Frequent Miler on the Air - United blocking partner awards | Coffee Break Ep07 | 4-16-24

Episode Date: April 16, 2024

Tragically, United appears to to be blocking saver award space from Star Alliance partner bookings. In this coffee break episode we'll talk about what that means. (0:59) - Overview of United's recent changes Read more about these United changes here.  (01:09) - Why it matters (07:11) - Research findings - what we've found out digging a little deeper... (09:50) - Are United miles now more valuable? (14:19) - Are United credit cards now more valuable? (extra award space) Visit here to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don't forget to like and follow us on social media. You'll find all other Frequent Miler on the Air episodes here. Music Credit - Beach Walk by Unicorn Heads

Here we go. This is not your typical Frequent Miler on the Air episode. This is a standalone segment we're calling Coffee Break. Each Coffee Break segment will cover a single topic related to miles and points. And each Coffee Break is limited to 20 minutes or your money back. Enjoy. Welcome to today's Coffee Break. On today's Coffee Break, we're going to discuss United Blocking Partner Awards. If you want to use United's partners, Miles, to book United flights, you might have a hard time with that. Ouch. Some bad negative changes there where we'll talk about

what those changes really ultimately mean. But don't forget, if you enjoy this episode, please like it. Give us a thumbs up, subscribe, enable notifications wherever you're watching

and go to frequentmiler.com slash subscribe to join our email list. All right. So United is blocking partner awards, partner redemptions. They're making it impossible

if or difficult at the very least, if not impossible, to book with partners. Why does that matter? Why do we care? Yeah. Boy, there's several reasons why this is pretty big for the US audience in particular. For one, if you want to fly United, now we can't use most transferable points to book United because in the past, if you wanted to fly United and you had American Express membership rewards, for example, you could transfer to Air Canada or to LifeMiles and book those United flights when they're available to partners. But if they're all going to be blocked, then we can't use those points to book. And so since Amex points don't transfer to United, you know, you're out of luck. So only Chase, Ultimate Rewards, and Built Points now are transferred to United. And so they're the only ones you'll be able to use to book those United flights you want.

Yeah, that's really annoying because if you had access to partners, then you'd have chances to save because, of course, there are a number of partner sweet spots where foreign airline programs charge fewer miles than United typically would for its own flights. Like we've talked on and on about Turkish over the years. Turkish Airlines miles and smiles now charges 10,000 miles one way for a Star Alliance domestic trip, like flying all the way to Hawaii. So you could fly to Hawaii and United for 10,000 Turkish miles if United made those flights available. Aeroplan and Life Miles, you could fly from 6,000 miles one way on some of the really short domestic routes that United operates. Again, using those

miles if United made the flights available, but they're not making them widely available anyway. Another sweet spot, ANA Business Class to Europe, 100,000 miles round trip for Business Class to Europe, which is not much more than what United would charge one way. And ANA, of course, allows that as a round trip booking, and there shouldn't be any surcharges on a United flight. So those are some sweet spots that are great ways to fly United for far fewer miles than what United would charge, but only if United makes the flights available to partners. So it really stinks.

It really does. And one other thing that I think is a big deal is around positioning flights. So let's say you're using your Air Canada miles, just for example, to fly Swiss business class from Washington, D.C. to Europe. That's great. But what if you don't live near D.C.? Normally, you'd be able to use those same Air Canada miles as part of the same booking, book United from wherever your home airport is to D.C then onward on um on swiss air but if obviously if the if united is blocking those flights you're not gonna be able to do that and i think that's gonna affect a lot of international travelers who like to use uh transferable points because

air canada and life miles to a lesser extent ana and tur and Turkish are great transfer partners from various transferable points programs and had been good for booking United or other airlines. And United was always useful as a way to position within the US to the airport you're either departing from or arriving internationally from. Yeah. And it's not even just when you're flying a Star Alliance award. Like, you know, Washington, D.C. has lots of great international flights from there. And I live one flight away from Dulles Airport on United. But I would maybe book, for instance, I've booked with Air France miles to fly on Air France to Europe before, but used life miles in order to book my positioning flight from Albany, New York,

my home airport to Washington and Dulles on United as a separate booking entirely, because it's usually not very expensive in miles. It's usually a cheap positioning flight using partner miles, whereas United would charge more miles if I booked through United. So yeah, I find that to be a huge bummer for me because I've certainly used it for positioning flights or used those sweet spots for positioning flights lots and lots of times. Yeah. Yeah. So the biggest thing for me was when I read this news and before I dug deep into it was that I was worried about the Newark to London business class award availability on United for partners. And this is really specific, but I had my ANA miles that were about to expire.

And so I booked a future flight that starts with United flying from Newark to London in business class. And the idea is that ANA lets me change the dates for free, but not the carrier or the route. And so these miles are like gone if I can't fly the first leg of this round trip flight. And the only way I can fly the first leg is if United makes that flight available to partners, to ANA specifically. So I was really worried about that. The good news is it doesn't seem to be affecting international flights, this blocking. No, at least not to Europe anyway. And I might assume maybe not to Asia also, not the long- haul international flights yet.

