There’s no denying that the miles & points world has changed a lot over the years, and in general, miles have become less valuable and compelling. We’ve seen award pricing devaluations, fewer award seats available, and an increasing number of restrictions on who can book award seats.
Going back several years, I had largely written off MileagePlus as a useful program on the redemption front — the airline made the same award space available to partner programs as it did to its own members, all while constantly devaluing miles.
However, it sure seems like the tides have turned — not because United has actually made MileagePlus miles better, but because the airline has changed how it releases award space, and I imagine it’s driving the kind of behavior the airline is hoping. I’d like to discuss that in a bit more detail in this post, because it’s a take I’ve also been hearing from plenty of others in the OMAAT community.
In this post:
United’s punitive award changes make MileagePlus miles more valuable
I’d say the past year or so has been pretty transformative for the value of United MileagePlus miles. Back in the day, United released most of the same saver level long haul business class award space to members of partner frequent flyer programs as it did to MileagePlus members.
This of course created lots of arbitrage opportunities for booking United award tickets, since you’d typically find the best award rates by booking through a partner program, rather than through MileagePlus. However, United has made major changes to this system:
- First, United stopped releasing a vast majority of Polaris business class awards to partner frequent flyer programs, so they’re now limited primarily to MileagePlus members
- At the same time, United award pricing through frequent flyer programs other than MileagePlus increasingly became dynamic, clearly because United is trying to drive business to its own MileagePlus program, and avoid arbitrage opportunities with redemptions
- The airline took it a step further by making most reasonably priced award space available exclusively to those with MileagePlus elite status, and/or those with a co-branded MileagePlus credit card, further encouraging profitable behavior
The way I view it, United hasn’t actually directly made MileagePlus miles more valuable. I mean, we’ve seen endless devaluations to partner award redemption rates, and it’s not like awards on United metal are materially cheaper than they used to be. But United has instead made MileagePlus miles more valuable through a combination of being more punitive, and based on general industry trends:
- While United might not have the world’s best inflight product, the airline is by far the most global of the “big three” US carriers, and actually flies where many people want to go, and where people aspirationally want to redeem their miles to
- Therefore there’s value in having access to that route network for premium cabin redemptions, and if you want that, you need to go through MileagePlus
- The general reductions we’ve seen to award availability and award pricing across programs makes this award space more valuable as well, since pickings are slimmer than in the past; for example, you can’t even redeem partner miles for Lufthansa first class anymore
While I absolutely hate this trend as someone who loves to maximize miles and create multi-partner award tickets, there’s no denying that United’s changes actually align with the goals that airlines have for their frequent flyer programs — United doesn’t mind members getting a good deal, as long as they’re “invested” enough in the airline, through elite status and/or a co-branded credit card.
I also have to acknowledge that this is a sentiment that’s increasingly reflected by those in the OMAAT community — over and over I hear people say that they find United miles more valuable than in the past, and that just comes down to changes intended to encourage a certain type of behavior.
How much are United MileagePlus miles now worth?
I publish my valuation of loyalty program points currencies, though I always acknowledge that this is subjective, and that there’s no right or wrong way to go about it. I try to be balanced in my valuation of various currencies, and also try to be conservative, so that people don’t hoard their points too much. I also take a relative rather than absolute approach to valuing these currencies, as I’ll explain in a bit.
Back in 2023, United MileagePlus devalued a lot of its partner award redemption rates, and I lowered my valuation of MileagePlus miles from 1.3 cents to 1.1 cents each. As a point of comparison, I value Delta SkyMiles at 1.1 cents each, and American AAdvantage miles at 1.5 cents each.
Some might say that was a harsh valuation, but my logic was as follows:
- There were few redemptions, including for travel on United flights, where MileagePlus actually offered the best redemption values, so that limited situations where earning the currency made a lot of sense
- While we often rag on Delta SkyMiles for the lack of value you get with high end redemptions, SkyMiles also has the highest “floor value” of mileage currencies among the “big three,” given the ability to redeem them toward the revenue cost of a flight at a decent rate
- Partner award redemptions had largely been devalued to the point that they were 20-50% higher than booking through other programs (with some exceptions, like the good value of redeeming MileagePlus miles to Africa)
Anyway, I think it’s probably time to reassess the value of MileagePlus miles, and increase my valuation. Some may say “well wait a second, if the redemption value of the miles hasn’t actually increased, how can you increase the valuation?”
