Stopovers using UA Award Miles
 

I am trying to understand how stopovers work when you use UA award miles in biz class. I want to go from IAD to Auckland, NZ with a stopover in Asia, maybe Hong Kong. I want to return from anywhere in Australia back to IAD. It looks like going via Asia might yield more availability, but I know there can only be 1 stopover which I would have used on the flight over.

When I try to look at options on the UA website it gives me the miles for each leg of the trip instead of having Hong Kong for example as the stopover. I'm strugglin with the newish site fgor booking award miles. Is this doable if I can find the tickets available? Thanks

UA prices award fare as one-ways anyways. So, having the open-jaw is an no-issue. Issue is that I doubt Asia is a valid stopover point for an Australia-US award.

Hmmm... Thanks for responding, Are stopovers allowed at all? I hope you are incorrect on the stopover in Asia. I was told on flyertalk that it was legal, but who knows? and I read on some sites that it is also. But the sites were not 2015. So I guess I am going to have to call UA even though I don't yet understand the rules. I sent an email to customer service and they told me to call reservations and didn't cite where I could look this up.

Yes, stopovers are permitted on UA award bookings and may even reduce the number of miles needed for the booking. And you may find more award availability through Tokyo and Seoul to Australia and NZ than if you went direct from the U.S.

Thanks, tripplaner -- what I have read makes it sound like there have been changes over the years so its difficult to figure out what's what. Flying via Asia does seem to have more award availability and if we coudl do a stopover somewhere we havent been that would be great.

All the international award tickets I've booked in the last couple of years have been one-way tickets, so I don't have any recent experience with booking a trip with a stopover...but here is what is published currently on the website. I would call to clarify, particularly given that vague sentence about "permitted only on certain round-trip itineraries."

https://www.united.com/web/en-US/con...airawards.aspx

<i>A stopover is permitted on roundtrip award travel only. One stopover is permitted, unless otherwise noted. Additional mileage may be required for Saver Awards within the continental U.S., Alaska and Canada. For travel booked on or after February 1, 2014, a stopover is permitted only on certain roundtrip itineraries. Additional mileage may be required.</i>

Thanks, ms_go. I never found that wording on the UA website myself, but I came across it and thought it rather vague & again not sure of the currency of it. Maybe what the booking site is tellling me when I do a dummy booking is that I need the "Additional mileage" which doesn't seem like a stopover.

A couple of years ago I did a UA FF ticket (in first class) to SYD with a stopover in Bangkok on the way there, and then directly back to ORD on my return from SYD. I had to talk with the UA agent to get it booked.

Thanks, Simpson. I guess I'm going to have to call and get the rules straight. Hope you're feeling ok.

Thank you for asking, yestravel. I'm doing remarkably well. I have my next scan on Tuesday. Last one showed "no evidence of disease" and am hoping this next one is the same! I've been traveling a lot... still maintaining 1K on United this year, believe it or not! Chemo was not fun, but I survived it, and it obviously did what it was/is designed to do!

Hope you get your flights lined up!

Great to hear, simpson. While chemo is a bitch, as you sid, you're still traveling and enjoying life which is what counts. Good luck with the upcoming scan.

When I tried to book a stopover in Asia en route to Australia the agent said "Good try!"

Hmmm...not sounding like a possibility.