United already massively increased the number of points required for awards, especially premium cabin awards and especially on partner airlines, back in February.
But the usefulness of miles is a function of:
- The cost of an award (award chart pricing)
- Availability
- Routing rules (what available flights can you take advantage of to get where you’re going)
And United appears to be in the midst of a major stealth devaluation without any notice in the form of significantly restricting its routing rules.
United’s Routing Rules Had Been the Most Generous
United, prior to its merger with Continental, had offered some of the most restrictive awards among major airlines.
They engaged in ‘Starnet blocking’ (known internally on the Continental side as ‘throttling’ where they pretended that award seats being offered to them by their partners weren’t really available. Agents blamed the partner airlines when it was really United preventing members from booking available seats. This significantly limited the value of United miles.
They also imposed limits on the number of miles you could fly. Every city pair (origin-destination) has a published ‘maximum permitted mileage’ and United used to require you stay within that when putting together a trip. With the merger they relaxed routing rules and allowed exceeding this mileage by 15%.
United used to require that if you crossed the Atlantic on an Asia award that pricing would be based on the higher Europe-Asia award, and that you had to cross the same ocean in both directions. The Continental merger eliminated this.
And then when the merger was completed the maximum permitted mileage rule went away entirely, at least initially — Continental and then United awards were based on whatever the computer would price, and agents rarely questioned the computer. There were few logical or consistent routing rules, the published rules weren’t actually enforced. Sometimes things you should have been able to do weren’t allowed (the computer wouldn’t price, and getting an agent to override the computer has always been tough with Continental). But most of the time customers benefited.
United-Continental had perhaps the most generous routing rules in the industry, a reasonable award chart too, you could fly pretty much however you wanted. And with the amazing availability of the Star Alliance, that made United’s miles exceptionally valuable for international travel.
Now United is Getting VERY Restrictive
Via Matthew United appears to have added new routing rule restrictions to several of their international awards.
- Travel between the US and North Asia (eg Seoul, Beijing) cannot be via South Asia (eg Hong Kong, Bangkok, Singapore)
- Travel between the US and North Asia cannot be via Europe, so no New York – Frankfurt – Seoul for instance any longer, or New York – Istanbul – Seoul.
- Travel between the US and North Asia cannot be via US Pacific territories, so you cannot connect in Guam enroute to North Asia (despite the United-Continental focus city there).
It gets worse.
US to South Asia cannot go via Europe.
US to Africa cannot go via Asia or South America.
At least according to the new published fare rules that are not yet being consistently enforced.
I searched for Washington Dulles – Bangkok and found the first two suggestions were via Europe, and the system was allowing me book the first choice.
The United website is the better choice for getting awards the new rules won’t permit right now, though there are apparently reports of the website erroring out on some of these (unknown yet whether that’s because they violate these new rules, or just because the United website errors out sometimes).
When you select an itinerary you can pull up routing rules for the award.
US – South Asia contains these restrictions:
From First to Among the Worst
United apparently decided that its awards were too generous and costing them too much money. They increased the price of awards but apparently that didn’t go far enough.
So they refuse to spend money on awards that clearly make sense.
- US-South Asia from the East Coast isn’t flying more miles when you go over the Atlantic than the Pacific, it’s basically the same distance.
- From the East Coast of the US it can be fewer miles to fly to Africa via South America than via Europe.
Distance-based programs rarely have routing rules like this, it’s region-based programs that do. Aeroplan, for instance, lets you route any way you want more or less as long as you don’t exceed the published maximum miles for the city pair by more than 5%.
US Airways, whose computers don’t appear capable of imposing routing restrictions, has always been among the most generous although presumably that will go away when they merge fully with American. American significantly restricts the regions you can connect in when booking an award already.
Delta’s rules are a bit more opaque, though I’ve had success booking US-Asia via the Atlantic while others report differently.
Combining the massive award price increase with new stricter routing rules means United is getting competitive with Aeroplan for most quickly devalued program.
This Limits the Usefulness of Partner Awards Most
United’s own flights are much cheaper than partners when flying premium cabins under the new award chart.
Partner flights cost more. And it’s generally partners that are going to fly via the Pacific or South America to Africa or via Europe to Asia (since United doesn’t fly Asia-Africa, South America-Africa, or Europe-Asia).
