dkc192

The difference between the first two (58k vs 35k) is akin to pricing behavior for revenue travel in several markets--essentially charging a premium for nonstop service. The difference between the last two (35k vs 38.5k) is the bogus new 10% premium for traveling on a *A partner for some/all of an award itinerary.

rankourabu

Second point agree on, and its nonsense.
But first point makes no sense. PPT-SFO Is $572, PPT-SFO-YYZ is $937. Yet in miles its 58k for the cheaper ticket, and 35k for the more expensive one.

jsloan

Regardless, it's true; in many cases, UA seems to be charging more miles for nonstop flights than they do for connecting flights. What's definitely clear, though, is that the number of miles being charged is not tied directly to the fare.

WindowSeatFlyer

I have a partner award to Europe that was booked at the old 70k rate, but now the transatlantic flight has been canceled. I called UA reservations to get rebooked on a routing that still shows as operational, but the agent insisted that I'd have to pay an additional 7k miles because I'd be flying on a different partner airline.
Really? That's how it works now?

I also tried to rebook my ticket online, but that also shows that I'd owe UA another 7k miles. I called web support and tried to argue it's a pricing error, but to no avail.

jsloan

Same day of travel? HUCA. An agent should be able to override the pricing.

Yes, that's normal. Only the IRROPS flow would allow you to waive fare differences, and I don't recall seeing that triggered unless travel is imminent. Any sort of online change would be treated as voluntary, meaning that fare differences would apply.

WindowSeatFlyer

I called a second time. Agent told me same thing, and when I argued that I should be able to rebook without paying additional mileage, the response was "Computer says 'no'".
I asked for a supervisor, and after about 20 minutes of wrestling the system, they figured it out.

It's times like these I miss being able to speak to a 1K agent...

bryanwallace

i understand the logic but this is not necessarily true.if he is going to ham from fra I presume he wants to do this on the same day and the excursionist perk is not meant to be same day as outgoing or ingoing flight.(cant find it in the rules but what two different agents told me) you can get round this by booking it yourself online..

jsloan

There is no such rule. However, I concur that it's not in the spirit of the Excursionist Perk, so I'm not surprised that some agents refused to book it.

TonyBurr

I have been looking at a MP trip in J to BKK in January or February. I notice that the number of miles is now 99,000 miles, not the 90,000 it has been. I must have missed the announcement of the devaluation. When did that occur?

seanp7

Yes, you did.

jsloan

With the removal of the award chart, and the switch to dynamic pricing, even for partner awards, UA no longer announces devaluations. They just change prices on a whim.

dornec

Trying to plan ahead when travel returns in the late fall next spring. Noticed that flights from US to Thailand have gone from 40k in coach to 44k and flights to Male went from 42.5 to 47k? I had a flight to Phuket in March booked a few months back but cancelled and at the time the flight was 40K each way most anytime any day. Male has been 42.5k again most anytime. Is this the new norm?? I'd think they would want to encourage folks to burn miles when there isn't much traffic to lighten the demand when things clear up in the future.

abcx

SFO-DEL is now 93.5k ow in J on partners! Used to be 85k! Seems like a 10% premium for flying partners compared to the old price, but this is ridiculous as partners were already 85k vs. 75k on UA metal. And all this when loads are super low.

econ

Well, did you see the title of the thread.

But yes I agree it's ridiculous.

tpmgpeds

In April, I booked two J seats on EVA from TPE to the US for 88k each. I had to change the dates recently so cancelled and took future flight credit so as to not trigger a redeposit fee.
The future credit was posted under same PNR. I tried to rebook online thru the flight credit link but it wouldn't show availability, even though with a fresh booking I could see the seats for 88k each.

So I called to rebook and they told me I couldn't do it online because the cost went down(!) to 80k each.
Now everything has been rebooked, same UA and BR PNR's and I have 16k redeposited.

Tricky thing: the future flight credit option only showed up on the UA app. If I tried to cancel on the website, a full redeposit with $150 fee was the only option.
Very tricky! But I came out ahead.