New here. Sorry if this has been covered before and would appreciate being pointed to where it has been if so.

Did I miss a big announcement from US Air about changes to the awards program? Until very recently I was able to redeem round trips for 25K without much problem except to really popular destinations. Seems like since the merger with AW that ALL round trips require "premium" awards totalling 50K.

Is it my imagination or has something drastically changed?

Thanks for any input.

New here. Sorry if this has been covered before and would appreciate being pointed to where it has been if so.

Did I miss a big announcement from US Air about changes to the awards program? Until very recently I was able to redeem round trips for 25K without much problem except to really popular destinations. Seems like since the merger with AW that ALL round trips require "premium" awards totalling 50K.

Is it my imagination or has something drastically changed?

Thanks for any input.

25K saver awards still exist. However, there are more flyers from two airlines seeking a fewer number of award seats.

25K saver awards still exist. However, there are more flyers from two airlines seeking a fewer number of award seats.

That's what I figured. Oh well, I guess I can send my son out to visit my sister on June 22 and he can come home on Sept. 4. Just kidding. Guess I'm buying a ticket.

The lack of 25K round trips has already changed my ticket purchasing behavior. I consistently paid more to fly US Air for the miles and the ease of using 25k round trip awards. The last 3 trips I booked in the past couple of weeks are now on Delta and United which would not have been my first choices but there seems no point in being loyal to US Air. It was nice while it lasted. Not complaining, just commenting.

That's what I figured. Oh well, I guess I can send my son out to visit my sister on June 22 and he can come home on Sept. 4. Just kidding. Guess I'm buying a ticket.

The lack of 25K round trips has already changed my ticket purchasing behavior. I consistently paid more to fly US Air for the miles and the ease of using 25k round trip awards. The last 3 trips I booked in the past couple of weeks are now on Delta and United which would not have been my first choices but there seems no point in being loyal to US Air. It was nice while it lasted. Not complaining, just commenting.


You should call US and ask if they have any award saver availability on any of the star alliance partners. I was able to get an award saver award to europe by doing this. United is a star alliance partner so you might be able to get those tickets using your US miles but you have to actually call US in order to do this. (I would check with UA first for availability -- it helps so that when you call US you can tell them what UA found.) Happy hunting.

You should call US and ask if they have any award saver availability on any of the star alliance partners. I was able to get an award saver award to europe by doing this. United is a star alliance partner so you might be able to get those tickets using your US miles but you have to actually call US in order to do this. (I would check with UA first for availability -- it helps so that when you call US you can tell them what UA found.) Happy hunting.



Not quite. Award availability within the Star Alliance is very inconsistent. For example, Singapore Airlines often has more seats available for US Airways and certain *A partners than for United. This is probably due to the fact that United does not release many seats for *A partners, e.g. only one seat for a free international first class ticket on most European markets and for the use MP members, not *A partners. It's been my experience that Lufthansa and SAS have better availability to Europe. Thus, I usually do not have a hard time at all finding a First Class seat for mileage redeemption on Lufthansa.

That's what I figured. Oh well, I guess I can send my son out to visit my sister on June 22 and he can come home on Sept. 4. Just kidding. Guess I'm buying a ticket.

The lack of 25K round trips has already changed my ticket purchasing behavior. I consistently paid more to fly US Air for the miles and the ease of using 25k round trip awards. The last 3 trips I booked in the past couple of weeks are now on Delta and United which would not have been my first choices but there seems no point in being loyal to US Air. It was nice while it lasted. Not complaining, just commenting.


Good luck using thos DL miles! They're pretty worthless. It's almost as hard to use them as it is the US miles.

UA is good. I've had less trouble using them. I even found availablility to HNL December 30-January 5. Ended up not going because hotels were gone. But it was an option at least. I was pleasantly surprised at the availability of UA award seats.