United Airlines 2009 FF Award Travel

[Tahoe_Bill 0]

I just got an e-mail from UA with a link to 2009 Saver Award Chart http://www.united.com/ual/asset/saver_space_chart.pdf

Mileage requirements for award travel from North America to South Asia will increase as follows:

Economy from 60,000 miles to 65,000 miles

Business from 90,000 miles to 125,000 miles (ouch!)

First Class from 120,000 miles to 145,000 miles

I believe that this will pertain to all Star Alliance partners as well.

[chuckrivera 1]

Funny, I booked with miles on 2 Nov for my Jan trip, and then on 4 Nov, I get this email. Just got in before the change.

[joekicker 53]

Funny, I booked with miles on 2 Nov for my Jan trip, and then on 4 Nov, I get this email. Just got in before the change.

 

Or maybe not. I found that United email denser than an appeals court judgement, but I thought the dates applied to when the bookings were made, not the flights. That is, I thought if you call them now, no sweat - nothing kicks in until the month of January arrives.

[Emil 0]

I also got the email just before I left for LOS this past Tuesday using a savers award. The good news that was included in that email was that United will revert back to their prior policy of either actual miles or 500 miles on all flight segments for those with elite status. This was good news for me as I fly from Sacramento to SFO on my flights to BKK so I will earn 1000 miles (premier executive) instead of 190 miles on those legs. What's even more important is that 3 R/Ts from Sacramento to BKK will still get me premier executive status using the 500 mile minimum. If they kept the actual miles flown policy I would have been about 1500 miles short of earning premier status.

[precision 0]

I can't find any super saver awards flying from Seatte.

 

Regular awards are 120,000 miles economy and 200,000 mile in business.

[sick_puppy 0]

I can't find any super saver awards flying from Seatte.

 

Regular awards are 120,000 miles economy and 200,000 mile in business.

 

You aren't trying hard enough then. some tips...

 

1. Be VERY flexible with your dates

 

2. Look for obscure routings. Instead of SEA-NRT-BKK, look at SEA-SFO-NRT-BKK or SEA-LAX-NRT-BKK as well.

 

3. Look for Star Alliance bookings as well. AND, as per Number 2, be creative with your city pairs. for exampe, you could book SEA-SFO-KIX on UA, and KIX-BKK on TG.

 

4. When you call UA to find availability, and some drone in India says there is no availability, say thanks and hang up and try again. There are A LOT of lazy and stooopid customer service agents at UA.

 

5. Go to www.flyertalk.com and read. A lot. Actually, this should be tip #1.

 

It isn't always easy, but I have never had a problem using my UA miles. I've gotten biz class on TG, NH, SQ, OZ and UA. I even got SQ from SFO to HKG in March to see the HK Sevens, and it will be in their new biz class as well (sadly a 77W, I had hoped they'd put the WhaleJet on that route).

[yayayah 0]

I could not find any UA super saver awards on line from YYZ (Toronto) going to BKK departing in April 2009. I called the UA Premier reservations hotline and ten minutes later I was booked on a Star Alliance flight (cost 60,000 miles - I wanted to book before the cost increased in January).

 

Flying AC to NRT then UA to BKK. Coming home THAI to NRT then AC to YYZ. The hotline sevice was excellent (she even booked the seats on the flights). No hassle at all.

 

I am also saving around 5 hrs travelling time by taking the Star Alliance flights and not having to go through ORD.