May 1, 2021, 4:06 pm
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
This is an archive thread, the active thread is "Dynamic Award Pricing" by UA; questions, experiences, .... {Archive}
The details:
Award travel updates
Introducing a broader range of award prices
Updates to award travel are on the horizon. For flights on or after November 15, 2019, we’ll no longer publish an award chart listing the set amount of miles needed for each flight.The details:
- Some award prices will be lower than what’s currently published in our chart. You may have already seen these prices, and you’ll be able to get them immediately.
- Other award prices may be higher than what you see today, especially if you’re traveling at a popular time. These prices will take effect immediately for travel November 15 or after.
- Starting November 15, we’re removing close-in fees, so you won’t be charged the extra fee of up to $75 for booking last-minute award travel.
- A flexible award travel calendar is available on united.com or in our app.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is changing?
For travel on or after November 15, we will no longer publish an award chart listing the set amount of miles needed for award flights. Award pricing will now fluctuate based on a variety of factors, including demand. Additionally, starting November 15, we will no longer charge a fee of up to $75 for award flights booked within 21 days of departure.When will these updates take effect?
The award pricing changes apply immediately to flights on or after November 15, 2019. Until then, award prices will be the same as or lower than what’s currently published in our award chart.How many miles will I need for award travel after November 15?
Award prices will now fluctuate based on a variety of factors. Some air awards will be available for less than what’s listed in our chart, which you may have already noticed. After November 15, award prices may also be higher, especially if you’re traveling at popular times. Use our flexible award calendar to get a monthly view of the award prices for a specific destination.Why are you making these changes?
Increasing award prices for the most in-demand flights allows us to offer better returns for our shareholders. If your award travel is flexible, these updates will help you make the most of your miles.How will these updates affect award travel availability?
United MileagePlus members with Premier® status and qualifying United Chase Cardmembers can continue to book award travel without blackout dates. For other members, most award flights that are available today will continue to be available after these updates take effect.Do the lowest-priced awards have any extra flight restrictions?
No. Our lowest priced awards do not have any added restrictions; the fare rules for all award travel apply.How can I find the lowest priced award for my travel?
The award calendar on united.com or in our app will continue to show the lowest available price for your destination.Will I earn miles on my flight if I book an award?
No. As with current award bookings, award travel in the future will not be eligible to earn miles with MileagePlus or any other loyalty program.What if I need to change my existing award?
If you need to change your award ticket, you will be issued a new ticket for which new pricing and additional fees may apply.What if I purchase a close-in award before November 15
The close-in booking fee will still apply to all tickets booked within 21 days of departure prior to November 15, 2019. We will not refund fees paid prior to November 15, even if travel occurs on or after November 15.
"Dynamic Award Pricing" by UA; questions, experiences, .... {Archive}
May 4, 2019, 8:56 am
#1141
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: DAY
Programs: UA 1K 1MM; Marriott LT Titanium; Amex MR; Chase UR; Hertz PC; Global Entry
Posts: 10,159
For me, each purchase decision is evaluated based on the overall value, which also includes the Frequent Flyer Program --- both status considerations + value of Redeemable Miles. I will still consider it, but it weighs less heavily now.
It also has knock on effects...credit card usage, participation in other M+ programs, etc.
It also has knock on effects...credit card usage, participation in other M+ programs, etc.
May 4, 2019, 3:32 pm
#1142
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: EAU
Programs: UA 1K, CO Plat, NW Plat, Marriott Premiere Plat, SPG Plat, Priority Gold, Hilton Gold
Posts: 4,712
Replaced by a mileage price increase of 15,000 miles.
And since I'm 1K and pay no fee, the price of the award just went up 15,000 miles with no cash savings.
So UA just changed my 25,000 mile close-in round trip tickets to 40-50,000 mile tickets. And last-minute invites for family/friends to travel with me was one of my big uses of miles.
Which isn't going to get me to spend 40-50k miles. Its going to get me to not fly at all, and also move my credit card spend away from UA miles.
I'm just glad that I've kept most of my points in Chase. Will burn down my United miles and push my chase points elsewhere.
And since I'm 1K and pay no fee, the price of the award just went up 15,000 miles with no cash savings.
So UA just changed my 25,000 mile close-in round trip tickets to 40-50,000 mile tickets. And last-minute invites for family/friends to travel with me was one of my big uses of miles.
Which isn't going to get me to spend 40-50k miles. Its going to get me to not fly at all, and also move my credit card spend away from UA miles.
I'm just glad that I've kept most of my points in Chase. Will burn down my United miles and push my chase points elsewhere.
Last edited by raehl311; May 4, 2019 at 3:49 pm
May 4, 2019, 4:50 pm
#1143
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: MSP
Programs: DL PM, UA Gold, WN, Global Entry; +others wherever miles/points are found
Posts: 14,410
Indeed, especially for people who are paying for premium class travel. (For people who are buying economy, there's still a pretty significant benefit to airline status, in terms of free luggage, improved seating, etc.).
The purpose of frequent flyer programs is to make customers make short-term irrational decisions in the hope of a long-term benefit. For some people, that benefit is free travel; for others, it's deeply-discounted travel (e.g., upgrades).
It seems that airlines may be forgetting this, because if the benefits prove to be illusory, customers will increasingly choose short-term rationality -- lower prices up-front.
The purpose of frequent flyer programs is to make customers make short-term irrational decisions in the hope of a long-term benefit. For some people, that benefit is free travel; for others, it's deeply-discounted travel (e.g., upgrades).
It seems that airlines may be forgetting this, because if the benefits prove to be illusory, customers will increasingly choose short-term rationality -- lower prices up-front.
