United routing to Asia

[sriki]

I am trying to piecemeal a one way business itinerary from BTR to SIN using United miles. When I enter them directly, I cannot get saver availability. So, I broke it into 3 parts.

1. BTR - IAH
2. IAH - PVG
3. PVG - SIN

I ended up with the following. All 3 of them are saver availability though.

BTR IAH UA4360 12/31/2014 ECONOMY
IAH YYZ AC8108 12/31/2014 BIZ
YYZ PVG AC87 12/31/2014 BIZ
PVG PEK CA1836 1/1/2015 ECONOMY
PEK SIN CA975 1/2/2015 BIZ

I tried to ticket using the multi-destination and could not pull the exact flights. So, I called in and fed the details to the agent. The agent priced it as 120000 while I was hoping it would be 80000. It looks like it's priced as two awards, one being from USA to China(80000) and the other from China to Singapore(40000). Is the the accurate price or can I still get it to price at 80000? If so, how can I do it? HUCA?

Thanks for any help.

 

[Matt]

Is your goal to get to Sing, or to have layovers on the way?

 

[sriki]

Goal is to get to SIN. The long winded itinerary is because of the saver availability (or the lack there of). It's just a one way so I cannot have any stopovers now, can I?

 

[jjangoo]

You can only have three connections on a one way award ticket on UA. Now if you book RT, they allow four connections. If that's not an option, you should look at alternate routings or book a separate positioning flight to IAH. Doubt HUCA will work if you ask me.

 

[Matt]

You can only have three connections on a one way award ticket on UA. Now if you book RT, they allow four connections. If that's not an option, you should look at alternate routings or book a separate positioning flight to IAH. Doubt HUCA will work if you ask me.

It looks like this is Asia specific.

 

[Matt]

Goal is to get to SIN. The long winded itinerary is because of the saver availability (or the lack there of). It's just a one way so I cannot have any stopovers now, can I?

No stopovers- I was asking about layovers due to the elaborate itinerary. Thanks for clarifying.

 

[jjangoo]

It looks like this is Asia specific.

Right. Last I checked all one way UA award itineraries are capped at 3 connections. Roundtrip itineraries to Asia and Australia are 4 connections max (in each direction). I think some parts of Africa allow 4 connections too... but don't quote me on that.

Europe and South America have different rules entirely.

EDIT: I'm assuming we're originating from North America

 

[sriki]

The elaborate routing was due to the scarcity of saver level availability.

I don't know enough about United routing rules. All my travels have been on one world so far. However, you might be right on the three connections and hence it 's priced because I just ticketed the following (3 connections).

BTR IAH 12/29/2014
IAH ORD 12/29/2014
ORD PEK 12/30/2014
PEK SIN 1/1/2015

I was able to price (at 80k for biz) the IAH-ORD-PEK-SIN portion using the multi-destination, but could not add the BTR-IAH segment. So, I called in and fed the flights to the agent and the price came out to be 80k as expected. I need to study more about United routing rules.

*The ORD-PEK segment is on UA 747-400 with the upper deck and it's wide open.

 

[Matt]

The elaborate routing was due to the scarcity of saver level availability.

I don't know enough about United routing rules. All my travels have been on one world so far. However, you might be right on the three connections and hence it 's priced because I just ticketed the following (3 connections).

BTR IAH 12/29/2014
IAH ORD 12/29/2014
ORD PEK 12/30/2014
PEK SIN 1/1/2015

I was able to price (at 80k for biz) the IAH-ORD-PEK-SIN portion using the multi-destination, but could not add the BTR-IAH segment. So, I called in and fed the flights to the agent and the price came out to be 80k as expected. I need to study more about United routing rules.

*The ORD-PEK segment is on UA 747-400 with the upper deck and it's wide open.

I tend to book the biggest leg first- if that is there (like your ORD-PEK) then I make the rest 'work' somehow, even if it means you pay a bit more.

How are you coming back? Making this RT would mean you could do 4 connections remember..

 

[sriki]

I tend to book the biggest leg first- if that is there (like your ORD-PEK) then I make the rest 'work' somehow, even if it means you pay a bit more.

How are you coming back? Making this RT would mean you could do 4 connections remember..

I am actually flying to India after a few days in SIN/KUL (one way revenue). So, I would be flying back from HYD and I'm trying to come back in the shortest route possible or on any CX flight. So, far, I have a one way on oneworld through HKG on hold which I hate because AA splits that into two tickets as India and HKG are in different regions. I am also low on UR/United which means I am stuck with AA and maybe BA (for positioning flights only). I am searching for better and optimal alternatives right now but if anything obvious come to your mind, please let me know.

 

[Matt]

I am actually flying to India after a few days in SIN/KUL (one way revenue). So, I would be flying back from HYD and I'm trying to come back in the shortest route possible or on any CX flight. So, far, I have a one way on oneworld through HKG on hold which I hate because AA splits that into two tickets as India and HKG are in different regions. I am also low on UR/United which means I am stuck with AA and maybe BA (for positioning flights only). I am searching for better and optimal alternatives right now but if anything obvious come to your mind, please let me know.

Nothing obvious, other than booking the way back in coach, and if you gain more UA/UR in the interim swap to Biz, space permitting...

Also, have you tried reversing? OW out, *A back?

 

[HariOm]

Sriki-ji, for the return from HYD have you checked Ethiad and Qatar? They probably don't show on the AA search engine, you'll have to research and feed it to AA. Or try them on the outbound, as Matt suggests.

 

[sriki]

Sriki-ji, for the return from HYD have you checked Ethiad and Qatar? They probably don't show on the AA search engine, you'll have to research and feed it to AA. Or try them on the outbound, as Matt suggests.

@HariOm -ji. For the dates I am looking for, both Qatar and Ethiad have no availability.