Getting Svetlana United Business Class Premium Service and Evading United Airlines Award Change Fees
Sometimes plans change and you want to take a trip to a different destination than you had originally booked with your United Mileage Plus Miles. Unless you are an elite, you will be charged at least a $75 United Airlines award change fee. Our very own Samba for Miles managed to avoid paying the fee by simply just changing the routing.
Svetlana’s Wanted to Fly to New York in Style with United Premium Service
We had booked Svetlana two multi-leg itineraries with United miles for her trips to Grand Cayman, Rio de Janeiro and Cancun. On her itinerary, the final leg was a Business Class booking from Los Angeles connecting in San Salvador to Cancun. In Cancun, she would meet me, Natalya and Tatyana.
Later, she decided she wanted to visit me in New York in June so we looked at our options.
1. The LAX-JFK direct flight is United’s p.s. Premium Service whereas the LAX-SAL-CUN flights on Taca in Business are just ok. Svetlana doesn’t get to fly Business that often (her first experience ever was on her way back from Rio to Los Angeles) so we want to maximize her utility and trip enjoyment when she does! Just a few highlights of United Premium Service:
- Reclining seats with up to 55 inches between the back of one seat and the front edge of the next
- Multi-course meals that include appetizer, salad, choice of entrée and ice cream sundae
- Personal media players featuring touch screen capability and more than 20 movies and 50 TV shows, hundreds of MP3s and video games
2. Tatyana, also leaving from Los Angeles, would be flying through Mexico City on Alaska Airlines (or so she thought). We thought it’s better if they meet in Mexico City rather than sending one through Mexico City and one through El Salvador.
3. Flying through Mexico City is actually shorter than going all the way to San Salvador. She could leave later and have more time to pack!
We found Svetlana a ticket on AeroMexico connecting through Mexico City for 12,500 AirFrance FlyingBlue miles. These can be transferred from American Express Membership Rewards at a 1:1 ratio. We had plenty of those so no problem there. We just had to change Svetlana’s final leg to end in New York and not Cancun…
Making the Final Destination a Layover
Svetlana had a United award ticket from Los Angeles to Cancun. What she wanted was an award ticket from Los Angeles to New York. There were two problems:
1. Svetlana was in the middle of her return leg from Rio de Janeiro to Cancun where she was stopping over in Los Angeles. New York is in a different region than Cancun, by United Award standards. Even though ending in New York should not cost more for that leg, I had serious doubts about my ability to convince United customer service to let me change the award type in the middle of a leg.
2. Even if I could change regions on Svetlana’s ticket at that point, there would be a fee for this change.
If you have a ticket booked on United and want to change origin or destination and have no status, United’s award change fee table is very explicit about the terms: the change will cost you $75. It will cost $50 if you are Premier Silver and $25 if you are Premier Gold. It’s free for all levels above that. However, changing or deleting a connection is FREE for everyone and so is changing dates.
Given all these issues, there was no reason to call United and try to officially change the destination. We just found a ticket from Los Angeles to Cancun, but going through New York.
This doesn’t change the final destination and changes a connection. This change has no fee and is allowed with no issues.
Her itinerary was international so any connection can be up to 24 hours. We took the flight we wanted from Los Angeles to New York and then just found a flight from New York to Cancun leaving within 24 hours from any of JFK, La Guardia or Newark. We don’t even care how inconvenient the flight will be since Svetlana plans to stop flying when she gets to New York.
Now Svetlana gets to fly to New York in one of the nicest Business classes any airline has to offer domestically.
Lesson learned: If you want to change where you go on the final leg of an itinerary, don’t just call the airline and tell them what you’re doing. See if you can route through where you want to go and pretend it’s only a date or routing change! Just don’t check any luggage…
Summary
- Svetlana had a Business Class United award flight from Los Angeles to Cancun. She wanted a Business Class United award flight from Los Angeles to New York
- She avoided the $75 destination change fee by routing her flight from Los Angeles to Cancun to New York and planning to get off in New York.
- Svetlana will be flying in United’s special p.s. Premium Service, one of the nicest domestic business classes.
Other articles you may like:
Svetlana, aka Samba For Miles: From Skeptic to Jetsetting Sambista
Saving $1000 with United Miles: Natalya’s trip to Grand Cayman and Cancun
Four Girls to Cancun Countdown: Tatyana Exploiting Delta SkyMiles’ Hidden Value
Four Girls to Cancun Countdown: Redeemed FlexPerks Rewards and BusinessFirst!
