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A reader commented on a recent post about a 25% transfer bonus from Citi to Lifemiles that he hasn’t seen award space on Lifemiles from NYC to Chicago or Miami in months. But if you’re flexible you can do better than searching for award space on the Lifemiles site.
United miles are easily transferrable from Chase Ultimate Rewards and offer the ability to make free changes up until the time of departure. They also offer free cancellations up until 30 days prior to departure, which combined with free changes means you can always cancel for free.
However you can often save miles by using partner award miles to book United flights. That’s especially true now that United charges more miles for close-in flights, while partner airlines do not.
In this post I’ll compare rates to Avianca Lifemiles, Turkish Airlines, and Air Canada. Other good partner booking options to look into include ANA, Aegean, Asiana, and Singapore. You should always compare partner rates before transferring points to make a booking. And of course you should compare the cost to booking a paid ticket or using bank points to pay for a paid ticket.
You need a free Lifemiles account or a Turkish Airlines account to search awards on those sites.
You can open a Turkish Airlines mileage account online (Hint: Your password must be exactly 6 numbers or else it will give an error). You can book Star Alliance awards with Turkish miles here (Sign in on their homepage and then come back here to click this link again). You can’t search for partner awards from their home page. Search for one-way at a time for best results.
There are caveats to booking with partners. A big one is that United offers their cardholders significantly expanded saver award space and partner airlines don’t have access to that space. Another big one is that if you need to make changes or cancellations, it can be very difficult with partner award miles. And if the airline makes a schedule change or cancellation, it can be very hard to get accommodated on a another option with partner award miles.
Another caveat is that United makes it easy to find award space using their calendars, but partner airlines don’t typically have award calendars.
But that’s no problem, you just have to start your search on United.com to find saver award space before checking partner sites.
To do so, go to United.com (Use in an incognito window to ensure that you’re not signed into an account), search for a one-way flight with miles, and click on flexible dates along with your desired month of travel:
Click on the X to avoid logging into your account:
You will then get the saver award calendar that applies to non-cardholders and partner airlines.
If you only want nonstop flights, just click on show only nonstop flight availability. Solid blue lines indicate dates with saver award space in coach, while dotted blue lines indicate dates with saver award space in first class.
From Chicago to LaGuardia on August 12th there are flights for 14.2K and 17.2K United miles. If you click on details you can see the fare class. X is a saver award which is bookable with partner airline miles, while the YN class is not a saver award and can only be booked with United miles as partners can only book saver awards.
You can hop on over to Avianca Lifemiles to book those flights for 7.5K miles:
Or Turkish Airlines for 7.5K miles:
Or Air Canada for 10K miles:
Cleveland to Newark on August 15th is available with a saver award for 15K miles in coach (X class) or 27.6K miles in first class (I class):
Then you can hop on over to Avianca Lifemiles to book those flights for 6.5K miles in coach or 15K in first class:
Or Turkish Airlines for 7.5K miles in coach or 12.5K miles in first class:
Or Air Canada for 6K miles in coach or 15K miles in first class:
Miami to Newark on August 12th is available with a saver award for 15K miles in coach (X class):
Avianca Lifemiles charges 10K miles:
Turkish Airlines charges just 7.5K miles:
Air Canada charges 10K miles:
Los Angeles to Newark on September 18th is available with a saver award for 9.7K miles in coach (X class) or 35K miles in first class (I class):
Avianca Lifemiles charges 13.5K miles in coach or 25K in first class:
Turkish Airlines charges just 7.5K miles in coach or 12.5K miles in first class:
Air Canada charges 12.5K miles in coach or 25K miles in first class:
Maui to Denver on August 16th is available with a saver award for 24.6K miles in coach (X class) or 52.6K miles in first class (I class):
Avianca Lifemiles charges 22.5K miles in coach or 40K in first class:
Turkish Airlines charges just 7.5K miles in coach or 12.5K miles in first class:
Air Canada charges 22.5K miles in coach or 35K miles in first class:
Newark to Tel Aviv on August 16th is available with a saver award for 44.6K miles in coach (X class) or 77.6K miles in business class (I class):
Avianca Lifemiles charges 42.5K miles in coach or 78K in business class:
Turkish Airlines charges just 32K miles in coach or 47K miles in business class:
Air Canada charges 40K miles in coach or 70K miles in business class:
- You can transfer Chase points to United at a 1K:1K ratio instantly or Marriott points to United at a 60K:27.5K ratio.
- You can transfer Citi points to Turkish at a 1K:1K ratio, Capital One to Turkish at a 2K:1.5K ratio, or Marriott points to Turkish at a 60K:25K ratio.
- You can transfer AMEX, Capital One, or Citi points to Lifemiles instantly at a 1K:1K ratio, or Marriott points to Lifemiles at a 60K:25K ratio.