If you’ve been willing to pay premium pricing in United’s new award chart for an award like US-South Asia via Europe, such as Washington Dulles – London – Bangkok on United and then Thai in first class, you’re now going to have to pay two awards if they start consistently applying this rule.
That’s what this means — taking advantage of reasonable routings using Star Alliance partners doesn’t just mean using a more expensive Star Alliance award chart, it means paying for two awards!
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Race to the bottom. Thanks UA!
Thank goodness you’re reporting an unsubstantiated claim as fact.
But at least you’ve used a headline to ensure that you’ll get clicks, even if the information provided is questionable.
Also, Tokyo is not in the North Asia zone; it is in the Japan zone. And rules there have been different for about as long as I can remember; things just price differently for awards to/from Japan.
Also, the fact that – despite your claims – such awards are still bookable makes this even more ridiculous. I just booked EWR-LHR-BKK without trouble.
So, remind me again what the problem is here??
Gary, any idea how this fits in with India travel? As BOS based, LH is generally the quickest/shortest route for me (maybe add in TK with their new service). Does India count as South Asia in the rules?
Where are the CC links?
Or do they only show up when there are good news?
INK4ever
@Wandering Aramean – 1. this isn’t just about Japan. 2. The award routing rules United has published are new. 3. You can get some of these awards on the website but cannot force them via multi-city. 4. Have you tried booking them by phone? 5. The routing rules I produce a screenshot of are for South Asia. 6. Why in the world would I be trying some stunt ‘for clicks’ early Sunday morning over a 3-day holiday weekend? It’s absurd of you to try to impugn motivations like that, stick to the facts.
@jason No, India you can still transit Europe and historically had to do so. That’s not going to go away.
@ABC kinda off-topic, no?
I don’t see this as a “devaluation” per se. It’s a fix to a loophole that was “nice to have”. This is like only flying 20k BIS miles, using you CC that gets EQM to manufacture 1k, then complaining about it when UA only allows you to get Platinum. I run a business and understand loopholes cost the company money, and complaining doesn’t get the consumer far in the long run. I agree with @Wandr, not a very good title as I was expecting a real devaluation.
@Johnson – I do see this as a big devaluation, since it would mean making it much harder to get awards to several destinations at prices we’ve become used to.
Flying to Asia via Europe is a big way we get United awards to Asia, forbidding it as one award means cutting out availability from Lufthansa, LOT Polish, Turkish, and in fact even Thai since the best Thai availability is Europe-Asia.
That guts the big advantage Star Alliance has, which is all of the possible ways to get somewhere through their many partners.
Post- this change awards at the usual pricing get much harder, piecing together awards the way we used to be able to will get more expensive. As I say, devaluation isn’t just a function of award chart price but also availability and routing rules. And I see this as a devaluation.
You’re welcome to disagree of course, and I welcome hearing about it!
Yes, United has historically been VERY generous here. I recognize that in the post. But getting less generous is precisely a devaluation IMHO>.
@Gary
4. “Have you tried booking them by phone?”
Can we get some examples of when you tried?
6. “Why in the world would I be trying some stunt ‘for clicks’ early Sunday morning over a 3-day holiday weekend?”
Because everyone else will be trying the same stunts tomorrow?
Gary – ABC’s comments are legit. We are bombarded by Ink links when there’s an AMAZING!!! new UR transfer partner. But when one of those UR transfer partners has another “huge devaluation”, isn’t it strange we don’t get a slew of posts telling readers how much less valuable it is signing up for those super duper 60K “Get em Now – click HERE and HERE and HERE” Ink cards? Nah, must be a coincidence.
If the routing rules impose new restrictions to South Asia, I am not sure why India is an exempt. I fly quite often to India and did some test searches. Some results are more stupid than ever before. For ex, when searched for BOS-HYD in Nov, I got this: BOS-IST-DEL-BKK-HYD. So the flight lands in Delhi, takes you to Bangkok and then ships you to Hyderabad. Isn’t this cross touching the country in a non-unilateral direction? I am not saying this is a bad post or off topic. Looks like little more research and facts are needed to understand the impacts better. Mine is a very small example but all other searches are coming out almost the same way. Anyway I appreciate this post than anyone else so far, I guess. Thank You.
