How to Book the Excursionist Perk
- Step 1. Search for Your Award You can book the Excursionist Perk online at United Airlines’ website . On the front page, click on “ Multi-city.” ...
- Step 2. Select Your Flights You will see the United Airlines award search engine . You can scroll through the flights to see what is available. ...
- Step 3. Book Your Trip
How do I get the Excursionist perk on United Airlines?
Here’s how you can leverage United’s three main award routing rules to get the most out of the Excursionist Perk: The flight itinerary must begin and end in the same region (i.e., if your travel starts in mainland U.S., it must end in mainland U.S.)
What are the rules for the Excursionist Perk?
Here are all the rules published by United for the Excursionist Perk: The Excursionist Perk cannot be in the MileagePlus-defined region where your travel originates. (For example, if your journey begins in North America, you will only receive the Excursionist Perk if travel is within a region outside of North America.)
How do I book an excursionist Award itinerary?
All you need to do to book an Excursionist award itinerary is use the “Advanced search” tool found on the United home page. From there, select the “Multi-city” option and plug in the segments you want to book. You must check the box to show the price in miles as the Excursionist Perk doesn’t apply to paid tickets.
What is the difference between the Excursionist Perk and itinerary?
The itinerary begins and ends in the same region (continental U.S.) The Excursionist Perk leg is for travel within a single region (Europe) and that region isn’t the region where the itinerary starts or ends (continental U.S.) When priced out, United only charges for the segments from Chicago to London and Paris to Chicago.
What is Excursionist perk?
United's Excursionist Perk allows MileagePlus members a free one-way award as part of a qualifying multi-city itinerary. This lets you visit two destinations on a trip for the price of visiting one. However, not any multi-city itinerary will qualify for the Excursionist Perk.
How far in advance can you book United?
330 daysHow far in advance can I book a ticket? You can book a ticket online 330 days before your travel date.
Can you add a traveler to an existing reservation United?
How do I add a frequent flyer number or “Known traveler number” to a reservation? You can add these by choosing “Edit traveler information” from your reservation.
What is an open jaw airline ticket?
A destination open jaw is a flight where a passenger flies from one city to another, but returns to the original city from a different place. It is most commonly used among tourists and travelers who like to make the most out of their trip and visit multiple cities without having to travel back to the landing airport.
What is the best day of the week to book a flight?
Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the cheapest days to fly domestically. The cheapest days to depart if you're flying within the U.S. are midweek — generally Tuesday or Wednesday. For economy tickets, Tuesdays are about 24% lower than peak prices on Sundays, which translates to savings of about $85 per ticket.
What are the cheapest days to fly on United Airlines?
Travelers booking on Saturday or Sunday get lower airfares compared to those booking on weekdays. It's not that lower airfares are available on those days, but leisure passengers book on weekends, whereas business travelers book during the week. So, the average airfares on Saturday and Sunday are lower.
How do I add a companion to United?
If you want to add it by phone, then call customer support and inform them that you want to add your companion on the same flight. You can add your companion until there is one seat available on the flight. Even if the prices of the tickets rise, you can still add them just by paying for the taxes.
Can I change passenger name on United flight?
In United Airlines, you have the option to correct a misspelt name. The changes to a name in the confirmed itinerary is done according to the name change policy of United Airlines. In this airline, you are allowed to make several changes and the name change option is one of them.
How do I combine United itineraries?
What you can do is call reservations at 1-800-864-8331 and ask them to link each itinerary together. The representative will simply put notes in the reservations stating that you and your family members are traveling together and to please use all courtesy when rebooking.
Is open jaw ticket expensive?
Open-jaw flights are not necessarily more expensive than traditional there-and-back roundtrip flights. There are a lot of factors at play, including the routes and the time you plan to travel. Some open-jaws might actually be less expensive than a traditional roundtrip.
What is a circle flight?
A circle trip is a return trip that usually includes multiple stops along the route of travel before returning to the point of origin. For example, London to Australia via Asia on the way out and Australia to London via the United States on way back.
What is ARNK in Worldspan?
ARNK. Arrival Unknown - provides a means to show surface segments in an itinerary to maintain segment continuity. ASO. Automatic Sine Out - a process performed by Worldspan that sines out any workstation within an office that has been inactive for a set number of minutes.
