Nov 1, 2013, 4:08 am
Last edit by: aacharya
Moderator Note: Please keep the wiki post limited to just the facts.
New UA Award/Upgrade Chart (vs. Current Chart)
Changes took effect for travel booked starting February 3, 2014. See UA Insider's post linked here for more info about the date change. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/22263212-post2366.html
Awards with *A partners now cost more than similar awards flown only on UA metal.
See below for the round-trip increases on partner metal :
Changes to upgrade policy for intra-Asia and northern South America flights
Questions and Answers
Q: If I book an award in January 2014 and then make changes in February or beyond (in routing, airline, origin, destination, etc), will it be repriced according to new mileage requirements, or will I keep the old pricing on that ticket?
Additional details on changing tickets booked prior to 2/3/14 per UA Insider:
Full details are in post #2588 http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/22283437-post2588.html
Q: Do these rates apply for tickets purchased after Feb 3 or for travel after Feb 3? That is,if one purchases a ticket now, to fly on Mar 15, will that be new or old pricing?
Q: How will award pricing apply to mixed-carrier Saver Awards?
(reverted to J.Edward's rev)
New UA Award/Upgrade Chart (vs. Current Chart)
Changes took effect for travel booked starting February 3, 2014. See UA Insider's post linked here for more info about the date change. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/22263212-post2366.html
Awards with *A partners now cost more than similar awards flown only on UA metal.
- F awards on partners went up 40-80%
- J awards on partners went up 20-40%
- F and J awards on UA metal (or mixed carriers where UA metal is in premium cabin followed by partner segment in lower class) as well some Y awards increased by 5-20% (US to Europe in F up 19%, US to Middle East in F up 20% for example)
See below for the round-trip increases on partner metal :
US ✈ Southern South America: +10,000 J, +5,000 F
US ✈ Europe: +40,000 J, +85,000 F
US ✈ Northern/Central/Southern Africa: +40,000 J, +110,000 F
US ✈ Middle East: +5,000 Y, +40,000 J, +130,000 F
US ✈ Central Asia/India: +5,000 Y, +40,000 J, +120,000 F
US ✈ South Asia: +15,000 Y, +40,000 J, +120,000 F
US ✈ North Asia: +5,000 Y, +40,000 J, +100,000 F
US ✈ Japan: +5,000 Y, +30,000 J, +85,000 F
US ✈ Oceania: +30,000 J, +70,000 F
US ✈ Australia/New Zealand: +25,000 J, +100,000 F
RTW: +20,000 Y, +90,000 J, +100,000 F
US ✈ Europe: +40,000 J, +85,000 F
US ✈ Northern/Central/Southern Africa: +40,000 J, +110,000 F
US ✈ Middle East: +5,000 Y, +40,000 J, +130,000 F
US ✈ Central Asia/India: +5,000 Y, +40,000 J, +120,000 F
US ✈ South Asia: +15,000 Y, +40,000 J, +120,000 F
US ✈ North Asia: +5,000 Y, +40,000 J, +100,000 F
US ✈ Japan: +5,000 Y, +30,000 J, +85,000 F
US ✈ Oceania: +30,000 J, +70,000 F
US ✈ Australia/New Zealand: +25,000 J, +100,000 F
RTW: +20,000 Y, +90,000 J, +100,000 F
Changes to upgrade policy for intra-Asia and northern South America flights
- Complimentary Premier Upgrades and instant upgrades are not applicable
- Regional Premier Upgrades (for any fare class) and Global Premier Upgrades (for flights booked in fare class Z, P, S, T, L, K, G or N) can no longer be requested on or after November 1, 2013
- There is no co-pay exemption for MileagePlus Upgrade Awards requested on or after November 1, 2013
- The above changes do not apply to Copa-operated flights.
Questions and Answers
Q: If I book an award in January 2014 and then make changes in February or beyond (in routing, airline, origin, destination, etc), will it be repriced according to new mileage requirements, or will I keep the old pricing on that ticket?
