The Other Shoe Drops: United Saver Award Pricing Jumps To Asia, Australia, And The Rest Of The World; Updated Hidden Award Chart Pricing

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The other shoe has dropped.

In April, 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. On May 29th they raised rates to South America, Africa, and the Middle East.

I warned then to lock in current pricing for other destinations.

And now, a month after the devaluations started, United has raised saver award pricing to the rest of the world.

You can see the May 18th hidden award chart pricing here and May 29th pricing here.

A round-trip saver award on United to Australia now costs 110K miles in coach or 200K miles in business class.

How much did that round-trip saver award cost over the years? A quick search of DansDeals posts shows:

• 2006: 60K coach/90K business
• 2007: 80K coach/100K business
• 2012: 80K coach/135K business
• 2013: 80K coach/140K business
• 2022: 80K coach/160K business
• 2023: 110K coach/200K business

The counter argument from the airlines are that tickets cost more in today’s dollars than they used to, so mileage rates have to go up as well. But still, some of the sudden increases are just egregious.

Here is United’s June 1st hidden award chart pricing caps, as best as I can tell for now after searching dozens of routes today:

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 Japan changes are particularly brutal.

• Saver flights to Oceania (French Polynesia, Guam, Palau, etc) on United have gone from 35K to 45K in coach and from 38.5K to 49.5K on partner airlines in coach. Saver business on United has gone from 70K to 85K and partner airlines has gone from 88K to 93.5K in business.
• Saver flights to Japan on United have gone from 35K to 55K in coach and from 38.5K to 60.5K on partner airlines in coach. Saver business on United has gone from 70K to 100K and partner airlines has gone from 88K to 110K in business.
• Saver flights to Australia and New Zealand on United have gone from 40K to 55K in coach and from 44K to as high as 60.5K on partner airlines in coach. Saver business on United has gone from 80K to 100K and partner airlines has gone from 99K to 110K in business.
• Saver flights to North Asia (China, South Korea, Taiwan, etc) on United have gone from 35K to 50.9K in coach and from 38.5K to 53.1K on partner airlines in coach. Saver business on United has gone from 70K to 100K and partner airlines has gone from 88K to 110K in business.
• Saver flights to South Asia (Hong Kong, Maldives, Singapore, Thailand, etc) on United have gone from 40K to 55K in coach and from 44K to 60.5K on partner airlines in coach. Saver business on United has gone from 75K to 100K and partner airlines has gone from 99K to 110K in business.

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 and to the Middle East, partner airlines like Turkish, ANA, 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, instead of flying to French Polynesia using 45K United miles in coach or 85K in business, you can use 35K Air Canada miles in coach or 55K in business:

Instead of flying to Australia using 55K United miles in coach or 100K in business, you can use 50K Air Canada miles in coach or 75K in business:

The same coach round-trip is 75K miles or the same business class round-trip is 120K ANA miles. ANA requires round-trip travel, while all of the other airlines above allow one-way travel at half the round-trip rate. It can take 1-2 days to transfer points from AMEX to ANA (1:1 ratio) and transfers from Marriott to ANA (60K:25K ratio) can take 2-20 days.

The same flight down under using Avianca Lifemiles is 40K miles one-way in coach or 80K in business class:

HT: bmw, via DDF