Can you book flights more than a year in advance?
Regarding booking flights in advance, the length of time that airlines allow varies depending on who you are booking with. However, as a general rule of thumb you CAN book tickets up to a year in advance! There is disparity here though. Airlines like Jet2 allows passengers to book up to 18 months in advance.
How far in advance should I book an international flight 2022?
Just make sure you book before the one-month mark — Expedia data suggests that prices start to rise 28 days before departure. But again, as with domestic flight prices, Hopper predicts an increase in international airfare as we move through 2022 — about 5% per month through June.
How far in advance can you book international flights?
Overseas flights become available 330 days in advance. So, if booking a round-trip flight from New York to Paris departing on October 1, 2021 and returning on October 10, 2021, that flight could have been booked November 23, 2020 at the earliest. On legacy carriers like American, Delta, United, Lufthansa, etc.
How many months in advance should I buy airline tickets?
The general advice is to book domestic flights between one and four months in advance. Even though airline schedules are posted a year or so in advance, there's no reason to jump the gun and get your tickets locked in so far in advance.
How do I use the United Excursionist Perk?
The United Excursionist Perk is available on specific flight itineraries including at least 3 one-way flights. When your search falls within the pa...
How does the United Excursionist Perk work?
The United Excursionist Perk is a way for United to give its members a free stopover on multi-city tickets. You’ll need to be flying at least 3 fli...
How many times can I use the United Excursionist Perk?
There is no limit to the number of times you can use the Excursionist Perk, though you’ll only receive 1 complimentary flight on your multi-city ti...
How do you use United Airlines' website to book a free one-way flight using the Excursionist Perk?
In order to search for a flight eligible for the Excursionist Perk, you’ll need to head to United’s website. From there, select Advanced Search and...
What are the United Excursionist Perk zones?
There are 17 different zones according to United: Mainland U.S., Alaska & Canada Hawaii Mexico Caribbean Central America Northern South America Sou...
What is the Excursionist Perk?
However, one hidden gem that remains is the Excursionist Perk. At its most basic level, it allows you to add a one-way flight to a round-trip award ticket without any additional miles. The Excursionist Perk rules are loosely defined, but it’s one of the most valuable award tools in existence.
How many destinations can you see on an excursion?
If you take what you learn here and combine an Excursionist with other nested award itineraries, each with its own sweet spots, you can potentially see 5-6 different destinations on a single trip for a very minimal amount of miles.
How many miles does the IAH-UIO take?
The itinerary is from the U.S. to Northern South America, which starts at 20,000 miles each way in economy. IAH-UIO and GPS-IAH each start at 20,000 miles, for a total of 40,000 miles.
How many miles does a BOS-EWR flight cost?
BOS-EWR is sometimes available from under 6,000 miles each way. So you could nest your one-way BKK-CGK flight in between two weekend trips to New York City. All you’d need to do is make your own way home from New York the first weekend and then up to New York the second weekend (potentially using an alternate form of transportation). This entire itinerary prices at just 11,000 miles and $36.30:
What to do after multiple searches on United?
After multiple searches, you need to clear your cookies and start over on United.com. The search engine begins to say there are errors and no results after several queries.
Can you get the Excursionist Perk in MileagePlus?
The Excursionist Perk cannot be in the MileagePlus defined region where your travel originates. (For example, if your journey begins in North America, you will only receive the Excursionist Perk if travel is within a region outside of North America.)
Can you book a free leg on a United flight?
Even though the United booking engine suggests a non-sequential itinerary would still be 0 miles, I can’t book a free segment at the end of a round-trip itinerary — i.e., you can’t book ATL-EWR round-trip and then add a free intra-Europe flight in the future.
Where does the Excursionist Perk run?
My favorite use of the Excursionist Perk is on United’s famous Island Hopper route. The United Island Hopper runs between Hawaii and Guam with up to five stops along the way.
What are some examples of the Excursionist Perk?
First, there’s a fairly straight-forward example involving an itinerary from Chicago to London, London to Paris and then Paris to Chicago.
What are the new destinations for United Airlines?
In September 2020, United announced three new destinations to Africa —Accra, Ghana (ACC); Lagos, Nigeria (LOS); and Johannesburg, South Africa (JNB) —to complement its existing African route to Cape Town, South Africa (CPT). And you can use the Excursionist Perk to help visit these destinations.
