Last month, I wrote about United hiring Richard Nunn as the new CEO of MileagePlus, saying,
“He has no airline experience, but most recently worked at Comcast, known as being one of the most hated companies in the country.
What can possibly go wrong?”
Well it didn’t take long at all.
On May 1st while I was exploring Hiroshima, I missed that DDF member bmw posted that United hiked saver award rates to Europe by some 33%, up to 40K-44K miles.
About a week after that rates to fly on Air Canada between the US and Canada went up to 16.5K miles in coach and 33K miles in business class.
And yesterday, business class class to Europe climbed by 33% from 60K to 80K on United and up to 88K on partner airlines.
I can’t wait to see what’s coming next week.
The slow drip of devaluations can take a play out of the Comcast playbook of continually adding new fees. Presumably that’s what penny pinching United CEO Scott Kirby, who came over from “enhancing” American and previously USAirways from American West, brought him in to do to MileagePlus? Kirby’s Kutbacks have become notorious. And after all, Delta has been devaluing their miles for years and reaping huge profits as people continue to spend on their credit cards.
The United chart makes no sense as it stands now.
Business class saver awards to Europe cost more than to the Middle East, Africa, or Asia. It won’t stay that way for long.
If you have United miles and can book a trip, you’ll want to do that now before they’re inevitably devalued. You can always cancel for a refund any time before departure if the trip doesn’t pan out.
If you do have airline cards, stop using them and send the airlines the only message they’ll understand, the one that hurts their bottom line. I open airline cards for signup bonus and keep them around for their benefits, but there’s rarely a good reason to use them. Instead, you should use bank card combos that earn much more, are significantly more flexible, and shield against airline devaluations.
Of course 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. Using hybrid points from bank cards help shield against that devaluation as well.
Here is the current state of United’s hidden award chart:
| 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 | 20K Coach 38K Business |
| Northern South America | 20K Coach 35K Business | 22K Coach 38.5K Business |
| Southern South America | 30K Coach 60K Business | 33K Coach 66K Business |
| Europe | 30K-40K Coach 80K Business | 33K-44K Coach 88K Business 121K First |
| Africa | 40K Coach 70K Business | 44K Coach 88K Business 143K First |
| Middle East | 42.5K Coach 75K Business | 47K Coach 93.5K Business 154K First |
| Central Asia | 42.5K Coach 75K Business | 47K Coach 93.5K 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 |
Where will you book before the next devaluation and how long do you think it will be before pricing in other regions goes up as well?
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38 Comments On "United MileagePlus’s Brand New Ex-Comcast CEO Wasted No Time In Devaluing Program, Which Awards Will You Book Before The Other Shoe Drops?"
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I avoid Comcast like the devil. I stream TV service, I use Verizon Fios. *ANYTHING* to avoid Comcast.
what PQP from cc spending?
they always find a way to keep u leashed
For the most part, elite status is overrated and not worth the investment of time and money. Get a Quest or Club card for 2 free bags and other benefits.
Use the extra money you’ll have from using other cards and being a free agent to buy E+ seating. You probably aren’t getting upgraded anyway.
Gonna argue on that one. E+ seating for those that fly even just a few times a year is a substantial benefit.
Plus, if you fly with a family, let’s say to TLV, the 3 pieces of 70lb luggage for each person on the itinerary is huge
I didn’t say there’s no value. For many people it will certainly make sense.
All I’m saying it calculate the cost of obtaining the status before blindly staying on the hamster wheel.
If you’re earning United status via cc spending, there’s a massive opportunity cost versus other options as it takes a lot of spending for even mid-tier status. If you’re doing it via flights, it depends if you’re spending more or taking less convenient flights just to earn status.
The opportunity cost may very well exceed the cost of E+ seats a few times a year and some excess bag fees. Or it may not, but you should run the numbers.
I can’t find saver award tickets anymore. They are almost always 32.5k each way now
New hires seem to have bold ideas and this is one of them. I’ve seen 70k in economy between the IS and Europe for the last couple of weeks. When it’s around 40k the flight time is around 24 to 35 hours which is insane, instead of a typical 11 hours from west coast to Western Europe.
Are you willing to call it massive yet?
When it spreads systemwide, sure.
I was just annoyed about all the hyperbole around the blogosphere yesterday.
“If you have United miles they’re basically worth 1/3 less now”
“A heartbreaking day for MileagePlus members”
“United MileagePlus MASSIVELY Devalues Miles”
Yes, it was bad. But it’s not yet as bad as those headlines make it sound. The proof is in the pudding, you can still take advantage of many sweet spots that have not yet been devalued!
