Don’t Make This Common United Airlines Award Booking Mistake and Miss a Great Trip!

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Million Mile Secrets reader Nicholas commented:

I just created Air Canada Aeroplan and Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer accounts.  I was hoping to book an award flight on one of their partners (United Airlines) after transferring AMEX Membership Rewards points.  Searches on both the Air Canada and Singapore Airlines websites show NO partner flights.  I guess it’s hit or miss on partner flight offerings?

When you use partner airline miles to book United Airlines award seats, you can only book low-level saver awards.  And some partners, like Singapore Airlines, won’t show any partner award seats on their website searches!

I’ll show you where to search.  And what to look for so you don’t miss out on an award!

How to Find Partner Award Seats on United Airlines

The best place to start searching for award seats is the United Airlines website.  It’s easy to use.  And has a great calendar function for when your travel dates are flexible.

Let’s take a look at flights from Philadelphia to San Francisco this spring.  You can book the saver award flights displayed on the calendar with partner airline miles.

After you find the award you want on the United Airlines website, you’ll have to book it through the partner airline’s site.  If the partner airline’s website does not display the same award, then you’ll have to call the partner airline to book the award.

But Not All United Airlines Award Searches Are the Same

If you have United Airlines elite status, you will see award seats that you can NOT book with partner airline miles.  The same is true if you have any of these United Airlines credit cards:

• United MileagePlus® Explorer Card
• United MileagePlus® Explorer Business Card
• United MileagePlus® Club Card
• United MileagePlus® Club Business Card

The extra award seats highlighted in yellow are NOT available to book with partner airline miles.  Even though they are saver awards.

So if you have United Airlines elite status or a United Airlines credit card that gives you access to more award seats, you’ll need to sign-out before doing a search.  Otherwise, you’ll see awards that are NOT available to book with partner airline miles.

If you don’t want to bother with signing out of your account, you can get the same results by searching the United Airlines website in “incognito” mode.

Use Other Websites to Search for United Airlines Partner Awards

Some Star Alliance partner airlines’ websites will let you search for award flights on United Airlines.  Air Canada Aeroplan and ANA Mileage Club have search engines that show United Airlines award seats.

Here is an Air Canada search for award flights from Philadelphia to San Francisco in April 2018:

Aeroplan and ANA have good award search engines on their websites.  But you won’t always get the same search results.  This is why it’s a good idea to start your search on the United Airlines website.

If you can’t find the award flight you want, check again later.  Because airlines frequently change which award seats are available.  You could also sign-up for a service like ExpertFlyer that will send you an alert when the seat you want opens.

Bottom Line

When you are using partner airline miles to book United Airlines award seats, you can only book low-level saver award flights.  And partner airlines do NOT have access to the same awards as United Airlines elite members.  Or folks with one of these credit cards:

• United MileagePlus® Explorer Card
• United MileagePlus® Explorer Business Card
• United MileagePlus® Club Card
• United MileagePlus® Club Business Card

So it’s best to search for saver award seats while logged out of your United Airlines account.  You can also search for award flights on some partner airline websites (like Air Canada or ANA).  But you won’t always get the best search results.  And other airlines ( like Singapore Airlines) do NOT display any partner awards on online searches!

I hope this helps you find the flights you’re looking for, Nicholas!