This gets at how I value miles on a relative basis, rather than on an absolute basis. You see, I don’t play this BS game people have, where they claim “I redeemed 60K miles for a $9K ticket, so I got 15 cents of value per mile.”
There are many issues with that logic. For one, using inflated one-way revenue ticket costs to determine the value of an award is just bad math. Beyond that, though, I like to value miles based on what I would reasonably pay for that ticket, rather than the retail cost (and this is why I say everyone should have their own value of miles, since we all value these things differently).
I guess to put it simply, if someone claims they’re getting 15 cents of value per mile, does that mean they’d be willing to buy miles for 10 cents each? Something tells me the answer is “no.” So my valuation of miles comes from a rough analysis on how much I’d be willing to pay to acquire miles, while acknowledging that there are lots of factors.
There has always been value in getting access to United’s long haul route network for premium cabin awards. But the reality is that you now need a different mileage currency than in the past to unlock those seats, and that has to be accounted for in the valuation.
So I’m curious, how much should we now value United MileagePlus miles? I’m tempted to say they’re worth around 1.3-1.4 cents each (I try to be conservative with my valuation), but I’d love to hear what others think, before officially updating my valuation.
I hate to “reward” programs for making what amounts to punitive changes, but I also have to be realistic about the reality of things. I think United is playing this all in a very smart way, given the goal of increasing loyalty program revenue.
Bottom line
In absolute terms, we’ve seen the value of MileagePlus miles devalued significantly in recent years, in the sense that the program has increased redemption rates, particularly for travel on partner airlines.
But over the past year or so, United has particularly been trying to make the MileagePlus program more valuable and engaging, and that has come in the form of making award space more costly and less available when booking through partner programs.
Nowadays MileagePlus really offers value if you have elite status or a co-branded credit card, because that’s what’s needed to unlock premium cabin award seats on the airline at a reasonable cost. It has gotten to the point where if you want to redeem for long haul premium cabin award seats on United, MileagePlus miles are the currency you need.
The reality is that you want access to United long haul awards, given the carrier’s massive global route network, plus how much harder it keeps getting to find premium cabin award seats through other programs.
So personally I think my valuation of MileagePlus miles has gone from around 1.1 cents each, to around 1.3-1.4 cents each. While I don’t like it, this is one of those cases where a program being punitive toward others has legitimately increased the value of miles… at least as I see it.
What do you make of the evolving value of United MileagePlus miles?
Agree with another poster that valuation is becoming more difficult when the addition of the PlusPoints factor is folded into the mix. Perhaps the closest one can come is measuring the difference between a Premium Plus and Polaris Business international long-haul (real hardcores--like me--take screenshots of the various fares offered when we're in front of a desktop and making reservations on united.com) and adding the difference to the MP Miles per mile valuation, thereby increasing...
Agree with another poster that valuation is becoming more difficult when the addition of the PlusPoints factor is folded into the mix. Perhaps the closest one can come is measuring the difference between a Premium Plus and Polaris Business international long-haul (real hardcores--like me--take screenshots of the various fares offered when we're in front of a desktop and making reservations on united.com) and adding the difference to the MP Miles per mile valuation, thereby increasing the value. Seems "almost" fair. Note: We're all at the mercy of UA and are doing the best we can. . ."until breaking news changes everything" :)
How does the UA restriction on the max number of miles one can purchase each year fit into this? I'm restricted to 50K per quarter and UA is the only airline I know of that counts the bonus miles into that 50K per qtr.
Not much of a United fan, but I have found it much easier to access reasonably priced one-way premium economy or business classes award tickets to/from the US and many European cities.
"if someone claims they’re getting 15 cents of value per mile, does that mean they’d be willing to buy miles for 10 cents each?"
