Frequent Fliers - Anyone ever book on Star Alliance?

[Tina]

DH and I are trying to plan a trip for our 10th anniversary. We're looking at a couple of ideas, but trying to keep the cost down. One idea is Atlantis. Airfare is pretty expensive. We have 160k miles on United and almost 60k miles on UsAirways. United has no seats left for our dates, but UsAirways has tons. I see that they're both members of Star Alliance - but how does it work? Which airline do we call to book? Or do we call somewhere else? I'm confused.

 

[bavaria]

If you go to united.com you should be able to access United flights using your Mileage Plus.

To check partner availability, it gets more complicated. Flyertalk recommends using aeroplan.com (I don't like it personally) or ANA's website to check for partner availability.

You can also call United and/or US Airways, but as you may know you will incur a cost for bookign over the phone. If you call United, your MP will be used for the ticket; if you call US Airways your US Airways points would be used. Also note that airlines do NOT always have access to all partner airline reward seats ie Air Canada can only access some of United's flights

Check out flyertalk.com for good info....

 

[Tina]

Thanks. I was on Flyertalk earlier, but couldn't find much info on the Star Alliance forum -- is there a FAQ somewhere on the site for using Star Alliance? I didn't want to post and look like a dummy.

 

[Tina]

I just tried Aeroplan - it wanted to put me on Air Canada and route me through Toronto. That's nuts.

What is ANA?

 

[Chicago526]

DH and I are trying to plan a trip for our 10th anniversary. We're looking at a couple of ideas, but trying to keep the cost down. One idea is Atlantis. Airfare is pretty expensive. We have 160k miles on United and almost 60k miles on UsAirways. United has no seats left for our dates, but UsAirways has tons. I see that they're both members of Star Alliance - but how does it work? Which airline do we call to book? Or do we call somewhere else? I'm confused.

It depends on how you book the flights. If the flights you want are a code share flight, meaning that it's a United flight number but the plane is actually operated by USAirways, then you would contact United to book. If you are booking it as a true USAirways flight (a USAirways flight number operated by USAirways), then I believe that you would contact USAirways and they'd pull the miles from your account.

It costs nothing to call the airlines and ask them what to do, they only charge you a fee for calling when you buy a ticket. You can have your question answered and then go to the proper airlines website to book, if that is allowed. It could be that neither airline allows online bookings when using miles from another carrier, if that's the case you will have to book it over the phone and pay the fee. Still, $20 or $30 for two round-trip airline tickets is a steal!

 

[Chicago526]

I just tried Aeroplan - it wanted to put me on Air Canada and route me through Toronto. That's nuts.

What is ANA?

ANA is All Nippon Airways, I believe they are based in Asia.

Aeroplan is Air Canada's FF program, so routing you through Toronto makes perfect sence, from their point of view. You'll always go through the hub of the airline you're booking with, so in this case Air Canada's hub is Toronto.

 

[Tina]

Thanks all. I think I'll just call the FF #'s for United and USAir and ask for help before I sprain something in my head.

 

[bavaria]

ANA is All Nippon Airways, I believe they are based in Asia.

Aeroplan is Air Canada's FF program, so routing you through Toronto makes perfect sence, from their point of view. You'll always go through the hub of the airline you're booking with, so in this case Air Canada's hub is Toronto.

FYI Aeroplan will show valid partner routings which are NOT through Toronto, if available, but as I mentioned before, they only have access to some United inventory, that's why I don't use it often.

ANA is All Nippon Airways - if you register for the FF program you can immediately access their online booking engine which will show Star Alliance availbility.

Flyertalk.com is a great place to learn more about airline travel. I'm sorry but I agree with Chicago that if you are having difficulty, it is worth your time to call and pay a small amount.

For those of us who fly weekly or burn up thousands and thousands of miles, booking reward travel has become somewhat 'easy', and it becomes difficult to explain to new users. Sorry for being too complex!