Although, of course, once United gets used to this and if they find it is good for them, then who knows? I mean, they could start blocking other awards at any time. But right now, it seems like this blocking is not happening so much on those international flights, at least especially to Europe at this point. So you may be in good shape, maybe, but you don't know. It's kind of hard to know because you booked something on United from Newark to London, anticipating that you would just change the date later on to something that

actually fits your schedule. So now you're either going to have to fly the day you booked or get, you know, hopefully keep your fingers crossed that you're able to change it. Right. And since they don't appear to be blocking, it should still be possible to move it to another date. So hopefully that won't change. Yeah. What about on other routes? I mean, are they blocking everything from partners? Is it impossible to book a United Ward with partner miles now? You mean like domestic flights? Yeah, domestically.

Yeah. Domestic seems to be where the problem is. And, you know, we mentioned that Turkish sweet, sweet spot. You could fly, for example, United has this really long nonstop flight from Newark to Honolulu. And, and with Turkish miles, you could book that for only 10,000 miles one way, which is a fantastic value. So I did some poking around. And first of all, there's just not much award space this year on that route at all, regardless of whether you're using United Miles or not. But early next year, a lot of award space opens up. So I saw that in January, it was mixed. There was some blocking, but there were quite a few dates that were bookable with partners. So it's not all bad news there until you get to a mysterious date, February 8th. Suddenly from February 8th onward of next year, 100% blocking. There's not a single date with Eric, like with their partners awards available at the

time we're recording this anyway, that might change. So, you know, it might be how far out it is in the schedule. That's the determining factor there, but I didn't see that same exact pattern with other routes. So I just have poked around a little bit though. So I don't know everything here. I do know, like I looked at another route I looked at was Newark to Cleveland, sort of arbitrary span of dates. And whereas I had read people saying that the majority of flights were blocked, I found that it was actually slightly less than half of the flights were blocked. So that's slightly less than half good news, I guess. Slightly less than half of the flights were blocked. So that's slightly less than half good news, I guess. Slightly less than half good news. Yeah, I mean, they might not be, I might assume, and maybe I would assume incorrectly, we all know what happens when you make assumptions,

that the ones that were blocked were probably the more desirable departure times. And so the ones that are available, maybe the less desirable ones, possibly. I mean, I'm just guessing. You never know. I feel like award availability is kind of unpredictable sometimes. So maybe that's too big of a guess. But at any rate, they're blocking a lot. They are. So, you know, whether it's majority or not, who knows? I think that could change at any time, but a lot of it. And that's disappointing because there were those really good opportunities to use other carriers' miles. But what does that do to the value of United Miles? Are United Miles now more valuable?

Because you can't book lots of those, at the very least lots, even if it's not the majority. At the very least, many, many, many flights that used to be bookable via partners now can only be booked via United. So how does that affect the value of United miles? Are United miles now more valuable, Greg? Yeah. I mean, I think they have to be. If you want certain flights and they're blocking partners, then the only way to book them with miles is with United. And so, yeah, I think that the value of miles has gone up. Don't, you know, don't confuse that. Don't confuse me saying that with the idea of me like saying, good job, United. Not at all. It's just a fact that if you want to fly those United flights and if you're flying domestically, I mean, they have a great route network. You're often going to want to fly United. And so, yeah, I think it improves for people who don't want to have to pay for the flights.

Does it make them more valuable? I don't know. I mean, I feel like that just depends on the cost of the flight still and the number of miles required to book it. Because if United's the only way to book it, but they're charging a million miles, then that doesn't make those miles more valuable to me. It just, I guess it makes them more desirable if you don't want to pay for the United flight. But I would say that this actually maybe to me makes my membership rewards points a little bit more valuable to me for this specific purpose. Now I say valuable, and it's the same exact thing that you were just saying with United. It's not literally more valuable, but more desirable to me, I guess, because I haven't seen very many instances where you can get more than one and a half cent per point out of United miles domestically. I'm sure they exist, but not tons of them anyway, where you can get more value than that domestically. And with a business

platinum card and the 35% rebate, if United is my chosen airline, I can essentially get a little bit more than one and a half cents per point for my Amex membership rewards points, booking United economy class flights. You can also get one and a half cents per point out of ultimate rewards points. I think it makes those currencies shine a little bit more for buying paid flights. It obviously creates a bitter taste for United for me because I like those sweet spots with partners. But the United miles themselves, I'm not more excited about collecting those because I don't really want to pay 15,000 United miles for a flight when oftentimes that's not going to represent a great value as compared against the cash price. Yeah, that's a going to represent a great value as compared against the cash price.

