- Konrad Tillman
Oh, Gosh: United Devalues Partner Awards... It's Not All Bad News
Intro
As recently discussed last week, United devalued First Class partner awards on routes containing the US continent. However, United has devalued certain areas of Business Class awards surrounding intercontinental flights this week. The key word here is "intercontinental". It's not all bad news if you are focused on using your points to fly overseas, but some sweet spots have been removed.
Let's get into it!
Devalue
Probably the biggest devaluation I have come across after research is flights surrounding Asia. One of my favorite sweet spots was the ability to fly from SE Asia to anywhere in SE Asia for around 27.5K Miles. For example, I flew the 737 Max 8 in Singapore Business Class from Siem Reap to Singapore, followed by the 777-300 in Business Class from Singapore to Jakarta, all for 27.5K United Miles. That is a 900$+ ticket!!!! Looking at a similar route going forward, the new total is 82.5K Miles...
Award rates in Europe have increased to between 30-33,000, which is absurd!
Just to top it off, I was about to book a fare across Africa. Not anymore, as the award rates have doubled!!
It's Not All Bad News
It's not all bad news; don't fret. Some award rates have actually dropped instead of rising. You can now fly with Swiss Airlines from Cairo to Singapore for 60K Miles instead of the original 66K Miles.
Just like with multiple other destinations, it seems to be the trend that when flying between continents, the prices have remained unchanged.
So the moral of the story; does it suck? Yes, very much so😅. However, it seems to me that United hasn't taken this as far as Delta SkyPesos yet. Although I wouldn't be surprised to see that soon🥴.
This isn't all the information, as research needs to be conducted further (I shall update this post when I know more). However, I have gathered this information for now.
Final Thoughts
United Airlines MileagePlus has changed some partner awards, but most are not for the better. If you are flying between continents, most fares seem to be unchanged or even lower. Hpwever, if you are flying within the same continent, be prepared to spend almost double the miles than before🥴.
