Dear Alex,
I am a 1K member (the highest tier) of United’s Mileage Plus frequent flyer scheme. Last December I took my wife and daughter in business class using Mileage Plus miles for a trip around Asia with stops in Shanghai, Bangkok, Denpasar in Bali, and Tokyo. We took United across the Pacific and used Thai Airways for the regional sectors. [Both carriers are Star Alliance members.]
Before we left home, United was unable to obtain confirmation from Thai that our flights would be in business class. Instead, we were instructed to explain the situation and request business class each time we checked in for a Thai flight. This became an arduous process.
We only managed to secure business class on a single Thai flight [between Bangkok and Denpasar] and then only thanks to a proactive Thai gate manager at Bangkok.
I could understand the problem if business class was going to be full but on the Thai flights where we sat in economy class, we saw that the business cabin was either fairly or completely empty.
I reported the problems we had to both carriers after returning home. United attended to my complaint favourably but Thai will not respond. Why was there a problem with Thai?
Migara de Silva, Virginia
Alex replies:
I sympathise. Air travel in Asia can be stressful enough without you having to explain to airport staff every time that you are entitled to an upgrade and them thinking you are “trying it on”.
Star Alliance is the most diverse of all of the airline groupings and reader feedback via our online forum (businesstraveller.com/discussion) reveals there is no common agreement with member carriers for redeeming points or miles for seats.
It took considerable time for Business Traveller to obtain comment from Thai. Eventually, in a statement, the airline said: “United could not obtain confirmed business class seats but instead issued award tickets for economy class travel. Reservation systems would display the booking as economy class and, as the operating carrier, Thai would provide seating in the confirmed class. The operating carrier does not know the amount of mileage deducted [by United] for award travel. If there was an expectation of getting upgraded to business class then there may have been a misunderstanding between the member and his home airline.”
According to Ravindra Bhagwanani, managing director of frequent flyer management firm Global Flight: “We will probably never get to the bottom of what actually happened here. What I can say is that United is known to be restrictive when it comes to giving away award seats on partner airlines when travel involves business class, although I understand it is revising this policy now that it is linked with Continental.
“In general, with award tickets, the more passengers and the more sectors that are involved, the more difficult the redemption process becomes. This applies especially at busy times of the year [the months of December and January are peak season in the Asia-Pacific region]. Business class may not be as easy to obtain as economy.” So in future it’s wise to heed this advice.
