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Can you HELP with figuring out United Miles and how to get them SF-Bangkok?

Can you HELP with figuring out United Miles and how to get them SF-Bangkok?

Old Nov 6th, 2014, 06:25 AM
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Can you HELP with figuring out United Miles and how to get them SF-Bangkok?

We are going to Nepal and Bhutan via Bangkok next November and very much hope to go with miles. Miles have gotten REALLY difficult since United's unfortunate merger with Continental.
Currently, I have 55,000 miles and DH has 160,000 . United has a sale where we can buy more until the end of November. Is it worth it to buy 25,000 miles?

More to the point, have any of you had much success in getting Saver awards to fly business? I have been checking the site and things do not look good. Is this one of those things where persistence leads to rewards? I'm good at that, but somewhat worried.

Sadly, we do not have Premier status. All suggestions welcome

Mille grazie
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Old Nov 6th, 2014, 06:41 AM
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we have flown to BKK using UA miles in biz class. And yes, persistence pays off. check their site daily. seats open up regularly, you just need to keep at it.
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Old Nov 6th, 2014, 06:44 AM
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Since November 2015 isn't open yet, I plugged in some dates for October just to see the mileage requirements. It looks like you can do Business/ BusinessFirst / First (two-cabin flights) on Saver for 80k miles each way, so 160k round-trip. Your husband has enough but you would have to buy 110k which is quite a bit of money.

There are multiple flights showing Saver but since so few seats are set aside at that tier you have to act fast once the date you need is open. I have flown Saver multiple times (Houston : Geneva, Tokyo, Lima, and soon to San Jose) but only in Economy. You might have to fly out on a weekday, so be prepared for that. They schedule flights 11 months out and you'll need to have your return date open as well so keep that in mind. Good luck!!
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Old Nov 6th, 2014, 06:51 AM
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you can also get one way tixs, so you can get your outbound as soon as they become available. Different airlines add their seats at different points in time which is why you need to keep checking. in addition to the day you fly, you need to be flexible with the route you fly.
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Old Nov 6th, 2014, 07:25 AM
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I agree with you that the new merged United system is much more difficult than the old system. In the past, I often purchased an economy ticket and upgraded it to business at the time of purchase. I've been looking for either saver award Biz tickets or buy an economy upgrade to Biz for flights to four European cities and for flights to Bangkok for next year. I haven't found a single flight with saver Biz awards, have found several with upgrade awards, but only one flight with two upgrade awards.

It used to be that if you called 330 days before the flight, Seats had been released and you could book your tickets. It seems there is no such predictable release date and that seats do get released over a period of time rather than all at once.

Good luck to you!
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Old Nov 6th, 2014, 08:17 AM
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Thanks. Unfortunately, we have little flexibility (but some in our dates). My current hope is to schedule the outbound flights using DH's 160,000 miles to fly us business, then aim for return flights afterwards. I think I will buy the 30,000 miles to give myself 80,000 so that should help.

My plan B would be to return with economy seats, buy economy plus and hope to upgrade (we did this last minute with Japan). I'd also be fine with buying economy seats.

What I miss is the old days where you could pay for economy and just buy an upgrade.

I am going to start 330 stays before our outbound flight. Since we hope to leave on Sat Oct 31, maybe I should start Oct 30. DH is starting a new job on Monday and it was already a big concession for his boss to give him 4 weeks off next November (which she did). Our hope is to spend 2 nights in Bangkok, 5 in Nepal, 16 in Bhutan, then another 3 (including Thanksgiving Day, I would really prefer not to spend that day flying) in Bangkok before leaving Friday after Thanksgiving.

Writing this post is much more fun than getting ready for work.
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Old Nov 6th, 2014, 08:19 AM
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Kathie,
Where did you find the upgrades? To me, the new world of upgrades is a total mystery. I haven't been able to find anything anywhere or find someone who answers United's phone who will talk to me in any knowledgable way.
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Old Nov 6th, 2014, 08:31 AM
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while i understand not wanting to fly on thanksgiving, sometimes there seems to be more availability on thanksgiving, xmas etc. also i have had no problem getting economy seats with miles. it's the biz class that has gotten so difficult.

it was a lot easier to pay for an upgrade in the good old days.
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Old Nov 6th, 2014, 08:55 AM
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On the United site, when you are searching for flights, select the button for upgrades. (it's at the bottom of the page.) It will show where upgrades are available.

