FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Changes to MileagePlus Award and Upgrade Policies - Eff. 3-Feb-2014
Old Jun 9, 2014, 7:27 pm
  #2976  
TomA
 
Join Date: May 2001
Location: TPA 50%/BKK 30%/HKG 20%
Programs: UA 1K MM - AF G – TK G – AZ Ex – Hilton D – Marriott G – IHG P
Posts: 1,990
Originally Posted by dvs7310
Has anyone tested multiple changes on awards issued pre-Feb 3rd? I'm about to change one now which I've done a dry run on and it doesn't charge me any additional miles for the change (as per stated policy). If later I decide that a more favorable flight opens up and I want to change again to that, is it then going to charge me the new rate (+10k miles in my case) or leave it alone?

This is because UA is perhaps the only program that puts HKG in a different zone than China and Taiwan. This has been a thorn in my side for quite a long time. Most programs put HKG in North Asia along with China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Mongolia, etc... except UA (and iirc with AA, North Asia is only Japan, Korea, and Mongolia, so your HKG-ICN would still cross zones). When I had Chinese visas every year anyway I'd sometimes take an award ticket into Shenzhen and cross on my own, saving the 10k extra miles... or under the old routing rules you could also route a flight to CTU via HKG, so if doing a one-way it was possible to schedule an overnight in HKG and become too ill to continue on the next day. Routing intra-North Asia via South Asia is no longer allowed unfortunately, (nor is routing via Guam it seems).
As a Southeast Asia guy, I'm pretty happy about it, and it makes sense. HKG-SE Asia flights tend to be cheaper. Just think of it as a domestic flight. You don't spend 20K on a 500 mile domestic flight, so why would you do it here? Makes no since even if it was cheaper. (And you'd have to be insane at those rates!)
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