akaw

I tried to use my miles(100K+) to book a trip from Hawaii to Japan but could not get anything. I changed the dates and also from saver to standard awards, but still got nothing. I then tried a San Fran to Japan route and it worked. Looks like there is some kind of restriction that blocks flights from HI/Japan on United. Does anyone know why?

lcuy

There is no restriction, but those seats are very hard to get.
Did you try booking on ANA (or is it JAL thats the partner?) We had better luck that way. Also try going business class- it isn't that much more than standard, if I remember correctly.

DonTopaz

That sounds <b>very</b> unusual if you could not get seats using a standard award -- that award lets you get any available seat on a flight operated by United.

Kathie

Did you call or are you trying to do this on the internet?

By calling, the agent can search for different dates and classes of service and can tell you what the problem is.

akaw

I think ANA is a partner. Yeah, I did the same trip two years ago and was able to use saver award(60k) in business class. It was great. Hard to travel coach after that especially with the 8+ hour flight. Maybe they are restricting just me. Haha!

akaw

Thanks Kathie, that was my next step. Thought I'd tap the fodorites before I do that.

hawaiiantraveler

How long in advance are you looking at?

Switch your level in your online profile on your United account to the expert level. Go into your online profile and you will see that yours is defaulted to the beginner level. Check the expert level and you can then see what seats are available. I am in Japan now and got 2 Saver awards for first class r/t tickets but booked 9 months in advance for 90k each. Someone else will(paging mrwnrfl) chime in to tell you how to interpret the codes involved(sorry don't have that info as I am on the road). Calling an agent is a good idea but sometimes even they don't get it right. Good luck!

Aloha!

filmwill

HT, I remember you recommended changing my UA profile as well awhile back--still don't see a way to do that anyway in my online profile on UA.com

Can you give any more specifics?

akaw

HT - I tried dates in November when I want to go but nothing. Also, many dates in between.

filmwill - I just did that on my online profile. Go to &quot;my travel preferences&quot; edit. Scroll down and you will find the novice/expert. I'm not sure how changing it to the expert level helped though. I get the same responses.

hawaiiantraveler

Back at a place with internet access.....ok, if you change your account to expert you should be able to see the available seats on the flight you pick. You go through the process of of &quot;buying&quot; a ticket on a flight. When you see the flight you want pop up hold your cursor over the show flight details button. A bunch of codes pop up such as NC9, U4, P0, etc. these codes mean how many seats are available on that flight in the different sections of the plane. As I said earlier I am in Japan and don't have access to my home computer bookmarks but you can check flyertalk dot com and search for United airlines codes and the explanations of the codes should be there. I think NC means business class mileage plus seat available so NC9 would mean there are 9 &quot;free business class seats&quot; available on that flight. This way you can check any and all the flights you want without the hassle of getting a ill informed ta.

filmwill, you really have to put Japan on your radar. The onsens are just out of this world.

Aloha!

hawaiiantraveler

here is the link

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=113792

akaw

I got it HT. All the availability codes come up in flight details. However, I still can't redeem miles thru the website. The calendar comes up on whatever month I choose with no alternate dates. That's strange. I'm feeling like George Costanza. I think they red-flagged me in the computer when I took a magazine to the bathroom on my last trip. Guess I'll try calling them.

HT, you are on a trip and still respond to fodorites? What a guy. Thanks for all your help. Looks like you are having a wonderful time. I just love Japan also. The places I want to go are Gujo Hachiman, Tsumago, Nagano, and Hoshi Onsen(Chojukan).

mrwunrfl

I guess you figured out that you would be looking for XY, XC, or XF availability for economy, biz, first class, respectively.

There is XY availability for HNL-NRT in November. Outbound on any Tuesday, and on Nov 5,14,16, and 19. Return on any Thursday.

No XC or XF Saver availability in November.

But there is plenty of standard award availability. And I would give odds that you could get a standard award on any day in any class on United. To Tokyo that is.

I see that if I try for a standard award for HNL-KIX that there is no availability. All-UA tickets can be purchased for $ for that kind of trip but the routing is HNL-SFO-KIX. That means that a human should be able to get you a standard award with that routing.

I'd call United and see what is available on their partners. First, I'd go to star-alliance.com and see what routing is available. Or if you have an ANA FF account you can search for awards at their site. They find all partners, not just ANA.

mrwunrfl

You can get an XF saver on these dates:
HNL-&gt;NRT Nov 5, 8, 11, 19
NRT-&gt;HNL Dec 2,7

akaw

mrwunrfnl- wow, thanks for all the info. I'm still digesting it.