How many one way awards do you need for an excursion?
To qualify for an Excursionist Perk, you’ll need to book at least three one-way awards together as part of a single itinerary. The trip must terminate in the same region that travel originated. So, if you’re starting in the continental U.S., the itinerary will have to end in the continental U.S., Alaska or Canada to qualify for a free leg.
How many miles does United Airlines charge for savers?
United ditched its award chart. However, the airline generally charges 40,000 miles each way—or 80,000 miles round-trip—for saver awards on its flights between the U.S. and Africa. I’m not finding any saver award space on these United flights at this time. However, you can still visit two African destinations for the price of one using United’s partners.
Can you fly with the Excursionist Perk?
Also, you can’t use the free leg of the Excursionist Perk to fly overseas. The origin and destination of the free leg must be in the same region. With that said, some regions can be quite large. For example, both Dublin, Ireland and Istanbul, Turkey are part of United’s Europe region.
Does United have an excursionist perk?
United seems to have set up the Excursionist Perk to provide a free award within a single journey. However, in its extensive rules about the Excursionist Perk, United didn’t include restrictions requiring this. So, this leaves the door open to some creative uses of the Excursionist Perk.
What is the first step in using the United Excursionist Perk?
The first step of utilizing the United Excursionist Perk is picking the region you want to travel to! While some regions, like Europe or South America, make a good logical sense, some regions are broken up further.
What Is The United Excursionist Perk?
Simply put, the United Excursionist Perk gives a free extra flight segment to travelers who book a round-trip award ticket. Another way to think about the United Excursionist Perk is that if you book three one-way tickets, the one in the middle is free (with some restrictions).
What region do you start from on an Excursionist flight?
For most of you, the region you start from will be United’s “Mainland U.S., Alaska & Canada” region. This means your Excursionist Perk cannot be a flight in this same region.
Can you get an excursionist perk in the same region?
Rule #1: The Excursionist Perk Cannot Be In The Same Region Where Travel Originates. The first rule is that the United Excursionist Perk cannot be in the same region where travel originates. This means that you can’t get your free flight from your point of origin.
What is the first thing you need to understand about United?
The first thing you need to understand is United’s award regions. This was much easier when United published an award chart, but you can still find all of the defined countries by region.
Can you add miles on a United flight from London to Frankfurt?
If you booked a round-trip award ticket with United, you could add on the flight from London to Frankfurt for no additional miles. Before you go jump to book your Excursionist Perk ticket, there’s a few rules you need to know.
Is United Airlines easy to follow?
Follow the rules and you’ll be rewarded, and thankfully United makes the rules fairly easy to follow and understand. Just be sure you compare your booking to other award programs to be sure you’re actually using the fewest amount of miles before jumping to book the Excursionist Perk.
Where does the Excursionist Perk run?from forbes.com
My favorite use of the Excursionist Perk is on United’s famous Island Hopper route. The United Island Hopper runs between Hawaii and Guam with up to five stops along the way.
What are some examples of the Excursionist Perk?from forbes.com
First, there’s a fairly straight-forward example involving an itinerary from Chicago to London, London to Paris and then Paris to Chicago.
What are the new destinations for United Airlines?from forbes.com
In September 2020, United announced three new destinations to Africa —Accra, Ghana (ACC); Lagos, Nigeria (LOS); and Johannesburg, South Africa (JNB) —to complement its existing African route to Cape Town, South Africa (CPT). And you can use the Excursionist Perk to help visit these destinations.
How many one way awards do you need for an excursion?from forbes.com
To qualify for an Excursionist Perk, you’ll need to book at least three one-way awards together as part of a single itinerary. The trip must terminate in the same region that travel originated. So, if you’re starting in the continental U.S., the itinerary will have to end in the continental U.S., Alaska or Canada to qualify for a free leg.
How many destinations can you see on an excursion?from thepointsguy.com
If you take what you learn here and combine an Excursionist with other nested award itineraries, each with its own sweet spots, you can potentially see 5-6 different destinations on a single trip for a very minimal amount of miles.
