Business class on United Super Saver?

If you are only looking for 1 C class ticket you shouldn't have too many problems. Do not limit yourself to just UA - though UA is easy to check online. You have the choice of a vast # of Star alliance airlines that you can try and use your UA miles on. You could try United, Luthansa, Austrian, Scandanavian, LOT, TAP, US Airways, Singapore (they fly JFK-FRA), Air NewZealand (LA-LHR), and Air Canada.

You just need to be flexible and willing to connect in different cities. Air Canada usually has good availability through YYZ, YYC, and other Canadian cities. London is generally easy to get into, so you can start with that if you can't get directly into Paris. From LHR, you should be able to connect on BMI to Paris. You can do all of this on one ticket. Also, remember, UA tickets allow for either one stopover or one open jaw - so something you may want to consider.

Also, do keep in mind, that Amsterdam, Brussels, and Dusseldorf all have major airports that you may be able to get a free ticket into and then take a train into Paris - this wouldn't be ideal if you don't have time.

Email me if you need help looking for Star alliance partner seats - there are tools that you can use to get a good idea of what may be possible.

When I had an irregular request for using my UA miles, I called United's 800 number and spoke with a representative. She was very helpful and came up with a route and schedule that suited my situation. That is what I would do in your situation. You may need to wait until later to make your reservation.

Up until last year we had always found it easier to obtain business class on United than economy especially on short notice. But last year with a four month lead we could not find anything. I don't know if demand is up or supply is down or both. We are going to make a run at mid Sept 09 to mid Oct 09 in a couple of weeks. Will let you know our experience.

We just booked our early September 2009 flights using United miles. We could not find anything in Business class on United or any of their partners. Nothing seems to shows up to Europe in Business class after March. The agents we talked to had said that they noticed the lack of business availability recently. In the past few years as least stopover flights could be booked in business - this year nothing. We decided to keep checking and will pay the $150 change if something opens up.

United just announced significant mileage increases for award tickets starting Jan 1. A business class ticket is going from 80k miles to 105k.

Better book these tickets before the end of the year if you can.

To update: I just booked my San Francisco-Paris saver award trip for September 2009 through United on Air Canada. My good luck: Since Air Canada has only First and Economy, my business class award seats will actually be in first class. On the transatlantic portion of the trip (via Montreal), the planes have "pods" -- lie-flat beds with individual "suites." I was pleasantly surprised that there were quite a few business class saver seats available, and the United agents were as helpful as they could be in finding me the right dates and itineraries. Now, hopefully Air Canada will live up to the pictures on their web site. Also: I learned that I can change either my dates or my flight numbers (but not my cities) at no cost if I do it 21 or more days before travel. Needless to say, I'm a very happy camper. Now I have to wait 10 months to travel -- but that will give me time to get in shape!

Thanks to all who responded to my question.

a trick that worked for me is to keep calling. Call back every single and and maybe 2x a day. Each agent you talk to is a different person, some are just more helpful than others. I noticed this when I started to try to use my FF miles for our trip next May.

I wanted business class, and got it, but had to take more connections, and don't get to fly from Chicago to Denver in business, just economy.

I called and called and called until I got what I wanted.

Keep in mind that some star alliance airlines do not open up their business class seats until a certain date prior to your flight, that is why you have to keep trying. We wanted Lufthansa for overseas, each time I called, I was told there were no seats, they had not been allocated for FF yet, with a bulldog attitude, and many calls, I got my seats with my FF miles.

Just keep at it!

To all who are using FF miles but get lousy connections, book early to guarantee flights but call back as you get closer to your travel date. Sometimes, not all the time, seats are released for FF miles when the computers don't think those seats will be sold.

Ellen is so right about calling back over and over. Each person has different ideas and some agents, when you get really lucky, will spend a considerable amount of time trying EVERY possibility (all the partner airlines)to make your trip work for you. I've actually had someone spend over 3 hours on the phone with me until she finally got my four family members routed free to Madrid. I had probably been told "no way" a couple of dozen times before she made it work.

Unfortunately I think United just upper the Business Class ticket to 105,000.

The increase at United doesn't take effect until 1/1/09. That is, for travel after 1/1/09. You can still book for another few weeks at the lower level.

Sometimes you can use the connections to your advantage to see another city - just depends on what you want out of the ticket. Remember that using UA miles, a stop of less than 24 hours in a city is not considered a stopover.

I have used this to stop at different times in
- Amsterdam (coming home from Warsaw)
- Copenhagen (coming home from Vilinus)
- Frankfurt and New York (coming home from Cyprus)
- Toronto (on the way to Istnabul)
- Singapore & Bangkok numerous times when traveling either to the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, or Sri Lanka.

In fact, I leave next week for Sri Lanka on the way ot India and have stops in Singapore (2) and Hong Kong.

This can be a great option if you are flexible and have the time. Most UA agents will not offer this up and this normally results in the agent saying nothing is available.