Questions and Answers

I have a round trip award ticket booked using Krisflyer miles – IAD-GIG and SCL-IAD, both on United business. My travel plans have changed and now I would like to return from LIM and my final destination would be CUN. I plan to book a separate ticket for CUN-IAD using United points. After talking to multiple agents, I was told that I can’t simply change my return flight since I’m returning from LIM and it is considered backtracking. I don’t see how it is backtracking? The only way they can book the return route (LIM-CUN) is by canceling the entire reservation and then try to book everything. I can’t risk canceling the outbound flight as I may never be able to get the same IAD-GIG flights back (my family is on the same flight but they are booked using different mileage points). My question is, can I take the IAD-GIG flight, and then call to cancel the return flight? Would points for the return segment post back to my account? If this could work, I will simply book LIM-CUN as a separate ticket.