MP redemptions as of now. Sad :(

Old Aug 27, 2014, 7:50 pm
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MP redemptions as of now. Sad :(

I remember this time last year looking at redeeming award miles on United's website. Plenty of saver award on different star alliance carriers for both Christmas and Thanksgiving. Times have changed. Availaiblty to Europe is nil to none. What a shame. Is it the same for the folks flying AA and DL? I guess this is the sign of the times. Oh well . It was good while it lasted.
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Old Aug 27, 2014, 7:53 pm
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There's a cost to all those millions (billions?) of cheap Chase miles in circulation.
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Old Aug 27, 2014, 7:53 pm
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I have been searching options from Europe to California Aug 2015, exactly at 330th day out, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!! Saver economy class = no. C class = no.

I know 330 days out is the magic number, but in the past I have seen inventory improve over time temporarily. Do you think that will happen again?
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Old Aug 27, 2014, 7:55 pm
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I've noticed less award availability as well... not to the depths of DL, but less UA availability for sure.

I have been looking for saver J space to Europe next summer... and there is virtually none one UA metal.
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Old Aug 27, 2014, 8:01 pm
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Yep. LH is nowhere to be seen on UA's website anymore. What a shame. Such a great airline. Guess UA said "see ya" to that.
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Old Aug 27, 2014, 8:07 pm
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Originally Posted by Channel 9
I know 330 days out is the magic number
A myth. It's only "magic" in that you generally won't find anything before then, but there's no instant award availability when the clock strikes.

Originally Posted by Channel 9
in the past I have seen inventory improve over time temporarily.
Inventory comes and goes as Revenue Management sees fit. They are basically a group of micromanagers, so inventory can change minute by minute as those people justify their own existence.
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Old Aug 27, 2014, 8:12 pm
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Originally Posted by Channel 9
I have been searching options from Europe to California Aug 2015, exactly at 330th day out, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!! Saver economy class = no. C class = no.

I know 330 days out is the magic number, but in the past I have seen inventory improve over time temporarily. Do you think that will happen again?
There's nothing magical about 330 days.

Flights become bookable at 330 days, nothing more. It's not like they open all the fare buckets at 330 days and burn them down from there.
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Old Aug 27, 2014, 8:19 pm
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Originally Posted by enviroian
Yep. LH is nowhere to be seen on UA's website anymore. What a shame. Such a great airline. Guess UA said "see ya" to that.
UA has no control over how many seats LH opens up to partners for award redemption. If LH is cutting back then the seats won't show up. That's not UA's fault.
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Old Aug 27, 2014, 8:21 pm
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Originally Posted by enviroian
Yep. LH is nowhere to be seen on UA's website anymore. What a shame. Such a great airline. Guess UA said "see ya" to that.
What's funny is I've been looking for UA metal on WAS-MUC/FRA for an upcoming trip for literally six months, and as yet, there has not been a single premium-cabin UA metal award available on my travel dates. LH routinely has offered F awards on both routes, though.
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Old Aug 27, 2014, 8:22 pm
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Originally Posted by sbm12
UA has no control over how many seats LH opens up to partners for award redemption. If LH is cutting back then the seats won't show up. That's not UA's fault.
Got it. So please educate me then. This time last year there were LH flights all over the place. Now they are completely absent from UA's award booking engine. Did LH pull back earlier this year? I'm just trying to understand what happened, I'm not trying to be snarky.

Thanks SBM12.
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Old Aug 27, 2014, 8:22 pm
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MP redemptions as of now. Sad :(

Remember that we were pre devaluation late last year so I'm assuming people started to burn their banked miles. I would expect the number of cancellations to increase over the next couple months and maybe inventory to open up. I had a F reservation to BKK and back on Thai that I cancelled when i moved but booked in advance on the off chance that I could use it.
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Old Aug 27, 2014, 8:23 pm
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Originally Posted by exerda
What's funny is I've been looking for UA metal on WAS-MUC/FRA for an upcoming trip for literally six months, and as yet, there has not been a single premium-cabin UA metal award available on my travel dates. LH routinely has offered F awards on both routes, though.
Is your travel window outside Thanksgiving and Christmas?
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Old Aug 27, 2014, 8:28 pm
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Originally Posted by exerda
What's funny is I've been looking for UA metal on WAS-MUC/FRA for an upcoming trip for literally six months, and as yet, there has not been a single premium-cabin UA metal award available on my travel dates.
I'm having the same trouble with IAH-EZE in March. I've been looking since April.
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Old Aug 27, 2014, 8:29 pm
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Originally Posted by Channel 9
I know 330 days out is the magic number, but in the past I have seen inventory improve over time temporarily. Do you think that will happen again?
Now the magic number is more like 3 days.

3 days out when they realize they didn't sell the seats and dump them, you can have your pick of quite a bit.

#RMFail
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Old Aug 27, 2014, 8:38 pm
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I was just using awardnexus today and noticed that there are *lots* of options in saver J for my upcoming trip to SGN with a combination of NH/BR/OZ/UA. I didn't get creative enough with the routing when I did my original booking. I'm sad I paid $4k to use 4x GPUs for 2 pax when I could have booked saver J. I almost considered forking over $800 to cancel and rebook with points (guaranteed J seats vs. upgrade lottery on UA metal).

If you haven't used awardnexus, I'd highly suggest looking at it. It was certainly an eye-opener. I didn't realize you have to manually specify routings (UA.com doesn't, by default, show the best options).
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