How many miles does a BOS-EWR flight cost?from thepointsguy.com
BOS-EWR is sometimes available from under 6,000 miles each way. So you could nest your one-way BKK-CGK flight in between two weekend trips to New York City. All you’d need to do is make your own way home from New York the first weekend and then up to New York the second weekend (potentially using an alternate form of transportation). This entire itinerary prices at just 11,000 miles and $36.30:
How many miles does United Airlines charge for savers?from forbes.com
United ditched its award chart. However, the airline generally charges 40,000 miles each way—or 80,000 miles round-trip—for saver awards on its flights between the U.S. and Africa. I’m not finding any saver award space on these United flights at this time. However, you can still visit two African destinations for the price of one using United’s partners.
Where to use Excursionist?
At the top of the list are Europe, Central and South Africa, and South Asia. Due to their size, these regions will give you the most bang for your buck.
Is frequent flyer a secret?
While it’s not exactly a secret within the frequent flyer community, this perk can be tough to grasp and even harder to use for maximum value. We’re going to walk you through it.
Can you fly from one European city to another?
Your Excursionist flight must be within one region. Ex: You could fly from one European city to another, but not from Europe to Africa or Asia.
Can you fly in business class?
You can fly for a few hours in business class using the Excursionist perk, too! You’ll just need to book that round-trip fare in domestic first class – but finding those fares for a low amount of miles can be challenging.
Can you add miles to a round trip United?
It’s called the United Excursionist perk, and it works like this: When you book a round-trip flight using United miles, you can add another one-way flight for no additional miles. There are some important restrictions around this – we’ll get into them shortly – but that’s the gist of it.
Do you have to spend miles on an excursion flight?
Remember those rules on your Excursionist flight above? Go look again and you’ll notice something is missing: There’s no requirement that you spend a certain amount of miles to get it.
Can you use points and miles on flights?
One of the fundamental rules of using points and miles is that you should use cash when flight prices are cheap. And as luck would have it, we recently sent Thrifty Traveler Premium subscribers an amazing deal to fly from Colorado to Germany for just $297.
What Is The United Excursionist Perk?
United Airlines is part of the Star Alliance, the largest global airline alliance. With 26 members, you can get anywhere in the world. We can book award tickets on any of these carriers with United miles.
United MileagePlus Regions
United doesn’t publish an award chart anymore, but to understand the utility of the Excursionist Perk fully, we first need to understand United’s regions. United divides the world into 17 regions:
How to Book the Excursionist Perk Online
Let’s continue our example of flying from the U.S. to South America to walk through how to book the United Excursionist Perk online.
Unique Ways to Use the Excursionist Perk
There’s a few clever tricks you can put to use to get more value from the excursionist perk.
Mix and Match Economy and Business Class
If you don’t have enough miles to book the entire itinerary in business class, you can enjoy business class on most of your trip. According to the Excursionist Perk rules, the cabin of service of the free one-way award must be the same or lower than the one-way award preceding it.
Limitations of the Excursionist Perk
The United Excursionist Perk is a great benefit, but it does have some limitations. And there are certainly some situations where it doesn’t make sense—when it’s easier and cheaper to just book two one-way awards.
How to Earn United Airlines Miles
United MileagePlus miles are easy to earn. United is a transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards, and there are many personal and business credit cards that come with generous welcome bonuses and travel benefits.
What is an excursionist perk?
The Excursionist Perk, which is essentially a free one-way award on a multi-city itinerary, provides ample opportunities to maximize the value you can get from award tickets. One of the best uses of the Excursionist Perk is when you can book three open jaws for the price of two. Nerdy tip: An "open jaw" is when there are gaps in your itinerary ...
Do flights start and end in the same region?
The flight itinerary must begin and end in the same region (i .e., if your travel starts in mainland U.S., it must end in mainland U.S.)
Can you fly outside of Europe with an excursionist?
The Excursionist Perk must start and end in the same region (i.e., if you take your free one-way award in Europe, you cannot use it to fly outside of Europe).
Is there value in United Airlines award?
Although United Airlines removed its region-based award charts, shifted to dynamic pricing and increased its redemptions by 10%, there is still value to be had in the carrier’s award program — you just need to know where to look. The Excursionist Perk, which is essentially a free one-way award on a multi-city itinerary, provides ample opportunities to maximize the value you can get from award tickets. One of the best uses of the Excursionist Perk is when you can book three open jaws for the price of two.