I try hard for headlines to convey things as true as can be and not just to get more clicks.
You make a good point. The United award system doesn’t seem to make sense anymore. It seems to be a mix calculations by algorithms or a static value based on the airpot in other cases. For instance flights out of europe seem to set the award cost on the departing airport. It is as if UK is the baseline price 25k and as you go eastern europe the price increments up. Whereas the continental USA destination does not have a large effect as long as the location is a hub. Oddly a shorter flight to EWR is more expensive than ORD or SFO.
Even UA economy saver to/from TLV, which used to be relatively easy to come by, seems to have gotten very very stingy lately. Barely any dates with saver, and especially those that can be booked with partner airlines (X, not XN)
Right. This is a post-COVID devaluation that has affected all airlines.
An economic slowdown might change that.
You keep blasting delta, however their economy award tickets in the us are decent compared to united. That may be keeping many spending with them.
I enjoy using awards for:
-Last minute economy tickets, especially one-way.
-Business class long-haul tickets.
Both of those have for years provided outsized mileage values as tickets are very pricey.
-Delta charges a fortune for last minute tickets and for one-way tickets.
-Delta blocks partner award space within 3 weeks of a flight.
-Delta charges a fortune for business class long haul tickets, except when they’re having a flash sale.
AA and partners offers those occasionally. United and partners offers those more frequently. There’s real value there.
If you just want a round-trip economy award ticket in advance, why not just use a 2% cash back card or a Chase Freedom+CSR combo for 2.25% back for flights? Where is the value that Delta is giving you with their miles?
I need concrete route and date examples please.
What’s Delta’s name for Business Class?
Delta One
I don’t understand how using bank points shields you from devaluations – as the airlines raise the price of awards, you have to spend more bank points.
I showed in yesterday’s post how to book United awards to Europe at much lower prices, as long as you have bank points and not United miles.
I see what you mean. But in practice, it’s difficult to find the saver space you need to use partner programs. And charging higher for Air Canada flights to Canada when they are joint venture partners is a complete farce.
It is difficult, but it’s also doable if you’re flexible on dates and if you check for award space frequently.
Dan, do you mind linking to that “yesterday’s post”? I am not sure to which one you refer.
https://www.dansdeals.com/points-travel/milespoints/united-devalues-awards-europe-uniteds-updated-unpublished-award-chart/
I just booked one way Premium seats TLV-NYC on Chase for 100k points on United flight. Same seat on UnitedMiles direct was 130k.
Nicely done.
I still spend on United cards for the PQPbto help me reach premier, and the main benefit of it which I can’t get with paying cash like economy plus, is to be able to reach premier desk which are usually USA agents and are very intelligent and experienced UA reps, VS non – premier you can wait on the phone for half hour just to speak to a Philippines kid that has no idea what in the world you want from them or why you’re calling, and has no way of helping you out.
Once you go Twitter DM, you never go back to making phone calls. I use them all the time, even over the GS desk!
with Twitter DM, you do not have the option to huca. If they tell you the answer that you were not looking for, you can’t request it again and hope for another agent. Its all on 1 thread…
Can always use chat 🙂
Chat on the United website ?
Yes, or in the United app.
You can also SMS united
Was about to sign up for a United card as a part of my plans but not anymore!! Thanks for the warning!!!
It’s still worth having their card for the bonus, free bag, expanded award space, etc.
It’s just not worth putting spending on it.
The value of the points can’t be a 1/3 less, as the paid tickets in business class tk the EU have skyrocketed. So still incredible value for 88k miles one way, when the ticket cost $6k
If you tried to book it with chase or Amex it would be significantly more even with the 35% back
The US government is smarter. They devalue daily via inflation rather than by a third every few years.
Then again the airlines get the government (read: you and me) to bail them out on demand.
Even the internet will become less reliable on United flights with this CEO.
Spot on Dan!
Flying United a few times a year from LA in business to TLV (and to keep United status). Now that it’s nearly impossible to get saver rewards on United it is making little sense. United costs as much as ElAl and requires a stopover ( El Al is nonstop). Service and kosher food on United is mediocre at best. Will now use Chase or AMEX cards for better opportunities. Status is nice but probably overrated.
Add me to the ranks of the disappointed with United. I used 420,000 miles for three coach R/T to Europe. 70,000 was a bargain compared to 120,000 for coach on the flights I actually desired.