There’s no denying that the miles and points hobby has evolved a lot over the years. It has gone mainstream, and that’s both good and bad. Opportunities to earn points are better than ever before, while sweet spots and opportunities to redeem points efficiently just aren’t what they used to be.
A few months ago, I shared a trend I was noticing when it comes to United award availability, which wasn’t official at the time, so we could only speculate as to what was going on. I did want to provide an update on this front, as the airline is no longer hiding this practice, and quite to the contrary, is actually highlighting it… and it’s exactly what I expected.
In this post:
United guts business class award availability for partners
Historically, United has been pretty good about making saver level Polaris business class award seats available on long haul flights, including to members of partner frequent flyer programs. At least going back several years, the airline generally offered the same amount of saver level award availability to members of partner frequent flyer programs as it did to members of its own MileagePlus program.
Some seats were made available in advance, though most frequently we saw award space open up close to departure, when there were lots of unsold seats. In my experience, United had pretty consistently opened saver level business class award availability anywhere from a day out to a month out, assuming there were a good number of seats still for sale.
However, a few months ago that trend changed, at least when it comes to booking this award availability through partner frequent flyer programs. I’ll take it a step further — United basically no longer makes Polaris business class awards available to partner frequent flyer programs, like Air Canada Aeroplan and Avianca Lifemiles. It’s not just that availability is worse than before, it’s just basically non-existent at this point.
How United is now releasing business class award availability
I don’t want to bury the lede here — what’s going on is that saver level United Polaris business class award availability is now a perk of having MileagePlus Premier elite status, and/or of having a co-branded MileagePlus credit card.
Why? Well, loyalty programs are huge businesses for airlines, particularly for carriers in the United States, where much of their profits are generated from the programs. Obviously for airlines, their goal is to get you to pick up their co-branded credit card, and/or to try to qualify for elite status, so that you’re more engaged with the airline.
If you look for Polaris business class award availability now through MileagePlus and don’t have elite status or a co-branded credit card, you may very well see a high award cost, but then see a note about how “Cardmembers pay X,” with a much lower price listed.
For example, take a flight from Newark (EWR) to Marrakech (RAK), where a Polaris business class award on a particular flight costs 200K, unless you’re eligible for the lower pricing of 80K.
While United encourages you to get a co-branded credit card, MileagePlus elite status will also unlock that extra award space. If you’re logged into an elite account, you’ll see a note about how “PREMIERS SAVE X%,” highlighting the mileage savings.
For those curious about the method by which this is being limited, United MileagePlus has special types of award and upgrade inventory for select members. For example, while “I” is the saver level business class award fare class available to all, United also has “IN” inventory, which is extra saver business class award availability reserved for a subset of members.
Nowadays, “IN” availability is available to all MileagePlus Premier members (Silver, Gold, Platinum, Premier 1K, Global Services), as well as all cardmembers of a co-branded MileagePlus card with an annual fee.
The strategy here is pretty straightforward. For a long time, MileagePlus just hasn’t been competitive when it comes to premium cabin award pricing, and you’ve almost always been better off booking United awards through a partner program. So United’s way of making the MileagePlus program more appealing is to simply limit its best value awards to the members who are most engaged in MileagePlus.
Truth be told, the concept of limiting awards to a subset of members is becoming an increasingly common trend across the industry, and I suspect it will only continue to become more widespread. It’s especially frustrating for those trying to plan multi-carrier awards, since it’s hard to combine multiple airlines on one ticket if they’re limiting award availability to a subset of their own members. It’s amazing how hard it’s becoming to cross the Atlantic with Star Alliance miles…
Bottom line
In recent times, we’ve seen major changes to the ways that United Polaris business class award availability is released. It’s now completely clear what’s going on.
United is no longer making Polaris business class award seats available to members of partner frequent flyer programs. Instead, the airline is seemingly making these awards available only in the “IN” fare bucket, rather than in the “I” fare bucket. This means that the award availability is exclusively for MileagePlus Premier members, and for those with a co-branded MileagePlus credit card that has an annual fee.
As much as I don’t like this, I can’t say I’m surprised to see the airline head in this direction. The airline wants to maximize engagement and profits for its own program, and this is certainly one way to do that. Maximizing miles and points gets more complicated by the day…
What do you make of these changes to United Polaris business class awards?
United is the only way to go. Pandering to Tim Dumm is not good.
Yes, it has been obviously for a while what UA is doing. But it's a two-way street. UA's partners will have no choice but to reciprocate, preventing UA from accessing their saver awards. This will inevitably weaken their alliances.
I have the explorer card and haven't seen saver award availability in Polaris for years. United miles seem pretty worthless for long haul business class. I also received a letter from chase stating the af will go up to $150 next year.
I'm looking at plenty of availability on the EWR to DXB route this morning through Air Canada. And I booked a flight LAX to SYD earlier this month. Availability is there you just have to look for it.
For the past couple of years, I have argued that sites and blogs like this one should stop analyzing loyalty programs and redemptions based on "saver" award costs accessible to partners and transferrable currencies and simply analyze the programs based on the average cost of redemptions that are actually available to members (which are generally dynamic awards). If a program actually has more saver inventory typically freely available, make that clear instead of assuming everyone...
For the past couple of years, I have argued that sites and blogs like this one should stop analyzing loyalty programs and redemptions based on "saver" award costs accessible to partners and transferrable currencies and simply analyze the programs based on the average cost of redemptions that are actually available to members (which are generally dynamic awards). If a program actually has more saver inventory typically freely available, make that clear instead of assuming everyone is just redeeming at the saver level. This would make it much easier to evaluate these programs.
