Frequent Flier Award Travel - Roundtrip vs One-way tickets?

Hi! New to this forum, but a River Cruise poster suggested I ask this question here as well.

A few months ago I asked about how to survive a flight to Vietnam from the U.S., and the resounding response was to fly business class. Since then, I've been on a mission to accumulate as many frequent flier miles as I can (mainly by taking advantage of amazing credit card signup bonuses & my husband's ability to charge purchases for work & get reimbursed).

We'll be using United miles to purchase these flights. From what I can tell, there is no disadvantage to booking a round-trip vs one-way ticket (i.e., one-way business class is 70,000 pp, while roundtrip business class is 140,000 pp). This is a multi-city itinerary, so we'll be arriving in Hanoi and departing from Ho Chi Minh.

My main concern is the flight from the U.S. to Vietnam, and I already have enough miles to get that one-way ticket in business class for both of us. Our outbound tickets will be available to purchase in 2.5 weeks (11 months before the flight). I'm thinking of booking that flight right away, so I get the prime choice of seats/schedule/saver awards, and then waiting to book the return flight until I have enough miles for business class or decide to settle for economy (either way, this would probably be in March—9 months before the flight).

For those of you experienced with booking award travel—is there any flaw in this plan?

Your biggest flaw is figuring out how many miles you need. You will need at least 80,000 miles each way for business, as 70,000 mile saver awards are for tickets that are on UA metal only. Once you add the Star Alliance carriers that fly this routing (Asiana, EVA, ANA, Thai), you pay the higher mileage rate.

Do some dummy bookings for your date, and you can check this. The only problem with two one ways is if you need to make changes, you'll have to pay two change fees if you change each one. With one ticket, you'd just pay one change fee.

You're right - I threw the wrong amount in there, even though I was staring at some dummy bookings. Updating my totals now :) Thanks!

It looks like this might be how I have to do it...since adding the actual Saver Star Alliance rates in makes it look pretty unlikely I'll have enough FF miles for the business roundtrip.

I'm not concerned about change fees. Our cruise dates are set and we won't be changing them; we need the trip to be over the holidays so we can get enough vacation time for a 2-3 week trip.

Don't give up. You may be able to top off your accounts by purchasing miles. Sometimes there are promotions such as getting 50% more miles on your purchase.

I'm definitely snagging miles any way I can, which is one of the reasons I'm thinking of booking the two one-way tickets; I can use my current balance to guarantee business class on the way over, and take some more time to accumulate miles in hopes of getting business class on the way back, knowing I might have to settle for economy.

Any advice on how long the Saver awards tend to stick around? Right now it looks like I could book an economy saver just 6-8 weeks out, as long as it's mid-week (which it will be), and business saver about 12 weeks out (although options are limited).

 

Any advice on how long the Saver awards tend to stick around? Right now it looks like I could book an economy saver just 6-8 weeks out, as long as it's mid-week (which it will be), and business saver about 12 weeks out (although options are limited).

No one knows. Inventory constantly changes. They stick around until someone books them, or inventory is pulled. You may see a lot of availability one day. And the next week it's all gone. Try to grab the seats as soon as you have enough mile and you find availability.

I am actually surprised at the available business class saver tickets available. Can be really difficult to find one going to Europe!

On United, the main advantage of r/t vs 2 one-way awards is that with a r/t, you can get a stopover. For example, come back by way of Hawaii and stay a few days in Oahu. You couldn't do that with a one-way. May not be a big deal for you.

A disadvantage of 2 one-ways is if you have to make a change that involves both tickets (e.g. cancellation), you'll need to pay two fees (presuming you aren't Platinum or higher). That also may not be an issue for you. Some travel insurance will cover redeposit fees.

If you want a good source for redeeming awards or getting miles, look at the United forums on Flyertalk. Be forewarned, some of the threads on there make the smoking/dress code threads on CC seem genteel.

I'm definitely snagging miles any way I can, which is one of the reasons I'm thinking of booking the two one-way tickets; I can use my current balance to guarantee business class on the way over, and take some more time to accumulate miles in hopes of getting business class on the way back, knowing I might have to settle for economy.

 

Any advice on how long the Saver awards tend to stick around? Right now it looks like I could book an economy saver just 6-8 weeks out, as long as it's mid-week (which it will be), and business saver about 12 weeks out (although options are limited).

