Lifemiles Award Availability

Check for Saver Availability on United

Basics

One of the most user-friendly means of locating award availability is by going to the United.com website (not the app, the the desktop or mobile versions of the website work) and looking up "saver awards".

If you are not signed into United, & a "saver award" is available on United.com, it's often available for booking on Lifemiles.com .

While United.com doesn't require sign-in to price bookings and has a full-blown calendar feature, Lifemiles.com requires sign-in to look up award booking options and doesn't have an ideal calendar feature, with more errors typically than with United's calendar feature.

You'll generally find higher availability in shorter distances (even outside of your zone) than longer distances & from bigger airports more than smaller airports. The less legs, the higher the probability of availability. Generally you'll find more availability mid week and less availability Friday-Monday.

Search Ideal Dates on United

Without signing in, check for "Saver Availability" on United for your ideal dates.

Don't Sign In

Even if you have an account, don't sign in, unless you both don't have United status and don't have a United credit card. Even though, there is no benefit of signing in besides not getting additional prompts for signing in. Just click the "x" in the top right. In fact, if you login while being a United credit card holder, it can actually throw things off for this purpose.

Check for Saver Availability on the United Website

The only way to book United flights with Avianca Lifemiles is when Saver awards with United are present. Go to the United website (not the app), type in your ideal itinerary and date (without signing in), and look for saver awards.

1. Sometimes, but not always, saver awards will display near the top of a 1 day search.

2. If they don't, Click "economy" to sort by economy prices (if looking for an economy flight)

3. If there are no saver awards on your desired dates/itinerary, the flights on that itinerary aren't likely available with Lifemiles at the moment. They may or may not be in the future. If that's the case, go to the section below titled "What if my Ideal Route Isn't Shown?

Even from the same airport, saver pricing can vary.

Saver awards on the same departing and arrival destination can vary. In an example from RDU-MCI, I saw itineraries from 10k, 11.6k, and 12.6k all possible, despite only the 10ks being green and "lowest" on the calendar view.

Even the same departing and arrival destination can be saver at one mileage amount during 1 period of time and not during another period of time. I've seen where a 15k itinerary during 1 time was saver and not during another time period.

What if my Ideal Route Isn't Shown?

If dates are flexible, search by month.

1. On the United website (not the app), look at the alternate dates near your ideal date. If you don't see anything there that is lower in mileage cost than your current lowest cost mileage options, search by month for your desired destination. Look for the green "Lowest" when viewing by month.

Lowest in 1 month doesn't mean it's really the lowest, so be sure to check for saver awards in the right location, i.e. "Lowest" here, doesn't show any saver awards:

Whereas you can identify where it says "saver" here:

If routes are flexible, try alternate routes, but keep in mind that saver price ranges can vary.

For instance, if flights out of Norfolk aren't available, try flights out of nearby Richmond:

If routes out of nearby Richmond aren't available, consider flights out of Dulles or Raleigh Durham, each larger airports, but keep in mind that not all saver pricing is the same, and it does need to say "saver award":

In this case, though more distant than the DC example, the pricing is lower for saver awards:

Conversely, the saver pricing is the same from Dulles:

If wondering about where to find alternate departure destinations or arrival destinations, Flight Connections is a good resource, especially if you check direct routes from the destination airport that match with airports near you 1st after narrowing options down to United Airlines:

If you don't find what you're looking for there, click on "show indirect destinations". Once you've done that, you can check for alternative routes near you, starting with blue (large) airports before doing yellow (medium), then red (small) airports.

SE VA Example

In the example of flying from SE VA, it's good to try airports in this order:

1. ORF (Norfolk) or RIC (Richmond)

2. Charlottesville

3. Raleigh (RDU)

4. Roanoke (ROA)

5. GSO Winston Salem

6. Dulles (IAD)

7. DCA (Reagan)

8. BWI (Baltimore)

If Searching on Lifemiles Website

If a saver award is showing up on United when you aren't signed in, but isn't showing up on Lifemiles, try 2 things 1st:

1. See if the individual segments are each available with Lifemiles

2. See if the award is available when selecting either Star Alliance (if applicable) &/or then the specific airlines (per segment, if more than 1 airline) if it still isn't showing up when selecting "Star Alliance".