This
Now that AC and UA charge the same for seats, it’s not as big of a deal. Sure AC is a transfer partner of more credit cards, but UA has far more customer friendly cancellation and redeposit policies (I.e., no fees).
My biggest gripe is that I can’t use seats.aero or other tools to search for IN space. Anyone have suggestions?
There is a tool that can do it with a premium subscription. Shhh.
Cannot go back to the good old days anymore… where I can literally find and build an itinerary and call up United and feed flight segments one by one for maximum value.
Look, business class tickets is becoming cheaper than ever too. So I find my self just out right paying money for them now days.
Flying economy is fine too if it gets you faster from A to B
Personally as a UA flyer who has lots of UA miles I am not opposed to this, I would much rather UA prioritize their flyers for awards than open it to partners.
Right when you pay 3x more for the same seat than booking through partner.
UA as well as DL is a thing from the PAST! overpriced for what they offer and talking of equality… they are racists!
Meaning NON-US members of any program could NEVER sign up for any of their co-branded Credit-cards due to missing SocSec# or other stupid US totally unnecessary hurdle to get a card there, for foreigners or those with no ability to have a US bank account.
DL pulled back on their...
UA as well as DL is a thing from the PAST! overpriced for what they offer and talking of equality… they are racists!
Meaning NON-US members of any program could NEVER sign up for any of their co-branded Credit-cards due to missing SocSec# or other stupid US totally unnecessary hurdle to get a card there, for foreigners or those with no ability to have a US bank account.
DL pulled back on their Int. credit cards a lot since 2019, UNITED was never interested to give others a real chance to have a co-branded card …. at least AA still has decent Award prices for some partners, but all in all, to me ALL the US airline programs are going to kill themselves very soon!
UA …. an airline from the last century, shows in ANY way they do business and DL seems to have no interest in any business outside of US, so ….. screw them all! …. or simply play a foul game just like these airlines do since years!
At least DL still has some sweet spots left. UA has none. There is literally no value to be gained from Mileage Plus unless you have GS status (at which point you or someone else is way overpaying for tickets in the first place).
“Racist?”
I do not think it means what you think it means.
William, it's 2025 - EVERYTHING is racist!
The word he's looking for is xenophobic but the lexicon doesn't stretch that far.
I almost needed to make a last minute family emergency trip back across the Atlantic over Thanksgiving, that thankfully wasn’t necessary. UA had several transatlantic flights over the holiday that were going out almost empty in Polaris. Even at departure time the seat maps were 80% open. While all flights were showing seats at 80k credit card saver awards, not a SINGLE seat I reviewed over 3 days was ever opened up to Aeroplan. Meanwhile,...
I almost needed to make a last minute family emergency trip back across the Atlantic over Thanksgiving, that thankfully wasn’t necessary. UA had several transatlantic flights over the holiday that were going out almost empty in Polaris. Even at departure time the seat maps were 80% open. While all flights were showing seats at 80k credit card saver awards, not a SINGLE seat I reviewed over 3 days was ever opened up to Aeroplan. Meanwhile, LH opened up quite a few last minute J and F seats. I really don’t see how when a cabin checks in 80% empty, even if you sell 20% as upgrades, how it is not better to help a partner get miles off their books than send a cabin out 60% empty.
I also find UA to consistently have some of the most expensive last minute domestic Y award seats that also don’t release to partners.
AA reigns supreme in terms of giving partners award availability now. I can find almost any last minute short to medium domestic or Caribbean flight out of CLT for 7.5k Atmos points! Same with transatlantic J for 45k - 55k Atmos.
It’s an easy game when you know how to play it, just booked 23rd-29th through Aeroplan on UA metal EU-USA in J on the high J 763.
Fly to Australia? Close in to MEL/BNE, even SYD-IAH sometimes.
Fly to Europe? Can find I space on the early departure to LHR frequently, as well as MXP offseason and many more.
Asia? IN only to HKG, SIN etc, but plenty of close in space...
It’s an easy game when you know how to play it, just booked 23rd-29th through Aeroplan on UA metal EU-USA in J on the high J 763.
Fly to Australia? Close in to MEL/BNE, even SYD-IAH sometimes.
Fly to Europe? Can find I space on the early departure to LHR frequently, as well as MXP offseason and many more.
Asia? IN only to HKG, SIN etc, but plenty of close in space to TYO (both airports) on I. Even ICN sometimes.
Africa? Seen many I fares close in to JNB, but CPT no. Heck the last time I flew it 2 months ago had I9 day before departure.
South America is more tricky as they are annoying for some reason, but the moral is know the system, and it’s very easy to pull off.
I just bought a business class seat on United with Lifemiles.
@ Jin -- On what route?
Use seats.aero Explore feature, select the from/to regions, filter to only United (program), then sort to lowest business price.
I just tried this based on @Apple's post above I just checked seats.aero and was shocked to see that UA still makes some "I" class available on some routes and dates. Nothing compared to "IN" class, but there is some and it shows on LifeMiles if available. Probably mostly East Coast to Europe. Only one "I"...
Use seats.aero Explore feature, select the from/to regions, filter to only United (program), then sort to lowest business price.
I just tried this based on @Apple's post above I just checked seats.aero and was shocked to see that UA still makes some "I" class available on some routes and dates. Nothing compared to "IN" class, but there is some and it shows on LifeMiles if available. Probably mostly East Coast to Europe. Only one "I" class seat found for the whole year to/from Oceania.
