[Rosh Wright]

I tried to book a trip using United Mileage Plus miles. I logged on today, November 19th 2007, to try to get a seat at the end of June until the end of July. I tried both economy and business class, from both San Francisco and Los Angeles, to London Heathrow. There was one, maybe two possibilities through another city such as Chicago, but no direct flights when trying for a Saver seat. If I wanted to use Standard miles, which would require more than double the number of mileage points, I could have booked a seat. How can they have all the Saver seats booked out so far in advance? I don't know how they designate airmile seats, how many Saver seats there are per flight etc. but seeing as I tried more than one class and more than one departure city, I find it strange that no seats are available.

[VJ Rao]

I had the exact same problem. I am trying to book a flight today from either LAX or San Francisco to Europe (flying into London and out of Frankfurt) on May 16th and returning May 30th. I tried booking several non-stop flights on United, but they were all out of "award seats" on both legs (mind you the map of the plane is almost completely empty on some of these). It is 6 months before I plan to travel, and all the award seats were gone. After speaking with a CSR for over an hour, I finally got him to explain that they only release seats periodically on these flights. He actually said that most award seats are released in the final week before the flight, but that there are certain periods such as the first week of December when more seats usually open up on international routes. I was told that I should try calling back every day until I get those seats. Unfortunately, my life doesn't revolve around booking airline tickets, and I don't really have the time to do that. I told them that I would call back, but this run around that they are giving me makes me very frustrated, and makes the whole point of earning miles completely a complete waste of time. Why should I pay more to fly United, so that I can earn miles which can't be redeemed on the flights that I want? If that is the case, then I might as well find a cheaper alternative knowing that United's miles aren't worth the paper they're printed on....

[Rosh Wright]

Thanks for sharing that information with me. I feel exactly the same way in every detail of your remarks - my life cannot be glued to the United website or phone, several other carriers offer cheaper flights anyway etc. It is quite interesting that we were both looking at the exact same routes from California. I actually went on and looked at other routes such as Las Vegas, there were a couple of seats then if one was willing to change planes. But I will see if the fact that more seats get released in December does anything to help the situation.

[Jomied]

We have confirmed, E tickets from San Diego to Fort Lauderdale. I just happened to go on line and saw that now we are NOT booked, so I phoned UAL. They are not going to fly to Fort Lauderdale any longer, but do partner with US Airways who flies there. However, the rude reservation agent would not put us on US Air because they had no frequent flier seats left. Huh?? We booked in April, and now are not going to be able to go in February. And what a bunch of rude people in reservations. Awful. We will use our accumulated miles, but never pay for a flight on uAL again.
Jomied