I am shocked to see UA says it is dropping NRT-BKK.
Press release
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/11/19/592...ines-path.html

Bangkok was my ticketing base and my favorite award destination.I flew there 50-100 times mostly on UA metal. So sad to see this.

Yes, there are code-shares, but we cannot use UA miles for upgrades unless you have paid Y/B in advance and it's expensive.

UA recently announced award chart devaluation and I noticed the required miles from Japan to SE Asia will jump from 30,000 miles to 45,000 miles. I had thought it is weird, but now I got the puzzle piece. That was I think because UA is losing its own metal flight between Japan and Bangkok, which is the most popular SE Asia destination from Japan and it has to leave that traffic to other star carriers paying some $$.

I am curious where those passengers whom I saw every time I took the flight will go. I have talked with one of them, who said he was a fish exporter carrying fresh fish from Tsukiji, Tokyo to Japanese restaurants in Bangkok. He said UA was the best because you can redeem award flights easily. At that time 1K and 1P could redeem one roundtrip after only two roundtrips.