I flew non-stop from San Francisco to Paris on United, but when I started using my frequent-flyer miles, those non-stop flights disappeared. Last April I flew to IAD (Dulles) and then on to Paris. That wasn't too bad, since the there was only a short walk from domestic to international terminals. I'm looking for ideas about using United to get to other places in Europe, especially Italy. Have you found a better way to use those frequent-flyer miles to get to Europe?
Posted by
Nottingham, UK
658 posts
Remember that UA are part of Star alliance, so your miles can be redeemed on any European Star Alliance member. This has to be done by calling UA.
Some of the Star Alliance carriers include: Lufthansa, BMI, SAS, Lot, Austrian Airlines.
Posted by
Redding, CA, USA
1568 posts
Speaking of frequent flyer miles. I have over 30,000 FFM. Is that enough for a RT flight to Europe?
Posted by
Portland, OR, USA
805 posts
To answer the later question, likely no. Typically 50k is required for US-Europe.
As to the primary question, it can be difficult to use FF miles. If you need to use them, book the maximum time in advance (330 days) if at all possible. Airlines only allow around 5% of their seats on most flights to be sold as award seats. So on an average flight, that's not many seats.
Another tip, if you have the miles, try to book in business class. It tends to have more availability.
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
Swan, we are near you in Sacramento. I spoke live with a United agent as soon as the flight opportunity appeared (8 months out). I wanted to use my points to fly from Sacramento to Florence Italy. They could get me to Florence but couldn't get me out of Italy in the time frame I needed. I asked where they could get me out of. They said "Zurich". We jumped on it and spent 3 days in Lauterbrunnen. It was wonderful. BTW, we burned up 160,000 points to go business class. For us, it was well worth it. We flew from Sacto to LAX where we went non-stop on Star Alliance partner Lufthansa to Frankfurt (fabulous airline). We walked over to the domestic area and picked up our connecting flight to Florence. It could have been Venice, Pisa or Rome. It worked out very well. Going home, it was United all the way. Zurich/Washington DC/Sacramento. Suggest talking with an agent on an open jaw ticket. You might need to be a bit flexible to use your points.
Posted by
SF Bay Area, CA, USA
508 posts
Become familiar with the flight schedules of the partner airlines as well... We couldn't get back from Amsterdam to San Francisco on United using saver miles. When I asked if they had a flight from London to SF non-stop available, they said yes. Then I had them check separately from Amsterdam to London and that was available. I then asked if they could book it as a single ticket and they could. It just didn't show up in their system originally, but they could put it together. We did the same thing last year to Italy. They couldn't get us from SF to Rome, but then they checked each leg separately. We ended up with the itinerary of SF to Frankfurt and Frankfurt to Rome on Lufthansa. I have noticed if you call at night when they are less busy, they will do a little more research. Also, if you get an agent that isn't very helpful, just call back. The chances are that you will get another agent and they might check all the options for you.
Posted by
OP
Napa, CA
3580 posts
Thanks for the replies. I will use the phone from now on when scheduling frequent flyer flights; I've been trying to do it all on the internet. Of course, United tries to bribe us into using the internet by offering extra FF miles for doing so. I'm hoping more people will add ideas to this topic.