Advice on United Reservation for Succos

[runnergirl]

I need some advice....my family of 4 is planning to go to Israel for Succos (I know it far in advance!).  Want to use United points. I am holding 4 business class seats on the day I want however I live in the Miami area and these are out of Houston so I will have to get to IAH (no big deal). Questions - should I hold out for something better out of my gateway as it is a year in advance or should I be happy to have gotten 4 business class tickets together on the day that I need?  Is it just because the airline has not released the majority of their award seat and that is why I am really not seeing business class seats out of any of the gateways I am looking at for that date; i.e. MIA, PHL, NYC, IAD, etc.  Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

[AsherO]

I'd assume that if you have anything held you're best off booking that, Succos seats get snapped up quickly so if you have something, keep it.

If you have something that'll get you to IAH you can book that and always try to convince them to change it at a later date if something better opens up.

Changes after 2/1/2014 might be more of an issue due to the award chart changes going into effect, even more so if you have any StarAlliance partner segments.

That's my $0.02, but I seldom book awards so maybe someone with expertise can chime in.

[runnergirl]

Thanks AsherO! I think you are right - I will keep the seats.  What did you mean by booking the IAH portion and then trying to get it changed?  I didn't follow up.

[AsherO]

Thanks AsherO! I think you are right - I will keep the seats.  What did you mean by booking the IAH portion and then trying to get it changed?  I didn't follow up.

Book IAH-TLV now, and then when MIA-IAH opens up, get them to tack it onto the existing reservation.

On a side note, you have a round trip on hold for Succos 2014?

[runnergirl]

one-way