cricketer

The way I see it, $770 is a lot to drop for a trip to see a battle for 4th place :-) But if I were going to see United play, and I had 700K miles in the bank, I'd almost certainly cash in for an F award (on LH, via FRA so as to use the first class terminal there on the return as well).

jtsaltman82

A battle for 4th? Arsenal, my friend, is in 3rd after our stellar defeat of your United boys, and the only battle West Ham is fighting is the one involving relegation.

OP, where are you getting your tickets? If you have a contact, great, but if not, be prepared to shell out some serious dough for this match (although, you can sometimes find a good deal on Craigslist). Any type of London derby is an extremely difficult ticket to get. Considering your frugal nature, the likely cost of match tickets, and your excessively large amount of miles, I'd try and book a C award ticket for yourself. You would be able to use one of your SWU's from this year on the outbound, but with the devaluation of frequent flyer programs, you might as well start using those miles and trade away the SWU's.

pinniped

Absolutely, without question, do NOT fly this trip in the back of the bus!! Not with *either* an 80k award or a SWU at your disposal.

I concur with the crowd here who says burn the miles - with the only exception being if you think you'll need that 10k-ish EQM for your 2010 1K status. (I know that can be hard to predict.)

In general, I'd say get familiar with this community here - over the course of time, meet some other people with whom you can swap SWU's for something else you need. Hotel nights or whatnot...

But using the $770 and the SWU is also a very good value. Either way, you can't lose...just don't fly coach!!!

That will be a sellout and a semi-tough ticket to get, but we're not talking Super Bowl here. There will be a market for it, you'll have to pay a bit over face (unless you get very lucky), but you'll get in.

Kevincm

Ok... apart from seeing two awful football teams in a London Derby* (Riot gear optional ), it would depend one two factors - if space is available on the flights you want, and what your future travel plans are and what your requalification plans are.

Personal, with 700k in the bank, I'd blow it some F (or very good C) seats if there are some open - but also consider the alternative routes to get to LHR (via ZRH, FRA, or even on NZ C) to experience the differences there are out there. SWU carries a risk that there may not be a upgradeable seat on that flight (unless you like being crammed in row 61 on a 747).

* Insert mandatory "I'm a Wolves (Wolverhampton Wanders) supporter and I know we're useless - at least its entertainment" quote

as219

IMO, saver awards to LHR are in general not a great value -- a good chunk of the ticket price consists of taxes you'll have to pay anyway, while at the same time, on a CPM basis, flights to LHR come out pretty well. I personally would spend the $$$ for a W-fare (I agree with posters who say not to fly this in Y, especially for a relatively fast turn-around), ugrade with SWUs, and keep my RDMs for close-in or premium transpac awards with a much better $/RDM ratio (and that have lower taxes).

pinniped

But as long as there's some NC inventory there right now, he can confirm the upgrade, right? (I'm about to hit 1K myself...I don't yet know the exact mechanics of a SWU.)

Also: how do the more exotic options (NZ C, etc.) compare to United's new C on the 767's? I've upgraded to those seats on the ORD-LHR run a couple of times and quite enjoyed it. In fact, I thought of it as "close enough" to what the F seats looked like that I probably wouldn't spend the extra miles on F. I might think differently on an airline that provided something exceptional with int'l F (e.g., LH F via FRA), but not so much UA...

Anyway, the *A options obviously rule out the SWU, but like Kevin says, it might be kinda fun just to fly a different airline, at least one way.

SNA-UA

As posters noted, I was too quick to price out the seat and it would cost more for an upgradeable flight. Stoopid .bomb not saving my profile as "expert!"

So, I hadn't thought about going wild and going F class but ooooooh, am I piqued now - here is my issue: I'm a workaholic. Even when I'm heading up to the Sierras to do some climbing, or flying to Hawaii to do some surfing, I'm in work mode. I worry that the entire time I would either spend sleeping or working. I'd hate to waste F because I was so busy not enjoying F. Or is it such a different world that I will be relaxed and think of nothing but the game?

Flying UA metal on an award ticket, I believe I am stuck with the same class both ways, right? But, and I'm only going on by how I saw the Star Alliance mileage rates being displayed on .bomb, it seems that maybe I can get award travel in different classes each way? Could I do C to/from LHR and F the other way?

Which should I do each way? Can I split airlines?

And here is a money question: where is the ANA tool?!? I've been reading about it forever, but I've always been unable to unearth a link to it...

Regarding 1K - Yes, I don't know whether I will hit 1K for the 4th year running next year without doing a few mileage runs (one this year 'cuz I was bored but it turned out not to be necessary at all) so the 10k would be nice, but I feel confident about reaching status so I won't let it affect my decision.

My 700k miles - I'm only 32, bachelor, and my thinking was to save it for the future or at least random upgrades over the next few years. But I'm feeling more and more of that "they don't earn interest and actually deflate in value as time goes bye" attitude. Let's burn them.

To address the Gunners ticket question: my godfather has had season tickets for some 40 odd years I believe. I'll be joining him at the game. Hate to rub it in gentlemen, but the seats are at the dead center of the pitch, 6 rows back.

He and I actually both prefer his former seats at Highbury (6 rows back is a little close), but I'm not complaining...I'm rubbing it in! I can't post any old photos yet as they are at home and I'm at the office, but they are phenomenal seats. ^^^

(plus, everyone around used to groan whenever I came - the godfather's English, but I am 100% French (albeit raised here in the States since I was 8). Arsenal's my team, but there's been nothing like taunting the English over the years that their team was pretty much French (for the past half-dozen years). It was even a shade funner than taunting the Spurs.

UA Fan

I'd say do the award.

restlessinRNO

Even if you do C one way, and F the other, you will be charged for an F award ticket.

rkaradi

To get access to the ANA tool you must join ANA's FF program. It's free and you don't need to credit miles to their program to use it. Once you create an account there is a log in button and once you've logged in you can check availbility. Here's a link to the log in page but, you must create an account first to use it.



https://aswbe-i.ana.co.jp/p_per/sky_...SearchLogin.do

Also about using miles and flying two *A carriers, yes you can do that, there is no requirement that all legs must be on UA or LH...In fact there are many times where you'll get a mixed award when flying to some remote or exoctic locale.

BTW here's what ANA shows available in F on your dates to/from LAX

1/29 UA 934 and 954
1/29 LH 457 LAX-FRA
1/229 LH 455 SFO-FRA

2/2 UA 935 LHR-LAX
2/2 LH 454 FRA-SFO

Keep in mind that just cause ANA shows it doesn't mean you can get it that darn *net filtering muck it up sometimes.

pinniped

If you fly LH F, build yourself at least a little layover in FRA to enjoy their lounge. (It's an entirely separate terminal.) Wonderful service...