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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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 flightsPartner flights
Mainland US5K-15K Coach
25K-30K Business
30K-35K Premium Business
Canada10K-14K Coach
25K-30K Business
16.5K Coach
33K Business
Alaska15K-17.5K Coach
30K-35K Business
35K-40K Premium Business
Hawaii15K-25K Coach
40K-50K Business
50K-60K Premium Business
Mexico5K-20K Coach
30K Business
20K Coach
38K Business
Central America10K-20K Coach
30K Business
20K Coach
38K Business
Northern South America20K Coach
35K Business
22K Coach
38.5K Business
Southern South America30K Coach
60K Business
33K Coach
66K Business
Europe30K-40K Coach
80K Business
33K-44K Coach
88K Business
121K First
Africa40K Coach
70K Business
44K Coach
88K Business
143K First
Middle East42.5K Coach
75K Business
47K Coach
93.5K Business
154K First
Central Asia42.5K Coach
75K Business
47K Coach
93.5K Business
154K First
South Asia40K Coach
75K Business
44K Coach
99K Business
154K First
North Asia35K Coach
70K Business
38.5K Coach
88K Business
132K First
Japan and Oceania35K Coach
70K Business
38.5K Coach
88K Business
121K First
Australia and New Zealand40K 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?"

All opinions expressed below are user generated and the opinions aren’t provided, reviewed or endorsed by any advertiser or DansDeals.

Dave

I avoid Comcast like the devil. I stream TV service, I use Verizon Fios. *ANYTHING* to avoid Comcast.

cb

what PQP from cc spending?
they always find a way to keep u leashed

Bits

I can’t find saver award tickets anymore. They are almost always 32.5k each way now

Maifriend

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.

Al

Are you willing to call it massive yet?

Yandmk

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)

Pinchas Adler

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.

Al

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.

David

I just booked one way Premium seats TLV-NYC on Chase for 100k points on United flight. Same seat on UnitedMiles direct was 130k.

UA Premier

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.

Flyer

Was about to sign up for a United card as a part of my plans but not anymore!! Thanks for the warning!!!

Jake

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

Texas Totty

Even the internet will become less reliable on United flights with this CEO.

Dave

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.

Shmuely

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.

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