If you haven't already, walk through your itinerary one leg at a time on
the United award search tool to make sure there is space on the flights and cabins you need before calling to book your award.
Whether you are ultimately able to book online or need to book by phone, first plot out your flights in
the United award search tool.
Not exact matches
Although
United does a good job displaying
award space for most carriers, it removed Singapore Airlines from its
search tool last year.
Again using
United's one - way
award search tool as a guide, I began
searching not for flights from Auckland to Los Angeles, but rather for flights from Auckland to Honolulu, then for flights from Honolulu to Los Angeles, knowing that Honolulu would be a viable stopover target on the return journey.
After confirming Saver class availability for each flight segment by
searching them as one - way flights, I now stitched them all together in
United's multi-destination
award search tool, making certain to choose the specific flight numbers I'd confirmed availability on during my one - way
searches.
United's
award search tool is impeccable in
searching award seats for itself and almost all Star Alliance partners.
The
United Airlines
award search tool on
United.com is useful but flawed, because it does not show
award availability for some partners.
Using the multi-city
search tool causes
award tickets to price on an leg - by leg - basis instead of following
United's region - based
award chart