We want to book 2 seats together using United freq flier miles from 2 different mileage accounts. Is it possible to book the 2 seats online or must I call UA to do this? I'm concerned that I might get one seat booked and then not be able to get the 2nd seat on the same flights. We'd be booking biz class if that makes any difference. Thanks!

In situations like this it's best to call. Award inventory may be limited and you are correct to assume that you may be able to book one ticket only on any given flight.

If you have access to 2 computers you could try to book the tickets simultaneously but that's still taking a chance.

Good luck!

Agree with AAFF--call to do it. I've done this with UA award tickets several times in the last few years, and I've done it by phone. There's a small charge, but I consider it worth it to get the reservation set up the way I want it.

The other benefit to doing this has been putting both reservations on one PNR--something you can't do online. This is not a big deal, usually, but it could be helpful in the event of irregular operations.

I've done something similar to this online using 1 computer, but with 2 different browsers (Firefox and IE). I just stepped through the process alternating back and forth.

<b>J62</b>,

the problem with your approach is that award availibility depends on inventory, not on the fact that you have 2 awards &quot;almost&quot; there. It could happen where as soon as you click one, the other availibility disappears no matter how quickly you follow up with the second click.

www.expertflyer.com subscription will allow award research on some airlines and if there are 2 or more award seats available on the flight you want then it's a safe bet to follow your technique, otherwise I would just pay the agent charge and call. Not worth the risk.

The charge for re-depositing the miles is many times over the one time agent fee.

yestravel,

I booked 2 business class flights to France on AA for a trip 2 weeks from now. One came from my account and one came from my wife's account.

The 'secret' is that one has to book last year for a trip this year to ensure adequate seats. I booked this trip last August.

The only 'difficulty' we encountered was that the airline assigned 2 record locators, which they promptly linked together.

No problems with the 2 third party airlines either. I was surprised at how easy it was. It does help that I've been Platinum in AA for years and have well over a million miles.

yestravel -

I've booked five trips in the last month using UA FF miles - 1) two award business class tickets from Singapore to Christchurch in August using all miles from one account and 2) three business class tickets from Singapore to the US where I purchased economy class tickets and upgraded to business class using miles from two different accounts.

In each case I called and booked directly with UA as this was the only way to confirm the business class availability at time of booking. I was charged $15 for each ticket - a small price to pay for immediately confirmed seats.

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions and sharing your experiences. Rastaguytoday, yes, I realize one must book FF seats well in advance and I always do, just have never used 2 different accts to book online.
As I suspected the risk with booking online might from 2 separate FF accts could come if I successfullly book 1 seat from 1 acct(even if it shows availablity for 2 seats online) and then try to book the 2nd seat with the other FF acct and suddenly the seat is not available. I guess I could try it and if the 2nd seat disappears call and move the dates of the first in order to book 2 seats together on the same flights. As I understand when using miles, UA doesnt charge if you change the date of flights as long as the distinations remain the same.

Given that you're working, usually, with a specialized group that handles FF miles, there has never been any charge at all for me to call an agent directly and book through them.

On my last trip I found an excellent person, who said that she specialized in FF trips. We had a nasty connection sequence, but she said that she would work on it. She called back later that day with an interesting solution. AA won't let you fly BA for miles across the pond, or so I thought. She routed me to Canada, where BA's flights are allowed on AA's FF miles. Fairly elegant.

I don't know when was the last time you made an award booking through the call center but here it is:

<i>Q: Are there any fees associated with tickets issued by reservations offices, airport locations or American Airlines Travel Centers?
A: Reservations ticketed by our reservations offices are subject to an additional charge of $10 USD.

Tickets issued by an American Airlines Travel Center in the United States or Puerto Rico, airport ticketing locations, or Admirals Club locations are subject to an additional charge of $15 USD.

A fee of $15 USD will also apply when our reservations representatives assign seats or assist with voluntary itinerary changes when the reservation was not created by American Airlines Reservations or on AA.com.

This fee does not apply to:

* Involuntary changes
* Reissued tickets
* AAdvantage Executive Platinum members when the member is traveling on either a revenue or award ticket. The service fee will not apply to any passenger booked in the same reservation as the AAdvantage Executive Platinum member.
* AAdvantage award tickets issued within 21 days of travel and an expedite fee is collected.
* AAirpass tickets
* Government/military fare tickets
* Prepaid tickets </i>

This comes straight from www.aa.com...

Regarding &quot;Reservations ticketed by our reservations offices are subject to an additional charge of $10 US.&quot;

This is my recent experience on AA using FF miles I scheduled a trip for 3 pax, but the itinerary not exactly what I wanted. I put a hold on the reservation, then called AA help desk. I knew the flights I wanted, saw that FF tix were avail on each leg, but couldn't put the whole thing together online.

The AA agent in NC was very helpful, booked the itinerary, then just told me to save the fee to go online and finish the ticketing process. I got lots of help, but in the end did the actual final ticketing myself.

Sent her one of my AA employee thank you's.

AAFrequentFlyer,

My last booking was 6 months ago for a BC flight to Mareseille.

Once again, I have never been charged a fee by AA to book FF flights. About 4 months ago they cancelled my SFO-CDG leg and put me on a 6:30AM flight. I called a month later as I saw a 9:30AM flight posted by AA. They made the change for me again at no cost. It got me out of an MD-80 and into a 767.

They must like me.

Maybe the words 'subject to' apply to you, but I would not think so, since you're Excecutive Platinum, and I'm only Platinum.

Changing a ticket because of time changes is different than actually booking an award ticket with a phone agent.

You keep on beliving that you didn't pay and I know that you did.

The agents have been told that there will be no exceptions to the rules. AA is not in a gifting mood for the last few years, in case you have not noticed.

I'm exempt from the charges but when making a booking for my gf using my miles I was still charged the phone fee.

AAFrequentFlyer,

You're awfully darn insistent that you know what happened to me.

As a person with an accounting / finance background, I think I know so what I'm getting charged. We get anal that way.

I'm sorry you're always charged by AA. I know what I'm doing, probably how I got over a million miles on AA.

No fees by the person(s) helping me, period.

You've right about the time changes, particularly since they changed them on me first.

As I said before, they must like me, or the rule is not iron clad, which neither of us can 'prove'.