UNITED, 940,000 MILES and counting
#16
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: DFW
Programs: AA Exp, United Silver, Delta Platinum, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 280
I disagree. I think United miles are great. My wife and I went on our month-long honeymoon in January. We were able to fly direct EWR --> NRT then
NRT--> CHC direct, CHC--> SYD direct (paid flight $200 each for open jaw), SYD-->RAR direct then RAR-->AUK direct and finally AUK-->LAX-->EWR. All this for 160,000 and $400 in fees. This is incredible value as all those flights would have probably cost $10,000 or more.
NRT--> CHC direct, CHC--> SYD direct (paid flight $200 each for open jaw), SYD-->RAR direct then RAR-->AUK direct and finally AUK-->LAX-->EWR. All this for 160,000 and $400 in fees. This is incredible value as all those flights would have probably cost $10,000 or more.
#18
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Kingdom of Bahrain
Programs: GE, UA silver, Amex Plat, SPG Gold, Club Carlson Gold
Posts: 24
#19
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: BOS/ORH
Programs: AS 75K
Posts: 18,323
#20
Join Date: May 2006
Location: BOS and ...
Programs: UA 2MM, DL 500k, AA 500k, Hyatt GP 1M, HH Gold, Rad. Gold, CP Gold, Miracle Fruit-su Club
Posts: 9,950
not if he's trying to get to Hawaii....every business class award I can find for the next year (from DFW) has "mixed cabin" with the long segment only available in coach...I refuse to believe that all the first class seats to Hawaii are sold a year in advance....it's just UA making your points useless for that particular award....cant wait to go to Europe and finally burn some of these horribly useless points...I have had over 150k for a few years and cant find a good use for them, even with their hub so close award routings are always unavailable, overnight connections, 2+ stops with the worst choices of any of the major airlines....do you have to have status to get a decent award route?
#21
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Miami/Ft. Lauderdale
Programs: AA 2MM Lifetime Platinum, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Gold
Posts: 1,348
I achieved lifetime platinum on AA years ago. I reached 2,000,000 miles back when ALL miles earned were counted, not just actual flight miles. It was such a great feeling when it happened which I'm sure you'll experience as well.
#22
Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 35
Sadly, this has been the case since almost forever with (pm)UA, and not just for the premium cabins. At the beginning of the Mileage Plus program, it wasn't so, but immediately, HNL etc. were the highest demand award travel. First, they increased the RDM requirement, then they added availability restrictions. An early frequent flyer Pogo situation. Alas.
#23
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: San Jose, CA USA
Posts: 93
Managed to complete a neat scenario this week:
1. Last year i achieved United lifetime gold. Merger with Continental was huge for me as I had a lot of United/Lufthansa flights in First to Europe in my history and all the bonuses got converted to lifetime miles since that was what Continental did.
2. Made my wife my companion with Gold.
3. Got a status match for my wife on Alaska so when she flies to Hawaii she can get exit rows and free bags. Applied on October 1 so it would be effective for the rest of 2015 and all of 2016.
4. The Alaska status will then be honored by American so she can also get exit rows and free bags on American for the rest of this year and 2016.
Agree with some of the posters that it is becoming increasingly difficult to use United miles, especially if you want the lower priced tickets. However, for us, exit rows and free bags are a great benefit as we take long trips several times a yearso we have a lot of checked bags.
1. Last year i achieved United lifetime gold. Merger with Continental was huge for me as I had a lot of United/Lufthansa flights in First to Europe in my history and all the bonuses got converted to lifetime miles since that was what Continental did.
2. Made my wife my companion with Gold.
3. Got a status match for my wife on Alaska so when she flies to Hawaii she can get exit rows and free bags. Applied on October 1 so it would be effective for the rest of 2015 and all of 2016.
4. The Alaska status will then be honored by American so she can also get exit rows and free bags on American for the rest of this year and 2016.
Agree with some of the posters that it is becoming increasingly difficult to use United miles, especially if you want the lower priced tickets. However, for us, exit rows and free bags are a great benefit as we take long trips several times a yearso we have a lot of checked bags.
#25
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Upper Sternistan
Posts: 9,981
I agree and I've been hoping to see this play out, but I can't really say I have so far. Might just be too soon.
#26
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: SJC/SFO
Programs: WN A+ CP, UA 1MM/*A Gold, Mar LT Tit, IHG Plat, HH Dia
Posts: 6,282
True in theory, but UA controls award seat availability. Over the past 12+ months I've noticed they keep it very tight until the last minute, effectively limiting the redemption value to a very low level for anyone who needs to plan their travel in advance.