United Mileage Plus

[AllanG]

G'day
I just tried to make a points booking on United flying Seattle - Vancouver - Los Angelos and was told I can't do it but I could make 2 seperate bookings which would cost 50,000 miles. I asked if I could just book Vancouver to LA and they said it would still cost 50,000, but if i boked LA - Vncouver - LA it would cost 25,000 miles. Am I stupid? Or is this a ridiculous frequent flyer program. I usually use Qantas points to fly Vancouver - LA but on the day I want there is only one plane. Can anyone tell me another approach I can use with United/ Or an alternative way to phrase my request? Thanks

 

[MelUser]

Call back and get a different operator.

Also, you can tell them that you want to fly AC - so they will look a different way.

I booked a UA redemption within Asia - on SQ it became too complicated so I asked them to look on Thai airways and it worked out fine.

 

[AllanG]

No go. I called United and they told me you are always charged for roundtrips, even if you are only going to use a single leg

 

[SYDMIA69]

No go. I called United and they told me you are always charged for roundtrips, even if you are only going to use a single leg

I had to book a return flight as well and use up extra miles, it seems rather old fashioned.

 

[1022]

My dealings with their Philippine call centre a few years ago trying to book a J class milage redemption from SYD to India via SIN on SQ was a real palaver. Each time I called I got a different answer as to how many miles it would cost. The online chart said 60K miles in J from Oceania to the Subcontinent which seemed cheap, but there it was in black and white. I had around 40K at the time, so paid cash for an additional 20k miles on the advice of one of their staff who confirmed that it was indeed only 60k miles for the roundtrip flights I wanted.

Once those 20k miles were credited, I called back to book flights only to be told that it would actually cost 80K as the route involved a change in SIN which happened to be in a more expensive redemption zone. At the time there was no mention of this in the T&Cs that I could find or that anyone could direct me to. All the usual arguments about having 60K in writing and having been told by another member of staff explicitly that it would cost 60K and asking to be passed up the line to someone with some common sense were all to no avail. Likewise a call to Sydney HQ was useless.

My better half is Japanese, so he rang UA's Japanese number where staff were far more helpful and booked our flights, no questions asked, within minutes.

So from my experience, it's a decent milage program for earning and much cheaper to spend miles than many others (though it's not nearly as cheap as it used to be). BUT staff don't have a clue about Star Alliance redemptions or non-direct routings. The UA website is a joke too. If you're lucky when you ring them you'll get a decent person who has a clue. More likely youll get a cranky robot giving you the "computer says no" routine.

 

[jgm]

I had to book a return flight as well and use up extra miles, it seems rather old fashioned.

One way awards are now available for both Saver and Standard bookings, & you can book them on the website.

 

[stevecinq]

United are, imho, fricken hopeless. four flights with Star Alliance partners (Singapore and Emirates) in August and early October all booked using Mileage Pluss numbers as FF programme and NOT ONE fight has been credited to our accounts.

I eventually work out how to contact them and they tell me to go to the "Claim Credit" page and fill in the forms. Singapore you can do online (apparently, although we're yet to see any points credited to our accounts) but Emirates you need to - get this - print out a form, fill it in, attach tickets and original boarding passes and then - this is the good bit, either post it to one address if you're in the US OR post it to another address if you're not in the US EXCEPT FOR Australia and New Zealand OR if you ARE in Australia or New Zealand ... nothing. No address. This is on the Australian site, no less.

(My partner couldn't even claim her Singapore flights online because the UA site said her name was invalid. Unbelievable.)

And all they do when you finally find a way to contact them is send you a form reply saying to go to the Claim Credit page. I hope they fly better than they administer their FF programme.

 

[clifford]

United are, imho, fricken hopeless. four flights with Star Alliance partners (Singapore and Emirates) in August and early October all booked using Mileage Pluss numbers as FF programme and NOT ONE fight has been credited to our accounts.

I eventually work out how to contact them and they tell me to go to the "Claim Credit" page and fill in the forms. Singapore you can do online (apparently, although we're yet to see any points credited to our accounts) but Emirates you need to - get this - print out a form, fill it in, attach tickets and original boarding passes and then - this is the good bit, either post it to one address if you're in the US OR post it to another address if you're not in the US EXCEPT FOR Australia and New Zealand OR if you ARE in Australia or New Zealand ... nothing. No address. This is on the Australian site, no less.

(My partner couldn't even claim her Singapore flights online because the UA site said her name was invalid. Unbelievable.)

And all they do when you finally find a way to contact them is send you a form reply saying to go to the Claim Credit page. I hope they fly better than they administer their FF programme.

Hello stevecinq,

I think you are being just a little unfair to UA (and you haven't actually flown them?). UA is a very professional airline, with, IMHO, the best airline pilots in the world (how do I know?, thousands of flights with UA).

As for Mileage Plus, their systems are not the most modern or whizz-bang, but they do work. If your miles haven't been credited, don't blame UA, blame the airlines who haven't confirmed the flight details to UA (or some other non-UA problem). Just email Mileage Plus and ask them to follow up the non-crediting of your miles. Have to say though that if you have no status with them it might take a while.

I am also Gold with EK and QF, and trust me, they aren't as good to their elites as UA.

 

[Isochronous]

I rang UA and spoke to someone in the US last December to credit some SQ flights and he was most helpful - very good service.

I did have the misfortune of flying on a legacy 'Ted' plane Orlando-IAD though.

 

[clifford]

I rang UA and spoke to someone in the US last December to credit some SQ flights and he was most helpful - very good service.

I did have the misfortune of flying on a legacy 'Ted' plane Orlando-IAD though.

Well you won't have that problem again, as they (Airbus 320's) have been completely refurbised, with new first class seats, etc, etc. They are now quite nice, but one shudders to think what Continental Airlines (the new owners of United) will do to them.