The Ultimate Guide To United Miles: Part 13 – All The Ways To Get To India!

  • Million Mile Secrets

    • Signing up for credit cards through partner links earns us a commission. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. Here’s our full advertising policy: How we make money.

    Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook or Twitter!

    United miles are fantastic for booking trips to India for many reasons!

    The first reason is that so many Star Alliance partner airlines, such as Lufthansa, have flights to India.  Remember, that you can use United miles to book awards on partner airlines such as Lufthansa!

    The second reason is that United allows you to book awards to India via the Pacific or the Atlantic, so you end up having more choices.

    This is very useful for flights from the West Coast, since flying to India via Asia is about the same amount of hours as flying via Europe.  In contrast, you have to fly to India via the Atlantic when you book regular awards with American Airlines miles.

    Daraius & Emily at the Taj Mahal

    The Ultimate Guide To United Miles Index

    The Best tip for Searching on United.com

    Don’t forget to change your search results to show you 50 flights (instead of the default) when you search on United.com.  This will show you more flight options which may work for you!

    Step 1 – Click On “Advanced Search”

    Go to United.com and click on  “Advanced Search” at the bottom of the award search page.

    Step 2 – Change “Number of Flights to Display” To “50”

    Click on the drop-down box by the “Number of Flights to Display” and change it from the “Default” to “50“

    Step 2- Increase the Number of Flights to Display to 50

    You will see MANY more flight options this way!

    How To Use The Information In This Post

    You could rely on United.com to find you awards seats to India.  And United’s website is pretty good.  But it is unlikely to find every possible option on using United miles to India.

    If you’re really committed to finding award seats to India and don’t want to hire an award booking service, you could search for award seats on many of the routes below.  The best way to search is segment-by-segment.

    The information below will help you find the long-distance flight to India.  Once you find the long-distance flight to India, you should start searching for flights to your final destination in India and then from your US departure city to the gateway (i.e. where the flight to India departs from the US).

    Award Routes to India

    We have already gone over the United and their partner airline flight options to Europe, and options to fly to Asia.  To get to India, we first have to go to either Europe or Asia.

    And from there to Europe to India, or routes from Asia to India.

    Travel within India using miles and points can be difficult because none of the airlines based in India belong to any alliance.  In addition, many airlines have cheap fares to begin with, so it’s usually easier to find an award ticket to a big Indian city.  Then book a paid ticket to smaller Indian cities.

    Let’s go over finding award flights from North America to India.

    United splits Asia into 3 regions:

    Here is the chart for one-way awards between mainland North America and Central Asia, South Asia, and North Asia.

    United considers India to be part of “Central Asia.”

    United’s One Way Award Chart From Mainland North America To Central Asia, South Asia, and North Asia

    For one-way awards from the US, Alaska, Hawaii or Canada to Central Asia, you will pay:

    United Miles to India

    1.  Delhi (DEL)

    United & their Star Alliance partner airlines, such as Lufthansa, fly to Delhi.

    Emily at The Qutub Minar

    You Can Fly To Delhi On Several Star Alliance Partner Airlines

    2.  Mumbai (BOM)

    Mumbai also has flights on South African Airways to Johannesburg, but it is not convenient for an award ticket from North America to India.

    Connie & Judy by the Gateway of India

    You can fly to Mumbai on:

    You Can Fly To Mumbai From These Cities

    3.  Bengaluru (BLR)

    How to Fly To Bengaluru, Pune & Chennai

    4.  Chennai (MAA)

    5.  Pune (PNQ)

    The Lufthansa flight (by their Privatair subsidiary) to Pune runs 3 times per week.  It’s a good option if you  want to visit the other cities near Mumbai but don’t want to deal with Mumbai traffic and the 4 hour drive to Pune!

    PrivatAir Flight from Pune to Frankfurt (With a Fuel Stop in Bucharest)

    Award availability is generally easy to get in both coach & Business Class, but the plane is small for a long-haul flight and there is a short fuel stop on the flight from Pune to Frankfurt.

