Questions and Answers

Hi there!

I recently received a very awesome travel voucher from United. Enough for my wife and myself to have a nice little trip to AMS. We are based in COS but will be flying out of DEN. Unfourtnalty we will be flying economy as the voucher is not enough for Polaris. I am Premier Gold (just achieved a couple weeks ago for the first time!) so can’t wait to try out a lounge or two.

What is my question?

What flight and therefore aircraft is most recommended? I see ORD, EWR, IAD, and IAH are really the only United-operated flights to and from AMS. It looks like IAH uses 777 and the others use 767. As of right now, I am partial to the 767 due to the 2-3-2 config. For any recommendations and comments keep in mind the travel voucher requires the use of United-operated flights in order to be used. I did some testing and it doesn’t even give the United payment options if partner operated flights are in the itinerary. Travel will be in Oct but planning on booking today.

On a separate note, what are folks experience with upgrading using miles after booking? Since I am only Gold I do not have the GPU’s but I am expecting United to offer upgrades using miles. For my domestic travels, I normally see United offering upgrades for about 15k-ish miles on average. I have never upgraded using miles as I don’t think its worth it for domestic. If booked completely with miles, I see United is only showing Polaris at 150K each way per person. I don’t currently collect miles with credit cards as I have only recently been rebuilding my credit due to making poor desitions before. This means all my miles are pure, flight award miles with couple hotel points transferred.

Kinda long I know, but can’t wait to read what yall say!

I’d try to find a flight operated with UA’s old 777s that are 3-3-3 in economy. The retrofitted aircraft are 3-4-3. 2-3-2 on the 767s are okay as well.

Pricing for United’s upgrades on paid economy fares depends on the original fare class booked:

[ATTACH=full]534[/ATTACH]

Personally I’d try to get on the IAD flight. If I’m flying to Europe in economy I want that over-water leg to be as short as possible. (I also try to avoid the NYC area whenever possible)

I’d recommend the O’Hare layover to grab a Cuban sandwich from Tortas Frontera in the United terminal; best airport food I’ve ever had