UA redemption: Australia to Asia-2 via Asia-1?

[italdesign]

I want to go from BNE to BKK, and I have a question about UA routing rule.

Aeroplan shows availability for BNE-TPE-BKK (but I want to use UA miles which charges much less for this itin). For some reason UA puts Taiwan in Asia zone 1, while BKK is naturally in Asia 2. When I enter this as a multicity on UA.com (it doesn't produce with a simple search, as expected), it is priced as two separate awards.

According to @Travelisfree's comprehensive guide on UA, you can have a stopover in a less powerful zone, when your destination is a more powerful zone. In this case, Asia 1 is a less powerful zone than Asia 2 (as identified by Drew), so I should be able to have a stopover in Taipei on the way to BKK. I assume this also applies to routing without a stopover (which is my case).

I haven't called UA. I wanted to check if anyone knows whether this should be bookable as an Aussie to Asia 2 ticket (17.5k for Y). Anyone?

p.s. this is the only route available on the date, hence my interest.

 

[italdesign]

Bump. No one has experience of this sort?

 

[dukerau]

I don't have direct experience, but I believe Drew's most powerful zone concept in the comprehensive guide to UA is North America-centric, as in, it assumes your itinerary starts in North America. It may not be safe to assume the same order of zones for itineraries with origin outside North America.

 

[SanDiego1K]

I read your post a couple times. I think you are asking about a connection and not a stopover? UA does not allow stopovers on one way awards, thus my desire to clarify.

I went to United.com myself to check. I found availability on July 3, and it brought up the calendar for the month of July. There is a nonstop that day on Thai Airways. Business saver is 30K points plus $140. I checked a number of days and could only find award space on the nonstop flight. You said there was no award space on the day of interest to you. I think you'll have to call to get your answer.