Help with United awards
 

I have been trying for two weeks to find out how many miles are needed for business class travel to Asia on a partner airline using United miles, or, how many miles are needed to upgrade from a coach ticket on a partner airline. I have tried to pull this info up on United's site but it doesn't work. United insists there is nothing wrong with their site but I have tried using three different browsers, over the course of two weeks and I cannot pull up the page. (it's a PDF file and yes, I have an Adobe Acrobat Reader). I have called United and spoken to their web support people, who were useless, and nobody at United can either email me the info or snail mail me a brochure with the information! When I try to call the Awards desk, I get a constant busy signal. I have never encountered less helpful people in my life and I'm about to SCREAM!!!!

I'm now counting on the Fodors community to come to my rescue. Does anyone have the info I'm seeking and, is there another web site that can give me the award information? Thanks.

I have no problem downloading and viewing the Star Alliance PDF file. It's the same mileage: 90K for business class US to North Asia or South Asia. [Same rate on Air China.]

I don't see a chart for upgrade awards on partner airlines.

It's probably something wrong with your computer's setting, so that it's not opening PDF file correctly. Try right click on the link to save the file first, and then use Adobe Reader to open it.

Funny, I don't have a problem opening any other PDF files. Thanks for the info though.

Laurie, note that while United has advertised that you can use award miles for upgrades on partner airlines, this arrangement is not yet in place. To upgrade from coach to business on United is 30,000 miles each way.

Laurie,

You probably already know this, but the price of the upgradeable ticket on UA used to be about $200 extra, over and above the lower priced economy ticket. Now, it's more like $500 more.

I'm a very frequent flier on UA. While I book a lot of my USA trips with UA on line, I also use my TA for those more complicated long distance routes when I want to try for upgrades. I find that trying to use the site to do this is very very difficult!!!!! I've also called the UA premier exec phone number for help. That was OK too, but I still have not received my mileage credit for a ZRH to ORD flight that I made on Apr 19. I've sent in my boarding pass (which got "lost" by UA) but they are trying to resolve this thing for me. Grrrrr..... They say I should allow 90 days. 4k miles isn't such a big deal when I will have more like 65k total this year, but still... I am a very frequent UA flier and I do like my miles!!!

The UA site is not really all that wonderful, sorry to say. Just try looking at options for ORD to BKK. All you get are the route options that go through FRA or London!! You really almost have to "confuse" the site with a multi-stop ticket in order to get the ORD-NRT-BKK and reverse. It's crazy! (but I'll still keep flying my 50+K miles a year with them, and other star alliance partners)

Carol

I finally got it all straightened out. I downloaded a new version of Acrobat and now I can view the file. It's odd because I view PDF files online all the time and never have a problem with it. I also finally got someone at United who was somewhat helpful (after 5 previous calls). I'm a little annoyed though since I only got 50% of miles flown on Thai from JFK-BKK-CGK. It wasn't a cheap ticket either and I was told when I booked the ticket that I would be getting full mileage. It's enough to make me want to go back to American Airlines. I guess the bottom line is, all airlines suck.

Are we asking too much from our airlines?

Say if one flies ORD-NRT-BKK twice a year in the cheapest coach and nothing else, you spend about <$2,500, and because of Premiere level, you get E+ seating, and earn close to 50,000 Mileage Plus points.

Since UA only charges 90K for business roundtrip, you can earn one of them every 2 years, or <$5,000 paid.

So, you can go to BKK 5 times, including one in Business Class, every two years, spending just $5,000. A regular business class roundtrip fare will cost that much or more.

Are we're complaining?

Yes, we are. I was told the ticket, which was quite expensive, was going to yield 100% of miles flown. Instead in yielded 50% of miles flown. I think I have a right to feel cheated.

If you are interested in partner awards you HAVE to use the phone, the website only supports award travel on United flights. If you don't find the person helpful just call back again - we all do it.

AS Kathie says they have announced the idea of partner upgrades but nothing definate yet. When they do arrive United may have access to very little inventory.

I know alot of people save their miles for upgrades but I haven't found it to be worthwhile. We usually use miles for a business seat or ocassionally for an expensive economy route, I can often upgrade on domestic flights.

Consequently we fly a mix of economy and business internationally, sometimes we fly economy to London and then business from London, for example to delhi. Because I always want the full mileage credit and mileage bonuses we fly United almost all the time. I have to say there service to Asia really is inferior....even in economy plus...no videos on the back of the seat? On an Asian route in 2006!

Recently the gap between upgradable tickets and discount economy tickets has grown ridiculously. I'm paying $1300 SFO-BKK in July, I was quoted almost $900 more for the upgradable ticket - crazy!



Good luck, where are you thinking of going?

I'll give you that one of the shortcomings of ual.com is that they don't list all the % mileage and EQM earned for its partner flights, unlike AA, DL, CO or others.

