Firewind

When Saver XC Awards ex-North America are already gone for EVERY day of 2009, the change actually went into effect sometime prior to 1/1/09. Can anyone mark when it happened?

With SYD going up 25K and HKG up by 35K, it would have been nice to have the full "official" time (deadline) to book under the current rates.

bmvaughn

Not sure that there was a change... maybe someone grabbed them? Keep in mind that with the economy the way it is, it's probably more likely that folks are using their miles as opposed to paying for seats

kkjay77

For SYD, you are pretty much SOL, but for HKG, there are many other options.
Check out *A partners.
Do you really want to fly UA on mileage award anyway even if it is new C?

Firewind

No. But with UA, we can change the date. When I have a date certain, I fly a *A partner everytime.

And, with every single date unavailable, there must be something going on besides the normal run-of-the-mill availability problems.

gengar

I would just comment that there is no XC availability in 2009 to TPE even during date ranges when flights are completely empty in biz. So, excepting the highly unlikely circumstance that people just aren't reserving seats, IM has never opened the buckets. This sort of thing is making me wonder why I stick with UA.

bmvaughn

You can change dates with *A partners too.

Firewind

The change I was thinking of was, from North America to Australia, the devaluation from 110K to 135K, and from North America to to Hong Kong, from 90K to 125K. With Business Savers apparently blocked, this change, supposed to be 1/1/09, effectively took place the moment Savers became unavailable for everyday in 2009. (Possibly to be unlocked upon making a reservation on 1/1/09 or later. Ya think?) But back to the main question, did anyone catch it when it happened?

bmvaughn

Sure a devaluation occurred when prices changed, but I'm suggesting that they aren't necessarily blocked, but taken. Just because you can't find anything now doesn't mean that someone didn't snatch up availability.

Unfortunately, there's no way of knowing whether (UA) flights are blocked from redemption or taken without asking IM.

Happy

No, they are not taken by members. They are blocked by UA, or rather, taken off system by UA. I have been checking on and off for the last 2 months on a possible HKG routing, including the partners flights - UA are 0 for 0, partners have only one direction, never both directions, and mostly going thru ICN... Never saw anything that can go both ways on NH or SQ.

Yes, in my mind, the devaluation occurred shortly after the announcement.

Now UA's miles required are MORE than the compatible awards on AA after 1/1/09. AA's award availability is much much better than United's, especially on the partners side.

bmvaughn

Again, just because you're finding 0 for 0 doesn't mean that someone else wasn't also looking 330 days out and grabbed availability BEFORE you checked that day. I'm just suggesting that your logic has a hole, not saying that I think this actually happened

Happy

Logic is a theory - yes, it is possible, but not probable.

The actual, empiracle result is, UA 0 out the award seats and use Starnet to block partner seats. And that is what matters, to those who actually want to book their tickets.

Frankly the only reason I was checking is, by human nature, I would want to book the award before the price goes up. In all practical sense, we really would be hard-pressed to find time to make another trip to Far East next year, given we already have a very long trip on AA miles to the Pacific region, that has a total 24,475 miles flown, and 12 cities stopover, between May and July. We already have a cruise at end of January, and then we need to have our passports renewed before the long trip starts Mid May. Therefore I cannot squeeze a Far East trip between Mar and May with the passport renewal. First half of Jan and second half of Feb are the only timeframes we can go. Nothing available for these 2 windows. Normally when it is closer to departure date, award seats do open up. This time it does not happen.

The next window would be after the hot months of August/Sept... It is too far out in our taste - Never book anything further than 6 months out, no way, we dont want to tie down our schedule so early. And there is no availability for that window either.

Giving our schedule, I am not upset about not finding the seats, but as I said, human nature makes me to try to book.

stevenshev

Lost me there. Go find me a JL, CX, or QF F award ticket using AA miles, and then we'll talk. I just booked 4 UA F awards to Australia. No comparison. Now AA availability is much better than UA, but partners? Even with Starnet? No way.

SFflyer123

Happy is right. UA blocked it. They've done the same for upgrades past April 2009 to europe & asia also. This is not a supply/demand phenomenon. It is an intentional block by UA.

bmvaughn

You two both have no possible way to prove that the (upgrade and award) availability wasn't snatched up by others. I think you're both missing that point.

I agree that availability is hard to come by, and it's most likely due to blocking, but others snatching the availability cannot be dismissed.

planeluvr

It's UA so that proves it.