New US Star Alliance/Partner Award Charts Released - Effective 1/6/10
Dec 5, 2009, 1:12 am
#16
Join Date: Jun 2006
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Done. 
It is ironic. I wonder if CO entering the mix had anything to do with this given their coverage of the South Pacific?
That said, there's nothing stopping you from taking advantage of limited direct schedules to do HNL-NRT-BKK-SYD in C/F or HNL-YVR-SYD or any other combination to get on a nice product.
As you can see from my spreadsheet, I count a total of 5 routes with an increase of more than 25%. I understand most of the Hawaii increases (particularly the MidEast, since it cost more to fly NA to MidEast than Hawaii to MidEast despite the longer distance for the latter), the exception being Hawaii to South Pacific - I think it should have stayed the same.
I agree. It could have been much worse, and it maintains value when compared to UA's redemptions, which in some cases are more expensive and in all cases have to contend with stringent routing and MPM rules and StarNet blocking.
Is anyone else absolutely flabbergasted that they still don't allow redemptions on RJ and QR? Hasn't it been "temporarily unavailable" for three or more years now? At what point is "temporary" no longer an appropriate description?
That said, there's nothing stopping you from taking advantage of limited direct schedules to do HNL-NRT-BKK-SYD in C/F or HNL-YVR-SYD or any other combination to get on a nice product.
Is anyone else absolutely flabbergasted that they still don't allow redemptions on RJ and QR? Hasn't it been "temporarily unavailable" for three or more years now? At what point is "temporary" no longer an appropriate description?
Dec 5, 2009, 1:28 am
#17
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 3,031
Another oddity - it is now cheaper to go to North Asia (eg., Russia) via Europe instead of just going to Europe.
Dec 5, 2009, 7:01 am
#18
Original Member and FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Kansas City, MO, USA
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The changes are what I expected, I never expected *A Awards to be cheaper than US awards, it looks like where the awards "overlap" they are the same (I didn't check every single combination).
What is absolutely shocking to me is that *A First Class awards are now a bargain in relation to Biz for many regions. 25,000 miles to "upgrade" from Biz to First from N. America to Europe ... you'd be crazy not to do it!
What is absolutely shocking to me is that *A First Class awards are now a bargain in relation to Biz for many regions. 25,000 miles to "upgrade" from Biz to First from N. America to Europe ... you'd be crazy not to do it!
Dec 5, 2009, 7:53 am
#19
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Join Date: Apr 2001
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Looked through it some more this morning. I'm less surprised about the changes and more surprised that it took them this long to fix the obvious holes in the chart. It used to be way better to go to the Middle East and Europe from Hawaii or the Caribbean. Now those are just aligned with N. America. I see this mostly as fixing bugs in the chart, though certainly the folks who used to take advantage of said gems won't be too happy.
And, as noted above, the rates are still generally better than UA/CO. I didn't see any that were worse (maybe one in the middle-east). So things got worse but they still don't suck. That's actually pretty refreshing these days considering what could have been.
And, as noted above, the rates are still generally better than UA/CO. I didn't see any that were worse (maybe one in the middle-east). So things got worse but they still don't suck. That's actually pretty refreshing these days considering what could have been.
Dec 5, 2009, 11:02 am
#21
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Dec 5, 2009, 2:29 pm
#22
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: DCA
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Posts: 2,085
I noticed this too. If you've got the miles and the availability is there, I don't know why you wouldn't take F over C for that few miles!
Dec 5, 2009, 2:29 pm
#23
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: SFO
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Posts: 669
Does anyone know how these stack up against UA/CO's charts?
Dec 5, 2009, 6:00 pm
#24
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: RIC
Programs: US CP, Hilton Gold, Hyatt Plat, *wood Gold, Amex Plat
Posts: 1,600
Because I'm lazy and self-centered, I made a cross reference that only focuses on awards from North America. I highlighted in green any award that was better than the other three airlines and highlighted in ref any award that worse than the other two airlines.
I did it really fast and I think I flaked out on Asia somewhere because CO had too many options, so there are probably errors. But I think it does demonstrate that US is better for *A awards than the other two, in general. Even with the new award levels.
I did it really fast and I think I flaked out on Asia somewhere because CO had too many options, so there are probably errors. But I think it does demonstrate that US is better for *A awards than the other two, in general. Even with the new award levels.
Dec 5, 2009, 7:08 pm
#25
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: A lovely little town filled with cows
Programs: US2, Hyatt Diamond, SPG Plat, Hilton Gold
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I've done a similar chart to Mike's, but since I'm bored I've included more regions...
Green = cheapest carrier for a given award
Red = most expensive carrier for a given award
Yellow = all carriers same price for a given award
Some notes:
For CO, I always chose the more expensive region when an area was divided into more than one (e.g. Northern/Southern South America, Northern/Central & Southern Africa, etc.)
For CO, I chose CO Mike award rates for Asia -> Oceania
For UA and CO, I chose the more expensive rate when looking at (anywhere) -> Australia/New Zealand/South Pacific, since they have multiple rates.
For UA and CO, I excluded the Japanese figures since US includes them in North Asia
For UA, Europe->North Asia and Europe->South Pacific rates exclude transiting via the U.S. (rates would otherwise be higher)
Green = cheapest carrier for a given award
Red = most expensive carrier for a given award
Yellow = all carriers same price for a given award
Some notes:
For CO, I always chose the more expensive region when an area was divided into more than one (e.g. Northern/Southern South America, Northern/Central & Southern Africa, etc.)
For CO, I chose CO Mike award rates for Asia -> Oceania
For UA and CO, I chose the more expensive rate when looking at (anywhere) -> Australia/New Zealand/South Pacific, since they have multiple rates.
For UA and CO, I excluded the Japanese figures since US includes them in North Asia
For UA, Europe->North Asia and Europe->South Pacific rates exclude transiting via the U.S. (rates would otherwise be higher)
Last edited by vysean; Dec 5, 2009 at 7:15 pm
Dec 5, 2009, 8:29 pm
#26
Join Date: Dec 2006
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Does US allow intra-Europe awards? I thought that they did but I don't seem them on the new chart.
Dec 5, 2009, 8:44 pm
#27
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Dec 5, 2009, 9:46 pm
#28
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: A lovely little town filled with cows
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Dec 5, 2009, 10:43 pm
#29
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: RIC
Programs: US CP, Hilton Gold, Hyatt Plat, *wood Gold, Amex Plat
Posts: 1,600
Very nicely done, Sean. ^^ Just for grins, could you run an average on each airline's column and see what the overall difference is between them? I'm sure that someone who didn't drink their way through statistics class could propose an infinitely better way to look at it, but that might tell us something until they come along.
One thing you omitted that is very much in CO's favor is the RTW award. At only 280k for an F award (vice 400k on UA or US), that is a very tempting one with CO miles.
One thing you omitted that is very much in CO's favor is the RTW award. At only 280k for an F award (vice 400k on UA or US), that is a very tempting one with CO miles.
Dec 5, 2009, 10:51 pm
#30
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: A lovely little town filled with cows
Programs: US2, Hyatt Diamond, SPG Plat, Hilton Gold
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Very nicely done, Sean. ^^ Just for grins, could you run an average on each airline's column and see what the overall difference is between them? I'm sure that someone who didn't drink their way through statistics class could propose an infinitely better way to look at it, but that might tell us something until they come along.
Of course, you can get pseudo-RTW itineraries booked on both US and AC, minus the extra three stopovers, so it's not a huge deal.