This seems pretty reasonable. Why wouldn’t United want to reward their most profitable customers?
Profit or prophet?
Needed to look for an alternate return from Europe next month and was surprised to find Polaris biz seats readily available to *A partners on LHR-ORD sector. Just in case anyone else was looking to get across the pond in Polaris comfort.
It is a wider trend though. What about availablity on eg EVA or Cathay - same story
I'm a UA credit card holder and I never see Polaris availability to where I want to go even when I'm logged in. 0 minus 0 is 0.
Partner redemptions as a value are for the most part dead and gone. With a few exceptions here and there. And it's spreading fast. The only areas I see (with United at least) are some Thai J seats open up here and there out of Europe given that they are a shell of the airline they once were and looking for any way to get butts in seats. With that, I am 1K and appreciate...
Partner redemptions as a value are for the most part dead and gone. With a few exceptions here and there. And it's spreading fast. The only areas I see (with United at least) are some Thai J seats open up here and there out of Europe given that they are a shell of the airline they once were and looking for any way to get butts in seats. With that, I am 1K and appreciate the ability to have this access over the OP using Aeroplan and barely flying UA during the year.
Airlines want you on their metal. Period. And they want you to have a credit card with them. In all honestly, EK was ahead of the curve over the years in this and everyone is moving in that direction. Alliances are nothing more now than for codeshares. I fully expect lounge access throughout an alliance to go away in a year or two as well. With all of the bloggers doing Lounge Hopping posts in places like T2 at LHR it will get eventually restricted to if you're flying that carrier that day only.
Sad but true.
UA has long filled its larger premium cabins with more upgraded passengers than either AA or DL and also realizes it will never come close to getting the value out of its loyalty and card programs that DL gets by continuing to give away those upgrades.
UA still might not get average revenue comparable to DL but they can see what DL has been able to do by limiting access to premium cabins and are...
UA has long filled its larger premium cabins with more upgraded passengers than either AA or DL and also realizes it will never come close to getting the value out of its loyalty and card programs that DL gets by continuing to give away those upgrades.
UA still might not get average revenue comparable to DL but they can see what DL has been able to do by limiting access to premium cabins and are willing to try to change their business model to try to get DL comparable revenue.
Tell me how is DL model sustainable when awards hit 600k one way.
DL has the most valuable loyalty and credit card program in the industry. They clearly have customers that are willing to continue to join and attain status.
As with most things, DL is showing UA how to run its business to maximize profits.
The multi-billion dollar question is if UA and its customers find the same economic success that DL has found.
While we can all agree, DL is running an effective operations.
Tim, I'm going to ask again.
How is DL model sustainable when awards hit 600k one way.
“How is DL model sustainable when awards hit 600k one way.”
LOL!
He literally answered a bunch of questions nobody cared about or asked, and avoided answering the very direct question above!
Made me laugh.
because you and Eskimo can't grasp that DL like UA are for-profit businesses.
We get into this every time that loyalty programs are discussed.
The simple reality is that airlines cannot survive if they don't balance both sides- what the consumer is willing to pay for and what makes money.
DL has led the industry in finding the right balance between loyalty and credit card revenues on one side and award prices/benefits on the other...
because you and Eskimo can't grasp that DL like UA are for-profit businesses.
We get into this every time that loyalty programs are discussed.
The simple reality is that airlines cannot survive if they don't balance both sides- what the consumer is willing to pay for and what makes money.
DL has led the industry in finding the right balance between loyalty and credit card revenues on one side and award prices/benefits on the other side. UA is copying DL because UA can clearly see that DL has a better balance than UA.
whether you like the answer doesn't mean that I haven't answered it or that it isn't true.
If you take the face value of the currency only, Weimar Germany in 1923 was the richest country on Earth. No one takes SkyPesos seriously, Timbits, and your magnificent credit card program caused every frequent flyer to flee your lounges. Delta sucks in every way possible, and you're nothing but Baghdad Bob for Saddam Bastian.
ORD, Zimbabwe would like a word.
I’ve noticed this too. The programs like aeroplan and Alaska seem most hurt since they’re the ones with the best partner opportunities
"The Sad Decline Of United..."
You could've stopped there, and made @Tim Dunn's day.
Also, why do United's aircraft nearly-always smell like rancid urine? I cannot be the only one who notices this. Happens less-so on Delta or American or jetBlue, etc. It's a United-specific issue.
That's your 1990 fetish?
How do you even know how rancid urine smells like unless you stay in the showers until gold turns rancid.
‘The lady doth protest too much, me thinks…’
Also, ‘come on in, the water’s warm!’
Feel free to blame yourself, other bloggers and vloggers etc.
I am amused that you don't think that readers of these blogs may sometimes end up working for airlines and hospitality companies and wanting to make a name for themselves, indicate to their management the holes in programs to plug.
On FT, there is even a Bonvoy Lurker and posters think the sweet spots and ways to get over that they mention will never be mentioned at corporate offices.
"may sometimes end up working for airlines and hospitality companies" ...nothing wrong with workers... but, class-traitors, them's a problem.
Shawn at MtM knows from personal knowledge that the banks and loyalty programs have workers who monitor social media to discover sweet spots for elimination. The bloggers do their share of identifying sweet spots but some readers seem compelled to brag about something they've discovered. But, if they didn't, those without the brain power to develop strategies of their own will whine that no one is spoon-feeding them.