Note that on holidays may be when you can get the saver Biz seats. I've often flown on Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's.

I've also often found that it pays to talk to an agent to get Biz class upgrades or seats. They can see things on their screen that we can't.
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Old Nov 6th, 2014, 09:07 AM
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Be sure to be open-minded about other Star Alliance airlines (e.g. EVA and Singapore) as they have Saver options as well. They usually appear at the end of United's list and you need to include them in your search (there is a check-box for this).
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Old Nov 6th, 2014, 10:37 AM
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Agreed with all the advice you're getting above. Wait until the 330 days but, as Kathie mentioned, don't expect a miracle. It used to be that a ton of rewards freed up then but, more and more, seats are released (at Saver level) closer to the departure date.

8 years in a row of trips to Asia and I've never once not been able to secure a Saver Biz award through United. Granted, almost ALL our reward redemptions have been with Star Alliance partners (EVA, Singapore, ANA, etc.) -- all of which, in my humble opinion, are far superior to United's biz class product any day of the week.

United may be one of the most terrible carriers in the US but they still have one of the best FF programs and the one with the best award availability. The only reason I continue to fly with them...

Good luck!
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Old Nov 6th, 2014, 12:58 PM
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I haven't got the foggiest on what any of you are on about! Can us simple Brits play too?
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Old Nov 6th, 2014, 03:04 PM
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Do u have a ChaseUnited Credit Card?Call the concierge dept.perhaps they can figure it out.
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Old Nov 6th, 2014, 03:27 PM
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The credit card people are unlikely to be of much help. When you are ready to book, call United ask for International Award Travel. (There will be two different times you'll be asked to select - award travel or not and within the US or outside the US.) Depending on how helpful the agent is, you may have to call back again.

Patience and persistence are what are required for this task.
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Old Nov 6th, 2014, 04:47 PM
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Thanks, all. Filmwill, have you been successful in getting saverBiz with Star Alliance Partners to Asia?

And thanks for reminder about flying Thanksgiving. We've done it on other holidays (esp like Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve), but I was enjoying the fantasy of Thanksgiving in Bangkok. Not as much as I enjoy flying business over long distances--esp in planes where economy is 3-5-3.
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Old Nov 6th, 2014, 07:10 PM
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cmstraf, indeed. More luck with Star Alliane partners vs. United metal. Plus, as I mentioned, it's far more pleasurable in business class on pretty much any of the carriers that fly to Bangkok (not sure where you are flying out of but these could be any of the following: Singapore, ANA, Asiana or EVA...all fantastic!)
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Old Nov 6th, 2014, 10:25 PM
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Thanks.

I remember once having a $800 round trip fare to Paris with United that we paid for an upgrade at the time of purchase (120,000 miles each I think, maybe less). Ah, the good old days..

One of the reasons we stick with United is that they are married to Lufthansa, who a)has excellent service and b) flies into small Italian cities. Getting upgrades with them also used to be easy. Now is not.
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Old Nov 7th, 2014, 02:50 AM
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I've flown more than 150 United longhauls in business class or better without paying a business class fare.

In my opinion, you need to read more specialized forums to get savvy on this topic. Dip into the United forum at Flyertalk (you need to spend time to get through the banter to useful information): http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...leageplus-681/

Also check out some of the blogs, such as those at http://boardingarea.com/ (I suggest onemileatatime to start with).

There's no need to buy 50k United miles: just opening a credit card account will earn you that many. Check the blogs.

Do you really need to fly to BKK? United no longer goes there on their own metal so that forces you into the higher redemption prices for partner flights. How about SIN or HKG? Or somewhere that's always on sale, like ICN (an interesting place in its own right). Use miles to get there in business class and pay from there. And you don't need to fly Westwards: look at flights through Europe.
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Old Nov 7th, 2014, 05:58 AM
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I'll check out Flyer Talk.

We both already have Explorer Mileage plus credit cards (one for us personally which uses my husband's account), one for my business. I charge even a cookie (1.40) when it is possible.

You raise a really good pony about BKK. We chose it because there are flights both to Nepal and to Bhutan and also because we've never seen it, but there are other possibilities to look at. We had planned to pay for our flights from BKK to KTM and back to BKK from Paro.

ICN? Where is it?

Thanks.
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Old Nov 7th, 2014, 06:15 AM
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Looked up ICN. Have already seen possible flights SF-Seoul-BKK with good layover times. Don't know about getting from there to KTM and Paro, will check.
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