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Answers (10)

Australia Points Stategy

Australia Points Stategy

  1. Points Obsessed New Member

    I am trying to secure 3 United business saver tickets for SFO to SYD. We currently have 150,000+ Chase ultimate reward points. I think my husband and I should each open a Chase Sapphire Reserve Card and a United Explorer card. The bonuses would add up to 180,000 points if we get approval. We would convert our Chase rewards to United and aim to have 300,000+ United points.
    Do we have any chance of affording 3 United business save tickets for SFO to SYD?
    If yes, should I gear up to be on the United portal at midnight on 330 days before my date of departure? Do they go fast?
    Thanks for any thoughts about getting us to Sydney to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary and our son’s high school graduation!

  2. MidSouthSkier Community Ambassador

    Welcome [USER=5581]@Points Obsessed[/USER] – The trick may not be having enough miles, the trick may be finding 3 seats on the same flight! I’m looking at tickets for next March and am seeing 3 seats on flights out of IAH, not SFO. I know that’s out of the way but if you’re flexible on dates and gateway cities you increase your chances of finding award seats. Having the UA credit card will also allow you access to economy award inventory (maybe useful for connecting flights) that’s not otherwise available.

    Again, using the March dates I see business class seats for both 80K and 90K one-way so having 300K should be enough. If you can fly midweek that’ll help your chances too.

  3. Points Obsessed New Member

    Thanks for your suggestion to look at IAH. I should have mentioned we are looking at early June 2020. 3 seats will be tricky. Does United Business Saver ever have 3 tickets on the same flight? I am such a rookie to the points game!

  4. MidSouthSkier Community Ambassador

    Yes, I found 3 tickets out of Houston (IAH) on March 24. Since you’re in a UA hub the UA website will likely always show you connections out of IAH or LAX but it never hurts to run those checks yourself. Biggest trick is to be flexible.

  5. Points Obsessed New Member

    A big thank you! Yes, I can see those 3 tickets from IAH. It gives me hope because there are almost none from SFO or LAX. I will aim to be flexible and will likely fly from IAH. Really great out of the box suggestion! Appreciate your time and help!

  6. MidSouthSkier Community Ambassador

    I forgot to mention that if the space isn’t released right as the calendar opens, be patient. It may even take a couple of months for space to open up. I’m going in October so the award calendar opened in late Nov for my dates. But I actually ended up booking my return flights first in mid-January and then a couple of weeks later the outbound flights appeared.

  7. Points Obsessed New Member

    Wow! Okay good to know. Do you just make a point (no pun intended) to check the portal every day, several times a day until you see something that works?

  8. Gaurav Community Ambassador

    [USER=5581]@Points Obsessed[/USER] you could also use a service like Expert Flyer to set up alerts.

  9. MidSouthSkier Community Ambassador

    I did use Expert Flyer to set alerts and I didn’t check myself every day but I would occasionally go have a look just in case I saw something before EF sent me a notification.

  10. Points Obsessed New Member

    Great advice! Will sign up for EF!

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