Originally Posted by
treepuppy
I don't know how much the miles will be devalued especially with the news that United lost 2 billion in the 1st quarter.. and overall bad news for the airline industry.
That's actually a generous quarter in terms of losses for UA (or other airlines), considering the decline in traffic didn't really start until well into the last month of the quarter. To be specific, however, the $2b loss had several large one-time charge unrelated to COVID-19. This quarter is going to be brutal.
In terms of devaluation, miles and financial results do not map 1:1. For example, if a particular route had increase in miles needed for an award, that's likely due to UA moving from fixed mileage redemption to dynamic.
The awards game hasn't really changed over the years. Last minute flights, premium class (e.g. 60K for one-way TPAC or TATL; 100K TPAC roundtrip). Bottom line, if you see an award attractive to you, go for it.