Does United award cost ever decrease?
 

Hey guys, first time poster here.

I'm looking at a specific route from Newark to Stockholm on May 25th. I remember a month ago that this was listed for 30k for one-way (Economy), but for the past couple weeks it's been listing as 57.5K.

I'm not too clear on how United works regarding their reward system, but is there any chance they might decrease it back to 30k or do you guys think it'll always be at 57.5k now?

Thanks for all your help!

For a departure only 60 days away at the onset of tourist season? Virtually no chance of any more Saver seats.

Welcome to FlyerTalk!

30K is a Saver Award. 57.5K is an Everyday Award, which has greater availability but at a higher cost.

The Everyday Award on that route can go as high as 70K miles. It's possible that UA will open additional inventory at 30K. It's possible that the 57.5K will be 55K tomorrow -- or 70K. It all depends upon how well UA thinks they'll be able to sell the flight, and that can change from day to day or even from hour to hour.

It's also possible that the Everyday Award will disappear and there will be no award availability on that flight at all. (If you have elite status, or a qualifying United-branded Chase credit card, such as the MileagePlus Explorer Card or the United Club Card, this can only happen if the entire flight sells out).

Hope this helps.

My experience is some stuff opens up (on some flights, obviously not necessarily the one you're looking at!) 7 or even 3 days before departure, even during busy season.

Agreed. But if you're married to a specific route on a specific day waiting and hoping is an extremely risky strategy.

This is rarer than it used to ne.

My first thought is why be married to UA on this route? Albeit more expensive for using a star alliance carrier, the point of the alliance is to cast a large net and use pooling for more options. Not sure what your priority is, flying UA for lower miles (which may not happen now that you are in everyday awards territory) or getting there on that day with other options.

LH for example opens up F 14 days before departure for example.

IME UA releases more inventory if not packed already, so that is something I always watch. Set up expert flyer to send you an alert.

Not for Y. Same price.

Y international?:td::td::td::td::td::td::td:

There is a reason I hope to never know.:D

Yes. That's the root of the joint venture.

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I'm using Chase points to go to Stockholm, and United seems to be the cheapest at 30k along with allowing for open jaws. Doesn't seem like other Chase airline partners have any better deals unless I missed anything?

Are you using UR through the travel portal or transferring them to United to use them?

I've had a lot more luck using LH and SAS to get to Stockholm than United.

Mainly by transferring to United and booking directly with United due to the free open jaws allowed. I'll definitely check out the UR portal though.

Try other routes as well. Maybe Albany to EWR to Stockholm. And if you login and have the chase credit card, there is a much higher chance of finding some saver inventory somewhere - including in J class.

Try searching from "NYC" on the United website. That will include flights departing JFK.

Welcome to FT!

The following may or may not be of interest to you, but it seemed to be worth posting. If you can leave from BOS instead of EWR, you can get an award ticket through United for 30k + $23.00 for one-stop travel to Stockholm on SAS. Leave Boston at 5:30 PM; arrive Copenhagen at 6:55 AM the next day. Leave Copenhagen at 8 AM; arrive Stockholm at 9:10 AM. If you prefer to allow more time at Copenhagen, later flights to Stockholm are available for the same price.

Hope this suggestion helps!

Thanks for the suggestion! Unfortunately I was looking at that and when I was about to book it, UA says that flight is not available anymore, although it keeps being listed for some reason. But thanks for taking your time to look that up. Really appreciate all the helpful posts here!