USAIR flights offered on United's mileage plus site
 

I am planning on using United ff miles to go to Italy. On United's website, I see an available flight using USAir flight that would work for us. I thought that USAir was not a partner with United since they merged with America.
Because of the weather problems, I cannot speak to anyone at United to find out.
I also wanted to know if I book online will I have 24 hours to cancel as you do when you are paying for a ticket. Does anyone know if I get to speak to someone at United, do they still hold a ff reservation for a week or so before it cancels or you book it?
Thank you for any help.

USAirways will exit Star Alliance and end the partnership with United in March

In other situations where a partner has left an alliance, the flights are still honored UNLESS the time changes or the flight is cancelled. Then all you get is your miles/taxes back with no alternate flight offered.
And yes, you can buy farelock for 7 days on a FF flight.

Thanks so much. I would not be using these tickets until Sept. so I think you are saying that if I book them now The USAir flight would be available to me using united ff miles.
The USAir portion of the trip is LAX to Charlotte and the same route coming home.
Would you chance it and book using these USair flights? The rest of the trip is on Lufthansa. The USAir combo was the only available business flights I could find using ff miles.
Thanks for any more help you can give.
Dac

American will honor flights booked on US metal; however there's a good chance the schedules will be revised once the actual synchronization of the AA and US schedules starts.

As an aside, as of today people with AA miles can book US award flights.

Gardyloo,
So are you saying that if the USAir flights booked withe United ff miles if changed or cancelled American will find a replacement flight for me?
Do you think I should book these flights?
My route is
9/10. LAX to CLT (USAir), CLT to Munich (Lufthansa) Munich to Pisa (Lufthansa)
9/23. Genoa to Munich (Lufthansa), Munich to CLT (Lufthansa) CLT to LAX (USair)

I was okay with it until someone said they could change flights.

Any idea?
Thank you

Have you considered going via Washington DC to Rome on United?
United has a once a day flight to Rome and we have used it
a couple times with frequent flier miles.I am sure that there are many LA to Washington flights available, too.

I am referring to Dulles airport only. That is where the Rome flts. originate. Avoid Reagan and BWI airports for this trip.
Dulles is an easy airport to deal with.

Pat

You should be fine; if the schedules change AA will advise you, and won't leave you hanging.

"as of today, people with AA miles can book US award flights."

Hurray!!

Here's the latest mail-out from USAirways:


American Airlines | US Airways

It's an exciting time at American Airlines, and we're kicking off the new year with you — our most loyal customers — in mind.
For now, we'll continue to maintain our separate loyalty programs — Dividend Miles and AAdvantage® — with rules and benefits of each program still applying, but rest assured your mileage balance and elite status are safe, secure and will continue to be honored.
There is much work to be done as we combine two great airlines — American Airlines and US Airways — and since the close of our merger, we have been working to bring you our first phase of enhanced benefits, effective today. Here are a few highlights:
Earning and redeeming miles
You can now earn and redeem Dividend Miles when flying on American or US Airways with your Dividend Miles number. All miles and segments earned when flying on either airline will count toward elite status qualification in the program of your choice.
Elite benefits
Elite members of each airline can now enjoy select reciprocal benefits when flying on either airline, including First and Business Class check-in, complimentary checked bags, priority security and boarding, and many more.
More lounge access
In addition to the US Airways Clubs, club members can now access 35 Admirals Club® locations in major airports worldwide.
Same great benefits with the US Airways MasterCard® and Visa® card
Credit card benefits will remain unchanged and cardmembers will continue to earn Dividend Miles for all purchases on their card without disruption.
Alliance update
On March 30, 2014, we'll exit Star Alliance. Until then, you can continue to earn and redeem miles on Star Alliance partner airlines. We'll join the oneworld® alliance on March 31, 2014, which offers new opportunities to access the best destinations around the globe. Stay tuned for more details about the world of benefits from the oneworld alliance.
Coming soon, you'll enjoy access to our enhanced network through our codeshare with American, which allows you to seamlessly book travel on either airline.
Stay up-to-date on the latest developments and benefits coming your way by visiting usairways.com/arriving. If you're traveling soon, check out aa.com/findyourway for day-of-travel information.

I just did a quick search on AA. There seems to be a lot of FF ticket availability on USAir today - lots of 12.5k each way options for the few routes I checked.

Much better than I've seen on UA miles using UA or US metal lately.

Thank you everyone. I think I will book the ff tickets on the united site (which is the airline we have our miles with). I will hope that the flights from LAX to CLT remain the same, and given the advice from posters, if they change American/USAir will help us.

<i>You should be fine; if the schedules change AA will advise you, and won't leave you hanging</i>

On a United-issued (016...) ticket?

<i> I think I will book the ff tickets on the united site...if they change American/USAir will help us</i>

I'm a little confused. In my experience, I've always had to deal with the airline that ticketed the itinerary if there is a schedule change, regardless of which airline on the itinerary has changed its schedule...so in this case, United.

These kinds of synchronization issues come up when airlines merge or move alliances or even go out of business. US and AA use different GDS systems, so the airlines are going to have to integrate their systems sooner or later. The passenger will have to find the working PNR locator to check on flights - a phone call to US Airways once ticketed should produce both the US and AA locators (if AA will bother.) The ticket may have been issued by UA but the operating airlines will be able to make modifications based on schedule changes - this is commonplace.