Originally Posted by
Graciecatt
i have the CSP and the Ink Preferred so only 1.25 points for me.
That makes a MileagePlus redemption relatively more valuable -- the break-even point moves to $2250. (If the fare is higher than this, you get a better value by moving the points to MileagePlus than buying the ticket in the rewards portal).
Originally Posted by
Graciecatt
I am not savvy enough with booking partner award flights to completely understand your first paragraph. I have heard of UA's excursionist perk but am unsure how I'd apply it. If you could explain this like I'm 5 years old, I would appreciate it. 😀
Sorry.
The current state of the MileagePlus redemption world is very much in flux. Prior to November, UA had three award charts: two (saver and "everyday") for United-operated flights and one for partner-operated flights. The partner flights were in between saver and everyday prices. To figure out which of the charts applied, you had to know the MileagePlus regions involved in the trip. Thailand is in the South Asia region, along with Hong Kong and Singapore -- but China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan are all in different regions (Japan is its own region; the others are in North Asia). The practical effect of this was that if you could find a Saver business class award on a UA-operated flight to HKG or SIN, you could book all the way to BKK in J for the lowest rate; but if you could only find UA-operated flights to TPE or ICN, e.g., you'd have to pay more miles.
The Excursionist Perk only comes in if you wanted to add an additional destination in the South Asia region -- but if you found Saver space on the UA-operated flight to SIN/HKG, and the computer wasn't pricing the connection properly to BKK, trying multi-city search (and thus using the excursionist perk) might help.
Unfortunately, in November, the MileagePlus system became fully dynamically priced -- there are no longer any charts. So far, most observations are that the separate inventory still exists, and the old charts are being used in certain circumstances -- but UA appears to be in the process of changing things, and I don't think any of us really know what the program will look like 6 months or a year from now.
Hope this is a little clearer.