At the end of July, United re-introduced discounted short-haul awards, but only offered the option through August 31.

Instead of the usual 12,500 miles one-way or 25,000 miles roundtrip, they’re charging 8,750 one-way or 17,500 roundtrip.

This applies to awards booked at least 7 days in advance of travel (no discount on last-minute award bookings), and is for flights that are 700 miles or less each way and only within the Continental U.S. or between the U.S. and Canada.

Now that it’s August 31, they’ve extended the offering — but only for tickets booked by September 30, 2010 for travel through January 7, 2011.

Like last time I’d fully expect American to match.

But it’d sure be nice if they made moves like these a permanent part of the program rather than a ‘temporary’ promotion.