Pinot777

Hi I am a new member and loving all of your wisdom...perhaps I could get some advise....
I have 89K with UA and would like to book an award flight with LH from LAX to MUC and I called United today but they told me that no award Seats are available at the times I requested ... my times are flexible but it didn't help.
I would need to travel July 2,3,4 or 5th and come back August 2,3,or 4th can anyone tell me how I can book an award flight and how I can find out if there are seats available?
Thank you, any ideas thoughts and comments are welcome!!

channa

Welcome to FlyerTalk!

While you're certainly looking for a peak time award, and not that far out at that, often times your results are function of the aptitude and creativity of the agent.

You may have some luck if you think about some of the Star Alliance ways to get there, and suggest them to the agent. For example:

LAX-UA-LHR-LH-MUC
LAX-NZ-LHR-LH-MUC
LAX-UA-SFO-LH-MUC
LAX-UA-IAD-LH-MUC
LAX-LH-FRA-LH-MUC
LAX-US-CLT-LH-MUC

And think of less conventional ways if you have to:

LAX-UA-SEA-SK-CPH-LH-MUC
LAX-UA-IAD-UA-AMS-LH-MUC

You get the idea.

Pinot777

Thank you very much...I did think about taking other routes...but my main question was...how can I find out if all the Business class seats are actually booked or if the airline holds them for Cutomers who will purchase a Ticket rather than using Milage...??

aparsuites

Also, another useful thing to do is to make sure that you call the international awards desk rather than the ordinary reservations number. These agents (both according to FT lore and in my own experience) are more fluent with this type of procedure. If you are flexible and willing to make multiple connections, there are many possible routes you could take -- especially since these are both *Alliance hubs. I'd say that the best advice is to not get discouraged and to keep calling back whenever you get a new idea for a potential routing.

The number for international awards reservations is (888) 674-4680. This is a non-elite number, so there might be a little bit of hold time, but I think that your patience in trying to get through will likely be rewarded by better service.

Also, remember that on international itineraries, you can have connections of up to 24 hours. This means that (for example) if you could find availability on day 1 from LAX to JFK and then availability on day 2 from JFK to MUC, you would be welcome to book this. Many agents will not offer this type of routing, since they assume it would be inconvenient, but for some of us it is actually more desirable because it allows for quick visits to extra cities.

Along the same lines, remember that if you did this, you can connect from one airport to another within one city. I once booked an award from BOS to NRT with the first segment on US from BOS to LGA and the second segment on UA from JFK to NRT. Again, many times agents do not suggest such ideas, but if you bring them up they will be happy to help.

Every once in a while you will come across an agent who is really motivated and driven to find something that will satisfy you. I would keep calling back until you get such a person.

Best of luck, and welcome to FT.

couscous

good luck trying to get an award seat to Europe this July-August.. will be nearly impossible. Planes are very full.

Daydream

Try it anyway, find an agent that is willing to work with you. I had a great guy that went through every unusual routing and voila, I had my dream itinerary.

As for Business, I had to take Lufthansa last year for my flight, as UA was full in summer, but I did find Business in LH not worse (or better) than on United.

Another tip, see if you can fly to Newark and then take the Privatair Flight

gabrielz

While we're on the tips thing: you can book a standard award in economy for 80K miles on all-United flights. If you absolutely have to be there, and don't want to pay, this might be an approach for you.

Another tip: Z-class (discount biz) fares to BUDapest are running around $2700 from the West Coast (50 day adv purch, 7 night min stay), which is a very good deal, imho. You would then have to purchase a separate BUD-MUC flight, but it might be worth the hassles if Biz is important to you...

<G>

Pinot777

Thanks for all your great ideas ... I just went to check UA online and found a Business RT Ticket from LAX to MUC (on Lufthansa) for $2600.00 I think I will grab that and save my miles for another trip... Thanks everyone!!

BillKach

I'd strongly suggest trying to stay on UA, I have flown LH biz class a bunch of times in the last year and found it significantly worse. On one LH flight from FRA to LAX last fall, the food was so bad I skipped a meal... that's definately a first for me. LH first class is another story entirely...

TonySCV

If this is the LAX non-stop, you'll be on a plane with new Lufthansa business class seats / entertainment / wireless high speed internet which blows away anything UA can offer you. You won't regret your choice! Enjoy!

- T

hsilbiger

In general my LH business class experience in past years was only so-so, but I recently returned from FRA to EWR on an LH 747 with the old seats. The old seats are nowhere as good as the UA seats, but the service has improved tremendously. The FAs were very attentive, kept the refreshments going and smiled a lot. In addition the food was very good, although like on UA it was a choice of cheese or desert.

I still like the way they serve food and drinks on UA better, where they bring the drinks and the plates to your seat individually rather than serve them from a cart in the aisle.

I was greeted by name, pronounced in German of course.