As United Moves to Dynamic Pricing, You Need Information
Last week, United announced (on a Friday afternoon, no less) that they were removing their award charts come November, and moving to dynamic pricing of award redemptions.
Come November, United won’t make any references to historical redemption values, basically taking consumers into uncharted waters with no compass. Knowledge is power, and it is especially true when you are dealing with airlines who change their rewards program.
This likely means that award redemptions will go up over time — with many consumers unaware since there’s no posted award chart for reference. The biggest redemption at stake are close-in awards which have provided great value in the past, and may fall victim to the dynamic pricing reflected in last-minute revenue fares.
Here Are United’s Legacy Award Charts (US Based Only)
I am providing all of the current United Airlines award charts, region by region. Bookmark this page for future reference to compare redemptions against current rates (as of April 2019).
Here are the regions as defined by the MileagePlus program.
United List Of Countries and Region Definitions
Within Mainland USA, Alaska and Canada
Between Mainland USA, Alaska & Canada and Hawaii
Between Mainland USA, Alaska & Canada and Caribbean
Between Mainland USA, Alaska & Canada and Mexico
Between Mainland USA, Alaska & Canada and Central America
Between Mainland USA, Alaska & Canada and Northern South America
Between Mainland USA, Alaska & Canada and Southern South America
Between Mainland USA, Alaska & Canada and Europe
Between Mainland US Alaska Canada and Northern Africa
Between Mainland USA, Alaska & Canada and Central Southern Africa
Between Mainland USA, Alaska & Canada and Middle East
Between Mainland USA, Alaska & Canada and North Asia
Between Mainland USA, Alaska & Canada and Central Asia
Between Mainland USA, Alaska & Canada and South Asia
Between Mainland USA, Alaska & Canada and Japan
Between Mainland USA, Alaska & Canada and Australia & New Zealand
Between Mainland USA, Alaska & Canada and Oceania
Use An Award Booking Service Like Juicy Miles
Moving forward, it’s likely going to be more difficult to get outsized value from your United miles. Using an award booking service like Juicy Miles can make a lot of sense.
I would start looking at my MileagePlus account balance and if there are any trips you’re looking to take, to prioritize using those miles by November 14th (the last day under the current award charts for travel). Our partner Juicy Miles has a team of travel professionals that book award and mileage run travel every day. You have a few options with them:
- Juicy Miles has a membership plan allowing you to search for your own award travel using their online award search tool. Once you find the award that fits your needs, you can book it yourself or ask Juicy Miles to book it for you.
- You can fill out the award request form and leave the work to the Juicy Miles team. Someone will respond after your submission and begin to work for you.
- Mileage runs help you acquire elite miles and, in many cases, elite qualifying spend. Just let them know what you are seeking by sending a request from the Juicy Miles site.
The Upshot
Come November, you now have a reference point that you can use to see if your redemptions are better or worse with these award charts. Hopefully, they will give you some power in your travel decisions.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
4 comments
This is by far not the complete list of MileagePlus award charts, as I have been compiling one since April 5, 2019:
https://thegate.boardingarea.com/mileageplus-award-charts-to-be-eliminated-for-posterity-refer-to-them-in-the-future-in-this-article/
You are missing not only the upgrade charts; but also charts with which originating award travel is in countries other than the United States.
Thanks, Brian — we amended the post to include that it’s US originating only.
Hi
Here is why this isn’t very helpful.
United prices it’s award travel right now at whatever they feel like anyway. There are FRA-EWR Direct Flights for 30, 45, 55, 57, 59 and 70k miles. So what’s the point ? There’s no award chart anymore. They already did away with it.
Oh sorry, there are mostly 30k options if I sign in due to credit card and status (as per their disclaimer of “you get this because …”
Yeah 30k options with two stops in Lisbon and Boston on TAP… great or flying to Dublin and then EWR… it’s all garbage and I’m really disappointed so doing away with the actual award chart is not gonna change much.
Maxraxstax,
I totally get that… But airlines have figured out they can pretty much do whatever they want with award programs.
Now they are just going to take away the few things people thought they could depend upon.
The charts stand as a milepost of where the airline was at a given point in that program.