How much difference does status level make in saver level award availability?
Mar 11, 2007 | 11:24 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: California
Programs: various
Posts: 4,240
How much difference does status level make in saver level award availability?
How different is saver level award availability for different levels of status? It seems fairly difficult to get saver level awards as a General Member.
Mar 11, 2007 | 11:27 pm
#2
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: NYC
Programs: AA Exec PLT; Marriott PLAT
Posts: 1,120
1ks have extra saver award availability. Everyone else sees the same pool. That said, united has some of the best saver award availability out there. check out the the recent wsj article on this - united and aa do a much better job then the other airlines.
Mar 11, 2007 | 11:28 pm
#3
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Los Angeles
Programs: UA, AA
Posts: 4,039
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows 98; PalmSource/hspr-H102; Blazer/4.0) 16;320x320)
Yup, other than NY it's all the same. I've never had a problem redeeming UA awards, even a few days out.
Yup, other than NY it's all the same. I've never had a problem redeeming UA awards, even a few days out.
Mar 11, 2007 | 11:36 pm
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: USA
Programs: UA Platinum, 1MM
Posts: 13,472
Supposedly some seats are seat aside for 1Ks, but they seem to be few and far between.
Mar 12, 2007 | 12:02 am
#5
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: SMF
Programs: UA Gold, 1 MM
Posts: 11,634
Mar 12, 2007 | 12:14 am
#6
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: SFO
Programs: HH Silver, SPG Gold, PC Plat, IC Royal Ambassador, UA 1K, Founder www.SeatExpert.com , CO Platinum
Posts: 1,924
While searching for upgradeable flights, I have seen a number of flights with 1K NY availability where normal saver awards were zero'ed out.
Mar 12, 2007 | 5:58 am
#7
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 23,999
Other than 1K's, there is no difference in availability for any other level. Also, 1K's only get special availability on Y awards, and not C or F awards.
Mar 12, 2007 | 8:12 am
#9
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: LA,CA
Programs: UA 1K 2MM+, SPG Plat
Posts: 155
Maybe there's extra availabilty domestically, but I haven't been able to book a saver award to Asia for at least four years. I've asked reservations to find me ANY date I might be able to use a saver award to Asia and they have never found one.
Mar 12, 2007 | 8:13 am
#10
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Land of King Richard the Second (Chicago)
Programs: UA 1P
Posts: 730
If both the 1K inventory and the normal inventory for economy awards have seats and a 1K calls. What bucket do they pull from?
I would hope that they would use the 1K bucket and leave the rest for the unworthy.
Does anyone know how this works?
I would hope that they would use the 1K bucket and leave the rest for the unworthy.
Does anyone know how this works?
Last edited by mudba; Mar 12, 2007 at 8:35 am
Mar 12, 2007 | 8:37 am
#11
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: NY (Formerly SF)
Programs: UA GS/1K, SPG Platinum
Posts: 186
OK, stupid question, but how does one see the separate buckets of availability for NY for 1ks and non-1ks?
Mar 12, 2007 | 8:43 am
#12
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Land of King Richard the Second (Chicago)
Programs: UA 1P
Posts: 730
type in the orgin and destination and date and put "ua" in TWICE for your favorite airline
This will show you the available fare buckets for the flights your checking
(available if you scroll down on the results page)
N: Econonmy Class Award
E: Free Economny Class Ticket 1K
Mar 12, 2007 | 9:13 am
#13
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 17,769
goto www.seatcounter.com
type in the orgin and destination and date and put "ua" in TWICE for your favorite airline
This will show you the available fare buckets for the flights your checking
(available if you scroll down on the results page)
N: Econonmy Class Award
E: Free Economny Class Ticket 1K
type in the orgin and destination and date and put "ua" in TWICE for your favorite airline
This will show you the available fare buckets for the flights your checking
(available if you scroll down on the results page)
N: Econonmy Class Award
E: Free Economny Class Ticket 1K
Mar 12, 2007 | 9:26 am
#14
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 20,405
This is a hit or miss, but status could make a difference between a phone agent telling you "no, there's no availability" and making a call to the inventory desk to see if space can be cleared.
A few times I've tried to get an F award and one of the segments only had Y. After checking my chances at clearing the waitlist, only to discover an empty F cabin, they called to clear my WL right away. They can do this for anybody, but are more likely to do it for status-bearing members.
A few times I've tried to get an F award and one of the segments only had Y. After checking my chances at clearing the waitlist, only to discover an empty F cabin, they called to clear my WL right away. They can do this for anybody, but are more likely to do it for status-bearing members.
Mar 12, 2007 | 10:03 am
#15
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: SJC/SFO
Programs: UA MM Gold, AA Gold, HHonors Gold, Marriott Gold, WN CP AList
Posts: 297