Plan B Discussion: Booking BusinessFirst Awards Without Availability

[ilherman]

You could but you won't get PR1 in the airport. You have to be ticketed in I/IN class in order to get PR1..

[Sol stein]

You could but you won't get PR1 in the airport. You have to be ticketed in I/IN class in order to get PR1..

Thank you

[lindnuck]

Found what I'm hoping is a prime target for a Plan B, but want to make sure I understand the procedures, etc. here first.

Looking to go AMS-LAX, 2 passengers.

Found a Saver Economy fare of 30k plus $49.46.  Flight is AMS-IAH-LAX (both are United flights)

I looked at the seat maps and the business class areas are large and virtually unbooked.

So the procedure would be to use the web call-back link, make sure to book this in XN class (yes, I have the CC), IN-class requested?

I know Dan says to arrive very early to get the proper waitlist procedure implemented, but what about the connecting flight? When I checkin in AMS, will they also put me on the waitlist for the IAH-LAX portion?

Also, if I get upgraded to business for one leg but not the other, will I get the refund?

Thanks in advance to all!

[Platinum]

If you get upgraded on AMS-IAH and not IAH-LAX you will not get any refund. If it were the other way around you woukd get a refund.

[Dan]

Does UA have employees in AMS?
If they're contract workers it will probably not work unless you clear in advance.

[lindnuck]

Does UA have employees in AMS?
If they're contract workers it will probably not work unless you clear in advance.

Would have no way of knowing, but isn't that the same issue with TLV and you've said that it's still possible to get them to do PR-1 there?

What's the code we're supposed to explain now? Been searching the thread and only seen references to it changing from “gg onestandby” to something else?

[sfp]

Hi, I'm trying to do a plan b booking for an itinerary already ticketed (X) SFO-BKK with layover in HKG. I'd like to only waitlist SFO-HKG (only outgoing segment on UA metal). Any ideas regarding how many miles this would be to waitlist for BusinessFirst, given that I have a stopover and OJ? (complete itin in saver economy was SFO-BKK (stopover) BKK-USM (OJ) SGN-YVR for 80k miles). Thanks.

[lindnuck]

So I (hopefully) just booked my first Plan B! It took 6 HUACA attempts, as each agent (with French sounding accents) told me they don't allow bookings like this any longer.

Finally I reached an agent that said she was in the Philippines, she knew exactly what I was asking for, but said it would take some time to do it as she would have to do everything manually. I told her to take her time!

25 minutes later, I have the following...can someone kindly confirm I did this correctly? 140k miles deducted from my account...

TIA!

[lindnuck]

Also, can anyone explain what is happening here? I tried to select my seats and it has 4 flights listed, even though there are actually only 2 on my itinerary. When I try to click the last two it shows a greyed out seat map.

Thoughts?

[AJK]

Normal will plan B.

[efflpetzel]

So I (hopefully) just booked my first Plan B! It took 6 HUACA attempts, as each agent (with French sounding accents) told me they don't allow bookings like this any longer.

Finally I reached an agent that said she was in the Philippines, she knew exactly what I was asking for, but said it would take some time to do it as she would have to do everything manually. I told her to take her time!

25 minutes later, I have the following...can someone kindly confirm I did this correctly? 140k miles deducted from my account...

TIA!

a OW on UA metal  AMS - LAX in J should be 57.5k

[lindnuck]

a OW on UA metal  AMS - LAX in J should be 57.5k

Based on this chart, it looks like you're right: https://www.united.com/web/en-US/apps/mileageplus/awards/travel/awardTravel.aspx

Did they do the reservation wrong? Or does it need to charge me the 1st class rate because both classes are offered?

Should I call up and have them refund the miles? Kind of a pity since I transferred them from Chase...

[lindnuck]

a OW on UA metal  AMS - LAX in J should be 57.5k

Here's the seatmap; seems there is no distinction between Biz/1st and it's all just BusinessFirst. Thoughts?

[Dan]

Yup, they overcharged you.
Sold I class at the partner rate of 70K instead of I class at the UA metal rate of 57.5K.

[lindnuck]

Yup, they overcharged you.
Sold I class at the partner rate of 70K instead of I class at the UA metal rate of 57.5K.

Thanks Dan. So should I call in and ask them to refund the difference? Or wait until after my trip, when I may be asking for a larger refund anyway?

[Dan]

Thanks Dan. So should I call in and ask them to refund the difference? Or wait until after my trip, when I may be asking for a larger refund anyway?

Call now.
Can you post the award code from your award activity online statement? Is it BB53 or YB53?

[lindnuck]

Call now.
Can you post the award code from your award activity online statement? Is it BB53 or YB53?

Both are listed as: 04/06/2016    Star Award AB53    (70,000)

[Dan]

Yup, just call and ask that they correct it from a Star award to a UA award.

[lindnuck]

Yup, just call and ask that they correct it from a Star award to a UA award.

Thanks Dan, will do and will report back.

I guess there's nothing I can do about getting those points back into my Chase account...

[lindnuck]

Yup, just call and ask that they correct it from a Star award to a UA award.

Ugh, I've been on the phone almost an hour now. They are not fighting me on the refund, but it is taking forever.

And now I see in my account they've reissued the ticket as an Economy Saver, even though I confirmed with the agent multiple times that it needed to be Business Saver. Once I get off hold it's going to be a whole other conversation to get this fixed again...