Been doing this over a decade: game is over to/from US. The amount of effort required to find anything resembling a coherent itinerary, even two weeks out, is not worth it to me anymore. Best to look for cheap biz fares and utilize points for the remaining sweet spots outside North America.
Been doing this over a decade: the game isn't close to over.
-BA is still reliable, and while avios prices have inflated, there are frequent transfer bonuses (and cash component has decreased)
-Air France is not what it was 2-3 years ago but still has values to be found
-Lufthansa/Swiss often make seats available. Flew VIE-FRA-EWR with a family of 4 in July
-Emirates JFK-MXP and EWR-ATH are pretty easy to...
Been doing this over a decade: the game isn't close to over.
-BA is still reliable, and while avios prices have inflated, there are frequent transfer bonuses (and cash component has decreased)
-Air France is not what it was 2-3 years ago but still has values to be found
-Lufthansa/Swiss often make seats available. Flew VIE-FRA-EWR with a family of 4 in July
-Emirates JFK-MXP and EWR-ATH are pretty easy to find
-Singapore JFK-FRA available almost every day
-Virgin can be an amazing deal and is usually at least a solid proposition
AA/DL/UA suck, admittedly. But transfer partner wise, I don't feel remotely out of options
Congrats if you live in New York metro (and are willing to pay $1k+ in fees RT on Virgin/BA/Emirates/even some AF). For those of us in flyover country, requires positioning on a separate ticket and building in a lot of layover time.
Not saying there aren't still opportunities: flew Etihad A380 apartments YYZ/AUH last month, booked two days prior using AA. But they're the exceptions that prove the rule.
I live in rural Maryland, not NYC for what it's worth. You can buy a tag flight though! Obviously increases cost. I do have an advantage that I can drive to IAD (2 hours) or EWR (3) and that allows me to do some cool flights without buying tags.
But I've been hearing "the sky is falling" ever since they cut mileage-based earnings. The game changes, but we evolve. For next summer I have...
I live in rural Maryland, not NYC for what it's worth. You can buy a tag flight though! Obviously increases cost. I do have an advantage that I can drive to IAD (2 hours) or EWR (3) and that allows me to do some cool flights without buying tags.
But I've been hearing "the sky is falling" ever since they cut mileage-based earnings. The game changes, but we evolve. For next summer I have...
SEA-SIN-BKK on Singapore J
LHR-BWI on BA J
ORD-FRA-FCO on LH J
FCO-FRA-YYZ on Condor J
There's plenty still there
I do not hold a United credit card but have low Premier status. For me, short-hop US-first/Euro-business flights have point prices that typically yield 0.75 cents per point. For me, it's just not competitive. In the odd case that United is overwhelmingly more convenient on a particular route, I'll pay cash and credit it to another loyalty program.
Last week I flew United from IAD to GRU, and half of the business-class cabin went out empty. They never released those seats to Aeroplan, even though award space on this route used to be easy to find. Instead, they were offering paid upgrades from economy to Polaris for 699 US dollars.
Last month I flew AMS to IAD in UA premium economy that I had book with miles. The day before the flight, they offered me an Upgrade to Polaris for $699. I had already drawn a line at $500, so I passed. For a daytime flight, it just wasn't worth that much to me.
Forfeiting hundreds of PlusPoints every year because upgrades no longer clear...
So for the first time in many many years decided not to extend 1K this year.
It's simply pointless.
Reciprocal enstrangement.
This is a very interesting dynamic that bloggers should cover.
You're giving up 1K
Ben is giving up EXP
Tim lost his marbles.
So what happens to all those extra qualifications that was supposed to be credited?
Or is qualification much harder, everyone is losing a tier even with the same activities?
Don't forget Matthew at LALF. He abandoned UA 1K after many years and has gone free agent. He actually talks about how much he loves the freedom now. I'm not so sure. I think with UA at least the number of 1K's will be greatly reduced and open up some opportunities. I am going to give it one more year to see how it plays out but if Plus Points continue to be useless and...
Don't forget Matthew at LALF. He abandoned UA 1K after many years and has gone free agent. He actually talks about how much he loves the freedom now. I'm not so sure. I think with UA at least the number of 1K's will be greatly reduced and open up some opportunities. I am going to give it one more year to see how it plays out but if Plus Points continue to be useless and we see more gutting of value in the program I will pull the plug as well. But I'm actually interested to see how this plays out for 2026.
For real, Peter. Years and years of waste PlusPoints… like, PP, down the drain… (Eskimo, just for you…)
At least those earned this year can be converted to miles or whatever. Pah.
Availability seemed to completely dry up in mid July. Prior to that there were multiple seats available for multiple dates each day. Then nothing. From a Velocity perspective I understand they have very little say in it but its just another reason to think Velocity may not be worth it. Maybe if enough people leave Velocity for QFF then VA might have a hard talk with United.
I'm UA 1M Gold wanting a Saver booking for UA98 in 36 hours (LAX/MEL). Polaris cabin has 23 vacant seats and no Saver availability. All capacity remains waitlisted.
Up to a year or so ago one could also points book intraEurope flights or intraCanada on UA's partners. Now UA will not even price/sell such tickets.
After 40 years of being with UA/M+ I will dump the balance of my account on a non-saver ticket and never return.
Quite the game of chicken everyone's playing, huh...
After 2 months of searching (June-July) I booked 3 polaris seats ATH - EWR (October) with star alliance miles but I could hardly find 1 seat for the return. So in August I booked 3 polaris seats for Venice where we will stay for 2 days and return to Athens.
