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Changes to MileagePlus Award and Upgrade Policies - Eff. 3-Feb-2014

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Old Nov 1, 2013, 4:08 am
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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.
  • 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

Changes to upgrade policy for intra-Asia and northern South America flights
  1. Complimentary Premier Upgrades and instant upgrades are not applicable
  2. 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
  3. There is no co-pay exemption for MileagePlus Upgrade Awards requested on or after November 1, 2013
  4. 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?
Originally Posted by UA Insider
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.
Additional details on changing tickets booked prior to 2/3/14 per UA Insider:
Originally Posted by UA Insider
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)
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?
Originally Posted by UA Insider
The new award pricing takes effect for bookings made on or after Feb 3, 2014 for all future travel dates. If you purchased a ticket prior to then for travel on March 15, and no changes are made to the itinerary, the current pricing will apply.
Q: How will award pricing apply to mixed-carrier Saver Awards?
Originally Posted by UA Insider
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.
  • 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)
(reverted to J.Edward's rev)
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Changes to MileagePlus Award and Upgrade Policies - Eff. 3-Feb-2014

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Old Nov 8, 2013, 9:53 am
  #1636  
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Originally Posted by moondog
I'm still waiting for the "carrot" in this deal to emerge... free massages in RCCs perhaps?
Maybe few extra on board drink chits.
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Old Nov 8, 2013, 10:02 am
  #1637  
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Thought on burning UA miles

Question. I need a o/w DFW-FRA-DXB in late February in First on LH... I want of course to take advantage of the low award mileage before the new one kicks in... Let's say I book a ticket on January 28th for Feb 10th... If I change on Feb 9th for my date of Feb 15th... would I still be charged the same amount of miles?

Thanks!
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Old Nov 8, 2013, 11:21 am
  #1638  
 
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Originally Posted by dsquared37
What exactly are you trying to upgrade and with what instrument?
Intra-asia seems to still be upgradeable with miles (no copay) or RPUs. Even though the announcement says they should not be after Nov 1 ...
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Old Nov 8, 2013, 11:26 am
  #1639  
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Originally Posted by LaserSailor
The cardholders who will leave are no-balance pay every month type. These are not HVCCH - High Value Credit Card Holders. So now you are neither a HVCCH nor a HVF!!
That is not true. Familiar with financial underwriting in the industry? Familiar with how credit card receivable securitization works? It appears not.
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Old Nov 8, 2013, 11:32 am
  #1640  
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Originally Posted by LaserSailor
The cardholders who will leave are no-balance pay every month type. These are not HVCCH - High Value Credit Card Holders. So now you are neither a HVCCH nor a HVF!!
You can't be serious?

Anyone charges $10000 per month and pays off on time is valued highly by credit card companies.
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Old Nov 8, 2013, 11:37 am
  #1641  
 
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Originally Posted by kb1992
You can't be serious?

Anyone charges $10000 per month and pays off on time is valued highly by credit card companies.
Maybe UA management is equally ignorant in these matters ?
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Old Nov 8, 2013, 11:42 am
  #1642  
 
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Originally Posted by sunil
A fellow pax and I were discussing the only reason left for flying UA was MP.

I am done with United, going to start looking for another carrier.
There are some options if you are in States. For those of us outside of States options are rather limited.

One note - I would accept new changes if surcharges on partners are imposed on routes/destinations where UA does fly - UA wants you to fly on UA on NRT-SFO and not ANA, got it.

However, please let me know how I can redeem award flights on SIN-FRA, SIN-PVG, SIN-GRU, SIN-SYD on UA's metal and I'd be happy...

Now the main question is where to go...
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Old Nov 8, 2013, 11:44 am
  #1643  
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Originally Posted by weero
Maybe UA management is equally ignorant in these matters ?
Well, UA management has lost their collective creativity.

They only know how to copy DL's every move.
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Old Nov 8, 2013, 1:17 pm
  #1644  
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Originally Posted by kb1992
Well, UA management has lost their collective creativity.

They only know how to copy DL's every move.
DL just tried to one-up UA, and made some of the devaluation changes effective immediately -- without any advance notice.
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Old Nov 8, 2013, 3:11 pm
  #1645  
 
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Well I need to dump a couple of my annual pony up cc's. Thanks United for helping me figure out which accounts to close first.
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Old Nov 8, 2013, 4:24 pm
  #1646  
 
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Not sure about this scenario:

If I book this trip in Dec. 2013: BKK-MUC-YYZ-ORD by TG F/LH J/UA J (one-way ticket and no stopovers), later on I found MUC-YYZ F availability from LH, and make changes accordingly after Feb. 2014, will more miles be collected? Thanks!
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Old Nov 8, 2013, 5:27 pm
  #1647  
 
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Originally Posted by lewende
If I book this trip in Dec. 2013: BKK-MUC-YYZ-ORD by TG F/LH J/UA J (one-way ticket and no stopovers), later on I found MUC-YYZ F availability from LH, and make changes accordingly after Feb. 2014, will more miles be collected? Thanks!
Almost certainly, although I don't know that I've seen a specific answer to your question from UA.
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Old Nov 8, 2013, 5:39 pm
  #1648  
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Originally Posted by controller1
Having worked in the financial industry, I can tell you that "no-balance pay every month type" of cardholders who place several thousand on their cards each month are valued.
the credit card company makes tons of money off of all those transaction fees and never has to worry about the cardholder bailing on them. Steady profit stream if you ask me.
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Old Nov 8, 2013, 5:39 pm
  #1649  
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Originally Posted by GUWonder
DL just tried to one-up UA, and made some of the devaluation changes effective immediately -- without any advance notice.
Of course, UA cannot let DL go first...award changes will now surely be implemented on Jan 1st.
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Old Nov 8, 2013, 6:05 pm
  #1650  
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Originally Posted by BearX220
As the parent of a kid who grew up with total disinterest in Disney but visited four continents by the time he was 12 thanks to FF programs, I object to this sort of cultural condescension. If you have ambitious family travel patterns this devaluation is a seismic event.
I agree.

When I was a premier executive, I saved up for years to get four business class awards to SYD, and was able to so for a long trip May/June of 2003. I would have been pretty disappointed if UA had make this kind of hike right before a redemption.
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