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"if someone claims they’re getting 15 cents of value per mile, does that mean they’d be willing to buy miles for 10 cents each?"
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1K for the last 6 years here -- I have been in the 1.3 - 1.4 cpp value range for some time now. Also, @Ben, I think for the elite math you prob need to assign some marginal value to Plus Points bc award flights earn PQP and PP can be used on award flights now. Yes, PP can be hard to redeem, but at the margins I have pretty good odds on some routes...
1K for the last 6 years here -- I have been in the 1.3 - 1.4 cpp value range for some time now. Also, @Ben, I think for the elite math you prob need to assign some marginal value to Plus Points bc award flights earn PQP and PP can be used on award flights now. Yes, PP can be hard to redeem, but at the margins I have pretty good odds on some routes of turning a Premium Plus or E+ seat into a Polaris or F seat (e.g. all 4 of us were upgraded at gate HNL -LAX this summer on mileage award seats w/ Plus Points) which means in a close case I'd rather be on UA than on a slightly cheaper award on AK/AA where I have no chance of an upgrade.
This may be a contrarian take, but I am actually pretty happy with how UA has been evolving the last 5 or 6 years. When I first became 1K, it was almost entirely due to work flights on premium transcons to EWR, where, for geographic reasons, JFK wasn't an option. I'd try to fly B6 whenever I could and would constantly mock UA's poor service to colleagues. These days, soft product has improved (relatively, still plenty of surly FAs and bad beef entrees out there); there are vastly more opportunities to fly "real" Polaris on the transcon routes vs the nasty old 57s, and I pretty consistently find award seats available, esp. off-peak (eg I was very happy w/ 2 Polaris seats @ 115K each LAX - LHR in Jan).
I have already locked Platinum for next year on PQP and am actually thinking about steering some business spend away from Venture X to the United Business Card this fall to lock 1K again -- basically exactly what UA wants me to do -- but when I factor in the additional points I will earn and the additional Plus Points, the math checks out for me.
If I can redeem 100K UA miles per person per direction on 2 r/t J tickets SFO to AKL in Fall 2027, I'll be very happy. I don't want to have to route through DFW or SYD. (Atmos killed it's HNL-AKL route) I'd be even happier if I can get that price for SFO to or from CHC one of the directions so I don't need to backtrack.
With a Co-brand card United basically guarantees you get at least ¢1.1 per mile since that’s the rate of dynamic pricing. Upside exists but requires work.
Airline miles in the US now effectively have at least two separate values. Casual flyers with no co-branded credit card are getting a much worse deal, while elites with a credit card can still find solid redemptions—especially on United. Delta's cardholder discount works similarly, just less dramatically: a Delta cardholder's miles are worth about 17.6% more than a non-cardholder's (slightly above 15% once you work through the discount math).
Example (United, Europe–NYC nonstop, business class):...
Airline miles in the US now effectively have at least two separate values. Casual flyers with no co-branded credit card are getting a much worse deal, while elites with a credit card can still find solid redemptions—especially on United. Delta's cardholder discount works similarly, just less dramatically: a Delta cardholder's miles are worth about 17.6% more than a non-cardholder's (slightly above 15% once you work through the discount math).
Example (United, Europe–NYC nonstop, business class): I recently booked five tickets for 64k miles each plus a nominal cash fee. The cheapest nonstop cash fare on the same route and date was Delta at ~$4,000/ticket. But that 64k price required both elite status and a co-branded credit card. Without the card—elite status only—it would have cost 80k (confirmed by comparing against a family member who's elite but has no card). With no status at all, it would run 200k.
In cents-per-mile terms: 6¢ with status + card, 5¢ with status alone, and just 2¢ as a casual, cardless flyer.
I’m sure this will sound insane, but I am 1K in United and very rarely pay for a ticket anymore. Using miles has become a no brainer to book most of my travel these days with them… and at a good value for the most part.
What united has done here is to close the loophole in their model that reduced the value their customers were receiving for being loyal (reduced because everyone else...
I’m sure this will sound insane, but I am 1K in United and very rarely pay for a ticket anymore. Using miles has become a no brainer to book most of my travel these days with them… and at a good value for the most part.