- You can transfer AMEX or Chase points to Air Canada at a 1K:1K ratio instantly, Capital One to Air Canada instantly at a 2K:1.5K ratio, or Marriott points to Air Canada at a 60K:27.5K ratio.
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82 Comments On "Travel Tips: How To Check For United Saver Award Space Availability With Partner Airlines And Save A Bundle Of Miles!"
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Great post for newbies. Gonna send this to a couple people. Thanks!
My pleasure 🙂
it looks like air canada charges a47 dollar booking fee from the pictures in your post . Is that correct?
Yes, Air Canada has a US $31 booking fee.
Lifemiles also has a variable booking fee of US $10-$25.
Turkish and United don’t have a booking fee.
Does it make sense that I can’t find any saver award flights (x) on turkish?
There’s a known bug that longhaul Hawaii flights don’t show up online, but post a sample route and date and let’s take a look.
Dan are you aware of any way to get the UA Gateway card if I’m over 5/24 and don’t have any existing United cards? I’d love to have access to the expanded United Award availability.
I searched from ord to bru on Sep 5.
On united it shows it’s a saver awards, but couldn’t find it on turkish
(I see on lm it’s 30k)
Tyvm!!
Looks like a PEBKAC error as it shows up for me 😉
Try following the search links found here:
https://www.dansdeals.com/credit-cards/maximize-citi-quadfecta-earn-cashback-2-22-5-55-american-turkish-qantas-miles-dollar-citi-says-long-term-transfers-american/#Transfer_to_lucrative_airline_partners
Note that you can do better with Singapore miles:
Does this mean that your transferring the miles to the partner airlines in order to book?
Yes.
Is checked bag free if booking United flight with partner miles? Does it matter if you pay any associated booking fees with United CC?
If you pay with a United CC then the same benefits apply.
I just tried routes from dtw- ewr and nothing shows up on Turkish
I even called them and they said they don’t know why
Try using the partner search links found here:
https://www.dansdeals.com/credit-cards/maximize-citi-quadfecta-earn-cashback-2-22-5-55-american-turkish-qantas-miles-dollar-citi-says-long-term-transfers-american/#Transfer_to_lucrative_airline_partners
This is exactly what I needed for the turkish awards to show. Did not know that they had a separate search engine for star alliance awards. It may help out your readers if you point that out on any future post in reference to turkish airline award miles redemptions. Cheers!
Why do you not post my posts?
Why do you not have patience?
Comments are all manually approved.
Sorry I didn’t realize my bad
Can you please check your system on Turkish to see if you can find any one way from Dtw-ewr for 7500 please in Aug
If it shows on United.com as a saver award, then all partners should be able to book it.
Great post(especially how to avoid them forcing you to log in)!
Would love to see ones on DL and AA as well.
Thanks!
When buying united saver award with partner miles, does it book basic economy or regular ?
Regular.
United doesn’t have basic awards.
Awesome post and extremely clear. Thank you. When is it ever better to use air Canada miles over LM due to the booking fee? Is AC more user friendly to make it worth the fee extra miles/dollars?
Thanks!
1. LM also has a booking fee.
2. AC has better customer service and IT.
3. AC has lap children awards for just C$25.
What’s the point in avoiding to sign in?
CMIIR, I think it’s just to make sure that you don’t get extra saver award availability if you have United credit cards.
Correct, or if you have United status.
I need to book LGA (New York City) – YYZ (Toronto). What’s the best way to get saver awards for that?
Turkish isn’t showing availability even though something is bookable on Avianca and Aegean
Route/date?
I opened a lifemiles account and saw this:
Promo: 115% bonus when you transfer miles
For every LM 1,000 you transfer, they will get a total of LM 2,150. Valid through Aug 20th, 2021.
However it looks like their is a $15+Tax fee for every 1000 miles block of transfer..
Does anyone know more information? And if it’s worth?
If you max it out, you’ll pay about 1.3 cents per mile generated.
Thank you for sharing
So for the current existing points with UA, how can I transfer these points? I can transfer the points for Credit Card partners to airlines but can I also transfer UA points to a credit card partner and then again from there transfer to another airline?
No, once they’re airline miles they’re stuck there.
So UA miles can never be transferred to a partner airline?
No, that’s not how airline miles work.
@Dan, did the two LAX-EWR Saver Award I class seats on 18SEP get swooped up? They’re still showing on United.com, but I don’t see them with I search on Turkish.
Showing up on AC…is there a bug with Turkish? Will Turkish book if I call?
It’s still bookable on Turkish.
You need to use this link after logging in: https://www.turkishairlines.com/en-us/miles-and-smiles/account/book-star-award-tickets/
So if you login from the homepage, come back here and use that link.
Dan, you’re awesome. Thank you! Now, I need to transfer miles…I’ll call Turkish and see if they’ll hold the award. Any recent data points on holding awards?
My pleasure. Did they hold it for you?