Our existing change process will apply. Changes to awards that require a change in date do not result in a change to the award price. Any other change will require an add/collect in miles and fees for changes or cancellations will still apply as per our existing policies.
Changes that will not trigger a re-price for itineraries ticketed before February 3, 2014 include:
- Date/time (cabin, region, and award type can't change)
- Carrier on one or more segments (cabin, region, and award type can’t change)
- Origin/Destination within the same regions (carrier and cabin can’t change)
Q: Do these rates apply for tickets purchased after Feb 3 or for travel after Feb 3? That is,if one purchases a ticket now, to fly on Mar 15, will that be new or old pricing?
Updated handling for mixed UA-Partner United/partner award itineraries: As we shared with the initial announcement, the Star Alliance/Partner partner award pricing will apply to Business or First awards for itineraries that include at least one flight segment operated by a MileagePlus partner carrier in Business or First.
However, as a customer benefit we have made an exception for most itineraries which require connecting onto a MileagePlus/Star partner in First or Business for a short distance. Specifically, if a United/Copa award itinerary contains a connecting segment on a MileagePlus/Star partner that is wholly within one MileagePlus award region, then the United award price will apply.
However, as a customer benefit we have made an exception for most itineraries which require connecting onto a MileagePlus/Star partner in First or Business for a short distance. Specifically, if a United/Copa award itinerary contains a connecting segment on a MileagePlus/Star partner that is wholly within one MileagePlus award region, then the United award price will apply.
- For example: IAD-FRA in United BusinessFirst connecting to FRA-FCO in Lufthansa Business, will be priced at the United mileage award amount.
- Note that this exception will not apply to a few specific regions and routings, such as intra-Africa connecting segments and certain fifth-freedom routes (e.g. BKK-KUL operated by Lufthansa)
Changes to MileagePlus Award and Upgrade Policies - Eff. 3-Feb-2014
Nov 7, 2013, 7:55 am
#1576
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Posts: 5,825
While the general IT IMO is a failure, no one can say it hasn't been an improvement to be able to book more *A carriers on the site for award tix.
But of course, as we can see that was very much a Pyrrhic victory, as once it became easier to book said flights, all of a sudden UA realized that it was costing them a lot more and thus created this split, over-inflated award chart for *A carriers :-:
But of course, as we can see that was very much a Pyrrhic victory, as once it became easier to book said flights, all of a sudden UA realized that it was costing them a lot more and thus created this split, over-inflated award chart for *A carriers :-:
Nov 7, 2013, 7:58 am
#1577
Join Date: May 2004
Location: US
Programs: UA Lifetime Gold, IHG Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 973
The initial summary is somewhat misleading. It says changes to the award miles on partner travel. In fact award miles has changed for travel on UA metal also.
Nov 7, 2013, 8:36 am
#1578
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: ORD
Programs: AA, UA, GE
Posts: 5,122
What I mean is that redemptions by UA members in premium cabins are mostly on other carriers (and not UA). I did not mean that 70% of a given F cabin are UA award redemptions.
Nov 7, 2013, 8:45 am
#1579
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: NJ, USA
Posts: 2,837
First time heard that UA awards are changing - what are changes? do you mean the Asian and SA changes? or are there others?
Nov 7, 2013, 8:52 am
#1580
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: LHR (sometimes CLE, SFO, BOS, LAX, SEA)
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 5,893
There is also no more "10,000 miles for a domestic stopover on a domestic round-trip award", but I don't think I have ever used that or know anyone who used it.
Nov 7, 2013, 9:24 am
#1581
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
And back then, how much money was Delta making? How much was a barrel of oil? And Delta's devaluation back then had to do with the real-time elite benefits. Like the inability to upgrade from the lowest fare buckets. Even with the upcoming award changes with Mileage Plus, it will still be a better redemption program than the "saved" Sky Miles program. Go to their website and try to book a J award ticket to Europe ( I picked J class because there are no F awards to Europe). See if you get one at the 100K level (which btw becomes 125K in June). You'll see that basically the 185K award is the de facto award level. Which is more than Star@140K or UA@115K.
