porciuscato

Wow, that's clever ticketing on your part. I've booked 500k worth in the last year, averaging about 1.2. The flights that I buy with cash and Chase UR points earn far more miles than I could ever possibly use at 2cpp or higher. So I can't imagine ever converting a single UR point. I also can't imagine earning one more single mile with a United credit card or MP shopping or whatever.

I also bet that UA's "dynamic" award pricing will ensure that you will never, ever get more than 1.5cpp value for your miles. I guess we'll see.

st3

Partner saver tickets can be worth it. I was comparing some NH J tickets and it was a much better deal to transfer and use MP versus doing the conversion/purchase with Chase. Now with the dynamic awards on UA metal, that is another story, but the dynamic pricing is much more recent so in a historical sense they still could have had a lot of people transfer. Only Chase and UA really know.

Repooc17

If you are looking to redeem NH J, it may be better to transfer from Chase UR to VS (Virgin Atlantic) and redeem NH flights from there. The redemption would have to be roundtrip but otherwise fewer miles required than UA or NH's own FF program.

st3

Thanks for the heads-up, I didn't know you could book through VS.

drewguy

I think as a business/contract matter they can, although I imagine they view it as much better to try to convert you to a different product or reduce the benefits and get you to cancel.

mduell

There's another side to this dynamic, where UA is already publicly mad at Chase because CSR/CSP beating MPE handily.

zombietooth

This sounds conspiratorial, but what if UA is doing some of these things so that they can break the contract with Chase on the CSR/CSP. Without those 2 cards, there would be no competition for the UA "Exploder" card.

I am really shocked that UA has such a weak rewards card. It really is almost worthless if you already have Gold status.

I wonder if UA was blindsided by the reaction to dynamic pricing. The minute they devalued the miles, the potential rebate for spend on their card went through the floor and savvy flyers started looking around for better options.

Kacee

Even as 1K, I value the card for award CPUs. It just sucks for spend. UA should look at DL, which provides strong incentives for elites to actually use the card as opposed to leaving it in the sock drawer.

This whole trend started when UA killed the bonus points you used to earn for hitting a specified spend level. That's when I stopped spending on it. Killing the PQD waiver was nail in the coffin (though never relevant for me).

STS-134

That's UA's fault for making the number of miles earned per dollar so crappy for travel and dining. When I get more UA miles per dollar buying UA tickets with an unbranded card than with a UA card, something is wrong with UA's program.

Up through this year, I have made sure to spend at least $25k on the card. But $0 of that has been UA tickets. In fact, as long as I have held the MPE card, I have not ever purchased a single UA ticket with it.

zombietooth

That is a good benefit-if it works. You may not remember this but I have reported several times on FT where I couldn't get added to the waitlist even though I booked the flight with a UA card. I went round and round with UA IT and CS and nothing was ever resolved. I remember once, after spending 20 mins on the phone with the 1K desk, getting placed on the waitlist manually but, comically, was placed below the Silvers. My wife had this problem also.

If UA IT had been able to resolve this problem, we may've kept our cards. But, their failures to rectify this situation, and the very poor training/education levels of GAs and phone agents who didn't know that CC holders are supposed to get added to the CPU list, cemented our decision to cancel once the devaluation got close.

RE: Other rewards programs.

I was just glancing at the Hyatt card and noticed you get 4X Hyatt Spend and 2X airline (equiv. to UA) and restaurants, etc., plus a free (Cat 1-4) night or two. Since Hyatt points are pretty much the most valuable points out there, this card has an excellent cash rebate value (with Hyatt points valued at 1.8 cents).

I looked at every other travel card in the last couple days because I am shopping around, and it appears to me that UA's is the absolute weakest travel card of all.

Different Subject:

I can't remember, but do you receive TOD offers into domestic F on awards, or are those precluded for award travel?

cricketer

For sure. As an example, 150K miles to Asia round-trip in J (or 170K in partner J) is sometihng you'd have to value at at least 1.8-2 cents. It's definitely tougher than ever before, but that's still my minimum threshold for redemptions. As Kacee said, the last minute domestic/NA redemptions are another great deal. Just used 25K miles for YOW-YYZ-SFO (with a full day in YYZ) in J on AC, when I was being asked for $600+ for a paid coach ticket.

747FC

+1 I'm holding an NH F award that I got at 11.5 cpm.

ETA: Given that 61% of our spending is on CSR 3X travel and dining, those points are indeed worth a lot when redeemed in this manner.I caculate that for each dollar spent as described, 19.5 cents was accrued for the F ticket.

RNE

Maybe it's a wash. UA may be very upset with Chase for its 5/24 rule that puts fewer UA cards in wallets.

notquiteaff

I don’t think many people prevented by 5/24 from getting the UA cards would spend a ton of money on them (once the sign-up bonus is earned). The vast majority of Chase/UA customers is probably far from 5/24 anyway.

notquiteaff

PSA: at the moment you might be able to get more UA miles per dollar with a UA card (e.g., 6/$ with my Select VISA)

UA Visa: use Chase Pay for United.com purchases and get 3X bonus