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Answers (11)

1way BCN-LAX 6/22/17

1way BCN-LAX 6/22/17

  1. zoechow New Member

    Dear Lucky,

    Just as I thought I was making a real start with points, having booked a great J throne seat on LX to get to Europe one way (would be my first J) leaving until later (now) that I know my return date to find the way home, I have hit a snag that must be obvious to everyone but me. I could charge economy to work, but the only economy available on airlines I would trus, 1 way, is unaffordable. And I can’t find a reasonable award ticket I can use (I have a lot of Chase ur points, so can use their partners). Any ideas how to get home? Maybe book Aer Ling. And upgrade, if one even can, with avios. But I can’t get through to them on the phone to find out if that works. I could rebook the whole thing as a round trip multi city, but then I lose my great award ticket outbound. Any ideas? Thanks!

  2. Gaurav Community Ambassador

    Why would you lose the outbound if you change it to a round trip? You could try calling the issuing carrier to see if they can add the return leg for the change fee.

  3. zoechow New Member

    Outbound is award ticket. No miles or availability for award ticket home on LX. Can’t seem to combine award outbound with paid inbound for round trip price on return. Should I be able to do that?

  4. zoechow New Member

    That is to say, LX only sells expensive Y tickets one way. Just because I have an award ticket outbound, I can’t get them to sell me a cheaper fare class on the way home. Should that be possible? How do I convince them?

  5. David W Community Ambassador

    The expensive one way isnt because you have an award ticket, it’s expensive because of some very weird logic: [URL]http://traveltips.usatoday.com/one-way-ticket-cost-round-trip-ticket-109573.html[/URL] So you wouldnt be able to convince them to sell you a cheap one way ticket. I dont think agents can or would be able to manually override pricing.

    Do you have any flexibility with your dates? I see some mixed cabin options for BCN-LAX using United Miles.

    June 20th, 2017
    Aer Lingus Economy BCN-DUB, Ethiopian Business DUB-LAX
    Lufthansa Business BCN-FRA, Lufthansa/Air Canada Business FRA-YUL, Air Canada Economy YUL-LAX. Also available in all business class

    For June 22nd, 2017 I see travel on Lufthansa, Swiss and Air Canada in business class. There are also a lot of economy options and you can pay the difference in miles and a change fee to upgrade if business class opens up

  6. zoechow New Member

    Thanks! The 22nd is what I am looking for, so I guess there is that very long 2 stop trip through Montreal — that seems newly appeared. And then the idea is I would just regularly check for something better? Once my UR points are in united, though, I think I am limited to that. Good question as to what is best. Thanks!

  7. David W Community Ambassador

    Award space changes on a somewhat frequent basis so checking back regularly helps quite a bit. Another key is being flexible with travel.

    Yes, once your UR points are transferred to United, you’re at the mercy of United’s rules, meaning any changes will incur fees. If you [I]must[/I] travel on a certain date, book what youre okay with flying and then hope something better comes up and make a change, while knowing you will pay fees. So if I was in your shoes and had to fly on 6/22, I’d take that double connection and then pay change fees if a more direct routing comes up. Swiss, Lufthansa and Air Canada are all decent enough.

  8. zoechow New Member

    Thanks so much for your patience with this admittedly clueless newbie. Thanks!

    [QUOTE=”David W, post: 28851, member: 29″]Award space changes on a somewhat frequent basis so checking back regularly helps quite a bit. Another key is being flexible with travel.

    Yes, once your UR points are transferred to United, you’re at the mercy of United’s rules, meaning any changes will incur fees. If you [I]must[/I] travel on a certain date, book what youre okay with flying and then hope something better comes up and make a change, while knowing you will pay fees. So if I was in your shoes and had to fly on 6/22, I’d take that double connection and then pay change fees if a more direct routing comes up. Swiss, Lufthansa and Air Canada are all decent enough.[/QUOTE]

  9. David W Community Ambassador

    No problem! 🙂

  10. zoechow New Member

    Success: booked the 2 stop award ticket. And now there all gone.

    So I will just search on web each day to see if something better appears. If that’s the best method, I’ve got it. If anyone has further recommendations, about somehow setting an alert or checking on specific days, I am all ears. Thanks!

  11. rickyw Community Ambassador

    If you have ExpertFlyer, you can set alerts for the flights you’d ideally get!

    Otherwise, you’d just have to regularly monitor United’s website…

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