I have always had a love/hate relationship with United Airlines and this morning, it’s more hate than love. In case you missed it yesterday, United Airlines announced a massive devaluation to their awards chart starting February 1, 2014. This gutting of their awards chart is just a huge punch to our guts and is yet another reminder for the earn and burn motto. I have always promoted the earn and burn method when it comes to frequent flyer miles and yesterday’s announcement just sealed the deal.
Let’s get you caught up if you missed the announcement.
United Airlines has now separated their current awards chart into two, one awards chart for flying United Airlines metal and the other awards chart, for flying its Star Alliance partners. The current awards chart can be found here and the new awards chart is here. The biggest devaluation is for people who want to redeem Mileage Plus miles for premium cabins on Star Alliance partners. Redemption for economy seats on United Airlines metal aren’t too bad and are pretty much in line with the other legacy carriers. At this time, the devaluation only applies to how you redeem miles for flights, not how you earn miles. You can still book award flights at current levels until January 31, 2014. These changes are for award flights booked on or after February 1, 2013.
The following are listed for the SAVER award levels and are for round trip prices. For one way prices, just divide in half.
Flying to/from North America and the Caribbean, Central and South America have the fewest changes.
| North America | Class | Current | New United | New Star Alliance |
| To/From | Price | Price | Price | |
| U.S., Canada | Coach | 25,000 | 25,000 | 25,000 |
| Business | 50,000 | 50,000 | 50,000 | |
| First | 70,000 | 70,000 | 70,000 | |
| Hawaii | Coach | 40,000 | 45,000 | 45,000 |
| Business | 80,000 | 80,000 | 80,000 | |
| First | 100,000 | 100,000 | 100,000 | |
| Mexico, C. America, | Coach | 35,000 | 35,000 | 35,000 |
| and Caribbean | Business | 60,000 | 60,000 | 60,000 |
| First | 80,000 | 80,000 | 80,000 | |
| Northern South | Coach | 40,000 | 40,000 | 40,000 |
| America | Business | 70,000 | 70,000 | 70,000 |
| First | 90,000 | 90,000 | 90,000 | |
| Southern South | Coach | 60,000 | 60,000 | 60,000 |
| America | Business | 100,000 | 110,000 | 110,000 |
| First | 135,000 | 140,000 | 140,000 |
Changes to/from North and Hawaii aren’t bad. It’s only a 5,000 mile addition for the Economy Saver seat. Changes to/from North America and Southern South America aren’t too bad either. It’s an additional 5,000 to 10,000 miles for premium cabins on both United and Star Alliance partner flights.
Flying to/from North America and Europe, the Middle East and Africa will make you cringe.
| North America | Class | Current | New United | New Star Alliance |
| To/From | Price | Price | Price | |
| Europe | Coach | 60,000 | 60,000 | 60,000 |
| Business | 100,000 | 115,000 | 140,000 | |
| First | 135,000 | 160,000 | 220,000 | |
| Middle East | Coach | 80,000 | 85,000 | 85,000 |
| Business | 120,000 | 140,000 | 160,000 | |
| First | 150,000 | 180,000 | 280,000 | |
| Africa | Coach | 80,000 | 80,000 | 80,000 |
| Business | 120,000 | 140,000 | 160,000 | |
| First | 150,000 | 170,000 | 260,000 |
The biggest changes are to First Saver seats. We’re talking nearly doubled for Star Alliance partner flights!
And lastly, changes to flying to/from North America and Asia, Oceania and Australia/New Zealand will outright make you want gouge your own eyes out.
| North America | Class | Current | New United | New Star Alliance |
| To/From | Price | Price | Price | |
| Japan | Coach | 65,000 | 70,000 | 70,000 |
| Business | 120,000 | 130,000 | 150,000 | |
| First | 135,000 | 160,000 | 220,000 | |
| North Asia | Coach | 65,000 | 70,000 | 70,000 |
| Business | 120,000 | 140,000 | 160,000 | |
| First | 140,000 | 160,000 | 240,000 | |
| Central Asia | Coach | 80,000 | 85,000 | 85,000 |
| Business | 120,000 | 140,000 | 160,000 | |
| First | 160,000 | 180,000 | 280,000 | |
| South Asia | Coach | 65,000 | 80,000 | 80,000 |
| Business | 120,000 | 140,000 | 160,000 | |
| First | 140,000 | 160,000 | 260,000 | |
| Oceania | Coach | 70,000 | 70,000 | 70,000 |
| Business | 120,000 | 130,000 | 150,000 | |
| First | 150,000 | 160,000 | 220,000 | |
| Australia and | Coach | 80,000 | 80,000 | 80,000 |
| New Zealand | Business | 135,000 | 140,000 | 160,000 |
| First | 160,000 | 160,000 | 260,000 |
Are you guys seeing these changes? Nope, those are not typos. We’re talking 280,000 miles for a First Saver seat on Star Alliance partner flights to Central Asia and the Middle East?? That’s 20,000 miles more than the current AROUND THE WORLD booking! Absolutely horrible. If you’re panicking right now, it’s okay. I had the same reaction last night. When I found out, I wanted to jump online right away and write something about it but I decided against it. I wanted to get some sleep and be clear headed before jumping to any conclusions.
So what does this mean?
It means what we have been saying all along, that frequent flier miles are a great perk but they should not be relied on. There’s no central bank that regulates the value of airline miles and programs can be devalued at any time. First Delta, now United. There’s nothing to say that American, US Air and Alaska Airlines won’t follow suit soon. Personally, I think American and US Air will be safe for at least another year. They are too busy dealing with the whole merger to be doing anything crazy like this. But if the merger goes through, I would say a devaluation of their combined frequent flyer program will soon follow.
The only silver lining in this whole massacre is that United has not imposed any fuel surcharges on Star Alliance partner award flights.
Here are my recommendations.
Burn your miles!!! If you have enough for a flight, book one now! You don’t have to fly by January 31, 2014, you just have to book your tickets by then. I would encourage you to do this sooner than later because you will be competing for those limited reward seats with everyone else in our same shoes.
Once you have burned all your miles, I would transfer my loyalty somewhere. Right now, our two choices are American Airlines and Alaska Airlines. It’s so ironic that a year ago, American Airlines was the least favorite of the frequent flyer programs and today, they are the most valuable. It’s amazing the difference a year makes. If I had to guess, I would predict American Airlines to devalue their frequent flyer program before Alaska Airline does. However, American Airlines does have the advantage of being part of an airline alliance and comes with all the perks associated with. Alaska does not belong to an alliance so you won’t get any international perks, but you will get reciprocal benefits with American and Delta Air Lines and miles earned from all three of those airlines can be combined into your Alaska Airline account.
For me personally, I’m going to give American a try. Starting next year, I’ll begin all my traveling with American Airlines exclusively when possible. The crappy part is that I will have United Airlines Premier Gold and Star Alliance Gold status next year and status is only good if you are traveling on that airline. A year of status will be wasted but if I continue to travel on United just to enjoy the perks, then I will be trapped with them for another year after that and the cycle of violence will continue all over again.
As far as credit card spending goes, I would recommend shifting all your spending to credit cards that allow you to transfer points to several airlines such as American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards and Starwood Preferred. That way, you can accrue your points and then transfer them to any of the partner airlines that are best for you at the time. As of now, Membership Rewards seems to be the best bet because of the many airlines that you can transfer points to. Ultimate Rewards was more limited but was handy because it allowed you to transfer your points to United Airlines. Seeing as to how we’re not gonna do that anymore, the American Express cards is the clear winner.
Let me know what you guys think.
