United Mileage Plus

[AllanG]

G'day
I just tried to make a points booking on United flying Seattle - Vancouver - Los Angelos and was told I can't do it but I could make 2 seperate bookings which would cost 50,000 miles. I asked if I could just book Vancouver to LA and they said it would still cost 50,000, but if i boked LA - Vncouver - LA it would cost 25,000 miles. Am I stupid? Or is this a ridiculous frequent flyer program. I usually use Qantas points to fly Vancouver - LA but on the day I want there is only one plane. Can anyone tell me another approach I can use with United/ Or an alternative way to phrase my request? Thanks

[MelUser]

Call back and get a different operator.

Also, you can tell them that you want to fly AC - so they will look a different way.

I booked a UA redemption within Asia - on SQ it became too complicated so I asked them to look on Thai airways and it worked out fine.

[AllanG]

No go. I called United and they told me you are always charged for roundtrips, even if you are only going to use a single leg