Domestic IN availability to grow
Not sure if this was already posted, but the Skift article had an interesting quote from United, as part of the discussion on dynamic awards:
One area that may grow, however, is the fare bucket for premium award seats for elite frequent flyers. “We are very committed to finding ways to increase the availability of the IN [premium award] booking class domestically,” said Bondar. |
Originally Posted by mrt88
(Post 30987769)
Not sure if this was already posted, but the Skift article had an interesting quote from United, as part of the discussion on dynamic awards:
Source Article They will offer IN space at 2, 3, or 4x the current saver rate all day long. See DL. |
But this could help in two ways (1) to facilitate finding confirmable PZ space by looking for lower priced savers on calendar, and (2) when booking premium awards with Star Alliance partners you can get the domestic leg in biz. However, the only route I really care about biz domestically ps where I don't expect this to really make a difference, considering how full upfront cabins SFO-EWR tend to go.
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Sure, they can improve availability for an arbitrary number of miles.
Even makes sense to claim loudly and publicly they are. But don't be surprised when the new IN is double the price of the old JN. |
Originally Posted by Kacee
(Post 30987783)
Meaningless. With dynamic pricing, of course they can increase availability. There will no longer be a fixed saver award price.
They will offer IN space at 2, 3, or 4x the current saver rate all day long. See DL. |
Originally Posted by amtrakusa
(Post 30988962)
that is not correct, I and IN pricing are still at saver level for now.
Is it possible that they're going to continue to keep the saver chart, internally, without publishing it, and that saver award prices will be capped? Sure, but I wouldn't bet on it. All signs point toward much higher redemption costs than in the past. Personally, I suspect that they will keep the I/IN/ZN/JN inventory buckets, because they will want to give some availability to partners and also have "better" availability for credit card holders and premier travelers. But that doesn't mean that anybody will like the prices that they see for I/IN inventory, just that they may be less nauseating than the ZN/JN price. And, if you're basing this on some anecdotal searches done past 11/15, keep in mind that when they first introduced Everyday awards, the prices didn't jump to the new maxima right away. It took some time before their software went through and touched every flight; now, it's common to see max'ed out prices across the board for Everyday awards.
Originally Posted by amtrakusa
(Post 30988962)
Most people don't get what is changing and what is not changing.
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Originally Posted by amtrakusa
(Post 30988962)
that is not correct, I and IN pricing are still at saver level for now.
|
Originally Posted by mrt88
(Post 30987797)
But this could help in two ways (1) to facilitate finding confirmable PZ space by looking for lower priced savers on calendar
I would expect PZ and I/IN to decouple. -RM |
Originally Posted by jsloan
(Post 30989051)
....
Is it possible that they're going to continue to keep the saver chart, internally, without publishing it, and that saver award prices will be capped? Sure, but I wouldn't bet on it. All signs point toward much higher redemption costs than in the past. Personally, I suspect that they will keep the I/IN/ZN/JN inventory buckets, because they will want to give some availability to partners and also have "better" availability for credit card holders and premier travelers. But that doesn't mean that anybody will like the prices that they see for I/IN inventory, just that they may be less nauseating than the ZN/JN price...... [sarcasim] Making "simpler", "less confusing" as customers "have been asking." [/sarcasim] However a less cynical explanation. UA is awaiting an *A uniform award system for PP/PE and then there will be another award inventory code for PP. Not sure which it is but time will tell. |
Within that article:
"Looking forward, the traditional 25,000-mile fare will certainly price higher every so often, but the new model also allows for the occasional situation in which the round-trip seat could cost 15,000 or 20,000 miles — a significant discount from today’s rates." I already find that most space isn't available at 25k, let alone 12.5OW, MOST sleazypass awards are pricing at 32.5 (one way), not the "traditional" 2x, and that's today. Furthermore, United is so stingy with I/IN space domestically, its not even funny. one of the "benefits" of the Aeroplan program was that they(AC) were actually contractually required to offer a given # of seats per month (in X/I) each way per route. That actually made it possible for people to use miles that they'd accumulated under that promise from the program. |
Originally Posted by Kacee
(Post 30989152)
There is nothing incorrect about my post. Further, if you don't think saver awards on UA metal are going to increase substantially in price, you're living in fantasyland. That's the whole point of dynamic pricing.
for saver award, UA doesn't care. it is seats UA is not expected to sell anyway. it has to release some seats to partners, the same seats everyone can see it, everyone can book. It is not in UA's interest to push everyone to using Avianca's program to book these saver seats. If this whole change is about saver award, UA can simply reduce availability, it doesn't have to do anything else. having a saver award capped at certain miles (published or not published) does no harm to UA. UA is smart enough to know arbitrage opportunity exists here and it will not get too crazy in this department.
Originally Posted by entropy
(Post 30989958)
Within that article:
"Looking forward, the traditional 25,000-mile fare will certainly price higher every so often, but the new model also allows for the occasional situation in which the round-trip seat could cost 15,000 or 20,000 miles — a significant discount from today’s rates." I already find that most space isn't available at 25k, let alone 12.5OW, MOST sleazypass awards are pricing at 32.5 (one way), not the "traditional" 2x, and that's today. Furthermore, United is so stingy with I/IN space domestically, its not even funny. one of the "benefits" of the Aeroplan program was that they(AC) were actually contractually required to offer a given # of seats per month (in X/I) each way per route. That actually made it possible for people to use miles that they'd accumulated under that promise from the program. |
Originally Posted by amtrakusa
(Post 30990156)
the whole point of dynamic pricing is all about everyday award, not about saver award. UA is losing a lot of money on everyday award, not saver award.
I hope you will turn out to be correct, but history shows otherwise. |
Originally Posted by entropy
(Post 30989958)
...
one of the "benefits" of the Aeroplan program was that they(AC) were actually contractually required to offer a given # of seats per month (in X/I) each way per route. That actually made it possible for people to use miles that they'd accumulated under that promise from the program. As evidence, Mrs. Transportprof just signed up for a new TD Visa card for her business which came with a 40,000 Aeroplan point bonus. That's double what the previous sign up bonus was. There is usually a direct correlation between big bonus increases and "enhancement" on redemptions. |
Originally Posted by amtrakusa
(Post 30990156)
i guess UA communication is so bad nobody gets it. the whole point of dynamic pricing is all about everyday award, not about saver award. UA is losing a lot of money on everyday award, not saver award. UA would rather not sell your seat for 160,000 miles one year in advance when they can easily sell the seat through RM down the road for hard cash.
for saver award, UA doesn't care. it is seats UA is not expected to sell anyway. it has to release some seats to partners, the same seats everyone can see it, everyone can book. It is not in UA's interest to push everyone to using Avianca's program to book these saver seats. If this whole change is about saver award, UA can simply reduce availability, it doesn't have to do anything else. having a saver award capped at certain miles (published or not published) does no harm to UA. UA is smart enough to know arbitrage opportunity exists here and it will not get too crazy in this department. |
I'll just say that I'll be really happy if we see increased saver award space at current saver award prices. I'd also be really happy if the UK revoked Article 50 tomorrow, and if we found out that the picture of the black hole was in fact captured and processed via a secretly constructed telescope that is the size of our planet.
I always have hope in life, I just don't ultimately find it to be a winning strategy to rely on. |
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