Questions and Answers

I tried to use miles to book a flight so I looked online to see what was available. I then called
United Airlines, who proceeded to tell me the flights I chose could not be booked based on the credit card I have.(united card) they say I need a certain card, I think it was explorer. This is absurd, I’ve used this card before to get a flight and now they say i can’t, yet it shows online these flights available. They gave me 2 flights to choose from, neither of which gets me there in the time needed. Is there a way around this and is this legal on their part? Did they at some point send me something in very fine print saying I would have to have the explorer card in order to use miles? whats a better card to get as United will soon lose a customer. Thank you very much.

[USER=2983]@Rene[/USER], how many miles do you currently have and what routing were you trying to book? Did you try booking online?

Hi [USER=2983]@Rene[/USER], and welcome! It sounds like you might have talked to a bad agent. Not all flights are available with miles at the saver level, of course, but you should be able to easily search your options online.

[USER=7]@Tiffany[/USER], I wonder if Rene was trying to get last seat availability that comes with the United Club card… I wonder if that is still a thing.

[QUOTE=”Gaurav, post: 28898, member: 79″][USER=2983]@Rene[/USER], how many miles do you currently have and what routing were you trying to book? Did you try booking online?[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the responses. I spoke to 2 different agents, they both said the same thing. I am trying to book from SFO to Boston in July. I’ve looked online inside my united account and it says the flights are available for 25k miles one way. Then I called because I was shy about 1300 miles and wanted to see what it would cost to transfer miles. In my opinion, United is being dishonest, when it shows these flights available, not saying I need to have a certain credit card in order to book them. Does it say this somewhere in the fine print of my credit card? Time for a different credit card.

Mileage purchase and transfer rates for United are available here: [URL]https://www.united.com/web/en-us/content/mileageplus/keepmilesactive.aspx[/URL]

It looks like you are seeing standard award availability. You can see the rules for those here: [URL]https://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/mileageplus/awards/travel/types.aspx[/URL]. As it says, awards are usually capacity controlled unless you have a premier membership in Mileage Plus or an eligible UA card (which I believe used to be just the UA Club card-AF $450 but now the language is also in the Explorer card). I don’t know if you have either of those or if you have the no-fee UA card which may not have that benefit.

If I was in your shoes and the option was showing in my account I’d consider gambling and adding miles to my account and trying to book online.If my statement was about to close I’d generate the miles on my credit card otherwise I’d look into the transfer/purchase options and try to book online.

Before canceling any card please do look into the effect doing so will have on your credit score. Good luck.

Hi [USER=2983]@Rene[/USER], if the flights are available online when you’re logged in, you can book them. [USER=79]@Gaurav[/USER] is right that you can transfer the miles (or purchase them) online. You shouldn’t have to interact with an agent at all.

There is different availability for different members, so make sure you’re logged in to the account that you intend on purchasing from.