wco81

But how is their saver award availability for TPAC or TATL?


Don't most foreign FFPs have their own problems, like fuel charges on awards or very limited earning both for BIS and non-BIS activities?



I thought SQ got rid of the online redemption discount.

Also, it seems pretty common to be waitlisted for most awards more than a few months out and you have to transfer in points which may expire.

Duke787

They did and they further devalued on top of that but SQ and FlyingBlue are the only two that are partners with all CC + SPG so the impact isn't as great since transfer options are abundant.

Plus they (SQ) give 100% on all non-BE Y buckets on UA so if you aren't chasing status with UA you can throw any UA flights that direction

NH_Clark

This is the sad reality. And will continue to devalue.

halls120

Sorry, but a devaluation is a devaluation, no matter how one tries to rationalize it.

Airline loyalty programs are becoming a joke.

Hipplewm

No one complained when they increased the value?

ermintrude

except AS who have an enticing and healthy FF program and currently successful business model and I don't think B6 has devalued theirs

Agreed on face value but over the last few years UA have made what could be called stealth devaluations, so IMO it's fair to speculate regarding unpublished devaluations that UA might implement in the future.

halls120

I'm sure UA's stockholders complained. And they are probably cheering now.

notquiteaff

Sure, but not all devaluations are created equal. It seems weird that you can't or don't want to differentiate between them. I guess with that mindset UA might as well stop offering one for you. And if they all are becoming a joke, maybe stop using them. If you need to travel, shop exclusively by price and schedule. It's wha I do for the most part these days now that I don't chase status anymore, and I have been getting pretty good value out of MP last year and this year. Not as good as 5-10 years ago, but is that a surprise?

PaulInTheSky

1. Yes. J is easier to get, but F is tougher. Usually it's tougher for CX, but most other ones on AS website are not difficult to get.

2. SQ took off the YQ on SQ metal.

3. I just found out the discount is gone, but even if that's the case, I'd call it a push. 15% in exchange of no YQ.

halls120

What change to MP since 2012 has actually worked to the benefit of the customer? And if there have been any, do they even come close to balancing out the significant devaluations during that same period?

flyertalkrocks

I received an email from United about changes to the way award travel works. Are they basically increasing the cost of award travel?

WineCountryUA

In a word, Yes
The thread's wiki has a high level summary of the changes.
Opinions are mixed if this is minor or a more significant set of changes..

adambrau

Airline service was becoming a joke. And it still has a ways to go but the foreign lines are starting to do the same. If you are paying premium fares and travel a lot you get so many extra miles, and when you combine that with credit cards it's like winning the slots at every pull.

I understand that this community was set up to teach avid flyers how to get the perks on the cheap. But in the process we have provided the airlines with one huge focus group as the number of competing carriers has dwindled to 3. Subjective of course but the US has 3 Global Carriers and then a grouping of more domestic focused carriers with international partnerships.

And having gone through a few devaluations with UA over the years, while I don't see that UA has publicly said they will reduce saver award ticket inventory especially a week to 72 hours out, I guess eventually UA will follow Delta with more close in restrictions. Having conceded that, there are always more saver awards a week out from departure than 10 months or 5 or 2, and the airlines will always want to offset the liability of all these miles on their books. Or the banks will.

I didn't take off to American when they stuck with the old formula of earning miles based on distance flown, the fact that Delta had and UA was going to showed the writing was on the wall. So I continue to stick with UA - I almost hate to say this but I am happy with them

Adam

747FC

My wife and I have 2M paid miles between us in 35 years of flying UA. We probably have 1M traveled award miles too, mostly in F and GF.

All these years we have had an implicit contract with UA: We would give UA our paid travel and in return, UA would have saver F/GF seats available on the day seat inventory was released. For us, planning long international vacations requires knowing O inventory will be there.

This contract has been honored up until last year, when we booked our flights for this year. However, times have changed, and no O or I inventory has been released for our 2018 vacation. So we looked for paid J to our destination and what did we find? All-aisle access on another carrier for less than UA was charging on planes that had 8-across J.

So, thank you, UA: For 35 years, we enjoyed the ride. You got our millions of paid flight miles, and many more millions of credit card spend. You have decided to reduce your saver inventory so that it is no longer predictable. On our part, we will no longer be the predictable customers you once courted.

5khours

Well actually it's near impossible if you're in transit and have to make changes in hurry with a mobile. Easy enough to book the new flight from the app or mobile web site, but no way to cancel. And frankly when I get in a travel bind (often because of delayed UA flight,) I've got a dozen other calls and emails I need to send without having to worry about calling UA to cancel a flight.