Fees on United Tickets

[futaris]

Can someone confirm how much taxes and booking fees are on tickets from Australia to New Zealand / South Pacific?

This page says only a US$15 booking fee will be charged, as long as it's ticketed 14 days before departure. Date charges are free, as long as they're done 14 days before departure.

We're looking at booking an economy or business class flight using the UA miles.

Also, if the member isn't travelling on the award, do you have show up (at a United office / ticketing counter) when they issue the ticket?

Should I call the US number (via VoIP) for reservations or use the 1300 651 815 local Australian number?

[StevePER]

Can someone confirm how much taxes and booking fees are on tickets from Australia to New Zealand / South Pacific?

For PER-AKL-PPT-AKL-PER in November last year it was meant to be about $112, but they never charged my credit card.

[Arthur Hodgson]

Just booked several award tickets SYD-AKL-RAR. "Taxes" came to less than AUD 90 per ticket (same cost irrespective of booking class).

As for name on tickets, UA don't care whose name is on the ticket, as long as you have enough miles to pay (it's not the Qantas mafia, you know).

Also, you don't need to call the USA, or go to a ticket office (where would you go?), just call the 1300 number and speak to one of the nice operators in Manila (but be prepared for it to be somewhat longwinded).

[futaris]

Rang the 131777 number and did the booking over the phone.

SYD-AKL-CHC-ZQN-AKL-SYD in June was $97.18 in taxes:

Fare details: Fare Basis X
FC 1JUN SYD NZ X/AKL NZ X/CHC NZ ZQN 0.00X NZ X/AKL NZ SYD 0.00X NUC0.00END ROE1.073133 XT 45.28WY 13.90IA

[MelUser]

How did you go with spelling names or did they let you fax through the exact passport names - we have enough points for 4 trips to NZ.Sth pacific and its time to start using them.

Was flight availability an issue?

[futaris]

Use the Phonetic Alphabet.

Checked Flight Availability using the ANA availability tool
even then, not every flight that is listed there is available. For some reason the ANA tool said there was availability SYD-CHC, agent said no, only via SYD-AKL-CHC.

[Arthur Hodgson]

Use the Phonetic Alphabet.

Checked Flight Availability using the ANA availability tool
even then, not every flight that is listed there is available. For some reason the ANA tool said there was availability SYD-CHC, agent said no, only via SYD-AKL-CHC.

This is very true. Many available Star Alliance flights do not show on United's reservation system because they actively filter out some flights to save money.

I recently tried to book a SYD-BKK-BOM flight in C class on TG that was showing on the ANA tool, but was told by Manila that only the SYD-BKK portion was available, and their system did not even show the BKK-BOM flight. Happens all the time; you just have to live with it and get a bit more creative. In the end I changed my dates and booked C class SYD-SIN-BOM on SQ. Also booked a paid flight on Swiss SIN-BKK-SIN for less than AUD 200 round-trip (beats the heck out of the Tiger's and AirAsia's of this world).

On the issue of using the phonetic alphabet for your name, this is fine, but I imagine you are using your Mileage Plus number (how else are you going to get the award?), so they should have your correct name right there on the computer screen.