markg2

I have ~50k miles. I wish to fly DEN--PBI October 2010. Since my wife will not be with me, I don't care about connections and would like to use 1/2 the miles by flying the Saver program. I understand that United flies to PBI using other airlines. Using the United website, I tested availability using the site's default depart/arrive dates and then the actual dates in October. I tried my preference of noon-6pm and anytime and I tried surrounding airports. In all instances there were no saver flights period for the entire month in each case.

I haven't flown United since early '01 or '02 simply because I find the airline far less trustworthy than most--which says quite a bit. However, I really hadn't expected to find what appears to be an outright sham with regard to this so-called Saver program.

Could someone provide some further insight here? Am I wasting my time pursing this?

Thanks,

Mark

Palal

Welcome to FT, markg2!

Do you have specific dates or +/- ranges? Would you consider alternate airports?

To get avaliability on CO or US you'd need to call United or use the ANA tool or Continental's tool on their website.

Actually, that's what I'd do -- go to CO's website and see what you can come up with. Once you have those flights, call UA and tell them you'd like to book them. They will probably charge you at $25 ticketing fee for booking over the phone.

buckeyefanflyer

United no longer serves PBI. It cut PBI and FLL out about 3 years ago when fuel costs were extremely high and consolidated these airports into MIA.
You would have to end up on a code share either CO out of IAH or US out of CLT.
With the merger with CO, I would bet service to at least FLL from ORD and
maybe DEN will be reinstated in the future.

abmj-jr

You are wasting your time using the online tool. Partner awards cannot be booked online. You need to call and have an agent search for you.

murphyUA

Nope, CO and US can be booked on www.united.com.

LAX UA 1K

Welcome to Flyertalk.

I found availability using the Star Alliance Awards search on all the October dates I tried, mostly using CO and US but sometimes with UA flights involved. If you have flexibility try to book dates where a single connection rather than a double connection is offered.

PBI seems to miscoded in the UA system as it is trying to search UA which has no service. Every time I search I get the empty calendar and have to click on the Star Alliance Awards link underneath. I did not see any way to tell it to search Star Alliance in the first place. Searches to FLL go to the Star Alliance search automatically as it seems to know UA does not offer service.

This may be easier by phone but you'll pay a service fee if you book the ticket by phone. You could ask questions for free on the phone and then try to book online once you know what's available. Phone agents can build more routings than the website offers, though. You can also book into PBI and out of FLL (or vice versa) on the phone but not on the website.

Also, a tip. You can change flights for free on an award booking (by phone, no charge) if you keep the same routing (cities, connections, and carriers). But you'd have to keep watching for the preferred flight to open up. For instance, on some dates the CO connection offered has a long layover in IAH. If you saw a better connecting flight open up for award space before your depart on your outbound you can call up and ask to be switched at no charge. After you depart the outbound you cannot make changes through UA. Waitlisting is available only on all-UA itineraries and very helpful on those since you don't have to keep checking.

jetlagjunkie

I find that getting saver award flights really is all about luck and flexibility. I have yet to see a saver flight on a partner carrier like US or CO, but it maybe because I have not been lucky. If you do not find a saver flight in the exact times you want but are really set on find a saver flight, you may have to change your flight times or days.

Good luck!

markg2

Thanks for all the replies. I thought I had told preferences to email me once replies were posted but must have not done that correctly--I'll check again. I just happened to come back and check.

I know that United does not fly to PBI and that I'd have to use US or CO. The tip about clicking the Star Alliance link is good but the tip(s) about calling and paying the $25 for United to do the work for me sounds better.

I'm thinking that even if I cannot get a Saver flight to PBI, If I got one to Ft Lauderdale, with my remaining mileage of ~24k I could get a rental ride to Jupiter.

I'll let you all know how this works out!

Thanks again, and if I have another question I'll be back!

markg2

I called United, told them I couldn't get their website to find any flight to PBI and they said they would do so and waive the $25.

However, for a DEN depart of Oct 6 and return of Oct 10 or 11 or 12, they could get me to PBI but could not get me back. What makes zero sense is that the guy said he couldn't get me back from either PBI, Orlando or Ft Lauderdale on those dates with the Saver.

He could get me in and out of PBI using a 'regular' mileage ticket. Also, he said that United is flying into PBI.

Instead of booking with the full 50k (since I'm trying to do this so far in advance) I plan on calling again periodically during the week on the premise that United's computer will most likely play games with the number of available outgoing Saver seats.

Any other ideas or opinions?

6rugrats

Why do you think this makes "zero sense"? It makes sense because there is no saver award availability for you. The agent was wrong as UA does not fly to PBI or FLL; you're going to have to use a *A member - US or CO. Also, IMO, this is not "quite far in advance". It's pretty late.

If you were a 1K, you would find there is saver award availability for your dates and city (PBI) on a combination of US/UA/CO. Will it open up for anyone else? Who knows. There is currently one ticket left for a non-elite for DEN-FLL for your dates, that is another combination of UA/US/CO.

Computers do not "play games" with award availability.

dream7

Every time a friend or family member asks me to get them a reward ticket to south Florida, I price it out. The fare to these leisure destinations is often very low - often about $200 roundtrip from the northeast. If you are flexible wrt PBI vs FLL, so much the better. Don't know about DEN fares, but I would definitely see what the paid fare is before you book a reward seat to PBI.

6rugrats

True - if OP wants to stay on *A, he can book this on CO for ~$257. A lot more expensive to book through UA.

markg2

By playing games I referred to the seating algorithms the airlines use to add and remove available mileage seats to pending flights over time based upon certain criteria to maximize revenue.

It makes sense that there wouldn't be saver award availability from PBI due to size but not Orlando given the city's larger size and # of flights in and out over the 3 day period that I allowed for potential departure. Nonetheless, as they say, it is what it is.

letyoufly

Does anyone know if there are certain time periods where Saver awards will become available. I know I was looking for a flight in Sep for ORD-DEN every day, and the saver ticket finally became available today, though I don't believe this was due to cancellations, (I could certainly be wrong there).

Basically, if the flight is not very full, will they open up the saver tickets as the departure date gets closer, or does it require a cancellation for this to happen?

6rugrats

There is saver award availability DEN-MCO, departing 06 Oct, return on 11 Oct - 1 ticket and it's a nonstop on UA. Flights 802 & 423. You can book it also with Miles + Money; 15,000 miles and $85.