United Saver Award Availability: How does it vary by elite level?
 

On EF, the fare class IN is described as: First/Business - Saver Award for Plat Elites whereas I is described as: First/Business - Saver Award and Alliance Upgrades (I).

I did a few random queries, both domestic and international, and I found that I=IN in every single case that saw.

A few questions:

1. Is there ever a case when IN > I ?

2. If IN can be > I then which status levels are needed to qualify for it? Would it be available to all elites? To Gold and above? Or, in fact, would it really be limited to Platinum and higher?

I do note that, on this page:

http://www.united.com/web/en-US/cont...r/default.aspx

It says that Platinum and above will have "better" availability for saver awards in premium cabins.

Based on the research I've done on EF, it appears that the "better" availability for Platinum and above is, in fact, another false marketing claim, just like the false claim that RN > R for certain elites.

If this conclusion is correct, then, in regards to using miles to buy saver tickets in either economy or premium cabins, it appears there is no benefit whatsoever to achieving status higher than Silver. As far as I can tell, Silver has the same access to saver inventory as any higher class.

And, furthermore, status higher than Silver offers no benefit in terms of upgrading with miles assuming R space is available and can be confirmed at time of booking.

Any evidence to support or contradict this?

IME, this false claim is another in a long string of "changes we'll like", brought to you by the HouCrew. :td:

Dave

There was a time in the last days of CO where for months on end, availability was better if you checked without logging in as elite.

XN does exceed X sometimes, but I've not seen IN exceed I. Apparently Inventory Management did not get the memo from Marketing.

Good point!

It may well have been SENT, only to be intercepted by the C suite. ;)

Dave

I have to agree with this. I did find "once" greater IN versus I for my parents (I couldn't book it with their miles, but could with mine) but cannot replicate this at all since the O/ON and I/IN change.

XN is available to all elites whereas IN is supposed to be Platinum or above. So, XN is not an "incremental" benefit of achieving anything beyond Silver. IN, in contrast, is supposed to be an incremental benefit for PP and higher.

The underlying reason for the analysis that lead me to ask this question is the fact that I need to decide what status level to target for this year.

Last year, I walked from 1K and fell to PP because the 1K value proposition was decimated so much that it was no longer worth the cost or effort to me.

Now, I've got no intention of even bothering with PP. The only potentially useful benefit for me is greater access to international business class seats at saver price, and according to the web site, this is a benefit of PP and above, but my research and the conversation in this thread so far would indicate it's not actually a benefit but rather yet another lie.

So, I'm thinking that I might as well just go for Gold this year.

I'll have the same access to saver inventory as I would if I were PP and there seems to be no other benefit that justifies attaining PP when I don't have to fly that many miles this year anyway.

I find it truly surprising that your only justification for dropping to Gold versus PP/1K is saver international in C/F. There's always a way to find a decent routing, even for non-elites.

To me, 1K (with tradeable GPUs/RPUs) and PP (better upgrades, 2 RPUs, etc) is worth pushing for. But I have access to great MRs from ZFV/PHL/EWR to go over the hump - that's not as easy (and neither are upgrades) from SFO.

i have never seen IN>I, but i regularly see XN>X and cases where XN>0 and X=0. of course, changing an award booking yesterday they booked me into X instead of XN :rolleyes: oh well whatever.

also correct that R>0 means accessible to all elites with Miles + $, but that copay can in some cases be very high and almost never less than the W fare when all is said and done.

Exactly. Since R=RN always, it means that as a Gold, I can upgrade as easily as a PP, assuming I don't want to play the lottery and require R space > 0 at time of booking. With that criteria, "upgrade priority" is not relevant to the status decision.

I've completely given up on the notion of upgrades being processed by SHARES through any form of wait-list, and therefore, upgrade priority is not a factor that enters into my analysis anymore.

If I can fly 50K paid BIS to get Gold, and then I can use the miles that I earned to upgrade into R with miles and/or buy a saver international business seat, and from time to time, purchase a P/Z fare, then I feel that I'm doing quite well. For this, I don't have the extra strain, frustration, wear and tear, and expense of flying yet another 50K miles on top of Gold.

This analysis is predicated on the baseline position that I don't have a mandatory business need to fly more than 50K and therefore, I see no incremental benefit of 1K that justifies flying another 50K miles that don't need to be flown.

I have seen some last Minute IN award space open up that we were able to book [24 hours out]..
Status Level: Chase card (ouch!)

XN is the only one which seems to be routinely available for elites.

I used to see IN > I frequently, but have not seen it even once in the past 16 months or so. RN > R I never even pay attention to, as at one point RN was not an elite-level "extra" R inventory bucket but rather something for GS IIRC.

Got it - and that's a perfectly reasonable, sound justification.

I didn't keep notes but this summer I was booking saver awards for the parents to Germany, and I did find a few flights with IN > I (I >= 2). I seem to recall they were on IAH-LHR and vv.

If you do see such magical occurences again, please do post them, as no one can ever re-produce them for future dates.

Smart move Mitch!