Go Back  FlyerTalk Forums > Miles&Points > Airlines and Mileage Programs > United Airlines | MileagePlus
Reload this Page >

United Saver Award/Upgrade Inventory (& partners) - when is it released? [Archive]

Old Apr 3, 2019, 8:38 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
This is an archive thread, the master thread is UA MP Saver Award/Upgrade Inventory (& partners) -when is it released?
Print Wikipost

United Saver Award/Upgrade Inventory (& partners) - when is it released? [Archive]

Old Sep 18, 2015, 1:46 pm
  #2431  
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Northern California
Programs: I want to be free! Free!
Posts: 3,446
Originally Posted by RNE
Anecdotally, I've reached the same conclusion. United wants to grab as many suckers as it can before releasing saver awards.
In my view, it's a four part devaluation of miles that has become particularly acute over the last year or so.

1.) Remove historical practice of swinging the doors open on saver availability very close in / day of
2.) Remove capacity far out
3.) Reduce saver award availability generally
4.) Increase time required to locate awards, thereby increasing search costs and decreasing efforts to redeem

1 and 2 hit Plats+ particularly hard (since they can book far out with no change penalties, and book close in with no close-in fees). It is a big middle finger from MP.

Last edited by goalie; Sep 19, 2015 at 11:03 am Reason: edited quoted post to match edited original post
aCavalierInCoach is offline  
Old Sep 18, 2015, 2:31 pm
  #2432  
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: NYC
Programs: AA DULtArer
Posts: 5,547
Originally Posted by aCavalierInCoach
In my view, it's a four part devaluation of miles that has become particularly acute over the last year or so.

1.) Remove historical practice of swinging the doors open on saver availability very close in / day of
2.) Remove capacity far out
3.) Reduce saver award availability generally
4.) Increase time required to locate awards, thereby increasing search costs and decreasing efforts to redeem

1 and 2 hit Plats+ particularly hard (since they can book far out with no change penalties, and book close in with no close-in fees). It is a big middle finger from MP.
And the final nail in the coffin will be Saver Award will be status dependent available....and if you aren't spending big bucks, forget about Saver First.
LaserSailor is offline  
Old Sep 18, 2015, 2:39 pm
  #2433  
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Northern California
Programs: I want to be free! Free!
Posts: 3,446
Originally Posted by LaserSailor
And the final nail in the coffin will be Saver Award will be status dependent available....and if you aren't spending big bucks, forget about Saver First.
Candidly I'd be fine with that, my PQD is big. But the increased earning levels on dollars are, in my view, multiples over exclipsed by the direct and stealth constraints UA has put on capacity. And this is even before we talk about the partner booking premium and the shizztastic constraints partners have decided to put on *A bookings by UA members.
aCavalierInCoach is offline  
Old Sep 18, 2015, 4:45 pm
  #2434  
 
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 3
United Mileage Plus

Thanks for listening. One year ago, I researched Burlington Vermont, BTV to Washington DC IAD to Maui OGG back to BTV for summer 2015. The choices for economy saver awards were multiple. Great flights!--all saver awards so 45000 miles total. This year, nothing showing for the same summer 2016 trip. Why, i want to know? I'm reduced to searching roundtrip legs like chicago to maui (chicago is a connect from DC) to see some saver awards, or DC to maui (and there are some really lousy flights at saver level). We're talking 90000 miles to do this trip--double the 2015 rate! Bad enough, but, when i punch this multi-city trip, the saver awards do not show up at all, as in the saver awards along that route no longer exist. Any ideas? Thanks again.

Last edited by werejusttravelers; Sep 18, 2015 at 4:53 pm
werejusttravelers is offline  
Old Sep 18, 2015, 8:58 pm
  #2435  
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Hawai'i Nei
Programs: Au: UA, Marriott, Hilton; GE
Posts: 7,096
Originally Posted by LaserSailor
And the final nail in the coffin will be Saver Award will be status dependent available....and if you aren't spending big bucks, forget about Saver First.
Sorry, but do you have a citation for this?
747FC is online now  
Old Sep 18, 2015, 10:06 pm
  #2436  
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Charlottesville
Programs: UA Gold, VX Gold, AA PLT, DL Gold, MR Gold, HH Diamond, Hertz 5* Gold
Posts: 469
Originally Posted by werejusttravelers
Thanks for listening. One year ago, I researched Burlington Vermont, BTV to Washington DC IAD to Maui OGG back to BTV for summer 2015. The choices for economy saver awards were multiple. Great flights!--all saver awards so 45000 miles total. This year, nothing showing for the same summer 2016 trip. Why, i want to know? I'm reduced to searching roundtrip legs like chicago to maui (chicago is a connect from DC) to see some saver awards, or DC to maui (and there are some really lousy flights at saver level). We're talking 90000 miles to do this trip--double the 2015 rate! Bad enough, but, when i punch this multi-city trip, the saver awards do not show up at all, as in the saver awards along that route no longer exist. Any ideas? Thanks again.
Who knows, really.

Maybe UA hasn't released saver inventory. Maybe you don't have the right Premier status that opens up the extra award buckets. Maybe there's Saver Business/First but no Saver Economy. Maybe UA wants to sell you tickets (see below).

