Originally Posted by
mduell
The title and first sentence of the thread are misleading. You can get a standard *A award, and it may have standard or saver UA segs and *A segs.
For legacy Mileage Plus, I don't think there was ever a standard *A award. There were three award types: Saver, Standard (both of which were UA metal only), and Star awards (which used the same prices as Saver).
In any case, an itinerary that has only non UA metal should not be charging the standard award prices, which is the gripe. Nothing really misleading about it.
Originally Posted by
mduell
There is additional flexibility: you can make changes to flights that only have standard availability after booking without any redeposit shens.
There is no such thing as "standard" availability for Star Alliance flights.
Originally Posted by mduell
This is analogous to a Y fare vs a L fare. Booking a Y fare gets you the exact same seat as an L fare.
How is it analogous to a Y vs L fare? If you pay the Y fare, you get a Y fare. Pay L, you get L. Here, no matter what you pay, you are getting the same fare (X, or whatever).
Also:
Originally Posted by united.com
Standard Awards offer expanded availability on flights operated by United Airlines, United Express®, and Copa Airlines (including Aero República).
Hence, they shouldn't be offering Standard awards for itineraries that don't (at least) have one segment on those carriers.