100% True.. I am very dissapointed.. Have been trying to book a reward flight from anywhere in NA to Australia but nothing reasonable seems to be available. I hate Air Canada's dynamic pricing.. I was hoping to grab last minute United BUsiness Class flights but you are right, somehting has changed and they are no longer available !! Sad...
It’s NOT just a recent development at UNITED, they have cut almost ALL award availability from non close tie partners (that REALLY make it worth flying on UA flights!) like TK US domestic at lowest possible price if using TK Smiles Miles, no matter where to! Europe, using TK Miles on almost any UA flight, almost impossible since End of October 2024! Same with LH flights trying to use TK Miles, good luck! Seems like...
It’s NOT just a recent development at UNITED, they have cut almost ALL award availability from non close tie partners (that REALLY make it worth flying on UA flights!) like TK US domestic at lowest possible price if using TK Smiles Miles, no matter where to! Europe, using TK Miles on almost any UA flight, almost impossible since End of October 2024! Same with LH flights trying to use TK Miles, good luck! Seems like LH and UA select very careful with what partners in the Star Alliance they want to share availability on Awards (and not only saver awards!) or they do limit partners from any availability at all.
This game is very special, i call it game, because usually UA is giving away saver awards on LH flights across the Atlantic as well as within Europe even if LH selling inventory is ONLY available in Booking classes Y, H, M (very expensive fares!). That’s why i call this a Game coming from United and preferring some select Star partners while others are banned or mostly ignored! Lufthansa Group is playing a similar game, since years!
I guess nobody ever realized, LH and TK are NOT best friends with each other, not only is TK by far better on inflight service than LH on ANY route in the same cabin, but also LH is trying to ban TK in many ways in the same way as UA now bans partners who always had similar or same award availability as their own program! But way worse is, that Star Alliance is the wildest program between all the partners, when it comes to be better or ignore any partner that might be better than your own program or product!
Lufthansa in Munich (Terminal 2!, almost entirely STAR Airlines only there!) except Turkish Airlines! LH even went as far as cancelling all Istanbul flights from their Hub in Munich, simply because they could NOT complete with their STAR partner TK on that route in terms of Service, Frequencies and also award availability to come back to the Miles and points theme. TK, compared to non STAR airlines like EY (who is far from being a STAR airline, but is at home at Terminal 2 in Munich, while TK does not get access to the LH Terminal 2 at the airport. Since years! Just another signal, woh much they all like each other in the same Alliance.
I think, SQ started it all, this “foul” game within the STAR partners, by not giving out award availability to partners a couple of years back! LX, same game. First, only for their own highest frequent travelers. I think, soon we all need to play the miles and points game in a different league and beat all the airlines and hotel programs at their own game! Sad, but i think a true thing. I agree with Benjamin, AC program is in most parts of the miles burning game leading and valuable, even if other STAR partners programs don’t show availability, AC finds strange routings and combines awards for good rates, to offer award seats on partners! still does today.
I was going to fly LAx to LHR on united. But with the BA sale, I booked a business class flight on BA for the United money plus miles rate. Plus saved my United miles to let them accrue more. I’m loyal United but couldn’t pass this up The miles plus money is decent but doesn’t compare when there is a sale.
a) there is plenty of IN space for premier members
b) Its reciprocal - I challenge you to find any Air Canada long haul award space using partner miles (apart from some scattered close in seats)
I might suggest a different title for this article: The Fantastic Increase Of United Polaris Award Availability For Co-Branded Card Holders And Status Members!
For me as a no status co-branded card holder this change has been a big win. Routes I was interested in before the change had only close-in or last minute availability. Now I have found significant availability further out that allows me create firm plans without gambling on last minute availability....
I might suggest a different title for this article: The Fantastic Increase Of United Polaris Award Availability For Co-Branded Card Holders And Status Members!
For me as a no status co-branded card holder this change has been a big win. Routes I was interested in before the change had only close-in or last minute availability. Now I have found significant availability further out that allows me create firm plans without gambling on last minute availability. It has been a win for United in my case, since to take advantage of the increased "IN" awward space for a family trip I ended up purchasing a large amount of United miles and transferring some Chase points.
It makes one wonder what benefit the rest of *A gets from having United in the alliance if they're cutting everyone else out of premium award space...
Does the no fee United Gateway co-brand card grant access to the additional saver award space? If so, it may make sense to open that card just for that?
Used to. No longer does
I’ve had good luck finding business or first class availability with Avios and their carriers. That Amex 30% bonus transfer they had not too long ago was a gold mine for me. Paid for itself.
One could also speak of Polaris' overall decline as a product. One by one, the product has been whittled back for various reasons. Recall the special champagne flutes and welcome chocolates? What about the custom ice cream bowls? I'm sure you can mention a few things of your own noting. But it's fitting that availability and quality both seem to be 'marching in step', downwards! This is why America will never have top quality airlines...
One could also speak of Polaris' overall decline as a product. One by one, the product has been whittled back for various reasons. Recall the special champagne flutes and welcome chocolates? What about the custom ice cream bowls? I'm sure you can mention a few things of your own noting. But it's fitting that availability and quality both seem to be 'marching in step', downwards! This is why America will never have top quality airlines like Asia and the Middle East. They don't stick with anything good for long enough to establish it.
A year ago, I had to shell out 200,000 UA miles (yes, 200,000) for a one way Polaris business class from EWR to HND. Why bother to collect UA or any other miles?
