Asiana Award Space is NOT Bookable on United.com for the moment, so you need to call United to book, and ask the agent to waive the usual phone booking fee. Several readers have emailed me about this, since Asiana Business Class is bookable for 70,000 instead of the usual 80,000 (see the full set of United's discounted partner business class awards, which can be booked subject to award availability until February 28, 2015).
As I mentioned in that post, if you have AAdvantage miles it's cheaper to book that way: just 50,000 AA miles each way for a Business Class award between the U.S. and Asia 1, which includes Korea, or 55,000 AA miles to Asia 2, which includes most other countries in Asia. US Airways Dividend miles are another option if booking a roundtrip, which enable you to stop over in Europe.
But if you have plenty of United miles, Asiana First Class (no award sale) or Asiana Business Class can be a good way to get to Asia, via Seoul Incheon (ICN), especially on the A380 with Asiana's enclosed suites in first class and Asiana Smartium Business Class with fully flat bed seats.
For a free way to check that there's in fact Asiana award availability for your dates, I recommend using the ANA Tool.
As you can see, even though ANA shows that there is Asiana First Class award space November 1-6, there's no Asiana award space at all (not even business class or economy class) appearing on United.com for Nov. 4 (or any other day):
Once you've verified the award space, the fastest way to get a United agent on the phone is to Get United to Call You Back.
Then, once you're speaking to an agent, mention the date you'd like to fly and ask the agent to check availability. S/he should be able to see award availability in United's Direct Access system (unless someone has just beat you to it and booked the exact awards you found).
Since it's not possible to book Asiana awards online currently, you should be able to have the phone booking fee waived; the United agent I spoke with was willing to do this.
Has the fact Asiana award space isn't bookable on United.com been a problem for you?
Related Posts
Discounted United Partner Business Class Awards Bookable for All of 2015
Review: Asiana First Class Suite on the A380 NYC JFK to Seoul ICN
Asiana Business Class A330 Review
Best Airlines to Pre-Order Meals
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