What united has done here is to close the loophole in their model that reduced the value their customers were receiving for being loyal (reduced because everyone else on the planet was snagging the seats before loyal customers), and now that this loophole is closed, frequent flyers like myself are actually being rewarded better.
Yes Ben, for anyone not flying united, the value has dropped, but for everyone on the planet that has one of their 200 credit cards you’ve pitched… well the value has increased.
This is just to entice people into the ecosystem. And articles like these serve this very purpose. But once they have double their profits in the near future, they could yank these away overnight. Or keep chipping away.
I do not give them much thought unless i am traveling in the very near future.
"This is just to entice people into the ecosystem. And articles like these serve this very purpose."
If this were a blog about, I dunno, plumbing, and the article were an objective analysis of the pros and cons of the ToiletMaster Pro 2000 model, you'd write, "This is just to entice people to buy the ToiletMaster Pro 2000. And articles like these serve this very purpose."
The statement is false in both cases. If it...
"This is just to entice people into the ecosystem. And articles like these serve this very purpose."
If this were a blog about, I dunno, plumbing, and the article were an objective analysis of the pros and cons of the ToiletMaster Pro 2000 model, you'd write, "This is just to entice people to buy the ToiletMaster Pro 2000. And articles like these serve this very purpose."
The statement is false in both cases. If it were true, it would mean that writing about anything is always an enticement.
When I have a choice on which airline to fly, I pretty much never will choose United. I know it's anecdotal, but I just have too many problems when I fly them. I also hated how they nickel-and-dime their customers (why the hell are you not including booze with your extra legroom seats?)
These recent changes have turned me off even more, to the point that I'll strongly consider downgrading my card at the next...
When I have a choice on which airline to fly, I pretty much never will choose United. I know it's anecdotal, but I just have too many problems when I fly them. I also hated how they nickel-and-dime their customers (why the hell are you not including booze with your extra legroom seats?)
These recent changes have turned me off even more, to the point that I'll strongly consider downgrading my card at the next renewal. If I didn't have travel credit I need to use, I'd have already done so at the previous renewal. I don't want to support an airline that makes loyalty this blatantly pay-for-play.
With a United credit card, miles are worth 2 cents each compared to refundable cash domestic tickets, a great value in my opinion. Buying an extra seat in coach, three can travel comfortably and inexpensively.
As a family of 5 United has become a go to program, simply because they make 5+ J seats available on lots of long haul flights and don't have fuel surcharges. I stopped using them 6-7 years ago and we've returned to the program having 3 kids. Now we use United for 75%+ of flights and BA or AA miles for the rest. Program has gotten much better despite the restrictions and Polaris is a good product.
Ben, in no scenario would I say UA and DL miles should have the same or similar valuation. There are still some good redemptions to be had on UA - sometimes requiring many layovers, sometimes it’s just one seat that opens up last minute (eg ROR-GUM-SPN-NRT-ORD-LGA in J for 85k miles earlier this year...).
DL on the other hand is absolutely worthless.
Given how much I'd heard about "Skypesos", I was surprised to find that Delta was the best place to book MNL-AMS-LHR with KLM (80k+$92).
DL miles are absolutely fine for awards outside of the USA.
@mickyb You got lucky there! Was that in J? If so, which Delft Blue House did you pick from MNL-AMS?
@1990_ my wife took the flight, she was very pleased with her house. It was no.41, Sint Jacobsstraat 13.
Unfortunately, she didn't know to ask for a rubber duck after I found her LH 1st with Lifemiles (JNB-FRA-LHR), but of the two she definitely prefers the house!
@volan, did you actually fly that itinerary? UA has pretty random availability to/from ROR. Sometimes it's last minute, other times a few months out. Almost never when the schedule opens. Can be in either direction. Most of the time it's mixed class - worst case mainland to/from NRT in Polaris, the rest in economy. A couple of times I had other flights booked in advance just in case UA doesn't materialize (EVA to TPE, then...