If I were you, I would be flexible with my starting and ending airports (HNL, KOA) and travel dates. Also consider that US-Hawaii flights are quite inexpensive now if you're flexible with your starting airport, and you might find Saver fares that connect you from BTV to an airport where you can catch a Saver fare.
vandrei is offline  
Old Sep 19, 2015, 4:58 pm
  #2437  
 
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 3
The frustrating part is that when you look at legs independently, you see some saver fares, but when you look for the total multi-city trip, they no longer exist. Thanks though. I'll look into this.
werejusttravelers is offline  
Old Sep 19, 2015, 5:40 pm
  #2438  
 
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 3
Could be a total newb here but when I check for awards, I go to United site, sign in, go to redeem awards travel, and punch in my trip. Is there another way that I can see if there are seats at saver level without "telling" United I want this trip?
werejusttravelers is offline  
Old Sep 19, 2015, 6:04 pm
  #2439  
Moderator: United Airlines
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.99MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,574
Originally Posted by werejusttravelers
Could be a total newb here but when I check for awards, I go to United site, sign in, go to redeem awards travel, and punch in my trip. Is there another way that I can see if there are seats at saver level without "telling" United I want this trip?
You can also check on other *A sites, such as ANA, AC, .... and as long as you for other partners, things should provide a pretty good view.

Two warnings
-- Not all carriers will show (so UA phone agents may see more inventory)
-- The availablity on a A* program site for its own flights will likely be better than what UA has access to. Carriers reserve some inventory on their sites for their program members.


What is you concern with "telling" United you are looking at a particular trip?
WineCountryUA is offline  
Old Sep 21, 2015, 9:49 pm
  #2440  
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 16
BKK to IAD economy saver in August

Hi,
Maybe no one knows the answer to this question but I figured that if anyone would know it would be someone here. I need to get 2 saver economy tickets from Bangkok to Washington in the middle of next August (I am blowing all the miles I accumulated flying during grad school). Right now there are tickets available, but the itinerary kind of sucks, it involves a 24 or 25 hour journey going through LHR or VIE. I would prefer to save a couple of hours and go through NRT or PEK. Right now there is plenty of saver availability on the NH flights all through July, but the NH flights for August aren't even listed as options (not in saver nor in standard).

Does anyone know if this means that NH just hasn't released its seats to United yet and that I should check back in a week or two? Or is mid-August really so much busier than late July? Maybe I should call United and ask? I'm not sure what the best play is.

I know I can book the LHR/VIE itinerary now and change it later, but I don't have the status necessary to avoid the fees, and although $150 isn't all the money in the world, I'd rather not burn it if those seats are very likely to come open in the near future.

Thanks in advance if anyone has any insights/suggestions.
zackkg
zackkg is offline  
Old Sep 21, 2015, 10:11 pm
  #2441  
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 56,296
Originally Posted by zackkg
Maybe no one knows the answer to this question but I figured that if anyone would know it would be someone here.
You're right no one knows for sure! But . . . .

Originally Posted by zackkg
Right now there are tickets available, but the itinerary kind of sucks, it involves a 24 or 25 hour journey going through LHR or VIE. I would prefer to save a couple of hours and go through NRT or PEK. Right now there is plenty of saver availability on the NH flights all through July, but the NH flights for August aren't even listed as options (not in saver nor in standard).

Does anyone know if this means that NH just hasn't released its seats to United yet and that I should check back in a week or two? Or is mid-August really so much busier than late July? Maybe I should call United and ask? I'm not sure what the best play is.
Mid-August should not be that hard, particularly in economy (business can be much tougher). NH may or may not open seats on the flights you want, but my bet is that if you keep looking, you will find an itinerary that better fits your needs. Award availability is constantly changing.

(And btw, from IAD, the Europe routing is really about the same amount of time in the air as the trans-Pac.)
Kacee is online now  
Old Sep 21, 2015, 10:25 pm
  #2442  
 
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Gold, SPG Plat, Hyatt Diamond
Posts: 2
Business Saver Award SFO > Beijing in Feb 2015?

Hi everyone, I'm looking to book an award flight on United on Feb 2, 2015 SFO > PEK. When I search for award tickets, economy saver awards are available for the non-stop flight but no business saver awards. Browsing the seating chart shows me that all business class seats on the 747 are open except for 2. Should I hold out for United to open up additional business saver awards, or am I out of luck even this far in advance?
jstarz927 is offline  
Old Sep 21, 2015, 10:38 pm
  #2443  
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: GVA (Greater Vancouver Area)
Programs: DREAD Gold; UA 1.035MM; Bonvoy Au-197; PCC Elite+; CCC Elite+; MSC C-12; CWC Au-197; WoH Dis
Posts: 52,110
Welcome to FT, jstarz927!

Originally Posted by jstarz927
Should I hold out for United to open up additional business saver awards, or am I out of luck even this far in advance?
There are no guarantees, but if and when they determine that they won't sell the seats, they may open up award inventory.
mahasamatman is offline  
Old Sep 22, 2015, 8:26 am
  #2444  
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: Columbus, OH
Posts: 17
Originally Posted by aCavalierInCoach
In my view, it's a four part devaluation of miles that has become particularly acute over the last year or so.

1.) Remove historical practice of swinging the doors open on saver availability very close in / day of
2.) Remove capacity far out
3.) Reduce saver award availability generally
4.) Increase time required to locate awards, thereby increasing search costs and decreasing efforts to redeem
I can agree with this - we are not frequent travelers and have saved up miles for years to take a trip to Europe in summer 2016. It was very, very frustrating to try to find an itinerary, and probably took 6+ hours of searching.
Aellinsar is offline  
Old Sep 22, 2015, 10:25 am
  #2445  
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: SFO
Programs: COdbaUA Platinum 2MM
Posts: 5,530
Originally Posted by Aellinsar
I can agree with this - we are not frequent travelers and have saved up miles for years to take a trip to Europe in summer 2016. It was very, very frustrating to try to find an itinerary, and probably took 6+ hours of searching.
It is best to do your search daily early in the morning. That is how I usually find my saver award seats. Sometimes inventory opens up and closes in one day then reopen a few days later.
1KChinito is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.