@clevelandbrown-= that's what I just said upthread.

@mrwunfl - doing the two one ways is the only way to insure the rez/PNR"s are linked. Depends on whether that risk is worth it to the OP.

Guys, help out your slow-witted buddy here: why is there a doubling of the redeposit fees if the tix are cancelled?

Yes, of course, newtome.

Nelson, you would be buying 4 tickets, instead of two.

>>Depends on whether that risk is worth it to the OP.<<

The redeposit fee would be $150 per ticket if neither of you have Premier status.

For two roundtrip tickets the redeposit fee would be $300.

For four one-way tickets the fee would be $600.

clevelandbrown, United "prices" mileage award tickets on a one-way basis. They will sell you two one-way tickets or one roundtrip ticket.

Thanks mrwunrfl. Duh.

Once I did have to do the redeposit of a single round trip for the $150 fee.

However we decide to handle this, if we book half of the travel and then there is a hiccup on the second half, we can redeposit the first part without a fee or penalty within 24 hours.

Sadly, my Premier status that I had for nearly two decades is now gone since I don't do business travel any more.

Yes, you can cancel within 24 hours of booking without incurring the fee to have your miles redeposited and your taxes+ refunded.

I don't know how long it will take for the miles to be redeposited. When you did that redeposit was it immediate? and was it done before or after the CO/UA merger?

Are you waiting for the 330-day advance window to open up for your planned travel date?

It was after the merger. As I recall the miles were redeposited quickly (within a day) but not exactly immediately. It took 4-5 days for my credit card refund of the tax dollars.

We are not waiting for the 330 days, we are within that window now, just making a personal decision on taking the trip. We understand that the longer we wait the lower our odds of our getting the tix we want. As of yesterday there are still plenty of options.

For a follow up: there were enough moving parts on this itinerary that we decided to just book both our flights with my miles and not worry about linking the PNRs.

We'll do something to keep her miles from expiring and will likely cross this bridge again, so the information here has been most useful.

Thanks folks!