Change to *A Award routing rules (Effective 11 FEB 2011)
Feb 11, 2011, 1:46 pm
#31
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The new award rules are posted on United.com: http://www.united.com/page/article/0,8566,1141,00.html
Not as much detail as IslandSkies provided, but they do reflect the new rules. They are easier to understand than they used to be.
Not as much detail as IslandSkies provided, but they do reflect the new rules. They are easier to understand than they used to be.
Click Here to see the page on Star Alliance Award Travel rules.
Note some of the following:
2) Booking your Star Alliance award ticket
a) You can book your Star Alliance award ticket online only if you are flying roundtrip on Continental or US Airways.
b) You must call United Reservations for all other Star Alliance award travel:
• One-way awards on Continental and US Airways.
• Roundtrip or one-way awards on all other Star Alliance partners.
• When booking an award ticket through United Reservations, there may be a fee. Learn more about award fees.
c) The name on your award ticket must match the name on your government-issued photo ID.
d) Star Alliance Award tickets must be booked at least 24 hours prior to departure.
e) Award tickets must be on a flight routing exclusively between valid cities described in the Star Alliance award chart, with no connections or stopovers on additional continents or cities unless otherwise noted.
f) Cities and countries served by the Star Alliance partners are subject to change. Some countries listed in the award chart may not be available for award travel and other countries may become available later.
a) You can book your Star Alliance award ticket online only if you are flying roundtrip on Continental or US Airways.
b) You must call United Reservations for all other Star Alliance award travel:
• One-way awards on Continental and US Airways.
• Roundtrip or one-way awards on all other Star Alliance partners.
• When booking an award ticket through United Reservations, there may be a fee. Learn more about award fees.
c) The name on your award ticket must match the name on your government-issued photo ID.
d) Star Alliance Award tickets must be booked at least 24 hours prior to departure.
e) Award tickets must be on a flight routing exclusively between valid cities described in the Star Alliance award chart, with no connections or stopovers on additional continents or cities unless otherwise noted.
f) Cities and countries served by the Star Alliance partners are subject to change. Some countries listed in the award chart may not be available for award travel and other countries may become available later.
Feb 11, 2011, 1:57 pm
#32
FlyerTalk Evangelist
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Pardon my ignorance on *A awards, but what is the "shortest leg" rule?
Feb 11, 2011, 1:59 pm
#33
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yes this a bit confusing
Award tickets must be on a flight routing exclusively between valid cities described in the Star Alliance award chart, with no connections or stopovers on additional continents or cities unless otherwise noted.
3) What you can do with a Star Alliance award ticket
....
d) Include one stopover when traveling roundtrip between regions; for example, between the continental U.S. and Hawaii, or between the U.S. and the Caribbean, Asia, Australia, Central America, South America, Middle East or Europe). You can have five stopovers if flying on a Round-The-World Award.
....
d) Include one stopover when traveling roundtrip between regions; for example, between the continental U.S. and Hawaii, or between the U.S. and the Caribbean, Asia, Australia, Central America, South America, Middle East or Europe). You can have five stopovers if flying on a Round-The-World Award.
Last edited by iluv2fly; Feb 11, 2011 at 4:00 pm Reason: merge
Feb 11, 2011, 2:12 pm
#35
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Feb 11, 2011, 2:27 pm
#36
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Chapel Hill, NC - UA Nobody (sigh)/0.925MM, HHonors Diamond
Posts: 3,510
So on one award can I fly:
SFO-NRT(stopover)-BKK
SYD-SFO
Feb 11, 2011, 2:34 pm
#37
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As for the rule about stopover on Open Jaw, that is in the profile we use in reservations. Maybe they will change/clarify it to match the website wording but I won't be back at work until next week so I can't check right now.
Feb 11, 2011, 2:42 pm
#38
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Posts: 3,510
That's not between two award regions. I count 4 on your itinerary: North America, Japan, South Asia, and Australia.
As for the rule about stopover on Open Jaw, that is in the profile we use in reservations. Maybe they will change/clarify it to match the website wording but I won't be back at work until next week so I can't check right now.
As for the rule about stopover on Open Jaw, that is in the profile we use in reservations. Maybe they will change/clarify it to match the website wording but I won't be back at work until next week so I can't check right now.
So on one award I could fly, for example:
IAD-DME
LED-FRA(stopover)-IAD
Feb 11, 2011, 2:47 pm
#39
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Feb 11, 2011, 4:41 pm
#40
Join Date: Feb 2007
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I am confused by these new rules - firstly I cannot find the "Mileage Information Menu" referred to in the OP. All I am trying to figure out is if the following routing would be now permitted: SYD-ICN-YVR (or LAX or SFO or SEA) - perviously this was not allowed which severely limited *A award travel from North America/Canada and Australia.
(As experts would know this sort of routing has long been allowed by other *A airlines; eg. AC and US).
thanks for any insight into this.
(As experts would know this sort of routing has long been allowed by other *A airlines; eg. AC and US).
thanks for any insight into this.
Feb 11, 2011, 5:07 pm
#41
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Join Date: Oct 1999
Posts: 11,468
What ??? Certainly hope you're wrong! We just had some 30+% increases in (UA) premium awards a couple of years ago!!!
Certainly not projecting flyers are "expecting" such devals for a few eases on routing/stopver rules!
Certainly not projecting flyers are "expecting" such devals for a few eases on routing/stopver rules!
Feb 11, 2011, 5:09 pm
#42
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Feb 11, 2011, 5:52 pm
#43
Join Date: Oct 2003
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Posts: 622
IslandSkies - for clarification, why is it that a US-Asia award routing through Europe now costs the higher Europe-Asia price? As long as the routing doesn't exceed 0M, shouldn't it still be the lower US-Asia price, since there's no "higher mileage" option specified for US-Asia routings? I'm sure you said it for a reason, but I'm just confused because I didn't see anything in the new rules that would say that it has to take the highest cost of any two regions involved in the routing.
BTW, the new rules were initially supposed to enter into force on Jan. 23, and all agents got the training back then, but there was a technical issue that was just resolved.
Feb 11, 2011, 11:54 pm
#44
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Charging the higher mileage has been the rule for years. However, several agents have told me in the last couple of weeks that this rule is now out of the window. It should cost the same number of miles to fly US-ASIA vie ATL and PAC, as long as you abide by the MPM rules. Hope those agents knew what they were talking about.
That was about 6 months ago. I'm just trying to see if that's changing - again, assuming one stays within the original MPM (not the new 115% rule).
Feb 12, 2011, 3:36 am
#45
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However, these changes seem very favorable. Thanks, OP, for the information.