bmvaughn

I'd be concerned that they'd lift Starnet blocking but then institute fees for booking - either YQ or simply award booking fees.

To that respect, I feel like we have the lesser of two evils.

CommittedLurker

I have a question then: What is the point of *A if you can't redeem a substantial percentage of alliance award inventory. Is *A just for codeshare, lounge access, and mileage accrual ? I don't think so.

While still not on a level playing field, I would be willing to accept UA award seats in C/F on my transpacs, rather than SQ/TG, but the problem is that there is no availability there either on UA. If UA doesn't want to fork out money to SQ/LH/TG or any other *A carrier, they should at least make award inventory available on their own metal in C/F class to match what the ANA tool shows. But they don't. I just checked SIN-SFO in C/F for October-February. Guess what..nothing is available except for return flights on 10/3 and 10/4. Not a single outbound. I'll bet you can find better availability on ANA.

And for all those who say UA is selling those seats,so why give them away - you have to be kidding. How many people actually pay for C/F (esp F) on UA transpacs ???

So, here is the problem:

1. UA restricts *A award inventory on routes that UA does not operate.
2. UA restricts their own award inventory and partner award inventory on routes they operate.

So, what do you, if you want an award ticket, and not upgrades ? Use your MP miles for ridiculous standard awards ?

I understand your comments, but I respectfully disagree.

rjque

A fee would be a much more public PR hit.

TravelinWilly

No, that's what some airlines try and price it at, and try to charge customers; how many customers pony this up is anyone's guess, and how many pony this up on UA would be a fraction of the amount who pay full retail on the quality carriers.

The cost to the carriers are a fraction of $13k-$16k, even in premium cabins. So if the carrier retailed an F seat for $1,000,000, would you say that 120,000 miles is an even better deal for that seat, just because they set a price that was even higher? Doubt it.

CommittedLurker

I am pretty sure that UA saves more cash (at least in the short term) by restricting partner award inventory, than by charging award fees. Otherwise, they would have done this long ago.

I for one would rather pay higher fees/redemption rates than not being able to use my miles.

glex50

Here's what I suspect they would answer, if they know enough to not just give you the run-around (not saying whether or not I agree with them, just what the logical response would be).

"Mileage earning opportunities on MP are better in many cases than on other *A carriers. United gives full credit for all published fare classes operated by United, and for most discounted fare classes on partners. These partners do not all offer the same benefits. Elite earning opportunities (i.e. elite bonuses) are also better."

As is brought up, "other *A carriers do charge fuel surcharges on awards."

"Regardless of restrictions on partner capacity and redemption, you can still reach more destinations through United's partners than with any other domestic airline."

I think the responses to this are easy enough, but I'd also include something that goes beyond complaining about UA's business practices. I would argue that United does generally offer an uncompetitive coach and premium product on most of the international routes where it operates, and this is balanced by Mileage Plus as a program and the ability to REDEEM miles on int'l routes operated by star partners. Take away or significantly reduce that benefit, and it significantly reduces UA's competitive advantage.

cesco.g

First and foremost I'd like to see caps on feeder flights (e.g. LH within EU, Asia) to from UA destinations to be lifted or at least made available in Y-class for short hops such as intra-EU.

Secondly, somebody mentioned above, to treat improved * availability as an elite benefit. I can see value herein, as it crowds out the creditcard-only-miles hogs.

dhammer53

Looks like United is winning the war when many of us start to accept this.

snic

I don't actually think we disagree all that much - I'd much rather that UA provide plenty of saver award availability in C and F, on both UA and *A. When claiming that UA's own saver awards are somewhat easier to obtain than *A, I'm speaking of my own experience, which certainly isn't exhaustive.

On the other hand, UA does indeed sell C and F seats for real money (why would they have C/F cabins if they couldn't sell the seats??), and they would be foolish to give a large portion of them away before giving paying customers a chance at them. Of course we who want to fly in award seats would rather have those seats freely available to us, but come on, the airline wouldn't even exist if it made them so.