@volan, did you actually fly that itinerary? UA has pretty random availability to/from ROR. Sometimes it's last minute, other times a few months out. Almost never when the schedule opens. Can be in either direction. Most of the time it's mixed class - worst case mainland to/from NRT in Polaris, the rest in economy. A couple of times I had other flights booked in advance just in case UA doesn't materialize (EVA to TPE, then separate ticket on China Air TPE-ROR). Never flew through SPN, though.
You have to wonder how much of this current "availability" and good deal will stick around for more than a year or two.
Scott Kirby has been quite loud talking about the stickiness of a customer with a United credit card and how they're more likely to stay with UA.
In a sense it's a bit like the old tale about dropping a frog in boiling water vs cold water and gradually warming it.
You have to wonder how much of this current "availability" and good deal will stick around for more than a year or two.
Scott Kirby has been quite loud talking about the stickiness of a customer with a United credit card and how they're more likely to stay with UA.
In a sense it's a bit like the old tale about dropping a frog in boiling water vs cold water and gradually warming it.
It strikes me that United is likely pursuing the latter. Bringing in customers with the lure of these deals and, if history is any guide, likely to devalue more and more as they view their saturation point with cards.
But we've certainly seen with Delta how customers are happy to watch their preferred program become almost worthless but stay loyal despite it not being in their own personal financial interest.
You really do have to wonder what the reckoning will be as consumers eventually start to act in their own interest.
Exactly, the playbook looks obvious and their partner award pricing is already pretty high. They're keen to attract 'sticky' customers so that they can milk them and they're basically not interested in anyone else. That also aligns with the decision to fly across the Atlantic to places with next to no originating pax like SCQ and SPU and FAO while staying away from important cities/conurbations like LYS (and MRS), MAN (and BHX), DUS etc.
if you've spent any time on r/Delta you'll realize peoples ability to act in conflict with their own personal interest is basically limitless. Basically Stockholm syndrome at this point
United's social engineering has worked with me, at least to some extent. I have a UA Explorer card mostly so that I have access to lower-priced award tickets. However, I still find it difficult to find Polaris seats, and most of my recent TATL and TPAC award tickets in J have been via other airlines (Air Canada, Singapore). For domestic economy, the more reasonable miles price point is useful in cases where the cash price...
United's social engineering has worked with me, at least to some extent. I have a UA Explorer card mostly so that I have access to lower-priced award tickets. However, I still find it difficult to find Polaris seats, and most of my recent TATL and TPAC award tickets in J have been via other airlines (Air Canada, Singapore). For domestic economy, the more reasonable miles price point is useful in cases where the cash price is ridiculous. Because I'm buying tickets for a kid in school on the other side of the country, I decided to keep the card.
I was actually surprised to see 1.3 cents per mile - I would say SIN-SFO in Polaris is worth more than $1300 (well, $1369 :-).
Most people interested in Polaris will probably be willing to pay more in cash.
(and btw, these rates do not require credit card, just any elite status). So let's see how long will these "60% off" deals will stick around
I don't think you're giving United enough credit here for the fact that there is a positive underlying this -- they actually release a decent amount of longhaul premium cabin saver award space to their own members. Sure, some routes virtually never have space, but it's actually not terribly hard to find on core Europe, Asia, and even Australia routes.
AA may have a lower award chart, but they virtually never release premium awards on...
I don't think you're giving United enough credit here for the fact that there is a positive underlying this -- they actually release a decent amount of longhaul premium cabin saver award space to their own members. Sure, some routes virtually never have space, but it's actually not terribly hard to find on core Europe, Asia, and even Australia routes.
AA may have a lower award chart, but they virtually never release premium awards on their own metal and are just coasting off what partners make available. (I just redeemed 90K miles one way for United business to Australia -- AA's pricing is lower in theory, but is it ever lower in practice?) DL has essentially killed saver awards altogether. And international airlines across the board don't release nearly as much space as they used to.
So yes, United is limiting how you can access that space, but in exchange they're actually offering you useful ways to use your miles.
The value depends on whether you have a United credit card. Agree with Ben’s sentiment; I certainly wish UA released more to partners, but at least they’re delivering. I’ll gladly pay $95/year as a copay to get access to more space at way better prices.
