Taking Advantage Of United's Close-In Award Space

For my wife and ME!

If you can't write, or don't know how, don't. And that goes for anywhere, even here.

@ Tom, "For my wife and ME!" is not a complete sentence. Please try again.

Great content. Really enjoyed the article.

I’m a little confused.....I thought United now has one tier for economy....Still saver and full-price tiers for business but only one tier for economy.....?

I don't find this topic very unique, as close-in award space is often mentioned on this blog.

"Final Routing: TPA-IAH-SFO//SFO-AKL on two tickets for 130,000 (50,000+80,000) United MileagePlus miles and minimal fees each"

I wouldn't consider this a good use of points, as 50K extra miles were spent on what should be an 80K point ticket.

Don’t fall for this! In reality, United consistently releases unsold inventory into award space as departure approaches.

Well, except in the very case you're citing. You were only able to make you Signapore itinerary work because you changed your city of origin.

I have read about waitlisting for business/first saver awards on the same flight you have already booked an economy saver award, but haven't seen it in practice. Anyone here done that before?

You didn't call back because "breakfast was getting cold"? More points than sense I guess. Weak.

Nice article! I'm always shocked that people do positioning flights. I would never due to risk/cost/hassle!

And as an aside, the UA close-in trick is completely dead 🙁 https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/29412144-post233.html

Loved this article, one of the top guest articles in my opinion. Never thought about securing LX Biz + SQ suites, and switching it out to LH F last minute. Tiffany/Lucky - you clearly have a number of very talented people who have applied. I hope you recognize or reward these contributors in some way, even if they don't get the "regular" position!

Excellent write up!

I wish you would take advantage of my close in award space.

I would hazard a confident guess that the author here is the same one who wrote the post about strategies to redeem United miles around the high season with Aer Lingus, Lufthansa, Swiss a few days ago. He aims to pretty much duplicate Lucky's writing style (again with the unnecessary / uninformative photos of random lounges in the middle of the article, and bold face question seeking traffic generating comments at the end?). If that's what you're looking for, fine.

My other point still holds, which is the writer should take the research just a little bit farther and give some information that even purported experts might not be aware of. Like whether United allows the booking of award space in advance, only to add on the positioning leg later without fee? Or married segment issues? Maybe the writer just needs some more real world experience of the tricks of the trade as a professional traveler, versus doing it from a desk (which admittedly is good for what he's able to give as tips).

Otherwise, the writing is fine.

I would never hire this person for their gratuitous use of United miles

Informative - learned a lot

I have to admit that seeing "...for my wife and I" makes my eyes bleed.

Love this and the subtle comedy! You must have an amazing wife to let you figure out your travel on Christmas. Please write another blog!

Jesus’ birth > flight points. Well done, sir.

Very comprehensive article. Loved the detail! However, I definitely prefer to drive most places because the airlines won't let me bring all my cats in my carry on.

Great write up, very informative!

Love the dedication of calling United on Christmas morning. A person that dedicated to their craft is someone I think you should seriously consider for the position.

Hope to see more articles from this author!

If you are already buying the SFO-AKL ticket with miles, it’s a waste of points or money to do a positioning flight. You should be able to add the Tampa leg as a waitlist in first class, and you’ll get it for the same number of miles if space opens. Done it a few times and always ended up in first for the same number of miles as the long haul flight.

@DCJ - yes, in the CO days it was called "Plan B" - you can have call to have them withdraw add'l miles to be waitlisted for biz, IIRC I think it's only for United metal though

Great article and well articulated. I wasn't aware that United functioned like this but you learn something new every day. I have a fun habit of teaching my 7 cats something new every day so maybe this will be tomorrow's lesson!

I also just switched my companion pass to include my custom cat carrier so that I can travel with them.

50k miles for positioning domestically?!!?! Just change origin to TPA and re-ticket -- it should charge no more miles, unless UA married segment logic broke it. Change fee if no status, but 50k miles??!! Are we missing something here?

If I were booking long haul award flights ten+ months in advance and needed positioning flights, I would book them at the same time. Maybe United is stingy with saver domestic economy fares that far out but AA routinely gives me that 12,500 mile award space months in advance. I just ran TPA to ORD for the (“special”) day after Xmas and it’s wide open with several non stops for 12,500. And even if you are not an AA loyalist, it would be easy enough to sign up for a credit card and use the sign up bonus miles instead of the fiasco of booking other flights (and cancelling) and then hoping something opens up close in. Anyone can get lucky on award space, the best advice is to show us how to routinely get to where we want to go utilizing reliable strategies. I would guess that most of us wouldn’t magically end up in Omaha to get a bargain positioning flight to ORD.