    6.  Kolkata (CCU)

    7.  Ahmedabad (AMD)

    8.  Hyderabad (HYD)

    Singapore Airlines And Thai Airlines Can Get You To Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, and Kochi

    9.  Kochi (COK)

    Note that you can’t book this flight with United miles because it is a Silk Air flight which can only be booked with Singapore Airline miles.

    Booking Flights Via Europe To India

    The United website is pretty good at finding award seats.  Usually, you can just enter in your origin and destination and it will find a number of routes on several airlines to get you to where you want to go.  Don’t forget to extend the search results to 50 flights!

    Sometimes, you may have to search segment-by-segment.  Let’s look an example of searching segment-by-segment.

    I want to fly from Washington, DC to Delhi via Europe.  We know how to get to Europe.  Now we need to figure out how to get from Europe to India.  

    To see what award seats are available to India, we can search from Europe to India to see what connections we can come up with.

    1.  Via Frankfurt

    I’m lazy, so I usually start by searching for award seats from Frankfurt to Delhi, India on United.com

    That’s because Frankfurt has so many flights that go to India and flights that connect to other European cities that connect to India.  This way, United.com can do most of the work for me!

    Step 1 – Search For Award Seats From Frankfurt To Delhi

    Step 1 – Search For Award Seats From Frankfurt To Delhi

    I found 4 flights to choose from including some in economy and some in business class.

    My Search Resulted In 1 Economy Flight And 3 Business Class Flights

    TIP: If you are looking for a Business Class or First Class award, always look for the “Mixed Cabin” warning.  Mixed Cabin means your flight will be in two different classes, more likely Business Class AND Economy.  Of course, there’s nothing wrong in flying in economy, but you are charged the business class price.

    In this case, we see that the longer flight from Germany to India is in Economy, so we don’t want to pay a Business Class price if we are only getting business class for less than half the journey!

    Mixed Cabin Flight – Business Class AND Economy

    Let’s say that you want to fly Business Class, so we’re going to book an award that does not have a Mixed Cabin.  We’re going to book an award flight that connects to the SWISS flight from Zurich to Delhi in Business Class on January 21, 2013.

    To Fly In Business To Delhi, I Need To Get To Zurich

    Step 2 – Search For Seats From The US To Europe A Day Before Your Europe Flight To India

    I look for a flight from Washington, DC to Zurich that leaves me enough time to connect to the flight from Zurich to Delhi.

    Search For Seats From The US To Europe A Day Before Your Europe Flight To India

    I find a Saver Award (low-level award) in Business Class From Washington, DC to Zurich.

    My Search Result For Flights From Washington, DC To Zurich

    And then find a flight from your departure airport, say Austin, to Washington, DC.

    Step 3 – Use The “Multiple Destinations” Option To Correctly Price Your Award Ticket

    If we booked each flight separately, it would cost us 100,000 miles.  That’s because you will pay for 2 award tickets – 1 from the US to Europe and the 2nd from Europe to India.

    You don’t have to book these as 2 separate award tickets and can book them as 1 award for 60,000 miles from the US to India!

    Now that we have found flights that can work, we can plug in these flights into the “Multiple Destinations” option on the United website.

    Step 3 – Use The “Multiple Destinations” Option To Correctly Price Your Award Ticket

    Now your Business Class award ticket from Washington, DC to Delhi prices at 60,000 miles + ~ $52.

    Much better than 100,000 miles for 2 separate award tickets!

    Step 3 – Business Class To India For 60,000 Miles

    When we searched for the ticket, we searched US to Europe and then from Europe to India.

    The US to Europe search showed Business Class award seats for 50,000 miles (the price from North America to Europe).  The Europe to India search also showed Business Class award seats for 50,000 miles (the price for Europe to South Asia).

    However, since we are only connecting in Europe, we can pay the rate for North America to India, which is 60,000 miles, not 100,000 miles in business class!

    Booking Flights Via Asia To India

    Let’s try booking a ticket from San Francisco to Mumbai via Asia in Business Class.

    TIP: When searching for flights to Asia, make sure to search a day before and a day after your intended travel dates.  This is because many flights to Asia depart around midnight from the west coast.

    A flight that is just before midnight will show up on a separate day compared to a flight that is just after midnight.

