MPM award reservation problem
 

As part of an US - Europe award reservation with stopover, that I have currently on hold, I'm trying to split one flight on the return, i.e. instead of flying XXX to YYY I want to fly XXX - ZZZ - YYY, where the distance XXX - YYY is almost (within 5 miles, depending on which source) equal to (XXX-->ZZZ) + (ZZZ-->YYY).
However, I have been told by an agent and her supervisor that this split is not possible since it exceeds the maximum permitted mileage. Challenging them then that my original routing had exactly the same amount of miles, I was told "your original routing already exceeds the maximum permitted mileage" ????? :confused:

I'm really confused, because I don't understand whether MPM can be exceeded if you get the right agent (I always thought MPM was one of the things even India couldn't exceed).
Also, is the MPM counted for each part separately (i.e. AAA - BBB can't be more than x miles, BBB - CCC must be within y miles, and CCC - AAA has to be less than z miles), or is it all added up and the total trip has to be under x+y+z miles?

Thanks
David

It might help if you posted the actual airport codes. :)

Well, right now I have LHR-FRA-(US)-PHL (3949 miles)-BGR and what I want is LHR-FRA-(LH)-BOS -(US)-PHL (3669 miles + 280 miles = 3949 miles) -BGR, so that my GF and I can at least travel the transatlantic flight together, since I'll be on a UA ticket (UA codeshares the LH flight to BOS but not the US flight FRA-PHL). And I don't really want to fly US over the pond, anyway...

Remember the rule is this:

The route must be one of the following:

(a) a published route
(b) within the MPM.

I've had my share of award tickets that are beyond the MPM, but only when the routing is published as such... Otherwise, the MPM is very sticky...

Good luck!

Well, the point is, assuming the information given to me was correct:

UA doesn't fly to BGR and (AFAIK) doesn't even publish any fares, so I'm guessing that they probably don't have a published route for it (and even if, BOS is not really going out of the way, in fact BOS is about as close as you can get (directly) to to BGR [Bangor, ME] in the US from Europe). On the other hand, I'm not changing the amount of miles travelled at all, so that's why I'm confused...

It matters not whether UA flies to a destination or not... They're looking for published routes... And discovering the legal routes may be tricky... I've not found an exact science, but a good starting point is the * Timetable.

If you take a look at the * timetable...FRA is not on the list anywhere that I see... Apparently you could come in via YYZ or IAD though...

Have fun!

Yeah, but usually the routing is a lot more flexible than most timetables will give you. Expedia used to show the routing rules for a given fare, when you read through the detailed fare rules, but I don't think it does it anymore...

BAs an example, pretty much all US - Germany fares that I encountered so far with UA (mostly V and Q), the allowed routing allows transiting through any UA destination in Europe or any east coast LH destination, so it seems to me that UA is usually quite liberal with the routing rules...

expertflyer shows mpm for a given route

you can get mnl (or other agents) to exceed mpm if you get lucky on your hang up and call back

gleff gives good advice

Keep calling, be flexible if possible and allow the agents some time to search on their own before offering suggestions.

It's also possible that if you keep calling and get the "wrong" agent, that agent might decide your existing itinerary is invalid and cancels it.

Getting an MPM exemption from UA on an award is more likely if the majority of the requested routing is on UA-metal. I had that happen on trying to get DEN-xyz-SCL. UA adamantly refused to put me on AC as a single-connect via YYZ even though they saw the AC availability. It was 23 miles over the MPM. I was able to talk a supervisor into finding me something to SCL, but they insisted on a DEN-IAD-EZE(UA)-SCL(AC)/SCL-GRU(LX)-IAD-DEN(UA). So the bulk of the flying and all of the intercontinental was on UA. Even though it was about 1500 miles over the MPM!

Good luck but I wouldn't count on getting what you want, and what you have may be at risk if you keep trying.