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Last month United hired a new CEO of MileagePlus from Comcast with no airline experience.
On May 1st, the airline raised saver award pricing on coach flights to Europe. On May 17th they raised saver business class flights to Europe, though on the 18th they lowered some of them that were priced too high.
I warned then to lock in current pricing for other destinations.
Today, United has raised pricing to several more regions.
You can see the May 18th hidden award chart pricing here.
Here is United’s May 28th hidden award chart pricing, as best as I can tell for now after searching dozens of routes today:
| United flights | Partner flights | |
|---|---|---|
| Mainland US | 5K-15K Coach 25K-30K Business 30K-35K Premium Business | |
| Canada | 10K-14K Coach 25K-30K Business | 16.5K Coach 33K Business |
| Alaska | 15K-17.5K Coach 30K-35K Business 35K-40K Premium Business | |
| Hawaii | 15K-25K Coach 40K-50K Business 50K-60K Premium Business | |
| Mexico | 5K-20K Coach 30K Business | 20K Coach 38K Business |
| Central America | 10K-20K Coach 30K Business | 22K Coach 38K Business |
| Northern South America | 20K-30K Coach 35K Business | 22K-33K Coach 51.2K Business |
| Southern South America | 41K-45K Coach 80K Business | 49.5K Coach 88K Business |
| Europe | 30K-40K Coach 80K Business | 33K-44K Coach 88K Business 121K First |
| Africa | 45K Coach 80K Business | 49.5K Coach 88K Business 143K First |
| Middle East | 40K Coach 80K Business | 44K Coach 88K Business 154K First |
| Central Asia | 31K-40K Coach 80K Business | 49.5K Coach 88K Business 154K First |
| South Asia | 40K Coach 75K Business | 44K Coach 99K Business 154K First |
| North Asia | 35K Coach 70K Business | 38.5K Coach 88K Business 132K First |
| Japan and Oceania | 35K Coach 70K Business | 38.5K Coach 88K Business 121K First |
| Australia and New Zealand | 40K Coach 80K Business | 44K Coach 99K Business 143K First |
Flights within a month of booking are still subject to a mileage surcharge ranging from 0-4,000 miles each way. In general you should always book one-way travel to lower those surcharges and maintain maximum flight flexibility.
Here is what appears to have changed today. The Southern South America changes are particularly brutal.
- Saver flights to Central America on partner airlines have gone from 20K to 22K in coach.
- Saver flights to Northern South America on United have gone from 20K to as high as 30K in coach and from 22K to as high as 33K on partner airlines in coach. Saver business on partner airlines has gone from 38.5K to 51.2K in business.
- Saver flights to Southern South America on United have gone from 30K to as high as 45K in coach and from 33K to as high as 49.5K on partner airlines in coach. Saver business on United has gone from 60K to 80K and on partner airlines business has gone from 66K to 88K in business.
- Saver flights to Africa on United have gone from 40K to 45K in coach and from 44K to 49.5K on partner airlines in coach. Saver business on United has gone from 70K to 80K.
- Saver flights to Israel and the Middle East on United have actually gone down from 42.5K to 40K in coach and from 47K to 44K on partner airlines in coach. Saver business on United has gone up from 75K to 80K, but saver business on partner airlines has gone down from 93.5K to 88K.
- Saver flights to India and the Central Asia on United have actually gone down from 42.5K to 31K-40K in coach and up from 47K to 49.5K on partner airlines in coach. Saver business on United has gone up from 75K to 80K, but saver business on partner airlines has gone down from 93.5K to 88K.
For now, regions like Japan and Australia/Oceania don’t appear to have changed, but I’d expect those to be devalued in the coming weeks as well.
Of course it’s worth noting that you’re often much better off using other partner award miles for booking flights.
There are exceptions of course, as expanded saver award space for United cardholders and elites can only be booked with United. Plus while United’s awards are refundable for free at any time before departure, other airlines can charge up to $200 for award changes or cancellations.
US airlines still have internal award charts, but they no longer publish them so that they can devalue without needing to provide any notice.
For that reason, I have been writing for well over a decade to accumulate bank points and not airline miles whenever possible.
That way when an airline devalues, you aren’t stuck with that airline’s miles and have other options to choose from. You can open airline cards for the signup bonus, but you everyday cards should earn flexible points over an airline card.
If you do use a United card for everyday spending, you should stop now. The card is fine for free bags and benefits, but is a poor value for spending.
The much bigger devaluation post-COVID is that there are fewer saver awards available across the board and that standard award pricing continues to climb to absurd levels, but that’s the case for all airlines.
To their credit, United does make many more saver awards available to their cardholders and elite members.
Like I showed last time for flights to Europe, partner airlines like Turkish, Air Canada, and Lifemiles can save you a bundle of miles!
See this ultimate transfer guide to know where you can transfer your points to.
For example, 47K Turkish miles to fly United business class one-way between the US and Israel, versus 80K United miles:
60K Air Canada miles to fly United business class one-way between the US and Brazil, versus 80K United miles:
55K ANA miles to fly United economy class round-trip between the US and Brazil, versus 90K United miles:
88K ANA miles to fly United business class round-trip between the US and Brazil, versus 160K United miles:
HT: Tzali R.
