enviroian

Okay good didn't know that and yes I'll start with the hardest leg--over the pond first.
What is the max allowable segments?

gengar

I count at least 4 FT'ers in this thread who have reported the phenomenon in the quote you posted (i.e., very limited saver availability far from travel date but then often appearing 2-3 days out). Do you also dispute those assertions and include those FT'ers in your personal attacks?

channa

I think your information may be a bit dated.

Gary has been talking about Plan B via Int'l carriers for several months now. He's also reported several times that DL miles are the best for use to Tahiti, and he just reported today on how DL miles are great for Australia.

And Lucky just did a recent analysis asking, Is The Relative Value Of Delta SkyMiles Increasing?


This doesn't mean UA miles are useless, but DL miles are easier to use, and UA miles are more difficult to use than in the past. My experience validates this thinking. I've found it much easier to book with DL, and much more difficult to book with UA.

In fact, I booked a 2015 Business Class trip to Europe using DL miles because UA did not have any space. Two friends of mine booked for peak season Australia using Virgin Australia in Business with DL miles (good luck doing that on UA). And so on. When you also factor in that DL does not charge a premium for partner travel in premium cabins, that's an additional bonus as well.

limey1K

I was looking at going to Brussels this summer (5 pax) and I found limited premium cabin options when I searched in Nov 2013:


I decided not to book any tickets for summer 2014 and to wait until 2015. I searched today for 3 pax and found the following:


Its pretty grim, even looking at FRA instead.

lazard

why don't you try searching for 2 pax first, then 1 pax. IME, much easier to book that way than booking all 3 at the same time.

nwflyboy

Oh, that's easy. Because they are dishonest. And because they only care about one thing: getting as many suckers as possible to sign up for as many credit cards as possible. That's how they make their living.

"Easiest to use" is a relative term, and is utterly deceptive. ALL programs have become much, much, MUCH more restrictive and hard to use. The fact that United's might be a teeny, tiny bit less crappy than (say, American's) is just obfuscation of the larger, more inconvenient truth.

The FF game that many of us have enjoyed quietly for years is over.

Yes, one can still find a way to get a flight now and then, but the availability (lack thereof) has been utterly, fundamentally, and (probably) permanently altered. Where a year or two ago you could pick and choose among plentiful, attractive options, now there are very, very few options available at all, and when you're fortunate enough to actually find one, are often (usually IME) really crappy options (bad seats on flights with bad routings and miserable connections). And I'm not talking about just higher numbers of miles & points that you now have to throw at award redemptions (the obvious devaluations) - even if you are willing to throw a mountain of miles or points at a seat, they are just. not. there. At any price. That is the secret devaluation that followed the public one.

Why does it suck so much now, compared to just a couple years ago? Everyone will have their theories, and I'm sure there are little bits of truth in many of them (stronger economy, etc.). I'm convinced that it all was wrecked by bloggers who popularized the notion of churning your way to the Maldives. The explosion of this exposure drove millions of newbies to go crazy with Vanilla Reloads, etc. The credit card companies started handing out cards with 100K sign-up bonuses like Halloween candy - over and over. The number of points in circulation exploded. Suddenly, not only were there unwashed, wandering ne'er-do-well types starting to fill up the premium cabins, they made it worse by rubbing the companies' noses in it by gleefully posting selfless and screaming to the world "yeah, I'm unemployed, I haven't taken a shower in a week, but here I am in frigging Cathay Pacific pajamas drowning myself in Krug - and you can, too!! Just follow this guide, complete with circles and arrows, and I'll see you in Bora Bora!!! Hah hah, the airlines and Walmart are suckers - demand you get your fair share of the goodies!!!

Nobody should be surprised that the sober adults running these businesses didn't like being embarrassed by entitled bums. So they fixed it.

The barren wastelands that you now see when you try to look for award seats is the result.

limey1K

No appreciable difference:

FLYDCA

What the inventory (revenue) management team does it not based on gut feel. The systems are fairly automated and use predictive forecasts to understand where they should sell seats for money instead of for miles. As conditions change so do the forecasts and decisions are made to either open or close inventory to various fare buckets including tickets purchased with miles.

teeceedee

Wow... tell us what you really think.

While I agree the CC programs and knowledge out there have caused the problem, I don't blame the customers for taking what the businesses are offering. That's their perogative.

Access to information is much easier now. Movie company's have are looking more at opening day instead of opening week simply because information travels that much faster and easier. It's the way of the world, and I don't blame unemployed, non-showering people for using said information. Or stereotype them as such

UA-NYC

Lucky has changed his POV actually

http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.c...es-increasing/

nwflyboy

Oh, I don't blame the customers either.

I do blame those who have managed to become professional promoters of the phenomenon, who I see as fundamentally dishonest. What they are "selling" is no longer really true. Most of their followers will never get to use their miles, because there are too many other followers chasing a diminishing number of seats. The bloggers may make an occasional, oblique reference to how things have become more challenging, but they continue to sell an idea that is fraudulent. They won't ever fess up to the new reality because their paychecks depend on the continued deception. It's a basic conflict of interest.

FlytheTail

On United, I've found that often times, there is low-tier award availability (usually on partner airlines) on some of the dates that are blank (white). I'd encourage you to click on several dates to see if that's the case.

On Delta, in contrast, I've found some of the dates that show low-tier availability never materialize -- or if they are there, they don't show up online.

Long Zhiren

Maybe the lack of awards is only what is seen on the website?

I just booked UA awards on SQ for HKG-SIN-MLE for February 2015 the old fashioned way by phone. There was lots of availability. UA's website shows nothing.

Recent award travel.
I just flew a UA award on BR for SFO-TPE-KUL. That was booked online.
I also just flew AA C award on MH for KUL-PVG. That was booked by phone.
I also flew AA F award for PVG-DFW-SJC. That was booked online.

If this all resembles CO problems, it's not the CO that I knew when I flew CO awards on KL for LHR-AMS-JRO & DAR-AMS.

Indelaware

+1 Departure of US as a partner has, IME, really hurt award availability. Not only are the total number of seats available reduced, but so too are routing options. In the past, I'd often find that while neither UA nor US had seats available for an entire trip, I'd often find seats available on routings with UA-US and US-UA interline connections.

In addition to the airports you are checking, you might also want to look at options ex-MDT and ABE.

spin88

God I love it when a knee jerk defender posts something, and the guy he quotes, said the opposite the day before. Here is Lucky's Bottom line from the link:

"I still far prefer American AAdvantage miles, but as a relative matter — especially compared to United MileagePlus miles — I think SkyMiles aren’t half bad."

AA miles are best, Skymiles are getting more usable, and MileagePlus miles suck more and more every day.....

About what we have been saying....