So, that's a legitimate complaint.

We like to call it www.united.bomb.

By the way, I don't have the *A chart in front of me, but I believe that North Asia biz awards (Asia, etc.) are 120k miles and Southeast Asia biz awards are 90k. Unless something has changed, they are not both 90k.

reading from the chart:

60K for Economy seat
90K for Business
120K for First Class Tix
From N. America to N or S Asia r/t

Aloha!

I just state what I read on the most current PDF file. 60/90/120 for both North and South Asia. "Central Asia" is 80/120/160 - India/Nepal/Pakistan via Atlantic.

Thanks everyone. You guys are much more helpful than the folks at United, that's for sure! We have more than enough for free economy tickets, more than enough for upgrades to business from economy, but short for outright free business class tickets. We could always buy the miles needed but thanks to getting 11,000 less miles for our last trip, we'll need to buy more than I had hoped. I was told by agents at both United and Thai that we would get 100% miles and to now find out it's only 50% is very annoying. Anyway, for our next trip, we'll probably blow my American miles and go to Japan. I have enough for two free coach tickets or we could upgrade from coach. American charges 25,000 miles each way PLUS $250 each way to upgrade to Japan. If I can get a cheap enough ticket, we may do the upgrade. But then again, it's only a 13 hour flight so perhaps the free trip makes more sense for this one.

Laurie, I'm guessing your Thai flight was a V or W booking class ticket (deep discount). Effective January, 2006 they only earn 50% mileage. The date you fly is what matters in the rules, not the date of purchase. If you bought your ticket before January 1 then the reps would have accurately told you all economy class tickets on Thai earn 100% mileage. I also would not expect Thai's employees to know the intricacies of United's frequent flyer program rules. United's reps, yes...but new rules are often not well known by the phone reps, especially before they take effect.

Thanks Kim. I actually bought my ticket in February or March so they should have known better. We could have saved hundreds of dollars flying a different airline but we thought we were getting 100% miles. We also did want the non-stop but I may have opted to save money if I had known.

laurieco - Bookmark this page for future reference:

flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=445613

I just bookmarked that. Thanks, it's a good reference. Why do we have to depend on third parties to get the info the airlines themselves should be giving us? (it's a rhetorical question, no answer necessary).

You shouldn't have to. But let me say that Star Alliance airlines are already better in giving out miles to partners than oneworld and Skyteam. And I just look up USAirways' website. TG's V and W class don't earn any thing on them. [They do earn 50% Air Canada Aeroplan.]

You don't have to:
http://www.united.com/page/article/0,,1194,00.html

Thanks, mrwunrfl. Somehow I missed the exclusions for V/W on ual.com when I first read it yesterday. I guess I was expecting a chart of some sort listing the eligible fares.

[Anyways, just want to add something semi-useful. Few years ago I bought a super cheap US-HKG flight on AC via a Travelocity "exclusive fare". Surprisingly, it still earned 100% Mileage Plus miles.]

Laurie --

As an alternative to buying the miles, sign up for a United Mileage Plus Visa card -- depending on the current offer, it's either free for the 1st year, or $60 for the first year. And you get a sign-up bonus of from 15000-20000 miles. A great deal, obviously (just remember to cancel the card after 1 year, and NEVER carry a balance, as the interest rates are ridiculously high).

This isn't terribly useful if you need the miles right away, as it will typically take 6-8 weeks from the time you apply for the card until you get the 15/20k miles posted to your account.

rizzuto/laurieco
I think you also have to USE that card (at least once) for the miles to kick in. Just getting it in your hands doesn't give you the miles. They appear on your next statement after a purchase with the card.

I got the United Visa card before I left for Java and have used it. I got the deal of no fee for the first year and 20k miles. I've had an American Airlines MC for the past 15 years and have accrued a ton of miles with it. The plan was to get rid of the MC when I got the United card but I can't seem to bring myself to do it, even though I can't stand American anymore. Besides, I only need about 3000 more miles on American to reach 100,000 miles needed for 2 free tickets to Japan so it's worth the $50 for one more year.

Laurie, you can get a 2nd UA card; you just have to wait a short time (I usually wait 4-5 months) since getting your previous one. Chase doesn't mind at all that you have 2 cards.

Also, you can get another 10,000 miles per card per year for $75 by upgrading the Visa card to gold, then writing one of those transfer-funds checks. You get 0.5 miles per $1 on those checks with a gold MP visa, and you can earn up to 10,000 miles per card per year. The fee for writing the check is usually 3% of the check amount -- but most of the time they will offer a cap of $75. (Before you write the check, make certain that there is a $75 cap, or you'll pay a fortune.)

