United Award chart devaluation

[hummel]

FWIW, UA miles are on sale till the 17th of February.

Limited-time: Buy miles at up to 40% off for a spring escape

It could make for some nice redemptions AUS-SE Asia...

 

[whatmeworry]

Interesting that you can now purchase 150,000 points, whereas there was previously a 100k limit.

 

[MH_fan]

A return J saver ticket to SEAsia from Oz will only cost about USD1100 if you just use the miles bought from this promotion. Not bad.

 

[markis10]

A return J saver ticket to SEAsia from Oz will only cost about USD1100 if you just use the miles bought from this promotion. Not bad.

What about fuel fines and taxes?

 

[zainman]

A return J saver ticket to SEAsia from Oz will only cost about USD1100 if you just use the miles bought from this promotion. Not bad.

Sorry but I don't understand how that calculation came about? A return J saver ticket is 60,000 miles and that costs US $1354.50. I know you mentioned the chart says 25K one way but I have not seen an example when I try to book that quotes me that amount. The amount was only supposed to go down to 30K and it has.

 

[zainman]

I didn't put in any specific destinations. I just went to the UA website and to the Mileage Plus section and did a quote where I selected South Asia and AUstralia/NZ as the origin/destination. It then states that a J saver award between these 2 areas is 25000 for one-way and 50000 for a return ticket.

https://www.united.com/web/en-US/apps/mileageplus/awards/travel/awardTravel.aspx

But when I do a specific search, it keeps quoting 30000 for a one way J saver award!

If you scroll down the chart you will see that it is 30K for Star/Partner travel and 25K for united metal (which obviously doesn't exist between Aus and SE Asia)

 

[aikman]

It is actually 30,000 miles from Australia to South Asia in J when using Star Alliance airlines.

The 25,000 miles that the Mileage Plus website is quoting is for travel on United or Copa Airlines only, which clearly won’t apply in this case.

First and Business Class	25,000	One-way Saver Award	Add 10,000 miles for First class when both Business class and First class are offered
50,000	Roundtrip Saver Award	Add 20,000 miles for First class when both Business class and First class are offered
50,000	One-way Standard Award	Add 20,000 miles for First class when both Business class and First class are offered
100,000	Roundtrip Standard Award	Add 40,000 miles for First class when both Business class and First class are offered
Star/Partner First and Business Class	30,000	One-way Saver Award	Add 10,000 miles for First class when both Business class and First class are offered
60,000	Roundtrip Saver Award	Add 20,000 miles for First class when both Business class and First class are offered

I have however seen the booking engine quote 25,000 miles to Asia eg Hong Kong or Kuala Lumpur however the long haul portion ie. MEL-BKK is in Y with the short haul legs ie. BKK-KUL/HKG in J. I don’t think many people would choose this option but it’s good anyway that system discounts for the fact that not all segments are in J. Something that QF could probably pick up on.

They only charge real taxes eg. MEL-BKK is US$66.

I’ve also found that the booking engine can spit out some interesting routings but nothing outrageous like Lifemiles. You can also engineer some <24 hr transits yourself online. I’ve found that when searching by multiple destinations you can use up to three lines. It will still price as a one way award if you have up to 5 segments, all transits are <24 hrs and you don’t transit the same city twice. I believe you can have up to 10 segments for a return journey but you can still only use three lines in your multiple destination search.

 

[smit0847]

It is actually 30,000 miles from Australia to South Asia in J when using Star Alliance airlines.

The 25,000 miles that the Mileage Plus website is quoting is for travel on United or Copa Airlines only, which clearly won’t apply in this case.

First and Business Class	25,000	One-way Saver Award	Add 10,000 miles for First class when both Business class and First class are offered
50,000	Roundtrip Saver Award	Add 20,000 miles for First class when both Business class and First class are offered
50,000	One-way Standard Award	Add 20,000 miles for First class when both Business class and First class are offered
100,000	Roundtrip Standard Award	Add 40,000 miles for First class when both Business class and First class are offered
Star/Partner First and Business Class	30,000	One-way Saver Award	Add 10,000 miles for First class when both Business class and First class are offered
60,000	Roundtrip Saver Award	Add 20,000 miles for First class when both Business class and First class are offered

I have however seen the booking engine quote 25,000 miles to Asia eg Hong Kong or Kuala Lumpur however the long haul portion ie. MEL-BKK is in Y with the short haul legs ie. BKK-KUL/HKG in J. I don’t think many people would choose this option but it’s good anyway that system discounts for the fact that not all segments are in J. Something that QF could probably pick up on.

They only charge real taxes eg. MEL-BKK is US$66.

I’ve also found that the booking engine can spit out some interesting routings but nothing outrageous like Lifemiles. You can also engineer some <24 hr transits yourself online. I’ve found that when searching by multiple destinations you can use up to three lines. It will still price as a one way award if you have up to 5 segments, all transits are <24 hrs and you don’t transit the same city twice. I believe you can have up to 10 segments for a return journey but you can still only use three lines in your multiple destination search.

I still think J return to South Asia for USD1300 ish + taxes is fantastic value. I've paid more than this for peak Y tickets. Yes during sale periods you might get Y tickets for half this price but during expensive periods its an absolute no brainer for me - why fly peak Y when J is the same price?. All my friends cannot work out how I can afford to travel in J multiple times per year!

 

[MH_fan]

If you scroll down the chart you will see that it is 30K for Star/Partner travel and 25K for united metal (which obviously doesn't exist between Aus and SE Asia)

I don't know how I missed seeing that bit. thank you for clarifying! Still a pretty good deal though.

 

[markis10]

If you scroll down the chart you will see that it is 30K for Star/Partner travel and 25K for united metal (which obviously doesn't exist between Aus and SE Asia)

It does exist, people just forget about it due to the OMG departure time and the fact its a 737

 

[zainman]

It does exist, people just forget about it due to the OMG departure time and the fact its a 737

Is this the CNS-GUM 737 or is there another service you are talking about?

 

[markis10]

Is this the CNS-GUM 737 or is there another service you are talking about?

Thats the one

 

[MH_fan]

Looks like I'll have to top-up some miles since I only have about 50k...and I need 60k.

 

[smit0847]

It does exist, people just forget about it due to the OMG departure time and the fact its a 737

I think people want to find far more creative ways to get from Australia to Guam other than by taking an overnight 737 flight.

 

[markis10]

I think people want to find far more creative ways to get from Australia to Guam other than by taking an overnight 737 flight.

In the context of award flights I would agree, however its been somewhat of a forgotten service for a while, especially when it was CO and people were talking about US carriers who still did Aussie flights.

 

[hummel]

FWIW I'm trying to book a CNS-GUM-MEL trip at the moment with US... so I haven't forgotten about it.

Yes there could be better things than 5 hours in a 737 but you have to take the good with the bad.