Questions and Answers

Hello,

I am in the early stages of looking for business class award flights to Europe on the United search tool. I know that awards are less expensive when booked on United metal, rather than a partner airline. Is there a good way to identify which routes United flies on its own aircraft? At this point, destination and timing are flexible so I’m just trying to figure out which routes United flies itself.

Thanks in advance!
aeg

Hi aeg.

If you’re on United website it will look like this for partners (see “operated by” line):
[ATTACH=full]256[/ATTACH]
or like this for United metal (no “operated by” line):
[ATTACH=full]257[/ATTACH]

Where are you based out of? That could help narrow it down too.

Thanks, Ricky! The trouble I’m having is that all hypothetical flights I’m searching for always come up as “operated by” (a partner) so I’m wondering if there are certain routes that are more consistently flown by United itself.

We usually fly from the east coast (BOS, WAS, IAD, or BWI if we must). I was looking into trips from BOS to Vienna, Budapest, or Amsterdam this December for biz class. The other reason it may not show availability on United metal is that I’m looking for 3 seats. Perhaps United does not have that kind of availability.

cheers, aeg

Any reason you look for Boston or DC and not Newark? Opens a lot more options up for United metal in general because of their hub

The best way I have found is to go to the Wikipedia page of the airport you want to fly to and from there it will show you where UA flies to from there.

You’d want to search for space segment by segment and out of UA’s hubs on the east coast – EWR and IAD, then maybe call UA to piece it together if necessary. Of the 3 major US airlines, UA is probably the best in terms of saver award space

Hi [USER=2592]@aeg[/USER], and welcome! I agree with [USER=701]@Brad B[/USER] — Wikipedia is my go-to for stuff like this: [URL]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_destinations[/URL]

Thank you, all, for the great info! Much appreciated!