Nov 7, 2013, 9:28 am
#1582
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: LHR (sometimes CLE, SFO, BOS, LAX, SEA)
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 5,893
Nov 7, 2013, 9:55 am
#1583
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 267
For these recent changes, I am going to dump all UA cards after 1 year of membership.
Nov 7, 2013, 10:49 am
#1584
formerly known as Tad's Broiled Steaks
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 6,412
But, with UA "taking a page" out of DL's playbook (somewhat; one can do UA all the way NYC-SIN, but why?), comparing mileage costs will be sobering starting 02/2014.
Nov 7, 2013, 11:09 am
#1585
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 264
Can someone please start an on-line petition at http://www.change.org/petition
Nov 7, 2013, 11:17 am
#1586
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: ORD/MDW
Programs: BA/AA/AS/B6/WN/ UA/HH/MR and more like 'em but most felicitously & importantly MUCCI
Posts: 19,719
Can someone please start an on-line petition at http://www.change.org/petition
- Pay to fly other airlines and mail the boarding passes to Smisek's office.
- Cancel your Chase cards and make sure Chase knows why.
- Obtain status matches with AA, etc. and mail evidence to Smisek's office. Enclose your current UA elite-level MP card.
- Redeem all your MP miles as quickly as possible in a manner that costs UA maximally (e.g. partner premium awards).
- Raise awareness in the office and with seatmates on planes, etc.
That is all.
Last edited by BearX220; Nov 7, 2013 at 11:50 am
Nov 7, 2013, 12:30 pm
#1587
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: ORD
Programs: AA, UA, GE
Posts: 5,122
Waste of time. Petitions do nothing. Take meaningful action.
That is all.
- Pay to fly other airlines and mail the boarding passes to Smisek's office.
- Cancel your Chase cards and make sure Chase knows why.
- Obtain status matches with AA, etc. and mail evidence to Smisek's office. Enclose your current UA elite-level MP card.
- Redeem all your MP miles as quickly as possible in a manner that costs UA maximally (e.g. partner premium awards).
- Raise awareness in the office and with seatmates on planes, etc.
That is all.
My thoughts exactly. Things will only change if people "vote with their feet"
Nov 7, 2013, 12:31 pm
#1588
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 42,009
Those sky high rewards bait the suckers out there, but anybody who reads the DL forum here knows how to avoid them.
Nov 7, 2013, 12:44 pm
#1589
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: BOS, PVG
Programs: United 1K and 1MM, Marriott Ambassador
Posts: 10,000
Don't rely on delta.com, and don't take Delta metal (well, you can, partner airlines ONLY offer saver inventory so there's no chance of seeing numbers like that when using them).
Those sky high rewards bait the suckers out there, but anybody who reads the DL forum here knows how to avoid them.
Those sky high rewards bait the suckers out there, but anybody who reads the DL forum here knows how to avoid them.
But I do manage to get low C awards once in a while. It just takes lots of efforts.
Nov 7, 2013, 12:48 pm
#1590
Suspended
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: En Route
Programs: Many
Posts: 6,798
Not so sure about that...by FTers? For sure. By "regular" elites? I bet it's much less.
Part of this whole problem it's the strength of booking *A carriers online...it's definitely greased the wheels post-3/3/12 for many folks to book Star carriers who didn't have KVS/EF. So UA has done it to itself basically.
Part of this whole problem it's the strength of booking *A carriers online...it's definitely greased the wheels post-3/3/12 for many folks to book Star carriers who didn't have KVS/EF. So UA has done it to itself basically.
Very cool! I found the Star Alliance one. https://web.archive.org/web/20051215...d_chart_v2.pdf BMI, Spanair & Varig were still members then. Australia to the US was a bargain 60k in Y, 90k in J, 120k in F.
Last edited by iluv2fly; Nov 7, 2013 at 2:04 pm Reason: merge