Keeping your premium cabin awards to your own program is a double-edged sword. Your partners, if not already, will gradually be doing the same thing for their own programs. Everyone will end up worse off eventually.
@ Tony -- As a consumer I of course hate this, but it was the inevitable outcome when we increasingly saw airlines frequently selling points at a huge discount, essentially acting as a consolidator for partner airline premium cabin seats.
Yes, if you're going to revalue UA miles, you probably should do the same with the likes of LifeMiles. Smaller programs without their own compelling products will take the biggest hits.
In terms of valuation, airline miles are basically complicated financial options (similar to the much simpler but familiar stock options). The value of an option highly depends not only on "strike" price, but also on the availability or the range of possible outcomes. When...
Yes, if you're going to revalue UA miles, you probably should do the same with the likes of LifeMiles. Smaller programs without their own compelling products will take the biggest hits.
In terms of valuation, airline miles are basically complicated financial options (similar to the much simpler but familiar stock options). The value of an option highly depends not only on "strike" price, but also on the availability or the range of possible outcomes. When premium cabin partner awards are nearly nonexistent, increasing the availability of your own awards obviously would be a great impact on the value of the option.
Their partners like SQ and LH group started this years ago.
I’m glad to see more Saver price seats for premium cabins on United and am increasing my engagement. Still a ways to go esp vs AA avail but credit them for improving.
United miles have tremendous value if you live close to United hubs especially EWR or SFO since the prices are high in these markets and United elites with United credit card get a great return!
Curious why the values page is not updated given this post. Is that done on a biannual basis?
@ BennyMac -- I'm planning updates very soon, but as you can see in this post, I'm asking for feedback on what others think the right number is.
I value AA at 1.5 and DL at 1.0. I used to value UA as more like 1.2 but agree now it’s probably more like 1.3-1.4. I guess I still would view UA as at least a tenth of a point less than AA.
But to your point all of this now changes based on status and card holding. Same with FB now. That’s the way the game is going. So if you are a UA loyalist you’re simply going to have a higher value than others.
I used to value Alaska at 2 cpp, but I've gotten lucky with AS points on AA metal (up to 10x, like on that JFK-EZE 773 in F, thanks to FM's find earlier this year, wowzers!) Then again, they go through cycles, where like they have almost no partner J availability. Hoping that Starlux deal returns. It's so random.
All good points but a stretch to value them so close to AA/AS which are so much stronger domestically (25-50% less miles), and consistently 10-20% less for longhaul biz. If AA is 1.5, United simply can’t be above 1.2.
@ Sel_D -- I think this gets at the issue. Yes, AA's redemption rates are much more attractive, but what's actually left of partner award space? At least to and from the US, there's almost nothing in premium cabins on CX, EY, JL, and QR. Meanwhile destinations served on AA metal are extremely limited. I agree with you that domestic redemptions have become the new sweet spot for the program.
I get this. But assuming someone had no miles or a balanced portfolio, how could you advise someone to take 600k UA miles over 500k AA? Unless maybe they only wanted long haul biz to SIN.
Partner availability isn’t great but there is enough on JL and EI to find something. AA also constantly has awards in the 100k range on their own metal, not jumping to 200k+ like UA when no saver is available.
@ Sel_D -- For the record, I don't ever advise that anyone earn that many miles directly with one program, rather than with a transferable points program, since that gives you more flexibility.
But let's just use Asia as an example. No shade, but how many JL premium cabin award seats can you find right now between any US gateway and Japan? I just checked, and the answer isn't pretty.
Yes, AA has potentially...
@ Sel_D -- For the record, I don't ever advise that anyone earn that many miles directly with one program, rather than with a transferable points program, since that gives you more flexibility.
But let's just use Asia as an example. No shade, but how many JL premium cabin award seats can you find right now between any US gateway and Japan? I just checked, and the answer isn't pretty.