Lol
Some of you need to get a life. It’s a BLOG. The man wrote an article and picked a title he liked. If you don’t agree then move on and enjoy your 3 day weekend researching the new seats on the recently delivered Gum Air DHC-6 Twin Otter.
“Stick to the facts”
Sure, like the part where what you’ve identified as broken in this post is still very, very possible. How’s that for a fact?
Have you tried booking via phone? Were you denied? Have you actually failed to book any award itinerary which previously would have been valid but no longer is? If not then the conclusions you’ve drawn seem to be missing any semblance of fact as a basis.
As for the Japan bit, you’re the one who used that as an example, not me. Twice you call Tokyo out as being in the North Asia zone. I know I got that fact correct.
If this is true, this is awful. Basically the only way to get partner premium cabin availability to Asia is via Europe. All of my bookings for 2014 are on what appear to be now prohibited routes (BOS-FRA-BKK-TPE, BOS-DUB-IST-MLE).
I hope this isn’t true. I’ve still 1.3m banked miles on United and and about a year away from 1MM (assuming business travel keeps up). It’s already an ordeal trying to book family vacations as awards — this sounds like it will make it impossible.
Agree with Wandering Aramean (as usual). The title was totally just trying to get more clicks, and in general they have started to look like Delta Points’ titles..
‘AMAZING NEW DEAL’…’MASSIVE DEVAULATION’…’AMAZING 60K SIGNUP’…
The rumor I heard is that BA Blog readership has started to decline across the board. This must be the reason.
The ability to book US to South Asia via Europe is hardly a “loophole” in need of closing.
What with prevailing winds, the fastest routes from the East Coast to BKK are routinely through Europe on the outbound, but often through Asia on the return.
This post is already pretty long and was written from an airline lounge finished as I was boarding. I apologize if there was a missing nuance anyone would have liked me to explore… such as relative value of Chase or other points.
And for the criticism that some routing in contravention to the newly published rules are possible on the website that is a point I make in the post. But a change in routing rules is a big deal nonetheless.
And Tyler blog traffic is up SUBSTANTIALLY. I am fortunate to have great readers!
I, for one, enjoy the timeworn qualifiers: “Amazing, “Massive”, “Huge.” It reminds me how important this all is.
What’s next. No routing to Africa through Europe? How about no routing to Mexico via the US?
@jb, I believe this is a very big deal. But I lay out analysis which can help readers evaluate for themselves. And readers can share their own views, agree or disagree with me, in the comments. Thanks for yours!
What analysis did you do? It doesn’t appear you did anything above what “Matthew” already posted and then you go on to misrepresent Japan as North Asia.
Debate will be less if the title of the blog includes wording like “possibly”, “appears to”, etc. But in this internet age, most of us are probably used to seeing a less-than-fully-accurate title of a piece of news, let alone a blog.
Personally, I appreciate the alarm set by the blog since I have not read the ‘via Matthew” piece before.
@Chister if my title didn’t fully reflect the piece, apologies and to all, was sitting in lounge 25 minutes prior to departure and had to run to the gate. I probably should have waited to hit publish until I was on the plane but wanted to finish and the title was the last thing I did. Sorry for those unhappy with title.
I’ve fixed Tokyo, of course it is a separate zone, though for the purposes of Star Alliance awards it’s always been possible to fly via Europe before so it’s immaterial. But indeed for accuracy’s sake Japan is indeed a separate zone on the award chart!
@Gary, thanks for the info. It’s your blog; readers have the option to hit the delete key if they so choose.
As for the (over)use of qualifiers like “huge” and “amazing”, well, sometimes we readers need to be knocked upside the head to take the time to sift through what appears to be a bunch of crud just to find a single, essential tidbit of information.
In this case, your post informed me that a choice I had been considering for flying in 2015–Africa to East Coast via South America–may not work as I intended. Thus, time to consider the options. Thanks.
@kimmie a – and it *may* work, as I showed with screen shots the website will still pull up some awards that are contrary to the new published rules.
Wow, people sure are whiny on Sunday mornings.
Get over yourselves.
Don’t like the title or the blog in general? Start your own.
This seems like it is potentially a VERY HUGE DEAL actually, since the best thing about United awards is the ability to combine all of those Star Alliance airlines as Gary says. He points out the website doesn’t fully reflect the changes to routing rules that United has loaded, but it really does raise alarms that they have added specific new restrictive routing rules to their awards. Get them while you still can, people!!
