that Thursday, so I'd start checking when Tuesday opens up. They will hold a reservation for a few days, so the next daay I'd check for Wed. If either of these have availability, then I'd hold that. Then, on the apponted day, if seats were available on the Thursday departure, I'd snag those. And finally, if for some reason, The only availability was on Friday I'd take that. But very reluctantly.
So, what if no BC seats or only 1 seat. If only one (but on different days), I'd be temped to book them separately, and waitlist each one on the other day. Or, more likely, I'd book the one BC seat and then one coach seat and have that seat waitlisted for BC. I'd also consider booking a FC seat, as they are not that much more expensive (especially one way) and many times there is more availability for FC thand BC.
The one trick to booking a coach ticket that you want to waitlist is to get some segment confirmed in domestic first. I'm not sure what airport you're flying out of, but if you can find a connecting flight that has FC (or BC) domestic availability leading into the hub, then they will take the miles for the BC ticket, and if it goes down to the wire at the airport, you will have FFCC status on the waitlist, meaning you already have a business class ticket, and you go to the top of the heap for getting any available seat. I've seen this in action FCO - IAD, and my traveling companion got the only BC seat left, and there were about a dozen or more people on the waitlist. All because of the FFCC status. Of course, other people know and play the game too, so there could be muliple FFCC people waitlisted, but in my experience, not that much.
Also, as a last resort, you can use double miles to get that one way BC ticket. This may come in handly if you find only one seat, and you pay double only for the second seat.
If you don't find any availability at the 331 day window, then you have to keep looking. Remmeber the half-price one-way tickets are on all UA metal flights only. No *A partners.
Again, start booking a few days early, hold the reservation and change the reservation day to day until you get to the day you want. If for some reason, the domestic portions are unavailable in First/Business, just book coach and waitlist them (I would separate the PNR's and do them separately). They will likely clear. Also, remember you can have a stopover on the way, so you can stop in IAD or whatever hub for as many days as you like on the way. Sometimes, I like spending a day in SFO or IAD (great air and space museum there) or some other hub.
hope this makes sense, and good luck.
Billy
I'd always plan to get to FCO a day early, just in case something goes wrong on the way over.
So, starting about three days before that + 331 days, I'd go online and look for flights.
Say your cruise starts on Saturday. The temptation would be to fly Friday, arrive Sat morning and take the cruise.
I would always fly there the day before, on Thursday. Now, you don't know if seats will be available on that Thursday, so I'd start checking when Tuesday opens up. They will hold a reservation for a few days, so the next daay I'd check for Wed. If either of these have availability, then I'd hold that. Then, on the apponted day, if seats were available on the Thursday departure, I'd snag those. And finally, if for some reason, The only availability was on Friday I'd take that. But very reluctantly.
So, what if no BC seats or only 1 seat. If only one (but on different days), I'd be temped to book them separately, and waitlist each one on the other day. Or, more likely, I'd book the one BC seat and then one coach seat and have that seat waitlisted for BC. I'd also consider booking a FC seat, as they are not that much more expensive (especially one way) and many times there is more availability for FC thand BC.
The one trick to booking a coach ticket that you want to waitlist is to get some segment confirmed in domestic first. I'm not sure what airport you're flying out of, but if you can find a connecting flight that has FC (or BC) domestic availability leading into the hub, then they will take the miles for the BC ticket, and if it goes down to the wire at the airport, you will have FFCC status on the waitlist, meaning you already have a business class ticket, and you go to the top of the heap for getting any available seat. I've seen this in action FCO - IAD, and my traveling companion got the only BC seat left, and there were about a dozen or more people on the waitlist. All because of the FFCC status. Of course, other people know and play the game too, so there could be muliple FFCC people waitlisted, but in my experience, not that much.
Also, as a last resort, you can use double miles to get that one way BC ticket. This may come in handly if you find only one seat, and you pay double only for the second seat.
If you don't find any availability at the 331 day window, then you have to keep looking. Remmeber the half-price one-way tickets are on all UA metal flights only. No *A partners.
Again, start booking a few days early, hold the reservation and change the reservation day to day until you get to the day you want. If for some reason, the domestic portions are unavailable in First/Business, just book coach and waitlist them (I would separate the PNR's and do them separately). They will likely clear. Also, remember you can have a stopover on the way, so you can stop in IAD or whatever hub for as many days as you like on the way. Sometimes, I like spending a day in SFO or IAD (great air and space museum there) or some other hub.
hope this makes sense, and good luck.
Billy
Jun 13, 2010, 5:40 pm
#4
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Seattle, WA
Programs: DL Diamond, UA 1K MM, SPG Plat For Life, Marriott Plat, Nexus/GlobalEntry
Posts: 9,198
Jun 13, 2010, 5:56 pm
#5
Join Date: May 2001
Location: RDU
Programs: UA Plat 2MM, Delta Gold, Hilton Gold, Marriott cardboard
Posts: 1,699
I looked at the subject line and got confused.
Bus class == WN.
Bus class == WN.
Jun 14, 2010, 10:03 am
#6
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: SJC, SFO, YYC
Programs: AA-EXP, AA-0.41MM, UA-Gold, Ex UA-1K (2006 thru 2015), PMUA-0.95MM, COUA-1.5MM-lite, AF-Silver
Posts: 13,437
FWIW I scored two C-class saver round trips DEN-ORD-FCO in November for a trip in a couple weeks this month and at the time was awash with availability. I doubt you'll have much trouble securing space. But as an insurance policy, spend more on the visa card to get enough miles for saver F. That is even more likely to have space, albeit assuming UA is still flying three class birds to FCO by 2011.