What is an excursion perk?
The Excursionist Perk is a free one-way award within select multi-city itineraries. Members who book an itinerary with three or more one-way awards will be eligible to receive one of those one-way awards for free, if it meets all of these conditions:
How is award pricing determined?
Pricing for award travel is determined by the city pair between which you wish to travel on a single award. Each city pair is part of an award region per one-way basis. Please see our interactive award chart for award regions.
Can you use Economy Awards for MileagePlus?
Economy awards may be exchanged for a higher cabin, if available, for the difference in mileage and applicable award change fee. Travel awards may not be used in conjunction with promotional upgrades or MileagePlus Upgrade Awards.
Can you use United miles on a business trip?
You may use miles for travel in United First®, United Business® or United Polaris® business class, even if the space is not available . In these cases, United Economy in the same award type must be confirmed, and the front cabin will be waitlisted. If the courtesy waitlist does not clear, it will expire 24 hours before itinerary departure, and you will automatically be added to the airport upgrade standby list upon check-in. In these cases, you will be confirmed on a space-available basis by a United airport representative at the gate once the flight has closed for check-in. For United Polaris business class and United Business travel awards, the difference in miles will be refunded when the United Polaris business class or United Business class segment of the trip could not be confirmed. Waitlist requests may only be made over the phone with your local United Customer Contact Center.
Can you sell miles on United Airlines?
MileagePlus awards and mileage in your MileagePlus account may not be sold, bartered, traded, exchanged or purchased, except under programs fully authorized and/or sponsored by United Airlines. Awards and mileage obtained in violation of this rule will be void and confiscated. A violation of this rule may result in the termination of your MileagePlus membership and forfeiture of all mileage in your account. If a person other than the MileagePlus member or the person named on the reward attempts to use the award, it will be void and travel will be denied. Altered awards are also void. Awards deemed void will be confiscated and the mileage forfeited by the member. At the discretion of MileagePlus, actions which result in a void award may lead to membership termination and forfeiture of all mileage.
Can you waitlist on only one leg of a connecting flight?
Connecting flights: Customers may waitlist on only one leg of the connecting flights and the flight must meet the required minimum connecting time. Nonstop flights: Customers can waitlist on only one flight per direction. Alternate dates and times are allowed.
Can you travel outbound in one class?
Pick the class of service you want, when you want. Maybe you need personal workspace on your outbound trip, or want to start your vacation in style. You can travel outbound in one class and return in a different class. You choose.
How to use Excursionist perk on Island Hopper?
The straightforward way to use United’s Excursionist perk on the Island Hopper is to book an award to two different destinations along the Island Hopper. The free flight needs to be inside the same region, so you can’t stop in Honolulu along the way from the mainland.
Where does United fly in Oceania?
If you’re interested in visiting one or more of these destinations, you can do so while still flying the Island Hopper.
How many times a week does the Island Hopper fly?
The aptly-named “island hopper” flies four times a week between Honolulu (HNL) and Guam (GUM) with stops along the way in Majuro (MAJ), Kwajalein (KWA, stop skipped once a week), Kosrae (KSA), Pohnpei (PNI) and Chuuk (TKK).
Where does the United Island Hopper fly from?
For many travelers, the United Island Hopper is a bucket list trip. This unique route flies from Honolulu (HNL) to Guam (GUM), with stops on multiple islands along the way.
Is it cheaper to go to Asia with an island hopper?
An Island Hopper trip is even cheaper if you start in Asia. This may be an obscure use case, but it is worth noting for readers in Asia or those planning a long post-pandemic trip to the region.
Is the Pacific island hopper remote?
These Pacific islands are so small that they barely show up on a map, and yet they are so remote that you need to zoom pretty far out to put them into context. United produced a great video about the Island Hopper, which I highly recommend watching.
Can you earn United miles with Chase?
If you need to earn more United miles to make your Island Hopper dreams come true, credit card sign-up bonuses are the easiest and cheapest way of racking them up. You can earn with the carrier’s cobranded cards. Or, you can earn with a Chase Ultimate Rewards-earning card since Chase Ultimate Rewards points transfer to United at a 1:1 ratio.