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27 Comments On "OUCH! United’s Devaluation Continues: Saver Award Pricing Jumps To Central America, South America, Middle East, India, And More"
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I have never actually seen a united flight from Israel to anywhere in America available to be booked in business via Turkish. Dan, when is the last time you saw one of these?
The screenshots in the post were all taken today.
Turkish and partner airlines require saver award space, like this:
https://www.dansdeals.com/airfare-deals/israel-flights/rare-united-polaris-business-class-saver-award-upgrade-space-nonstop-newark-san-francisco-tel-aviv/
I use the legacy award calendar to find those dates.
How does one access the legacy award calendar?
https://www.dansdeals.com/points-travel/milespoints/travel-tips-workarounds-bring-back-good-old-award-airfare-search-interface/
Thank you!
But Turkish miles can’t be transferred from most currencies
More transfer options than United has.
https://www.dansdeals.com/credit-cards/ultimate-guide-bank-points-transfer-airline-hotel-partners-plus-breakdown-long-transfers-take/
Foolish statement. While it has more currencies the bottom line is that there are ENDLESS number of chase cards which can earn ur (in theory can have 50 businesses and get all 3 ink cards on each) and VERY few singup bonuses available to transfer to turkish via city thank you or capital one points.
Citi and Cap1 earn 2x per dollar everywhere.
Let me know when Chase can do that.
So not the point. It’s a riot how you play dumb. The vast majority of your readers earn the vast majority of their miles via signup bonuses. 2x per dollar is nothing compared to the 16-16.5x per dollars the first 6k gets you on the various ink cards. Which is precisely the point. Anytime you’re thinking about getting 2x it’s time for another ink card. The savvy person on your site will have 10-15 UR plis united ards (including transferrable freedom etc) for every capital one or citi card…
Can also manufacture endlessly on chase and not anywhere else…
Not sure what your point is, but OK.
Yes, Chase is the gold standards. Yes, I earn the bulk of my points in Chase. Doesn’t mean I don’t have plenty of Cap1 and Citi to use for Turkish and the like when needed. Diversification is always good.
Mark N, Is your argument that we should only discuss Chase transfer partners because Chase has the highest SUB? That seems unnecessarily limiting. People do get both Chase and Citi cards and not everyone has your avenues to “manufacture endlessly.” Mixing it up can help. YMMV
So now its legally a “massive” devaluation 🙂
Well, it’s a lot more than just Europe now.
I just booked today TLV-EWR for 28,100
Dates?
I found June 13 and 16 for 29,800, looks like that’s the new saver rate TLV-EWR (with 30 day surcharge). I’ve also found in the past that saver award prices for EWR-LHR were not the same for both directions. You will need a separate chart for both ways…
6/26 (and availbility on 6/27)
I am seeing that for 1/31/24 for the 11am flight. I am currently on the 11pm flight for 40+K points and was thinking about switching but don’t want to lose a day in Israel
not worth losing the day
united charged 88k today for united nonstop business plan b…
Actually, there is a much, much BIGGER devaluation hiding in plain sight – but few people (and no bloggers) seem to have noticed: it’s the complete (or near complete) removal of virtually all international partner business class award inventory that does not require hellish long, multiple layovers. Most nonstops: just gone. Most “mixed cabin” one-stops with a single, short (or just a few hours) layover: gone. Not just priced higher, completely gone. Where two weeks ago it was possible to find nonstop, or one-stop (reasonable layover) award seats for a reasonable price, now those itineraries have simply vanished – they’re not available at all, at any price, even if you were willing to blow 650K or a million points, they’re just g-o-n-e. Want to fly on an international business class award that includes partner legs? Not only have the prices gone up (by 300%-500%), but you’ll be sitting in multiple airports along the way for 10-15 hours each – if you are lucky enough to even find an award that gets you there.
Everyone is howling at the moon with outrage that award seat prices have gone up 20-33%. That completely misses the much, much bigger devaluation that has occurred at the same time. The drastic elimination of most award inventory (especially international business awards), never mind the price. The price increase is just a distraction, and almost everyone has fallen for it. For anyone who scoffs at this, go try doing a few dummy bookings and you’ll see. Enjoy your 11 hours in ORD followed by another 16 hours in EWR, that’s the future of international business class awards MileageMinus.
Are other star alliance airlines still showing those international business flights?
I just booked two MEL-EWR today in C for 80k each. There seems to still be availability at that level.
Incredible!
I was seeing northern South America at 17,900 miles and it’s been that way for quite some time. now there is nothing lower than 33K listed.
It doesn’t matter what the base price is. We looked at flights to Hawaii, and they were over 200,000 miles per person for economy plus on United from Chicago. That basically makes the frequent flyer program worthless.
If it weren’t for devaluing there’d be no value at all. I had to pony up 114,000 for round-trip coach fares to Europe (EWR-VCE).