That's because you didn't find award availability, and instead just pay the MSRP price.
I've got the same flight for 88K last year (now is probably 110K)
That’s rough, since UA flies a 30-year old 772 on that route. Just brutal.
I may be naive, but don't businesses that sell their products tend to make more money than those that give them away?
Hardly giving them away when they are selling the miles to us and the banks
We are paying them and simply a loyal member in their ponzi scheme
IMO just do business with other carriers till their hungry enough to be fair
"Giving away" is a relative term. Airlines collectively sell billions of miles to their credit card partners (IIRC Delta generated pandemic-era financing by pre-selling a ton of miles, and if the flow from Amex to Delta is any indication I think Delta miileage sales to Amex are potentially sitting somewhere in the 300-500 billion miles per year range), so it's not like they're not booking revenue on these tickets, and IIRC the major FFPs are...
"Giving away" is a relative term. Airlines collectively sell billions of miles to their credit card partners (IIRC Delta generated pandemic-era financing by pre-selling a ton of miles, and if the flow from Amex to Delta is any indication I think Delta miileage sales to Amex are potentially sitting somewhere in the 300-500 billion miles per year range), so it's not like they're not booking revenue on these tickets, and IIRC the major FFPs are worth more than the airlines themselves. I've occasionally joked that Delta is a division of American Express for this reason.
The bottom line is that FFP tickets aren't non-revenue items for the airline. The miles sit on someone's books as a liability. Depending on how you structure it, either the airline books them as (essentially) a prepaid service and then discharges the liability when you use the miles, or the liability is held on the FFP's books and then the airline just records it as revenue when you use the miles and "bills" the FFP.
I am still wating you to apologize to encourage to buy LifeMiles and then end up on nothing to be redeemed
Ben is never encouraging anyone to buy miles, it is actually quite opposite.
I'm pretty sure he explicitly advises to only buy LifeMiles in situations where you already have an award you want to redeem in mind, and where you have checked space is available. He also warns pretty clearly about risks like phantom availability in the LifeMiles articles I've read.
JFK and BOS to FRA on Condor is usually an easy find using Atmos. 45-55k depending if you add a connection, oddly some direct flights are 55k, however adding a leg sometimes drops it to 45k.
I see better availability with ATMOS and AA booking partners than I do chasing SA, both TPAC and TALT.
Other airlines, like Signapore, and now Lufthansa, block access to long haul premium cabin, and Luthansa and Swiss to F inventory, etc. etc. So UA should as well. Yes better inventory for CC holder and Elites, but I think high Elites get better (1K and GS). Ben, you don't have either of those, and I don't think you have any UA status, so you really can't check.
Honestly, this is the counter move to the bank-issued currency. If the bank can just buy miles from Lifemiles or Aeroplan, it can get its customers access to enough award space. Compared to transferable currency cards, airline cards are pretty trash for spending. Why get 1x on a United card for your groceries when you can get 3x C1 miles and transfer to Aeroplan? If loyalty perks had real value, it would be less of...
Honestly, this is the counter move to the bank-issued currency. If the bank can just buy miles from Lifemiles or Aeroplan, it can get its customers access to enough award space. Compared to transferable currency cards, airline cards are pretty trash for spending. Why get 1x on a United card for your groceries when you can get 3x C1 miles and transfer to Aeroplan? If loyalty perks had real value, it would be less of an issue. But United has to keep people on the co-branded hamster wheel, and this isn't a bad option. There is a good subsection of people that only want to fly their preferred US carrier, and this will keep them loyal. I still think there's more value in the international carriers, and the incentives for LH, LO, or TP opening space are different. Honestly, if they can keep a bunch of people earning Skymiles, all the better for the rest of us.
If the loyalty is only going one way, then stop being loyal. It's like being in a relationship with a partner who's constantly changing the agreed boundaries to suit them, and just expects you to stay along for the ride. You're letting yourself be treated like a chump.
I'm surprised another reader didn't criticize you for not offering actionable advice.
I think Pete's advice is quite actionable.
Agreed. I said something similar and was criticized.
Good timing. Just last week I redeemed 250k Aeroplan points I had sitting in my account for a sub-optimal redemption on Air Canada metal (1 business and 2 PE seats, LIS-YUL-SFO) for next summer as I've also observed the opportunities for star alliance partner awards -- at least in premium cabins to/from North America -- seem to have dried up. Too bad, but I guess that's the game.
As a UA Infinite cardmember, I approve this change.
I was able to grab an "IN" fare award for November for 85k miles, Polaris SFO-NRT, business NRT-GUM-ROR. Availability for EWR,SFO,ORD-NRT-GUM-ROR in IN seems fairly decent about 2 weeks out. Never for SFO,LAX-HNL-GUM-ROR - only mixed awards with HNL-GUM in business, the rest in economy. Routing through NRT means dealing with US immigration in GUM. Flying through NRT on the way back is even more fun - you have to go through US immigration twice(!)...
I was able to grab an "IN" fare award for November for 85k miles, Polaris SFO-NRT, business NRT-GUM-ROR. Availability for EWR,SFO,ORD-NRT-GUM-ROR in IN seems fairly decent about 2 weeks out. Never for SFO,LAX-HNL-GUM-ROR - only mixed awards with HNL-GUM in business, the rest in economy. Routing through NRT means dealing with US immigration in GUM. Flying through NRT on the way back is even more fun - you have to go through US immigration twice(!) (GUM and SFO) on the same flight, operated entirely by United.