    Step 1 – Search For Flights From The US To Asia

    Every major city from the list at the beginning of this post has flights on either Singapore Airlines from Singapore, or Thai Airways from Bangkok.  These will likely be our entry point or gateways into India if we use United miles to travel to India from Asia.

    We can search for direct flights through these gateways.

    Because it takes more than 1 flight to get from the US to Singapore or Bangkok, let’s search for the flight from the US to Asia first.  See this post for all the ways to get to Asia!

    We’ll note in which cities the connections occur (like Seoul or Tokyo) in case any of them match cities that also connect to India.  For example, you could fly from the US to Tokyo and then connect directly on Japanese airline ANA to India!

    Go to United.com and search for flights from the US to Asia.  Don’t forget to extend the search results to 50 flights.

    Step 1 – Search For Flights From The US To Asia

    After searching, United will display all the possible connections from San Francisco to Singapore.  Be sure to scroll all the way down!

    With our search from San Francisco to Singapore, we found Business Class seats available from San Francisco to Taipei and Taipei to Singapore.

    Our Search Shows Business Class Seats From San Francisco To Singapore With A Connection In Taipei

    Step 2 – Search For Seats From Singapore To Mumbai

    Now I search for seats from Singapore to Mumbai.  I write down what time I land in Singapore (12:05 pm) because I need to find a flight from Singapore leaving after that time!

    I like to leave a long time between flights just in case the first flight is delayed.  I’d rather stay an extra 2 hours in the airport than miss a flight!

    Step 2 – Search For Seats From Singapore To Mumbai

    I found Business Class available from Singapore to Mumbai at 6:10 pm on November 28. This flight departs 6 hours after the flight from San Francisco to Singapore arrives.

    Because I am allowed a connection up to 24 hours on international itineraries, this is a valid connection.  And 6 hours is more than enough time to connect between flights in Singapore.

    I Find A Business Seat From Singapore To Mumbai That Departs 6 Hours After My Flight To Singapore Arrives

    Step 3 – Use The “Multiple Destinations” Search

    Now that I have found available flights from San Francisco to Singapore and from Singapore to Mumbai, now I just need to search for the award all together.

    If you don’t live in San Francisco, you can use the same steps to find award seats to San Francisco!

    I can do this by using the “Multiple Destinations” award search

    Step 3 – Click On “Multiple Destinations”

    On the Multiple Destinations page, I enter the same cities and dates for which I found award seats earlier.

    I search San Francisco to Singapore on November 27 for the first flight segment.

    Then I search Singapore to Mumbai on November 28 for the second flight segment.

    I Enter Flight Searches By Segments

    Be sure to select “Award Travel” at the bottom of the page before you click “Search!”

    Select “Award Travel” And Click “Search”

    After clicking “Search,” we should see the flights we had found earlier.  We’ll first select the EVA Air flights from San Francisco to Taipei to Singapore.

    Select The Business Class Seats From San Francisco To Singapore With A Connection In Taipei

    After selecting the flights to Singapore, we select the flight to Mumbai.

    Notice how the search only shows flights that are valid connections!

    Select The Business Class Seat From Singapore To Mumbai

    Using the Multiple Destinations feature, I was able to price out a one-way Business Class award from San Francisco to Mumbai via Taipei and Singapore for 60,000 United miles and only ~$12 in taxes!

    You Can Fly From The US To South Asia In Business Class For 60,000 Miles

    TIP:  You may need to search flights one segment at a time to get from your hometown to your destination.  If a flight shows as available when you search it separately, it should be available when you search in multiple destinations.

    TIP:  While the United Multiple Destinations feature is useful, it can’t handle all requests.  If you can’t book an award online, you could try booking the award over the phone by calling 800-864-8331 and feeding the agent the segments one at at time.

    There is a $25 fee for booking an award on the phone, but it is well worth it to me!

    Bottom Line

    You can use United miles to fly to India on United or on one of the many Star Alliance partners such as Lufthansa.

    You can route from the US through Europe OR Asia to get to India and it will only cost 40,000 miles one-way in coach or 60,000 miles in business class.

    Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)
    Exit mobile version