I’ve gone ahead and changed “is” to “may be” in the title of the post, that criticism was indeed fair, and I much like to improve clarity. Thanks!
Well, all those minted UR points for people were going to come back to haunt them someday. I have only every booked a few star United awards, so this doesn’t effect me very much.
Let’s face it, millions of points chasing limited awards and everyone trying extract maximum value for them. The airlines know that they have control of a limited resource and rational behavior is to fill these holes in their routing rules.
I have no issue with that, in fact I see this as an opportunity to actually get more seats with my miles and points because I am willing to pay reasonable surcharges from certain carriers to get premium awards. If you are no willing to put out some $$ to sit in the front, I am not very sympathetic.
Why would people still be collecting UA miles after the last huge devaluation? I guess some are gluttons for punishment!
The way I see it, this is a significant devaluation, and I appreciate Gary informing us of this.
Also, the fact that some agents or the computers haven’t caught on to this yet, doesn’t make it less real. Gary is obviously reporting a very real change, it often takes a few weeks for United to get its ducks in a row and all of its agents up to speed on the changes. If I had a lot of United miles and plans to travel to Asia via Europe, I would book ASAP before the computers and agents are brought into line on this.
Gary – “This post is already pretty long…” 🙂
Gee, ya think? 🙂
For those of you in Canada or live in the US but close to the Canadian boarder, it appears that like the previous segment count restrictions, these new routing rules do not apply to Canada. They are strictly for US originated trips and you can still price YYZ-LHR-PEK for example but not EWR-LHR-PEK. Of course departing Canada will result in higher taxes.
Thanks for the heads up on this Gary, most of us appreciate it.
Gary, what’s going on with you and Seth? I’ve been noticing a bit of bickering among BA bloggers lately.
@MEOW I genuinely don’t know, he does seem like he’s got an axe to grind with me recently (it isn’t mutual). I find that he is a great guy in person but gets a bit pricklish online (though some may say – probably rightly – that I can get pricklish online too, so there ya go) 🙂
@Gary, Hope you guys kiss and make up soon. Hate to see two of my favorite bloggers get hostile with each other.
Are you going to write about segment restrictions? Great post!
@MEOW me too! I certainly do not intend to be hostile with Seth. As I say, he’s a great guy in person. I like him a lot.
@Kowla that’s not really new, have I actually not written about it? If so that’s an oversight, somehow I thought I did or at least must have!
I may be missing the point of this, but I’m not sure why this is surprising in the slightest.
They’ve significantly increased the cost of *A awards – why wouldn’t they make a corresponding limitation on the ability to circumvent the increase in costs to travel on a *A partner.
I’m not saying it’s not a devaluation, but I’m not understanding why this is a shock.
Greg
Gary –
A related topic that I’ve never seen a post on — who pays who, and how much, on a partner award redemption?
One possibility is “nothing”, although it’s unlikely given these limiting moves. United customers benefit because they get to fly with good service, and *A customers benefit because they get to use United’s huge network. My understanding is that if I’m an FA on United, I can non-rev standby on any partner airline in any class at no charge, so why wouldn’t the same apply for awards?
Another possibility is “nothing, but…”; that it’s all par unless the relationship gets too unbalanced. For example, it’s a lot easier to get United miles than many European carrier miles, which means United fliers might be redeeming too much. At that point perhaps there’s simply political pressure to restrict the number of United travelers.
Finally there’s “cash money”. United pays some real negotiated rate, perhaps based on capacity full. This would make the most sense, but it’s also the most complicated…. for example, it seems like more premium cabin seats should be available since those would have gone empty anyway, while economy is often full.
Can you post any knowledge or speculation that you have? It would be super informative!
Related, how does the same work for *A lounge access? When I swipe my TK *Gold card at the United Club, is TK paying a fee?
If this is true, it does not surprise me; this is an airline hell-bent on filing bankruptcy next year to lower their operating costs and I will NOT support them any longer. Management at all levels has forgotten how to run an airline OR that they are running a service industry.
Please help support my puppy hit by a car who left the scene: http://www.youcaring.com/littlelevi
Hmmm… is this another attempt at containing costs, like the recent devaluation? Something tells me trouble is brewing at United HQ; the investors are becoming disgruntled.