Updated Spring Break Trip Routing

The new plan for Spring Break is now ready - map courtesy of the Great Circle Mapper:

I was able to adjust flights around the Middle East due to the ongoing conflict.  Thankfully I had enough United miles for an option through Vienna on Austrian.  I'm sad not to get back to Doha this trip, and we'll be unable to do Business the whole way.  It's the safer option right now so we don't have to cancel the whole trip. 

Customer Service Center During Disruption

My British Airways Call Center experience to cancel my booking to Doha:

Website: manage booking form, error and would not complete

1st call: menu, then disconnected

Received survey call 

2nd call: number rang through to a person

Phone transferred to the Club team as Reservations agent can not help me

Club team wants to know where I'm calling from (why?) besides flight info; front-end system allowed them to refund

#persistence

Possible Changes to Spring Break Plan

The world changed a bit this morning as military activities occur across the Middle East.  This is affecting most of the major airports in the region including KWI, DOH, AUH, DXB, BAH, and AMM.  And while it remains to be seen how long these airports will be impacted, I'm preparing for cancellations of flights I've already booked toward/through Doha.  

Making changes to international itineraries within a week of departure is extremely challenging under normal circumstances - it's a greater challenge now given the number of airports that would usually be available for transit but are closed.  

United (and most airlines) would prefer that you avoid overlapping bookings which I was reminded of this morning when I tried to book an alternative staging flight.  Thankfully I was able to find another option via Heathrow using miles that would still get us to Malé though not in Business.  This would also avoid a flight path through the region for the most part. 

I'll be monitoring our booked flights this week to see what the airlines decide to do.  We may need to make more changes or cancel - safety is a priority. 

Spring Break 2026 Adventure: Maldives!

Less than 30 days remain before we are off again on another spring break adventure, this year going back to the Maldives with two city stops along the way.  We're using points and miles for nearly all options which will be a huge savings.  Plus almost every segment will be in Business!  Here's the map via GCMap:

The points and miles breakdown:

Park Hyatt Maldives (4 nights): 140,000 Hyatt points 

We have Globalist status again with breakfast included (as brunch) so dinner is our only expense. 

Overnight LHR and DOH (1 night each): 

We have an evening stopover in London at the T4 Hilton using 51,000 points and then one night at the Park Hyatt Doha for a very low rate.  The extra time in Doha before a 1am departure means we'll have time for the Souq and a fun dinner.

LHR-DOH: We'll be on the Qatar Airways A380 in Business from Heathrow to Doha which only required 86,000 British Airways Avios total for two.

DOH-MLE: One ticket is using 75,000 Alaska miles/Atmos for Business Class, and another ticket uses a combination of 52,500 Avios via Qatar Airways for First Class.  Availability on this route was very limited and I was fortunate to find two premium seats between both programs. 

MLE-SIN-SFO-EWR: I'm excited to be able to fly Singapore for the very first time in Business!  We'll have a brief stop at Changi before flying UA2 in Polaris back to SFO.  This was booked using United miles (395k) which is a lot though worth it to me for the Singapore segment.

Looking forward to the journey and a relaxing week!

United Resumes Flights to LSE

I posted this request on Flyertalk a long time ago hoping that United might resume flights to LSE sometime in the future.  And I was thrilled when I saw the recent announcement!

https://www.wizmnews.com/2026/01/27/united-airlines-adding-daily-chicago-la-crosse-service/

I'm looking forward to this in May and hope that fares overall are competitive. 4x daily is promising!