I'm looking on United.com for a flight for two, one-way from Israel to NYC in saver business/first somewhere around 1/25/15-1/27/15. I have a CC, but no other status.
This is not a request for help with the flight per se, but rather a request for help understanding my options in the process. If anything that I'm asking is of a don't-discuss-in-public nature, please let me know here or PM me (or both).
1. For my dates, I see nothing in saver business/first except on partners, and they all seem to have moderate (5h+) layovers or mixed-cabin booking, or both. How risky is it to wait and see? Is United (or the partners) known to open things up x days or weeks prior?
2. Let's say I want to book something now and see if something better comes up. Do I have any chance of switching a Standard award to a Saver on a different date? The CC doesn't give me a higher status for change fees, right? If I book something and change the date 21+ days before, it will be $75/ticket, within 21 days, $100/ticket, both assuming I keep the same beginning and end points? But would they let me pocket the difference in miles in those cases, if I found saver availability? $200/ticket to cancel and redeposit the miles, right? Ew.
3. Would I have any other options if I didn't want to redeposit the miles?
4. I'm intrigued to try Plan B on United itself, but I don't see any saver availability for them at all for my dates.
Thanks in advance.