Buying UA miles - can't use more than 50% for ticketing??? Help!

[calgarychris]

Hi,

I've just talked an agent through a complicated ticket and landed on the total cost for UA miles. My plan was to put the award on hold, buy the miles and then go. She had to get someone to help her price up the ticket and came back saying that while I can buy the miles, and the awards are all there, if I am buying miles I can only use purchased miles for 50% (the other 50% have to be in my account). Does this make sense? In Australia, with little to no opportunity to accrue UA miles, I will never get enough miles in the tank to make up 50% of an award ticket. How are folks out there doing it?

I thought about buying the miles, cancelling and rebooking the award that's being held, but that's awfully risky.

Any help, especially asap while it's on hold would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[clifford]

Am I missing something?

Cancel the award ticket, buy the miles and have them added to your account. Then book the ticket again. Unless you are not an elite, when it could be quite costly.

I assume that there will still be availability for your flights.

 

[JohnK]

What you are proposing sounds quite ok. Have you tried calling again and speaking to another agent?

 

[burmans]

What you are proposing sounds quite ok. Have you tried calling again and speaking to another agent?

Yeah, sounds like a HUACA to me.

 

[calgarychris]

Not sure what a HUACA is, but I called back and spoke directly to MileagePlus who confirmed it's fine. Of course, the routing I was trying was legal the first time and not legal the second. I eventually gave up and am booking with cash. The dream of flying cheap J is not there yet...

 

[Mattg]

Not sure what a HUACA is

Hang Up And Call Again (in the hope that you get a better agent) - which is exactly what it sounds like you did.

What was the routing, and why isn't it legal?

 

[calgarychris]

Ah thanks - I have no idea. It seems like UA agents are a real mixed bag. I've had some lovely ones and some absolutely hopeless ones.

The award flights I was trying to book were:

MEL-SIN	SQ238	1130	1610	Jan 14
SIN-MNL	SQ918	1910	2250	Jan 14
MNL-GUM	UA190	0955	1545	Jan 15
GUM-TKK	UA176	1945	2138	Jan 15
Dive Mon-Wed
TKK-GUM	UA154	1540	1715	Jan 19
GUM-ROR	UA157	1955	2105	Jan 19
Dive Fri - Fri
ROR-GUM	UA192	0305	0610	Jan 28
GUM-MNL	UA191	0710	0900	Jan 28
MNL-BKK	TG621	1310	1525	Jan 28
BKK-MEL	TG461	0810	2120	Jan 29

I've given up trying to understand the fare rules. My life as a points collector may be very short, given the dozen or so hours I've spent trying to book this trip.

 

[Mattg]

This is not a bad summary of United award routing rules:

Award Routing Rules on United Airlines - Travel Codex

 

[clifford]

The agents at the UA Singapore call centre are a huge mixed bag. One or two are really good and helpful, some are just OK with a bit of prodding, and the rest are completely hopeless. At weekends you mostly get the hopeless variety, so it pays to call on a weekday

It helps if you can book an itinerary online which is fairly close to your preferred one, doesn't matter which class. Then you can call and ask them to make a few changes which they can usually handle much easier. A downside of this strategy is that if you are not a platinum or above UA elite it will cost extra each time you make a change.

And even that approach doesn't always work. I've been told on occasion that an itinerary I booked online wasn't legal, and on another occasion that I'd made too many changes to a booking (even though there's no such rule).

Sometimes all you can do is cancel and start with a completely new sheet, but cancellations cost USD 200 to non-elites...

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Ah thanks - I have no idea. It seems like UA agents are a real mixed bag. I've had some lovely ones and some absolutely hopeless ones.

The award flights I was trying to book were:

MEL-SIN	SQ238	1130	1610	Jan 14
SIN-MNL	SQ918	1910	2250	Jan 14
MNL-GUM	UA190	0955	1545	Jan 15
GUM-TKK	UA176	1945	2138	Jan 15
Dive Mon-Wed
TKK-GUM	UA154	1540	1715	Jan 19
GUM-ROR	UA157	1955	2105	Jan 19
Dive Fri - Fri
ROR-GUM	UA192	0305	0610	Jan 28
GUM-MNL	UA191	0710	0900	Jan 28
MNL-BKK	TG621	1310	1525	Jan 28
BKK-MEL	TG461	0810	2120	Jan 29

I've given up trying to understand the fare rules. My life as a points collector may be very short, given the dozen or so hours I've spent trying to book this trip.

How many awards was this? I'm not sure you would have been allowed the triple transfer through GUM on a single award.

 

[DC3]

Not sure what a HUACA is, but I called back and spoke directly to MileagePlus ...

