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

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Old Apr 3, 2019, 8:38 pm
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This is an archive thread, the master thread is UA MP Saver Award/Upgrade Inventory (& partners) -when is it released?
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United Saver Award/Upgrade Inventory (& partners) - when is it released? [Archive]

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Old Jun 23, 2019, 10:25 am
  #3661  
 
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Or maybe not IT issue and they are just restricting availability...something has changed year over year...dynamic pricing maybe...
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Old Jun 23, 2019, 10:40 am
  #3662  
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There has been a long downward trend in award availability and I would agree it has now reached new lows.

Combination of increased demand (more people with more miles hoping to redeem) and decreased supply (strong demand for paid seats and airlines reducing releases of award seats).
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Old Jun 23, 2019, 10:50 am
  #3663  
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Originally Posted by frugaltraveler10012
Or maybe not IT issue and they are just restricting availability...something has changed year over year...dynamic pricing maybe...
Yes, availability has decreased over the years. The airlines have done a better job of matching the paid demand, leaving less excess seats for awards. Additionally, the airlines have created better pricing structures, so they are able to "sell" to space versus filling seats with award flyers. And finally, travel demand is up.

So, the net of the above are few award seats and especially for TATL few empty seats.

Can seats still be found, yes but this close-in to travel, it will be last second availability and indirect routes.
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Old Jun 23, 2019, 11:44 am
  #3664  
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In my case (asia) atleast, only July and August are unavailable. June and Sept and onward are wide open.
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Old Jun 23, 2019, 12:16 pm
  #3665  
 
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Many Star Alliance partners restrict award flights to their *A partners, keeping more awards for their own FF program members. If you have a M&M FF membership, availability TATL is a lot better than when checking for LH/LX award availability on UA's website.
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Old Jun 23, 2019, 12:31 pm
  #3666  
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Originally Posted by frugaltraveler10012
There is basically nothing available (even last minute the day before) from anywhere east coast to a hub in Europe. Sometimes I see LH release 1st class an hour before a departure which is impossible for me to do obviously. No economy either so I am thinking there is an IT issue, but not sure.
During the first week of June, LH had good availability from several US airports to FRA. Now, however, we are in the summer season, so it stands to reason that there would be little available.
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Old Jun 23, 2019, 12:56 pm
  #3667  
 
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Originally Posted by frugaltraveler10012
There is basically nothing available (even last minute the day before) from anywhere east coast to a hub in Europe. Sometimes I see LH release 1st class an hour before a departure which is impossible for me to do obviously. No economy either so I am thinking there is an IT issue, but not sure.
Do you want to travel last minute? That may be harder. It literally took me less than 5 minutes to find space. Less that 1 minute to find a connection and less than 5 to find a non-stop. There is JFK-MUC July 7, 10, 16, and 22.
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Old Jun 23, 2019, 1:12 pm
  #3668  
 
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The "seats are sold" explanation is without merit. Take 6/24 (tomorrow as of this post) for example. Both FRA-LAX flights on LH (456&450) have at least 9 revenue seats available in business yet ZERO business awards available to *A partners. It's NEVER been like this.

Seems to be impacting LH/LX/OS/LO.
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Old Jun 23, 2019, 2:17 pm
  #3669  
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
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Just one more depreciation of Mileage Plus. Soon miles will be as useless as SWU. I have been looking for Award travel to Asia in January and February and there is nothing
TonyBurr is offline  
Old Jun 23, 2019, 2:21 pm
  #3670  
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Originally Posted by TonyBurr
..I have been looking for Award travel to Asia in January and February and there is nothing
What destination / carrier are you seeking? There have been numerous reports of good TPAC availability but Chinese New Year is always a tough time-frame.
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Old Jun 23, 2019, 3:21 pm
  #3671  
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Definitely some artifitial restrictions were put in place by carriers. There were numerous seats in april-may and then it completely dried up. I dont buy "seasonal demand" - business travel in summer is much slower. I suspect in summer they want to sell all seats at discounted business rates rather than opening award space while normally tgey price them higher without discounting and open unsold inventory for awards..
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Old Jun 23, 2019, 3:41 pm
  #3672  
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one of these threads again. Just booked four *A I-class tickets TATL/TPAC last week. Plenty of availability.
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Old Jun 23, 2019, 4:13 pm
  #3673  
 
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No idea what you're looking for but for example there's plenty of LH I space on BOS-FRA (i.e. all the 70k awards) for most of July:

truncated is offline  
Old Jun 23, 2019, 5:26 pm
  #3674  
 
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Originally Posted by KosherKimchee
The "seats are sold" explanation is without merit. Take 6/24 (tomorrow as of this post) for example. Both FRA-LAX flights on LH (456&450) have at least 9 revenue seats available in business yet ZERO business awards available to *A partners. It's NEVER been like this.

Seems to be impacting LH/LX/OS/LO.
My personal observation on ORD-FRA/MUC is that LH has been releasing some close-in X/O space as usual, but seem to be perfectly content not releasing any I inventory close-in even in J9 situations. Even the somewhat reliable rule of thumb that close-in F space is released the night before hasn't been holding as true as it once has.

I don't think the difference can be entirely explained by load factors or high season, either -- similar revenue bucket availability is corresponding to very different award availability than even 6-9 months ago.
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Old Jun 23, 2019, 7:01 pm
  #3675  
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Originally Posted by cfischer
one of these threads again. Just booked four *A I-class tickets TATL/TPAC last week. Plenty of availability.
Originally Posted by truncated
No idea what you're looking for but for example there's plenty of LH I space on BOS-FRA (i.e. all the 70k awards) for most of July:
OP is probably looking from the western US. Availability from BOS or other east coast airports is meaningless, because UA doesn't open connecting saver space.
Kacee is offline  


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