Yes, AA has potentially attractive pricing on its own metal, but that's only useful in getting as far as Seoul Incheon, Shanghai, and Tokyo. That's it. You can't even combine AA's non-saver pricing with partner awards. I'm not saying UA miles are great, but just that they're actually usable, which is increasingly becoming an issue with other programs. I have a post coming about AA miles soon, so stay tuned for that. :-)
It's hilarious that people have been brainwashed into thinking that spending 80k United miles to get from EWR to LHR is a good value. And I can only redeem at that value if I'm paying a United credit card that has an annual fee or I transfer from Chase. Wild. There will be zero incremental improvements to the mileage game from now til the next decade as long as airlines are in bed with the big banks.
@ Alonzo -- I wouldn't expect airlines to get "out of bed" with the big banks anytime soon, since that's where a large percentage of profits come from.
And an EWR to LHR example is hardly the most relevant example here. Try CPT, NCE, PPT, SIN, etc.
80K for Polaris TATL? Um, yeah, I'd say that's very much still a 'deal,' in 2026 especially. At 1 cpp, $800 for what would otherwise be like a +$2,000/way ticket on-average. 2-4x value is great. EWR/IAD-JNB/CPT at 220K/way is still a deal, too; those tickets can be $5K/way cash price. If it's significantly better than 1cpp, it's still a win (2-3x is good, 5x+ is excellent). Listen, compare that to the games Delta's been playing...
80K for Polaris TATL? Um, yeah, I'd say that's very much still a 'deal,' in 2026 especially. At 1 cpp, $800 for what would otherwise be like a +$2,000/way ticket on-average. 2-4x value is great. EWR/IAD-JNB/CPT at 220K/way is still a deal, too; those tickets can be $5K/way cash price. If it's significantly better than 1cpp, it's still a win (2-3x is good, 5x+ is excellent). Listen, compare that to the games Delta's been playing for years (SkyPesos), you'd need like 500K-1 million points. Psh.
It's only perceived as valuable if it's being compared to a ridiculous cash price that the majority of consumers are NOT paying. Let's be honest, what percentage of people are paying 5 grand, cold hard cash to fly United biz class from SIN-EWR? Would love to see some data points. How many people are paying 15 grand cash to fly QSuites? Come on folks. And it's not "more than you think."
Cardholder elites now pay 68k UA for TATL in Polaris, less than it has been in a very long time. Also get to redeem at 1.5 cents per mile when reimbursing the annual fee on the club card, that should mean something. Also, not sure if your last valuation factored ability to earn PQP for mileage tix on UA metal, and even more recently being able to upgrade on mileage tix is a game changer for me. I say 1.6 cents at the very minimum
I don't understand your logic here. Do those changes have any effect whatsoever on redeeming UA miles for flights on other *A airlines?
If not, does anyone really want to get tied down to having to redeem awards on a single airline when there are alternatives out there offering availability across an entire alliance? Shouldn't the valuation be subject to a discount for the inconvenience and risk? Avianca offer plenty of great awards on...
I don't understand your logic here. Do those changes have any effect whatsoever on redeeming UA miles for flights on other *A airlines?
If not, does anyone really want to get tied down to having to redeem awards on a single airline when there are alternatives out there offering availability across an entire alliance? Shouldn't the valuation be subject to a discount for the inconvenience and risk? Avianca offer plenty of great awards on their own metal but would it make sense to base your LifeMiles valuation on the basis of those?
Many of us are based in the US, and UA does fly many places we'd travel to, so their metal is not a joke (whereas, let's be clear, Avianca, a320, N. America to BOG, 3-3 middle-blocked ain't much of a J). I've still found some decent partner awards using United points (even on other US domestic carriers, like B6, if you trust them to even operate these days...) Are you going to find affordable J...
Many of us are based in the US, and UA does fly many places we'd travel to, so their metal is not a joke (whereas, let's be clear, Avianca, a320, N. America to BOG, 3-3 middle-blocked ain't much of a J). I've still found some decent partner awards using United points (even on other US domestic carriers, like B6, if you trust them to even operate these days...) Are you going to find affordable J or F on LH via UA points? Probably not. Then again, Air Canada Aeroplan used to have those, but not so much anymore, so...
@ Throwawayname -- My valuation of miles comes from the sum of all the ways there are to redeem that currency, both for travel on the "native" airline and partner airlines.
