leslieq

We have been extremely frustrated with United Airlines. They suck you into using their card and accumulating miles, but then make it just about impossible to use them.

We want to go to Rome, Florence and the Cinque Terra next October. Anyone have tips for actually getting a flight? We tried 6 months in advance for last May but gave up. I hear that you can start requesting flights about 330 days in advance.

There must be a secret! I have almost 160,000 miles, but want to use the cheapest 55,000 miles tickets. To make things more complicated, we are two couples each trying to use miles.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Leslie

Dukey1

The "secret" is to start 330 days out and to KEEP trying and the second "secret" is to stop whining and take what you can get even if it does "cost" you more miles than you want to spend.

sassy_cat

Aren't the cheapest miles tickets for the least popular/cheapest travel times (Jan/Feb/Nov)?

October is peak time.
There will be plenty of competition for miles tickets so yes book exactly 330 days out and be prepared to be flexible, to spend days on the phone and yes, pay more miles.

Either your friends need to also be on the end of the line with you or they might have to consider taking dates which don't exactly coincide with yours (leave a day later for example).

HowardR

Might I suggest that you and your friends be together when calling United to redeem your miles and one of you piggyback on the other's call. This would seem to be the best chance you'd have to get the same or similar bookings.

AustinTraveler

I always book United miles online, but you can't do that yet for next October (only goes as far as August 2012 right now). But, just for fun, I checked to see what I could get flying SFO to Rome next week. Found availability for 60,000 miles.

I searched under the Star Alliance section since I rarely find anything using just United.

Jean

I always call and speak with a human, even if it costs me a fee. I book the outbound flight 330 days (one minute past midnight) prior to my preferred departure date, and I book the return flight x number of days later (and 330 days prior) for my return flight. United (and American) have been willing to put the outbound reservation in suspension until I've booked the return.

The only time I've had no luck in using FF miles is when I've attempted for dates less than 300-330 days in advance. Yes, sometimes you have to take what you can get, but I've been very successful in getting my preferred flights/dates by just starting the quest on the first possible day.

FYI, the United Mileage Plus saver award requires 60,000 miles per person r/t (economy) between the U.S. and Europe, and the standard award requires 110,000 miles per person r/t (economy). There is no standard award level if using Star Alliance members, so it's 60,000 miles r/t (economy). As far as I know, United has the same mileage requirements year-round without regard to high/low seasons.

http://www.united.com/ual/asset/Unit...after_6_15.pdf

november_moon

From my experience, using FF miles for tickets to Italy is really tough because there are only so many seats available with Saver awards and Italy is a really popular. So you have to get your tickets as soon as possible.

I've had much better luck using miles to go other places. We've used miles for r/t tickets from SFO to Germany twice, SFO to Brussels, and SFO to Singapore - reservations always made early, but not 330 days in advance. We've also used miles for r/t tickets from San Jose to New Orleans twice.

nytraveler

The "cheapest" tickets are those nobody wants - off season and less popular destinations. the more popular the destination and time of year the more "expensive" the ticket in terms of miles - just like cash airfares. We never have trouble getting the flights we want - but always plan on using extra miles to get the better flights.

nanabee

The secret is to scrap UA's card - especially if you are paying extra fees to have it.

We have a Chase Master Card and everytime I accumulate miles I have no problem calling and getting a flight without any black out dates and I don't have to have contacted them so many days in advance.

Case in point, I just called them last month to go out of the country during the Thanksgiving holiday to an extremely popular resort town. Within 20 minutes they had booked me a flight on a major airline for two people. And it was a direct flight. I paid about $35. for two tickets worth about $1600.

nanabee

I think the $35 was for taxes.

nanabee

Sorry Leslie - I meant to add - I use my my Chase M/C to buy airline tickets to get hassle free tickets on major airlines because the airlines are so difficult to deal with. I promise I'll stop!!

mrwunrfl

Her is a very good tip: use the award search at continental.com and if you find availability there then transfer the miles from your Mileage Plus account to your OnePass account and book it.

You can start looking in November for next October. There won't necessarily be any seats available on the day that the 330-day window opens for your travel date. Availability will come and go.

I would start out searching for availability for two people, find something and then look for four. You could start searching for four, but then try two to see what is available. You might find availability for two on Lufthansa and two on United, maybe on the same day, maybe different days.

If you book two pairs of tickets on the same carrier, same origin, connection, and desination, but on different days, then MAYBE at a later date you will find two more on one of those days. In that case, same carrier(s) and cities, you should be able to change the date one pair of reservations without paying achange fee, so all four of you can travel together.

The more flexibility you have, the better.

clarkgriswold

Call United, the phone reservationists have better access to all the Star Alliance flights etc.

november_moon

nanabee - With your Chase MC points, can you combine them with miles earned by flying? Say you have 50K miles in your United account from flights and 50K miles in your Chase MC account - can you combine them for a 100K mile award ticket?

Gardyloo

Might I also suggest that this topic really belongs on the Air Travel board rather than the US board?

mrwunrfl

leslieq, the award now costs 60,000 miles.

I just did a search at continental for May for 4 people to Rome and found several dates. You can do a search and then call if you want, but then you would pay the phone reservation fee. I think it would be $25 per ticket.

leslieq

Thanks so much to all who took time to respond with their advice. I really appreciate everyone's time. Oh, and I hadn't realized there was an Air Travel board at all...will search that one, too. Guess the key to getting tickets is to be flexible! THANKS so much.

mrwunrfl

Yes, being flexible is key. But so is using the Continental award online search. Use it before you call - if you feel the need to call at all.

leslieq

Yippee!! Thanks to the great advice from all of you, we got a one way flight to Rome October 1, 2012. We only had to use 30,000 miles per ticket. I waited until October 1 opened up today. The key was to ask for a Star Alliance flight, as all United flights required 55,000 miles. Flight from San Francisco to Munich to Rome...only one stop. We'll wait for a few weeks to book a return flight. Not sure if we're going to leave from Rome or Genoa...we were going to head to the Cinque Terre for the final part of the trip. Hope the devastation will be remediated in a year. So horrible to hear about.

JBX

When you're ready to try for flights back to San Francisco, besides Genoa, may also consider Milan (Malpensa is larger airport, w/ many carriers to/from Italy). Also, another option may be to depart out of Pisa.