@Sean Nope! Hasn't worked that way in almost a year. UA now strictly enforces point to point ticketing. If the computer says award space isn't avail from A to E, you cannot reticket. And you need space the whole way at the time of reticketing. So you're basically stuck with what you booked unless you want to start over.

A rare set of agents can (and are willing to) use the old system but I've never encountered any.

Thank you for your insight! It is clear that you are committed to find the greatest use of your points.

I did not know about the United options. I will definitely use your tips in the future.

Tom is a douche

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That depends enormously on route and time in the year. For example, off season to Europe from the US you can start to find a lot more starting about 6 weeks out; even 2-3 days out lots of choices. BUT, for some routes there will be no or limited choices on United metal but some choices on SA partners. In high season I often come back from Europe via Asia on rewards that open up nearer time in J using an outward-bound business upgrade from E+ and then couple those with return flights in the other direction off season. (When you do this you have to keep track otherwise you could find yourself paying a lot one-way for one segment if it becomes an orphan.)

(Quote, which was omitted, was: Don’t fall for this! In reality, United consistently releases unsold inventory into award space as departure approaches.)

A fellow Tampa United MilesPlus flyer! HIRE HiM.

I was also confused as why he would take the SFO-AKL award routing without getting the TPA-SFO legs, but I guess that he wanted the 12/26 flight due to school/work holidays and was willing to pay extra for the repositioning flights.

I booked TPA to AKL RT in August 2017 for a February 2018 departure using 70,000 (now 80,000) United miles each way. I got business class between SFO & AKL, but I had to settle for economy between TPA & SFO.

Thanks, @Sexy_kitten7 for confirming what the United agent told me; that is, if I wanted to wait list the domestic flights, the whole point-to-point route would have to be available, in order for me to get upgraded.

BEST guest post I've seen. Hire this guy.

Great post. I didn't realize that Singapore allows routing from the US to Asia through Europe at least partly on partner metal. Can you still pay the $100 for a stopover?

Good tip generally for using United MileagePlus miles. Seems like for the EWR-SFO flights business class that I need, even last minute, is a unicorn for a saver award.

Great article. Great insight. Haven’t been to this site too often but after reading this article I’m sure to return for more.

I guess I’m the only idiot here

I routinely need to buy positioning flights for my award travel

Maybe cause I’m an MSP hostage?

But I struggle to find flights in and out of Chicago too (United hub)

Thus I had to position for my YVR-SYD-LAX flight (booked 364 days in advance)
Also my JFK-ZRH and VIE-JFK flight

I’d like people to detail how they avoid positioning flights

Totally uninteresting post. Remember that a good portion of your readership is non-US based. This level of detail about getting an award ticket on a domestic positioning flight, which would be quite affordable anyway compared to the international segments, is not in the least of interest to us. And it sounds a bit like this is the beginning and end of what you have to tell us.

As a beginner, some questions: do you schedule positioning flight on a non-United airline a day or just hours earlier due to travel interruption possibilities? You do only carry-on luggage for long international trips? Otherwise don't you have to collect luggage and then proceed to UA flight check-in?

Disaster stories for positioning flights on different airlines?

We travel from Cincinnati and choices are expensive in points Delta usually thru ATL or United/American positioning flights to ORD, IAD, EWR, JFK, PHL, CLT, etc.

JRMW
I do well with United ORD I just use other airlines sometimes to make it work..But never fly more flts to make anything work . I'm flying ORD>HNL>BNE>Cairns>SYD>AKL>ORD=125K
IT TAKES A LOT OF EFFORT little cash TO GET AWARDS TO WORK.

CHEERs

CaveDweller: How did do it?

CaveDweller; How did you do it? Can you share?

Maybe some would consider it minor, but I think that would be writers should try to use correct grammar.
“Awards for my wife and I” ???
Here is a simple check the author would benefit from:
If you can separate subjects in the sentence (in this case “ my wife” and “I”) and it sounds weird, then your should try again. “Award for my wife” and “award for I”. The latter sounds really weird. “Award for me” sounds much better.
I know some would say that it’s content of the article that matters, not the grammar. I would say that both matter. Bad grammar makes your readers perceive you a few notches lower than you might be.

@ Tom - Go f**k yourself. This is a great article.