For someone based in the US (or who travels to or from the US with any frequency), what's the single most valuable airline to be able to redeem on in premium cabins? I'd argue it's United (and if you think it's another airline that's...
@ Throwawayname -- My valuation of miles comes from the sum of all the ways there are to redeem that currency, both for travel on the "native" airline and partner airlines.
For someone based in the US (or who travels to or from the US with any frequency), what's the single most valuable airline to be able to redeem on in premium cabins? I'd argue it's United (and if you think it's another airline that's bookable with Aeroplan or Lifemiles, I'd be curious to hear what you think it is).
And yes, there absolutely should be a discount to the value of miles to account for risk. However, as we've seen changes to other loyalty programs, the MileagePlus partner award pricing is more compelling than it used to be, at least on a relative basis. As I cited in the post, Africa redemptions are the perfect example of that.
Presumably it depends on where they're going. COPA would probably be better than UA for US to/from S. America and LX for Europe. I have no clue about Trans-Pacific award availability so I don't know whether the likes of EVA and ANA, whom I would obviously fly over UA, offer a worthwhile amount of availability (presumably SQ don't).
My reference to risk isn't related to a potential future devaluation but to the real-time introduction...
Presumably it depends on where they're going. COPA would probably be better than UA for US to/from S. America and LX for Europe. I have no clue about Trans-Pacific award availability so I don't know whether the likes of EVA and ANA, whom I would obviously fly over UA, offer a worthwhile amount of availability (presumably SQ don't).
My reference to risk isn't related to a potential future devaluation but to the real-time introduction of a single point of failure - if you've been planning to redeem UA miles on their own metal for Xk and you can only find availability with LX and TP but United charge you 1.5Xk for that, your miles are obviously worth less than you had planned.
Agreed on all fronts- one thing you also didn't mention is them having a great route map helps the valuation IMO. Imagine if this was AA it would be like cool you can fly to London, Paris, Tokyo, and Sydney on AA metal and that's basically it. UA has great destinations, and 72k TATL and 90k TPAC J (with 10% cardholder discount) with low fees is great pricing these days
@ Funkyflapjak -- Agreed completely! Though I do think I mentioned how the great route map helps the valuation. ;-)
"While United might not have the world’s best inflight product, the airline is by far the most global of the 'big three' US carriers, and actually flies where many people want to go, and where people aspirationally want to redeem their miles to."
Ben, thank you for pointing this out. I've made a few high-value United point redemptions recently, and was also starting to notice this. It seems you really need one of their cards to get the super-deals. (Like, there was the EWR-SFO/LAX transcon 25K each way in Polaris, recently, as well). Thankfully, can transfer via Chase and BILT, so have been able to push over points when needed. Just hope the good times last, because they're...
Ben, thank you for pointing this out. I've made a few high-value United point redemptions recently, and was also starting to notice this. It seems you really need one of their cards to get the super-deals. (Like, there was the EWR-SFO/LAX transcon 25K each way in Polaris, recently, as well). Thankfully, can transfer via Chase and BILT, so have been able to push over points when needed. Just hope the good times last, because they're harder to come by these days elsewhere.
I took advantage of EWR to LAX recently. If you value the miles at 1cpp, that's like getting a round trip in first/business for $510. In that case, you would normally be well over $1k, pushing $2-3k+ on the route. Great deal.
Besides making people be sticky with credit card buy-in, I think it's also smart to get some of those whales to unload points. I don't have the numbers or even an estimate (I'm...
I took advantage of EWR to LAX recently. If you value the miles at 1cpp, that's like getting a round trip in first/business for $510. In that case, you would normally be well over $1k, pushing $2-3k+ on the route. Great deal.
Besides making people be sticky with credit card buy-in, I think it's also smart to get some of those whales to unload points. I don't have the numbers or even an estimate (I'm not a pretend airline analyst), but I have to believe that there are many thousands of people that have multiple millions of miles sitting in accounts. An EWR-RDU redemption for 6K miles isn't going to convince any of them to use them, nor is a 200k mile TPAC redemption. At 85K though?