I spent Alot of time searching different routes on Turkish Miles and Smiles it seems like certain cities work like cle-ewr or mia-ewr however DTW-EWR has no opening at all even in to 2022 when Lifemiles has a few
Stinks for us Detroiter’s
I tried calling again to see if it was a glitch and the incompetent agent just said sorry theres no availability
Plenty of award space.
You need to use this link after logging in: https://www.turkishairlines.com/en-us/miles-and-smiles/account/book-star-award-tickets/
So if you login from the homepage, come back here and use that link.
I did!!
Can you please show me one date from Dtw-ewr?!
Seems like Turkish has a problem with that route.
Fewer miles with Lifemiles/Air Canada anyway, why do you need Turkish?
Thanks for the great post! I see X class on United EWR-ZRH-GVA with Swiss Airlines but it doesn’t show up on Turkish (using your link that you posted above). Instead they give me a flight on LH to FRA with a connection on Swiss to GVA. If I search just EWR-ZRH on Turkish the flight I want comes up, so is there a way to get them to book that with the connection to GVA as 1 award?
Another question – how long is the transfer time from Marriott to Turkish? I don’t have cap1 or citi so I want to know how long I’ll be holding my breathe :).
Thank you!
Date?
Marriott times can be all over the place, not sure what they are now.
11/29/21 – the 10:05 p.m. flight connecting to the 1:05 p.m. in ZRH. I meant “I” class (economy is 30k or 33k with United which I have instant transfer to so if I would do economy I’d stick to United, but the I class is 45k with Turkish vs United 73k). I can find each leg separately available on Turkish, but not as one award for 45k which is odd. Thanks for your help!
Have you tried calling Turkish?
swiss flight depart sat night 9.55 from newark. shabbos ends 8 pm (erev sukkos).
whats latest arrival to airport to go thru TSA, check in swiss etc to make it witn no risk of missing flight?
Does UA refund no redposit fee $125 during covid time? (going to TLV)
I can’t seem to figure out how to search on Turkish for Star alliance flights. Everything I try only gives me Turkish flight results. I’ve also tried using the link you posted in the comments but it’s not working for me.
Trying to book tlv-ewr on Aug 18, United shows a saver award.
are you logged into your TK miles/smiles account?
Yes. But I figured it out, you need to click on your name, then miles redemption, then book star alliance.
If Partners cant book YN fare, why in the first example is it giving options for the 6 oclock flight that showed YN fare and not X?
Odd. See if you can replicate more YN flights and let us know 🙂
After logging in, I entered the link you posted: https://www.turkishairlines.com/en-us/miles-and-smiles/account/book-star-award-tickets/ but it is not showing the availability that I see on the United site. Is there a another trick? Do you need to use a certain browser? Thanks!
Route/date?
CLE to LIH on 1/18/22
Connecting flights can be tricky, especially with long connections.
Try calling.
Do i need to log in to my lifemiles account to see the saver award flights?
Yes.
How is finding availability on United website connected to availability on Avianca Lifemiles ???I was doing what you described yesterday myself . Your first step is great- fully agree if you are booking on United . Than i go to Avianca and dont see this flight !!’. End of story .
I bought great tickets using my UR ( instant transfer ) to United ,but didn’t see anything good on Lifemiles ( Kris was OK also ,but harder to cancel )
Please explain !
Tyvm
Anyone have luck booking United flight with Turkish points for someone else not the account holder?
Dan, does this work also with Skyteam partners?
as instead of Delta for NYC TLV can I use AM, AZ, AF/KL , KE , SU?
Yes, but it’s more difficult as you can’t use Delta’s site for guidance.
thanks dan your the man!!!
just confirming when we book with the partners its still a united flight, right?
Yes
Trying to book award ticket using turkish. At checkout, after putting in my credit card info, I don’t see a submit/continue/paynow button. I tried different borwsers but no luck. Any advice here?
Try mobile and/or desktop?
Call to book?
Trying to book with Turkish but getting to the payment page there is no conuite button
Did united just change their website to make you sign in to see award price or is it just something wrong with my browser?
Is some of the information about the United site obsolete? I don’t see solid and dotted blue lines. I am trying to find a saver award. What is currently the easiest way to search a whole month for a saver award in Business or First?
Is it just me or did United take away the saver award calendar last few days I haven’t been able to get to it
same here
How are you able to pull up united flights on Avianca’s website when Avianca only let’s you put in the airports that they fly in and out of; not necessarily any airport.
For example, your CLE to EWR flight. On Avianca, you can fly out of CLE but not into EWR, or even JFK for that matter.
I can’t believe this is true Dan I was looking everywhere for the loophole were the airlines have cheap flights I gave up thinking its impossible but now I finally found a way! Thanks so much Dan for your epic website!
How was it only 47k for the business flight to Israel? when I look it up it was much more.
Great post. Thank you. When I view the monthly calendar I don’t see blue lines or blue dotted lines. What step am I missing?
just to clarify if i have united points i cant transfer them to air canada to book a flight