I’m just jealous you’re heading to ROR! I’ve only been once when I lived in Asia and did a charter trip there. Best diving I’ve ever done!
How do I not know all these UA fare classes and don't even know how to find them. A little help here, please...
search for "united expert mode" there are many blog posts out there to show you how to turn it on & use it
UA has said for years that it wants to be seen just like DL so this should come as no surprise.
Airlines that can genuinely sell their seats for money should not be given them away for cheap esp. to other airline award programs.
as for LAX-HKG, that is simply DL's making it clear that it will do what it needs to do; unlike UA, DL doesn't pick on the little carriers and also...
UA has said for years that it wants to be seen just like DL so this should come as no surprise.
Airlines that can genuinely sell their seats for money should not be given them away for cheap esp. to other airline award programs.
as for LAX-HKG, that is simply DL's making it clear that it will do what it needs to do; unlike UA, DL doesn't pick on the little carriers and also has no interest in being seen as one of two carriers that are interested in colluding to squash competitors and squashing consumer choice.
Good for UA. DL is coming for SIN next.
Delta doesn't love you as much as you love Delta
So, the problem with that analysis - at least as I see it - is that there's still money changing hands between the programs. It might be under archaic pricing agreements, but when you book space on Airline A using Airline B's miles, Airline B does pay Airline A for the space. The reason partner award redemption rates have been so "sticky" is that both sides have to agree to new pricing, and that's not...
So, the problem with that analysis - at least as I see it - is that there's still money changing hands between the programs. It might be under archaic pricing agreements, but when you book space on Airline A using Airline B's miles, Airline B does pay Airline A for the space. The reason partner award redemption rates have been so "sticky" is that both sides have to agree to new pricing, and that's not always easy (as one or both sides probably want to leverage something else out of the deal in exchange for allowing the changes - it might be reciprocal pricing, it might be some guarantee on space availability, or it might be pushing for more cash than the other airline wants to offer for those seats).
By comparison, an airline can generally "do whatever" internally, at least presuming that the internal struggle among business units doesn't get into a deadlock. This /can/ happen - "battling business units" are a real scourge. I think part of the reason it took Amtrak /years/ to come up with points-and-cash redemptions after announcing it had to do with a fight between AGR and Amtrak, and the initial surge pricing there for peak days was something that the non-AGR revenue management folks demanded of AGR to allow AGR to no longer deal with blackout dates.
Back to UA - this could turn into a bit of a mess in the long run, since if (for example) United customers can book premium space on Air Canada but the reverse isn't true, that creates something of an imbalance in those arrangements. That ultimately advantages MP over Aeroplan.
UA needs to grow its own loyalty program in the US and its credit card program vs. receive fees from other airlines.
UA's move is rational and supports its goals.
Uhhh. Timmy.
"given them away for cheap" IS the whole premise of loyalty programs.
Definitely agree with this. I did just have success getting two business class seats from LHR-ORD on Nov 4th using ANA miles. I was pretty surprised to see that, but definitely a happy camper as it was turning out to be a complicated itinerary. Thanks for sharing! I’m curious how it will evolve.
You are complaining about getting United Polaris space, using Aeroplan. How about if you use United Mileage Points ? Why shouldn't United let their own loyal customers get access, not someone who has "bought" Aeroplan points (endless articles on how to do this). Just saying...
Airlines should definitely prioritize their own members first, but one of the most tangible benefits of an alliance is partner award redemption.
Once you can no longer redeem on partners, I feel like Star/Skyteam/One world value proposition will be pretty low aside from elite members getting a priority bag tag.
I recognize that "available seat maps" aren't 100% indicative of how fully a flight is, but wow how empty is that particular flight tomorrow! By my calculations, it's < 25% full.
@ jak -- Yeah, the load factors on those LAX-HKG flights don't look great, generally (that's not intended to be some bat signal for Tim, btw)...
CX does very good on these with LFs in the 90s, while also commanding a fare premium. Asian carriers just outperform.
UA is somewhere around the 60% mark with less frequencies and lower yields. But we might see the BKK or SGN tags improve it.
CASM!
I’m the wrong Tim, I know. ;-)
just remember that DL has launched LAX-AKL and BNE and UA has left both, am I right?
DL would love to make it a trifecta - or better.
The notion that UA is some sort of powerhouse that is impervious to competition - esp. when it comes from more profitable companies - is a myth.
The chances are very high that UA will drop at least one LAX-HKG ; the tags they put behind their...
just remember that DL has launched LAX-AKL and BNE and UA has left both, am I right?
DL would love to make it a trifecta - or better.
The notion that UA is some sort of powerhouse that is impervious to competition - esp. when it comes from more profitable companies - is a myth.
The chances are very high that UA will drop at least one LAX-HKG ; the tags they put behind their two HKG flights were to try to prop up the loads.
DL is going to siphon off as much traffic as it can off of LAX-HKG.
There has been endless talk about how much of a drag SEA-TPE has been and yet it will have gone 2 years since its launch before LAX-HKG is launched. DL clearly has the financial ability to develop markets that it needs to be in, even across the Pacific.
and let's also not doubt this is a not-so-subtle hint that DL will start LAX-SIN whether UA is in the market or not. DL seems to want to use an A350-1000 which will, according to rumors, seat about 315 passengers which is a pretty conversative seat count for that aircraft but still 60 seats more than SQ's 359s and 90 seats more than the high J 789s that UA would have to use.
