TL;DR: I booked award flights home from Costa Rica for 5 people on United Airlines for 20k miles + ~$60 in fees each after stumbling over a few roadblocks in the process.
My family of five is traveling to Costa Rica next year. I booked our award flights TO Costa Rica a few months ago, but I was still searching for the best option for our return flights. As I mentioned recently, the cheapest option on miles involved a ridiculously early flight time plus a stopover in El Salvador, which wasn’t ideal.
After searching for better award options every day for weeks, a great option finally popped up on United. The award flight just had one stopover in Houston before landing in DFW and cost 20k miles + ~$60 in taxes. The departure time was also ideal for us in the afternoon. Perfect!
Unfortunately, there were only 3 seats left at this price. No problem, my family has split up before, and we could do it again. I decided to book the three seats for my husband and 2 boys. Since my husband already had some United miles, I just needed to transfer some of his Chase Ultimate Rewards from his CSR card over to United. I did that with no issues, and started to book the award.
The Award Space that Disappeared
After I had already grabbed the 3 award seats, input passenger data and was on the final page to book the flights, I get this message:
Say what?!?!?! The price in the cart was now 31,200 miles for each ticket. I’ve NEVER had this happen to me before while in the middle of booking an award flight. The price has never changed on me after I had already started the process.
Furious, I reached out to United on Twitter to find out what the heck happened. Unfortunately, I hadn’t taken any screenshots of the initial award price.
United responded politely, but wasn’t too helpful: “Please be advised that fare may vary from time to time such that the fave you’ve earlier seen may be or might not be available at a later date.” I understand that, but I was in the middle of booking the award, not coming back to book it hours or days later!
United then said “The possible reason why the lower miles has not been available while you’re processing the booking is due to other passenger who might be booking the same route and date with miles at the same time as you.”
If I were a newbie traveler, I would be so discouraged with this process and would have probably given up. Instead, I vented to Leana, who encouraged me to check back online later. I also realized I was getting too worked up over this award booking and I needed to take a break and put things into perspective. What was the worst that happened? I could now only afford two award flights instead of three with the miles I had transferred.
I looked again the next day, and there was one award seat at the 20k price again. This time, I took screen shots in case the booking went awry again. I successfully booked the flight for my husband.
Then a few days later, two more award seats became available at the 20k price again. I successfully booked these for my sons.
Finding The Last Two Award Seats
I still had to find flights for me and my daughter. I was considering just paying cash for the two of us to Florida or Houston and then using miles to get us back to Dallas. But, lo and behold, a few weeks later two more award seats appeared for the same flight.
To book these awards, I wanted to use my United miles (since I had some) combined with Chase Ultimate Rewards points. I didn’t have enough points, so I instructed my husband to call Chase and move his Chase points from his CSR card to my CSP card. It was a quick call, and it worked without a hitch. Then, I transferred my points to United.
While I was booking my award flights on United, I wanted to pay with my Chase United credit card to get a better boarding group. Unlike the benefits with AA credit cards that are tied to your frequent flyer number, you have to actually pay for the flight with your Chase United card to get the card’s benefits. During the booking, my credit card was declined. I called Chase, and they had put a hold on it since I hadn’t used it in such a long time. Oy! I got the hold removed and finally booked these last two award tickets.
Bottom Line
Sometimes, booking award flights is fun and exhilarating. But other times, booking award flights is a big pain in the booty. I hope I never have award flights disappear on me like that again. Persistence pays off, and it helps to put the big picture in perspective. And for me, I need to remember that we’re not saving lives here, just trying to travel for less money.
Costa Rica, a tropical paradise, beckons travelers with its diverse attractions. Explore the lush rainforests of Manuel Antonio National Park, lounge on the pristine beaches of Tamarindo, and marvel at Arenal Volcano’s fiery displays. For adventure seekers, zip-lining through Monteverde Cloud Forest or surfing in Jaco offer unforgettable experiences.
Sounds excited. I would love to visit the Costa Rica.
Good story and the result. And yes, one have to resolve to calmness while booking online travel 😉
Tip: you can connect your and your husband UR accounts online to transfer without calling. Less hustle.
Costa Rica is a beautiful place to explore, just be cautious of harmful bacteria for kids in some of their hot springs. Ocean beaches are fine!
@Aleks I tried moving the points online but my card was unavailable for him so we had to call first. Go forward we should be able to do it all online. Thankfully we didn’t have to wait on hold a long time and the process was quick 🙂 Good tip about the hot springs, I’m not sure if we’ll be going to any on this trip.
I like your conclusion, really it is not saving lives here. I get caught up too when something is missing or gone wrong with award booking. But it really is not the end of the world like you said. In the moment though, it sucks. Happy you got all your seats in the end!
@Elena Thanks, I really do get too worked up about this stuff sometimes!