Here's a list of AFF abbreviations (including HUACA) that might come in handy:

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....ions/abbreviations-and-explanations-5056.html

 

[smit0847]

You chose an exceptionally complicated itinerary - I'm not surprised agents said it was illegal - I doubt the old USDM would have allowed it and they had the most generous routing rules of anyone

 

[calgarychris]

It's not really that complicated - it's actually just a trip from Melbourne to Chuuk and then to Koror and back. The rest of it is transits because UA only flies to these places generally from Guam. Originally I was hoping to book Australia to Oceania in J using points but it's all just a bit too hard.

For future reference of anyone reading this, you *can* get UA to quote a Star Alliance Air Micronesia pass (which allows for 10 flights between destinations I believe) but the number of agents that know anything about it, let alone how to book it is ridiculously small. In the end because I was only going to those two places it was marginally less expensive than buying Y tickets so I cancelled the booking and will just book as multi-city. But it's there for those who have the patience to pursue it (it took a solid 5 hours last night on the phone plus another 4 or so to find out about it).

 

[MEL_Traveller]

It's not really that complicated - it's actually just a trip from Melbourne to Chuuk and then to Koror and back. The rest of it is transits because UA only flies to these places generally from Guam. Originally I was hoping to book Australia to Oceania in J using points but it's all just a bit too hard.

The transits back through GUM multiple times effectively make a separate award. It should have been fairly straightforward as two awards.

 

[calgarychris]

The transits back through GUM multiple times effectively make a separate award. It should have been fairly straightforward as two awards.

Well I wasn't able to wrap my noobie head around what was the transit and what was the stopover or destination! Would have probably been a bit pricey in points as well I think, but correct me if I'm wrong. I do find the awards rules baffling.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Well I wasn't able to wrap my noobie head around what was the transit and what was the stopover or destination! Would have probably been a bit pricey in points as well I think, but correct me if I'm wrong. I do find the awards rules baffling.

Award rules roughly follow paid fare rules - your destination is usually your farthest point on the itinerary. In your case you had a couple of options to construct your ticket.

A: an open jaw - into TKK and out of ROR. Then made your own way (separate ticket between TKK and ROR - which would have been via GUM. You could have either paid for this or used miles).

By trying to link TKK and ROR on your award you had to transit back through GUM, this effectively creates a new ticket for the side-trip.

B: you could have booked this with a stopover - SIN-MNL-GUM-TKK (outbound, TKK as the destination) then for the return, GUM (stopover)-MNL-SIN. From your stopover in GUM, purchased (or used miles) to do GUM-ROR-GUM before returning to your original ticket to get home.

 

[calgarychris]

Award rules roughly follow paid fare rules. In your case you had an open jaw - into TKK and out of ROR.

By trying to link TKK and ROR you had to transit back through GUM, this effectively creates a new ticket for the side-trip.

Depending on fares you could have booked this with a stopover - SIN-MNL-GUM-TKK then GUM (stopover)-MNL-SIN. From your stopover in GUM, purchased (or used miles) to do GUM-ROR-GUM.

See, now how do you learn this stuff?! Honestly, between that and "finding" these QF status runs, I just don't know how folks are thinking of this stuff.

Can the above be combined with Australia?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

See, now how do you learn this stuff?! Honestly, between that and "finding" these QF status runs, I just don't know how folks are thinking of this stuff.

Can the above be combined with Australia?

Yes - they can be combined from Australia - I just left the AU-SIN off each for brevity.

Essentially it is a round-trip, open jaw (into TKK and out of ROR) - or - a round-trip with stopover at GUM and side trip to ROR.

It's the same as wanting to do this on a paid fare. Transit through the same city more than twice (ie once on the way out and once on the way back) and you usually run into problems.

 

[calgarychris]

Yes - they can be combined from Australia - I just left the AU-SIN off each for brevity.

Essentially it is a round-trip, open jaw (into TKK and out of ROR) - or - a round-trip with stopover at GUM and side trip to ROR.

It's the same as wanting to do this on a paid fare. Transit through the same city more than twice (ie once on the way out and once on the way back) and you usually run into problems.

Thanks for this…One last question - when you're searching for these, how do you search? Can you search and book multi-city, or do you search one way legs and then call?

Thanks

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks for this…One last question - when you're searching for these, how do you search? Can you search and book multi-city, or do you search one way legs and then call?

Thanks

You can search these directly on the UA site - selecting award travel options. Having a quick look, the connections aren't really that convenient - 40 hours MEL-ROR. It routes you MEL-PVG-GUM-ROR - but there's a long layover in GUM.

UA doesn't show SQ availability, so you could use the UA tool to search SIN-ROR for example. or MNL-ROR (assuming you have found availability to get to SIN or MNL via another source which shows SQ flights).

Paid fares for the side-trips (GUM-ROR or ROR-TKK) are really quite expensive - like USD480. And again a long stopover in GUM on some days because the lfights misconnect.