"What do you, if you want an award ticket, and not upgrades?" Good question. When I was most frustrated with *net blocking, I contemplated switching to another *A carrier (e.g., LH), which as far as we know doesn't block. But their award redemption rates are higher, they charge a fuel surcharge amounting to hundreds of dollars for each award ticket, their upgrade mileage awards are sky-high compared to UA's, and meaningful status is much harder to get than on UA. Since I value mileage upgrades and even my 1P status has significant benefits, I concluded it wasn't worthwhile to switch.

So, what to do if you want an award ticket? People do get them. I just got two saver F seats from the east coast all the way to BKK and back (granted, with NRT-BKK-BRT waitlisted for F) on UA. I'm even going to spend standard award miles for a third person to fly with us, because there's essentially no way to get 3 TPAC saver F seats on the same flight, at least far in advance. It took a lot of searching and time and perseverance (or perhaps perseveration would be a better word!) but you can get them if you look far enough in advance. None of this make me overjoyed - but I actually think 480,000 miles for 3 TPAC F seats is a decent value even for UA's F, which I could never afford otherwise. And UA gets to sell as many F seats as it can, so it might even still be in business by the time my vacation rolls around.

azepine00

UA in current business environment can not support a rapidly growing bunch of mileage running card churning freeloaders

There are several ways to control the spending:

restrict redemption availability (UA and apparently BD)
add copays/surcharges (see VS, NH etc)
drastically devalue the program (DL three tier program)

They are also somewhat limiting supply of miles - hopefully this will translate into better availability down the road.

NYC1K

I for one am tired. I have tried to obtain a C award on LH to LOS and nothing, I mean NOTHING for 8 months. I'm now left with burning my miles on C award from IAD or ORD to GIG on United. Once I'm done burning my remaining 250K miles, I'm through with United. I'm Ex-Plat with AA and I have not had any problems getting an award travel on BA to LOS.

Buster CT1K

I was disgusted with UA. ANA's tool clearly showed availability in F in February on OZ JFK-ICN and onward to SIN on SQ (as well as return via ICN). But UA refused to book it for me in F or C. Finally got availability in C in April. The whole experience felt like pulling teeth.

I fear it is only going to get worse over time. The only thing making me feel better is that I don't fly UA as my main carrier any more.

daron4000

While I understand that people are upset because it is a published benefit of UA MP to be able to redeem on Star Partners, I am a bit sick of everyone complaining about not being able to find SQ, OZ, NH F on UA miles and having to be forced to fly in UA F. Being forced to fly in UA F, still worth at the market value of anywhere between 10,000-25,000 dollars is not a cheap reward. Sure, it is not as nice of an experience as SQ F for the same price but on SQ, you can only fly on 747 routes in F for a cheap award booking, can not book into Suites on the A380 and it is much more difficult to earn the miles to spend on these more limited award bookings. If I was an SQ elite, I would not want all the award space available on SQ sucked up by UA general members who earned 30,000 miles for getting a credit card, miles on every purchase, miles for useless promotions (think FTD) and never had to get on a plane before having more than 120,000 miles necessary to get an F award. I think that you just have to look at it from both sides. If your number one priority is to be able to travel in premium classes on the best Star carriers, than maybe you will have to join one of their FF programs, and face the issues of much more sever earning restrictions on lower fare buckets and much fewer promotions that give away miles as if they were free candy.
just my 2 cents on this issue that comes up over and over again

rjque

Have you ever tried to get a UA F award from FRA to BKK? How about ICN-SGN?

lucky9876coins

Oh come on daron4000, that's rubbish. Airlines have their own award inventory (which they don't release to their Star alliance partners), and then they have award inventory they release to their partners. So do you feel any better when someone earns 120K miles through the US credit card gets the award compared to a UA flyer?

And as rjque points out, it's NOT just routes UA flies, it's also routes that UA doesn't fly, like FRA-MUC, for example. The only way you can route from FRA to MUCH on UA is via IAD or ORD, and good luck with that.