United Airlines Night Customer Service not Very Helpful

If you don’t know United is about to massively Increase the number of miles it will charge on many routes, its worst if you want to redeem with a partner airline. 

On Jan 28^th I was up till midnight, because on Jan 29^th the route for Jan 1 2015 opened up. My route was something I couldn’t book online because it included Stop Over and Open Jaw. My Route was

SJD- PHX  open Jaw, DFW-FRA-IST-DAC , Return DAC-BKK stopover BKK-FRA-DFW,

Cabo San Lucas-Phoenix ,  Dallas – Dhaka Via Frankfurt & Istanbul, Return Dhaka to Bangkok stay few days then return to Dallas via Frankfurt.

After the agent put in the destination in the system, she tells me that I couldn’t book this award because it had two stopover SJD-PHX was considered an openjaw and a stopover, and an award reservation can only have one stopover. I was aware of that but I guess I was not completely educated on the stopover ruels, because I though SJD-PHX was just an open jaw.

I then advised the CS to remove the SJD –PHX leg, and do the rest. Then she tells me the system will not show her the award for Jan 1^st. I was like what? 

She then suggested me to return on Dec 29th as she could see available flights on that date, but I wanted to spend the new years in Bangkok so I hung up. I then called back, so a different CS rep can help me. This time the rep sounded like he was half asleep, well so I told him what my plans and routes were. He immediately responded without even trying that booking, for Jan 1^st 2015 award will not open till Feb 1^st. I tried to explain him that the award shows up online but since I need to book an stopover I have call the award reservation dept. He then explained me that if it shows up online then it will be best if I book it online. Man this is horrible up was up all this time for this. So I decided to go to bed, it was around 2 am.

I woke up at 5 am to go to work I wrote down all the airline details. On my way to work around 6 am I called united again.  I gave the united my route, this time it was SJD-PHX stopover/open jaw DFW-FRA-IST-DAC   Return BKK-FRA-DFW, so on this award I have to fly from DAC-BKK on my own expense as this was an open jaw. The agent put me on hold and vanished with no background music for like 20 min, every 5 min I will check my phone to see that if I was still connected. When she returned she tells me that I couldn’t book this award as it was not pricing right in the system and that her supervisor tried it too. I was not sure why because the mileage required for South Asia from Mexico is same as USA Mainland. So I finally told her to Cancel the SJD-PHX and book me DFW-FRA-IST-DAC , Return DAC-BKK stopover BKK-FRA-DFW .

Flight Legs Details

Not all legs had the Business class available so I booked economy. One think with united is that if you book mix cabin, i.e. Economy and Business mix you still be charged the Business award miles.  I didn’t want to burn so many miles flying different classes, also when you travel with a 3 yr old boy it might get hard if he starts running around in business class.

DFW-FRA     with Lufthansa on Airbus A330-300

FRA-IST       with Turkish Airline Airbus A340-300

IST-DAC      with Turkish Airline Airbus A330

DAC-BKK     with Thai Airways Boeing 777-200

BKK-FRA      with Thai Airways Airbus A380-800

FRA-DFW     with Lufthansa Airbus A300-300 

The total cost me 195,000 United Miles, and $502.50