If you do any hotel stays you can change your earning to get airline miles instead of hotel points as well. Hertz just became UA's main car rental partner so you get some decent air miles if you go that route (though to be fair, hertz is about the most expensive rental car company :eek: )

On United, the main advantage of r/t vs 2 one-way awards is that with a r/t, you can get a stopover. For example, come back by way of Hawaii and stay a few days in Oahu. You couldn't do that with a one-way. May not be a big deal for you.

 

A disadvantage of 2 one-ways is if you have to make a change that involves both tickets (e.g. cancellation), you'll need to pay two fees (presuming you aren't Platinum or higher). That also may not be an issue for you. Some travel insurance will cover redeposit fees.

 

If you want a good source for redeeming awards or getting miles, look at the United forums on Flyertalk. Be forewarned, some of the threads on there make the smoking/dress code threads on CC seem genteel.

I've started poking around a FT lately as well. (I left right after the UA/CO computer system merger a couple years ago. Once on of the knuckleheads said he hoped i get cancer and die because i dared disagree with him, that was enough for me). It looks like the mods have cleaned it up quite a bit since i left. It can get nasty but I haven't really seen the really vile comments that used to be there. Just be warned that some of the threads can get very long (many years long with hundreds of posts). Your best bet, OP, if you do decide to head over there is to do a lot of reading, not just the UA section but mile buzz, as well as there is a wealth of info over there you just have to sometimes sort through a lot of crap to find it. Asking a question, that can be easily answered by reading a couple threads, won't win you many friends. (unlike this site where it is ok for some reason to ask the same question 42 times a month. :roll eyes: )

I've started poking around a FT lately as well. (I left right after the UA/CO computer system merger a couple years ago. Once on of the knuckleheads said he hoped i get cancer and die because i dared disagree with him, that was enough for me). It looks like the mods have cleaned it up quite a bit since i left. It can get nasty but I haven't really seen the really vile comments that used to be there. Just be warned that some of the threads can get very long (many years long with hundreds of posts). Your best bet, OP, if you do decide to head over there is to do a lot of reading, not just the UA section but mile buzz, as well as there is a wealth of info over there you just have to sometimes sort through a lot of crap to find it. Asking a question, that can be easily answered by reading a couple threads, won't win you many friends. (unlike this site where it is ok for some reason to ask the same question 42 times a month. :roll eyes: )

Most FT boards now have a "Newbies" or Wiki thread that promises to be "flame free," and we moderators have been instructed to zap any insulting or demeaning posts. (I'm the volunteer moderator for the Oneworld Alliance board.) Of course, research is always useful, but I wouldn't shy away from FT out of fear of embarrassing or snarky replies.

For the OP, unfortunately, trying to guess when award inventory will open is a bit like trying to time the stock market. The airlines' yield/revenue management computer programs are incredibly complex, and trying to anticipate their behavior is a loser's game.

I would definitely book your trips as two one-ways, using the "bird in the hand" system. I'd also suggest that, while the mileage requirements to use Star Alliance partners might be higher than just UA alone, in the case of SE Asia you have so many good airline alternatives within Star Alliance, that IMO it would be much wiser to have that option - spread the odds out over a much larger field.

Most FT boards now have a "Newbies" or Wiki thread that promises to be "flame free," and we moderators have been instructed to zap any insulting or demeaning posts. (I'm the volunteer moderator for the Oneworld Alliance board.) Of course, research is always useful, but I wouldn't shy away from FT out of fear of embarrassing or snarky replies.

I also would not use that as a criteria. Heck, if that was the criteria, the OP should also shy away from the Cruise Air forum here. Many snarky replies. I can think of several off the top of my head, but no need to repeat them - reading the first couple of pages of threads (or less!) will help someone to spot them.

I'm definitely snagging miles any way I can, which is one of the reasons I'm thinking of booking the two one-way tickets; I can use my current balance to guarantee business class on the way over, and take some more time to accumulate miles in hopes of getting business class on the way back, knowing I might have to settle for economy.

 

Any advice on how long the Saver awards tend to stick around? Right now it looks like I could book an economy saver just 6-8 weeks out, as long as it's mid-week (which it will be), and business saver about 12 weeks out (although options are limited).

You might also look at different bookings -- going through different cities to Asia as there are zones and pricing is different with different zones. As example when booking to Bali IDA (Washington) to Bali by way of Tokyo was much more than going to SF and then to Taipei and to Bali. Flights from any major city in Asia to another part of Asia seems to be pretty easy. Try out lots of different paths to Viet Nam using ITA and see if it costs less miles depending on entry city (Seoul, Tokyo, Singapore) for east coast and through Arabia or US west coast cities. On my economy ticket to Asia It was "cheaper" to go multi destination than one way series of tickets.