patandhank

I think the following has only 2 open jaw's which would be allowed under the award ticket rules but I wanted to double check with the pros here.

Flying on award mileage on UA:

JFK to MUC - staying 2 nights in MUC (stopover)

FRA to CPT (I think this would count as open jaw 1)

JNB to JFK (I think this is open jaw 2)

Did I figure it out correctly?

tuscanlifeedit

Dear patandhank, please don't hate me for this, but the plural of jaw does not take an apostrophe.

Why wouldn't leg two, FRA > CPT, be a separate flight? There are certainly people here that know more about these things than I do. My specialty is grammar, but at least I'm bumping you to the top.

patandhank

I don't hate you tuscanlifeedit. Thanks for the bump.

J62

Shouldn't it be "There are certainly people here who, not that?

Or is both correct?

Seamus

UA allow one stopover and two open jaws on award travel. Not sure if they would see what you propose as two open jaws, as open jaw is usually defined as flying from city A to city B and returning to city A or a place in the same part of the world from a third city C.

If you can get UA to agree that JFK-MUC-FRA-CPT is your outbound (with MUC - FRA being stopover) and JNB-JFK is your return, should be good. No way to now without calling them, I am afraid.

How will you get from MUC to FRA?

NoFlyZone

Obviously, both of thems could be correct, J62.

NoFlyZone

Sorry, that should be them's

Cranachin

This looks like 3 one-ways.

I think a stopover has to be just that—you stop in one place for a while and then resume your trip from that same place.

Google <i>United open jaw</i> for lots of blogs on how to book.

Southam

Another source is United itself. Can you try a test booking? Or telephone?

patandhank

The following is from United's website re roundtrip award tickets, which is what we have:

"Two open jaws are permitted per roundtrip award. For example, you can fly from Newark to London and return from Paris to Washington Dulles."

I'll give them a call and see what they say!

mrwunrfl

The two open-jaws on that itin are MUC-FRA and CPT-JNB.

Odin

An open jaw itinerary would mean that the journey will be issued on one ticket, so a journey which is MUC-FRA and returning from CPT-JNB would never ever be classed as open jaw and would not be issued on one ticket. It would be 2 one ways.


UA's description is the best one to go by, an open jaw example is EWR-LHR and returning from CDG-IAD. Open jaw just means flying into one place and returning from another.

At best the OPs itinerary would be JFK-MUC returning from JNB to JFK which is open jaw with a one way from FRA to CPT or as Seamus indicated another option which might be possible.

patandhank

First to clarify - below is our current ticket which is a 120,000 mile Business class Saver Award:

6/5/14 - JFK to MUC (stopover) [award ticket allows one stopover per RT award ticket]

6/9/14 MUC to CPT (part of our award ticket)

6/25/14 - JNB TO JFK (also covered on the award ticket ticket and closes our loop to make it a round-trip (or maybe better phrase "multi-city" ticket?)

All of the above under one Booking and E-ticket number.

We are getting back to JNB from CPT on a one-way ticket we purchased. We couldn't make it part of the award ticket because we're staying in CPT a couple of days and it would constitute another stopover and you can only have 1 stopover per RT ticket.

We initially thought we would take the train (or drive to Frankfurt) to try to do the FRA - CPT flight.

I never did end up calling United because in taking a 2nd look at the itinerary out of FRA we would have had a connection in ACC (Ghana) and I've read that even a transit passenger has to get a visa (in advance) for Ghana; they don't sell them at the airport. We decided it was too big of a pain.

Frankly we're just trying to get off Egypt Air for the leg out of Munich. We fly Egypt Air MUC - JNB and then SAA JNB to CPT on the award ticket.

So I'm still keeping my eyes open. Maybe something will still open up out of MUC on another airline.

mrwunrfl

This new ticket has an open-jaw: CPT-JNB.

An open-jaw is a segment that you don't fly on a simple round-trip between origin and destination.

Your new itinerary is based on a round-trip with JFK as origin and CPT as destination: JFK-MUC-CAI-JNB-CPT-JNB-JFK. Only you don't fly CPT-JNB on the award ticket and that becomes your open jaw.

With EWR as origin and CDG as destination a simple round-trip could be EWR-LHR-CDG-IAD-EWR. To make "EWR-LHR and returning from CDG-IAD" you would have two open jaws: LHR-CDG and IAD-EWR.

Your original itin, as a round-trip, would have been JFK-MUC-FRA-JNB-CPT-JNB-JFK, with JFK as origin and CPT as destination. But you had two open jaws.

patandhank

Wow am I confused mrwunrfl. Sorry probably dense. We don't have a "new itinerary" we haven't changed anything on our booking which is outlined above. I was hoping to do a new itinerary from FRA - CPT, but given the visa issued decided against it.

If I am understanding you (trust me no guarantees on that one), our current flight itinerary as currently ticketed only has 1 open jaw on it.

So in theory if I find something out of Frankfurt after all, it may be doable.

Regardless if I fully understand it or not, thanks for taking the time to provide input!

mrwunrfl

What I call your original itin, your plan, was the one with FRA in it, which you never got ticketed - the one in your OP. The "new" itin, as I saw it, was the one you got ticketed.

Yes, your award ticket has 1 open jaw, and now you understand. I was just considering when you wrote that "JNB TO JFK" closes a loop. It doesn't. Your second ticket CPT-JNB closes the open jaw. And about your wondered if your ticket is a multi-city ticket - not that it matters - it is. That is because of the stopover and because of the open jaw.

Are you aware that you have until Friday, Jan 31, to make changes to you ticket, other than date changes, without having to pay the new award mileage rates that take effect on Feb 1?

I have been searching for quite a while for an award ticket to SA. I've found that economy is easy enough to get from Europe to JNB. That includes non-stops FRA-JNB. If you have a stop at ACC then is that business class? If so, I think I might pay a visa fee to get it.

patandhank

Thanks mrwunrfl - yes the ACC is business class but you have to get the visa in advance - you cannot get it at the airport. If it was an airport visa we would be much more inclined to do it.

Yes I know the requirements go up Feb 1. Right now the only segment we're on Egypt Air from our entire ticket is the segment MUC - JNB part so we may just be stuck with it. We'll see.