Don, does writing a check involve carrying a balance over? I absolutely refuse to have a balance on any card. I've always paid my credit cards in full every month and wouldn't have it any other way. The card companies probably hate me for it! I also refuse to use those checks that they send every once in a while, I consider them to be a very bad deal, like a cash advance, another thing I won't do. Whenever I get those checks, I shred them.

Yes, the checks are a cash advance and cost the same as a cash advance. I also won't use them, and long ago asked them to never send me any of those "invitations to fraud." (I had to call again when the United card was purchased by Chase)

Laurie, the checks are similar to, but not quite the same as, a cash advance. The difference is that the check is treated as a "balance transfer," which means that it can have have much more attractive rates than a regular cash advance. (And I'd certainly agree that a cash advance on a Visa is about the worst thing you can do.)

In most cases, the offer for the balance transfer is for a very low rate (usually from 0% to 3%) for a limited period of time. There's no reason at all that you couldn't write yourself a transfer check for $20k, then pay it back to Chase as soom as the $20k clears your bank. Or, if you've got anything that you want to pay down temporarily, you can do that as well. (I have a home equity loan instead of a mortgage, so I applied the $20k to the HELOC for a few months.)

Just remember that this is valid ONLY if you've upgraded the regular MP Visa to a gold class Visa. And also read the fine print on the check: write the check only if it explicitly states the maximum fee.

I carry 2 MP visas, and I flip them about every 12 months. That's 20k each for the visa, another 10k each for the balance transfers: 60k UA miles for about $200. That's a round-trip upgrade to Asia, or 2/3 of a business-class ticket to Asia.

I have to use my time off very judiciously, and I just don't want to lose a couple of days on a trip because I wasn't able to rest on a long flight. It's admittedly a series of hoops to get the miles, but to me it's worth it.

we fly economy and have twice the flights that you guys that upgrade do, so we can go more often...

its uncomfortable but doable...

laurie, do what i do, apply for multiple cards....apply for them singally and jointly...close one and open another one a month or so later...

work the system!!

Eric and I both got the United Visa but as for opening and closing cards, I don't really want to do that too often. It's not very good for your credit rating. I may open another United Visa in a few months though, just so I'll have the 90,000 miles for a biz ticket to Asia or Australia. Eric has more United miles than I do so he can buy what he needs to get to 90K.

i find no affect on my credit history as i close ones and open ones in equal amounts and #'s...

Hi Laurie - I've been in Bermuda for the past 5 days so I could not contribute. As a long time United Mileage Plus member, I think this is a great thread - even learned some new tricks. Looks like you received most of your answers and more...

I would encourage you to stick with just one mileage program otherwise you will be diluting your efforts. I have researched them all and it seems United with the Star Alliance airlines goes the most places that we want to go. I have never understood why Central Asia costs more in ff miles than North or South Asia though.

"Central Asia" cost more because Star Alliance don't have non-stop flights from the US, and are routed through Europe. They are basically priced as a US-Europe flight plus a Europe-"Central Asia" one.

Craig, I, too learned some tricks on this thread.

Don, it looks like you've really figured out how to make the balance transfer thing work for you!

And rkkwan, yours is the first answer to the central Asia question that has made sense to me.

Laurie, see how much good info came out of your frustrating experience?

Glad to be of assistance! I'm not going to open and close accounts and write checks and all that. It's too much trouble and I like having good credit and never paying any interest.

Craig, you are absolutely right but I just want to get my 100,000 miles and without the card, it won't happen. That American Airlines Citibank card has served me well over the years. I've gotten many free trips because of it--several to Australia, Hong Kong, Greece a few times, upgrades to Peru and many free trips to Lubbock, Texas. (Don't laugh, it costs a lot to fly there from NY!) By the eay Craig, I haven't forgotten about the Inle Lake DVD. I'm going to see i I can figure out the problem this weekend. Hope you had fun in Bermuda.

Laurie,

Yeh, Bermuda was great - it was a 50th anniversary celebration for my parents. Very expensive though - taxi's are $4.69 when you get in and its $20 or more to go just about any place you want to get to. Had a great time with parents, brother, sister, nieces, nephews though at Pink Beach Club. Flew on Continental from Hartford to Newark to Hamilton and had to rent a car on the return from Newark when our flight to Hartford was cancelled due to bad weather. We are waiting for our refund for the lost leg. United does not fly to Bermuda. If there is a next time its Jet Blue which only recently introduced flights from JFK. We would drive down to JFK the night before and spend the night - it would still be cheaper than Continental.

Thank you for supporting Citibank with your AA card - they are a major division of my employer's parent company, Citigroup. The UA Mileage Plus Visa card is a Chase Bank product which is somewhat awkward for me.

I am not sure you could pay me to take a "free" trip to Lubbock TX.

Looking forward to the Inle Lake DVD.

Craig

Craig, believe me, the only reason I go to Lubbock is because my sister and her husband live there. It sure isn't for the sights!

i thought you were a cow girl