Yeah, that's a good point. Although, I mean, United sometimes has very low, they're not 15K necessarily. They charge whatever they charge. And so they could be 6K or 5K even at times. And it varies. But that's a really good point about the value of currencies that let you pay cash become a good alternative. Don't forget U.S. Bank's altitude reserve is another one where you can get 1.5 cents per point value. But from any of those, what you don't get is free cancellations and changes, which United miles do allow. So, so I, I, so personally, I mean, so my United miles have just become more, uh, useful, I guess. So yeah, I could see your argument against using the word value, but yeah, you know, they're worth the same. They were yesterday. There's just, there's more, there's more cases where I'm going to turn to them then. Okay. That's fair. That's fair. Yeah. I mean,'s more cases where I'm going to turn to them than before. Okay, that's fair.

That's fair, yeah. I mean, definitely they're going to be used more often because that's the only option if you don't want to have to pay for the flight. And you want flexibility. I think that's a great point. The flexibility point is huge because being able to cancel an award is a major difference over buying a cash fare. So that could be worth paying a few more miles and getting slightly less cents per point if you're getting the flexibility. I could totally see that being the case. I don't know if I'm more interested in collecting more United miles, though, because I don't know what they're going to charge for their flights. And so the lack of predictability

to me makes them a little bit less desirable. At would, you know, at least I know what I'm going to get out of the ultimate rewards points or membership rewards points. I'm not going to get outsized value, but I know what kind of value to expect. Whereas with United, I feel like I don't know what kind of value to expect. I don't think I want to collect more of them necessarily. But maybe I'm wrong. Are the credit cards now more valuable? I mean, should we be going after those? Because that, like you said, I mean, if you want to book the United flights, you want to use miles, that's the way to do it probably. Are the credit cards more valuable now? Yeah. In a way, I think they are because the United credit cards give you expanded

saver award space. So, you know, United now has made it so that regular SAVE reward space is no longer always available to partners. But they've also long had this thing where if you have most of their United credit cards, not all, but most of them, you get access to expanded economy award space. And so that would be valuable. Plus, if you're booking positioning flights with United Miles, well, on United at all, really, you might want free check bags that most of the credit cards will offer. So in a way, I think they're a little bit more valuable. I don't think it makes a big difference as far as that piece of it goes because they were always good for giving that little bit of extra award space at that saver level. And so that part doesn't really change. What if United Miles are your only way to book it? Then I guess having expanded availability, because in the past, if I was able to book it via Turkish for 10,000 miles,

then I didn't really care about the expanded award availability on United that much. But now if I know I'm not going to have those other alternatives, well, then I guess I'll take all the extra availability I can get. So I could see that argument there. Yeah, that's a good way of putting it because the story of why the credit card is valuable hasn't changed, right? Right. But what's changed is if you've acknowledged that United Miles are going to be more useful than they were before, then you're going to be turning United more. And so that extra award space is going to make, is going to be a different, could be a differentiator. One little thing to note about the expanded award space, the United Gateway card, which is, has no annual fee, will give you expanded award space, but only

if you start with a, another card, a card that does have an annual fee and downgrade to that gateway card, then you'll keep that expanded award availability. If you start with a gateway card, if you sign up for that, it's not going to do that for you. Yeah, very good. Good point there. That is something interesting that we learned in the recent, relatively recent past, last year here, I think. One other thing I wanted to mention, you mentioned the free check bags with the credit card. Keep in mind that United, unlike most airlines, requires that you use the card to pay for the flight in order to get the check bags. So even if you're booking an award, you need to pay for the taxes with your United credit card in order to get the free check bags. I hate that policy.

Yeah, it's terrible. I hate it too. But I thought it was worth mentioning for anybody who isn't familiar with that, because that, I mean, that certainly is something that has always turned me off about it. That's actually a good tip for, in reverse, because I think most people who aren't like heavy into this might think that whatever airline card they have, they have to pay with that card to get free check bags. And, and they're often sort of led that way by, by the advertising that says, use your Delta card and get free check bags. But it's just not true.

You don't have to use your Delta card to get free check bags. If you have the Delta gold or higher card, you get a free check bag as long as your SkyMiles account is attached to the reservation. That's good to know as well. Combining two separate things. Use your Delta card and get free check bags. Right, right, right. Separate, right? You're not saying you must use your Delta.

Right, right. Exactly. Not one for the other. But with United, you must. With United, you must. And the Gateway card won't give you a free check bag, by the way, that fee-free one, even if you've downgraded from an expensive one. Good point. Good point.

All right. I think that's the end of this week's Coffee Break. If you've enjoyed this, again, don't forgetgraded from an expensive one. Good point. Good point. All right. I think that's the end of this week's coffee break. If you've enjoyed this again, don't forget to like it. Give us a thumbs up and subscribe for emails at frequent miler.com slash subscribe and check out our full length frequent miler on the air episodes dropping every Friday. We'll see you next time.

Bye everybody.