Please help with Continental FF decision

[cbowler]

Hello all - First off, please forgive my newbie questions about airfare and ff miles. I only usually fly 1 or 2 a year and it's always leisure travel. Here's the scoop:

 

After collecting miles on Continental for the past few years, I have accumulated 115,000 and would like to use them for my husband and I to go to Rome for a roundtrip cruise on Princess. The cruise is a 7 day, September 29,2010.

 

Looking at Continental's website, the FF space just opened up a few days ago. So far, there is good availability and decent connection times for economy class. Fares are 55K miles. As a comparison, flights are about $900-1000 if purchased outright now.

 

The flights I'm thinking of booking with the FF miles are codeshared on United. So here in lies my question. I'd like to be able to do the economy plus on United. Is there a way to still get an economy plus seat if I use the Continental miles to book the ticket? Would I get a United record locator number?

 

Of course, another thought has occurred in that in an ideal world, we could travel business class to Rome. :) But, using Continental's website, there is NO business class FF space available (for pretty much the entire next year, any day you look!) and NO upgradable tickets to be purchased and then upgraded with miles. Any suggestions?

 

Sorry again- I have really no experience USING the FF miles. I've just been collecting them for so long... :) I just can't decide if I should book these United FF seats through Continental.

 

Thanks,

Carrie

[6rugrats]

Hello all - First off, please forgive my newbie questions about airfare and ff miles. I only usually fly 1 or 2 a year and it's always leisure travel. Here's the scoop:

 

After collecting miles on Continental for the past few years, I have accumulated 115,000 and would like to use them for my husband and I to go to Rome for a roundtrip cruise on Princess. The cruise is a 7 day, September 29,2010.

 

Looking at Continental's website, the FF space just opened up a few days ago. So far, there is good availability and decent connection times for economy class. Fares are 55K miles. As a comparison, flights are about $900-1000 if purchased outright now.

 

The flights I'm thinking of booking with the FF miles are codeshared on United. So here in lies my question. I'd like to be able to do the economy plus on United. Is there a way to still get an economy plus seat if I use the Continental miles to book the ticket? Would I get a United record locator number?

 

Of course, another thought has occurred in that in an ideal world, we could travel business class to Rome. :) But, using Continental's website, there is NO business class FF space available (for pretty much the entire next year, any day you look!) and NO upgradable tickets to be purchased and then upgraded with miles. Any suggestions?

 

Sorry again- I have really no experience USING the FF miles. I've just been collecting them for so long... :) I just can't decide if I should book these United FF seats through Continental.

 

Thanks,

Carrie

 

Yes, you would receive a UA record locator number, but you might have to ask CO for it. That will allow you to make your seat selections, but unless you have elite status with UA, you will be blocked from selecting seats in E+. It is possible that a buy up to E+ would be offered to you at OLCI, but no guarantee.

 

You don't have enough miles to purchase business class; that would be at least 105,000 for each person. Too bad, because the new business class configuration on UA with the lie flat seats is really nice!

 

I don't fly CO, and don't know what your status is with that airline, so can't advise you as to your other questions regarding purchasing upgradeable tickets on CO, etc.

[cbowler]

Thanks for your thoughts. What if I had the annual pass thing for Economy + on United? I think that covers 2 people, right? Maybe I could book with the FF miles for the United flights and then use the annual pass with the United record locator number on United's website??? Hmmm...just trying to piece together the options.

[6rugrats]

Yes, if you purchase the annual E+ option it's good for two people. You should be able to choose seats in E+; you may have to call UA to do seat selection.

[TRacanoUK]

Hello all - First off, please forgive my newbie questions about airfare and ff miles. I only usually fly 1 or 2 a year and it's always leisure travel. Here's the scoop:

 

After collecting miles on Continental for the past few years, I have accumulated 115,000 and would like to use them for my husband and I to go to Rome for a roundtrip cruise on Princess. The cruise is a 7 day, September 29,2010.

 

Looking at Continental's website, the FF space just opened up a few days ago. So far, there is good availability and decent connection times for economy class. Fares are 55K miles. As a comparison, flights are about $900-1000 if purchased outright now.

 

The flights I'm thinking of booking with the FF miles are codeshared on United. So here in lies my question. I'd like to be able to do the economy plus on United. Is there a way to still get an economy plus seat if I use the Continental miles to book the ticket? Would I get a United record locator number?

 

Of course, another thought has occurred in that in an ideal world, we could travel business class to Rome. :) But, using Continental's website, there is NO business class FF space available (for pretty much the entire next year, any day you look!) and NO upgradable tickets to be purchased and then upgraded with miles. Any suggestions?

 

Sorry again- I have really no experience USING the FF miles. I've just been collecting them for so long... :) I just can't decide if I should book these United FF seats through Continental.

 

Thanks,

Carrie

 

Even though there's currently no business class upgrade availability for Continental, you can book the coach tickets and waitlist the business class upgrades. Just be aware that CO charges the miles (I think its 20,000 each way) plus a co-pay, depending on the fare class you are buying. I am guessing here (you'll have to look at your actual fare class), but your co-pay will range between $250 and $500 each way per person.