Ironically, as someone who can and will pay for a premium fare, GPUs feel more valuable because whenever I get PZ at booking the difference to the advertised Business fare is money in my pocket. And at the 600-1000 mile stage length, E+ and a fair shot at a CPU (plus all the other status benefits) are making me willing to buy Y instead of F, which is also a fair bit of money saved every time I fly.
May 4, 2019, 5:20 pm
#1144
Moderator: Southwest Airlines, Capital One
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: California
Programs: WN Companion Pass, A-list preferred, Hyatt Globalist; United Club Lietime (sic) Member
Posts: 21,621
+1. I recently bought a QF ticket to NZ via SYD because their 747 has the most comfortable coach seats I've experienced and because I can earn 100% of actual miles on AS. The trip duration was longer and the price was a bit higher than the competition, but I'm sold on QF's 747.
May 4, 2019, 5:26 pm
#1145
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 56,450
Maybe it's just my schedule, but I've had more difficulty finding PZ space this year than any of the past six since the merger. And with P+ having upgrade priority, I am extremely hesitant to waitlist a W into anything except a completely empty J cabin.
May 4, 2019, 9:04 pm
#1146
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,393
Having just relocated to a DL fortress hub, I am of course having to reconsider my loyalties... however, even as a mostly paid premium flyer, both the ability to get a non-useless agent within 60 seconds of dialing and the fact that *G fills in so many gaps where it is either impossible or prohibitively expensive to pay for an equivalent service (one-cabin delegated connections, short foreign hops, etc) are huge benefits of status which are not extended to you simply for purchasing a premium fare.
It's also hard to ignore that the US3 FFPs, even after all of this, are massively valuable (in my opinion at least) when considered on a effective dollar-rebate basis and compared to foreign FFPs, hotel or rental car programs, etc. I can't think of another loyalty program where $12k (now 15, RIP) of business gets you many thousands of dollars of perks and benefits.
I'm still on the fence about even trying to re-qualify for 1K. I'm lucky enough to have lifetime Gold as a fallback, but obviously most people don't have that luxury.
. And, of course, using GPUs means buying cheaper tickets, which means getting fewer PQDs, which makes it more difficult to re-quailfy. My spreadsheet is currently projecting that I need almost 200K PQMs to qualify for 1K this year... That's a lot of flying.
May 4, 2019, 9:14 pm
#1148
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,393
May 4, 2019, 10:28 pm
#1149
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 56,450
That's the conundrum of $15k PQD. How do you use all your GPUs and requalify? Even buying P fares, cpm are likely to be under 15 cpm.
May 5, 2019, 9:02 am
#1150
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: STL
Programs: UA Plat
Posts: 72
As for my stash of miles, I found 2 BIZ saver awards this fall on Swiss to Athens so am taking my dad on a "bucket list" trip. Cashed out my lot of miles before any further devaluations could impact usage. Now I won't feel cheated on the past earning and the accumulation phase begins in the new paradigm. Have had success using the miles on PZ space upgrades/awards (international) but I have the flexibility to fly off peak and midweek, so am minimally hopeful that I may still be able to do that in the future.
Last edited by Lynnie_Bee; May 5, 2019 at 9:04 am Reason: formatting
May 5, 2019, 9:25 am
#1151
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: MSP
Programs: DL PM, UA Gold, WN, Global Entry; +others wherever miles/points are found
Posts: 14,410
While that's true, it's still not nearly the same landscape that it was five years ago, especially for high-mileage G/K or P/Z flyers. And going even further back: I used to be able to fly from the US to Asia on Northwest, upgrade with 50K CO miles RT, and earn about 38K miles for the trip as a CO Plat. And I never had to worry about making sure to spend a certain amount.
I'm having this conundrum with my award miles which have been nearing 1MM. I was never reaching 1K with much room to spare, and at least W fares earn something. But with this huge devaluation, it seems clear that it's time to burn them on *A J and try to score LH F.
May 6, 2019, 10:06 am
#1152
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Danville, CA, USA;
Programs: UA 1MM, WN CP, Marriott LT Plat, Hilton Gold, IC Plat
Posts: 15,720
So another data point: received an alert that the fare for my holiday flight (7 months away) dropped $200 or roughly approx. 35%. However the UA award price only dropped 1k from 40k to 39k miles.
So dynamic pricing means dynamic for United not for the customer. Even worse than we thought.
So dynamic pricing means dynamic for United not for the customer. Even worse than we thought.
May 6, 2019, 2:12 pm
#1153
Join Date: Feb 2018
Posts: 89
I have a question. I heard that United is changing its award process on November 15th, where they won't post how many miles it takes to get to a destination.
Let's say I want to book a ticket for a date after November 15th. If I book it before November 15th, does that mean I am "safe" and it will cost the regular amount of miles (in my case, 60k round trip internationally)? Or are all the award flights that happen after November 15th going to cost an unknown amount of miles?
Let's say I want to book a ticket for a date after November 15th. If I book it before November 15th, does that mean I am "safe" and it will cost the regular amount of miles (in my case, 60k round trip internationally)? Or are all the award flights that happen after November 15th going to cost an unknown amount of miles?
May 6, 2019, 2:18 pm
#1154
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,393
No. All flights after November 15th will cost whatever the computer happens to say it costs at that moment, even if you book them right now.
May 6, 2019, 5:57 pm
#1155
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 56,450
Let's say I want to book a ticket for a date after November 15th. If I book it before November 15th, does that mean I am "safe" and it will cost the regular amount of miles (in my case, 60k round trip internationally)? Or are all the award flights that happen after November 15th going to cost an unknown amount of miles?