Statement from United on Travel

United published a message late in the week from CEO Scott Kirby about the state of operations and fuel costs - it's an interesting read:

https://www.united.com/en/us/newsroom/announcements/cision-125448

I'll be curious to see how flight prices adjust in the upcoming weeks.

Chase and United Months of Miles

Another promotion?  Yes!  This one is focused on spend per month ($1500 in March/April/May):

Probably will not go out of my way for this one.

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.