DL is rebuilding its Pacific presence, and according to internet lore, it is using all the excess profits it gets from its ATL, DTW, MSP and SLC hubs to subsidize its 4 coastal hubs and clearly its TPAC routes; nevermind that DL says that JFK-LAX is its most profitable route.
AKL and BNE are a weird flex to bring up for Delta, Tim.
Delta launched AKL year-round then VERY quickly backed off.
BNE is just a subsidy from BNE and it seems rather doubtful Delta has the POS strength in Australia or LA to keep it up post subsidies.
IOW, ignore the facts you don't like.
DL has started 2 longhaul flights from LAX that directly competed with UA and UA blinked.
DL is getting ready to do the same thing on LAX-HKG, a route that has far lower load factors than DL had on SEA-TPE and DL has no tags behind TPE as UA does behind HKG.
DL stated multiple times that it wanted LAX and SEA as TPAC west coast...
IOW, ignore the facts you don't like.
DL has started 2 longhaul flights from LAX that directly competed with UA and UA blinked.
DL is getting ready to do the same thing on LAX-HKG, a route that has far lower load factors than DL had on SEA-TPE and DL has no tags behind TPE as UA does behind HKG.
DL stated multiple times that it wanted LAX and SEA as TPAC west coast gateways. UA has had SFO as the uncontested best US carrier TPAC hub but has tried to bulk up LAX.
The "ownership" of LAX TPAC leadership is far from settled, Max.
and specific to this discussion, UA is moving its loyalty program more and more in the direction of DL's which has never been generous w/ premium cabin international award pricing because it wants to sell them for cash before giving them away.
UA has said for years that it thinks of itself as being in the same camp as DL; its change to longhaul award availability is not unexpected. It is what they had to do to increase revenues on international routes which is part of the reason DL's profits per ASM on the Atlantic and Pacific have been higher than UA for quite some time.
UA shows seat map for already departed flights for today and yesterday (and two days ago) in which case seat map is accurate. Even when a ton of business seats are empty, UA stopped releasing it to partners (and non-elite/credit card holders).
UA knows it cannot build its credit card program w/o increasing the value of having THEIR card.
The fact is that premium cabin TATL demand (and to a lesser extent TPAC) departing the US is through the roof currently. There is not much to challenge pricing at this at the moment, with JVs and partnerships the airlines have in place. Based out of SFO, I know plenty of travelers who will pay either themselves or have a business account that pays for business class on a long flight. Even when booked in...
The fact is that premium cabin TATL demand (and to a lesser extent TPAC) departing the US is through the roof currently. There is not much to challenge pricing at this at the moment, with JVs and partnerships the airlines have in place. Based out of SFO, I know plenty of travelers who will pay either themselves or have a business account that pays for business class on a long flight. Even when booked in advance, off-season, it's not uncommon to see $5,000+ rt J fares to Europe. And where UA has a non-stop, they are always charging a premium over the other carriers. The airlines want to cash in on this for as long as they can. It's not only United Mileage Plus. Good luck finding premium cabin award space with LH Miles and More even on their own metal. Until demand starts faltering, the only way I've seen award prices drop is with creative routings and origins - back to the old tricks of positioning flights and overnight layovers.
Have you seen anything similar with AA? Lately when I search for AA awards, I’m seeing 300-400k ONE WAY for business class. I don’t recall ever seeing prices like that in the past, this is feeling very much like Delta territory.
@ Scott -- American's non-saver level award pricing is high, and not a great deal. However, I'd say that American has by far the best premium cabin award availability and pricing for its own flights of any of the "big three" carriers.
I used to see 65-80K miles for biz when they open the schedule. I got "lucky" and got LHR to ORD next July for 120K miles. I took that flight a few weeks ago and it was only 82K. Those kind of deals are now few and far between. It's very disheartening, but not a surprise when they hand miles out like candy for CC sign ups.
I put this in response to another comment in the AA review, but it is a devaluation bloodbath out there. Other than February 2026 where there is 65k availability, there is one day in July 26 and another day in August 26 at 65k JFK-LHR on AA metal. Some scattered 70k through the end of 2025 but most saver fares are starting at 100k and good luck finding a Thu/Fri/Sat date. Similar on the LHR-JFK...
I put this in response to another comment in the AA review, but it is a devaluation bloodbath out there. Other than February 2026 where there is 65k availability, there is one day in July 26 and another day in August 26 at 65k JFK-LHR on AA metal. Some scattered 70k through the end of 2025 but most saver fares are starting at 100k and good luck finding a Thu/Fri/Sat date. Similar on the LHR-JFK except good luck finding a Sat/Sun/Mon date.
Yes you can still get BA at 57.5 and best opportunities to avoid surcharges there are if you connect through LHR to another city.
I think this is markedly worse from a year ago and clearly reflects the influx of TY points, in my opinion. It's even worse than two months ago - saw the writing on the wall a few months ago and speculatively booked 4 J tickets to London in April 2026 at 65k each, which is clearly the new floor for AA metal (a year ago you could still get 57.5 on AA metal as well).
But... are there still deals to be had? More than with DL and UA, I believe. And the inventory is there... so maybe the TY point influx will not be as bad as AA fears and there will be some close-in booking opportunities... who knows.
" let me explain what I think is going on. . . restricting award availability is now being used as a further tool to drive credit card sign-ups, and encourage earning status"
Okay, but for this theory to hold water, wouldn't United have to be telling people that signing up for a credit card or earning status will get them J award opportunities?
@ LarryInNYC -- This was only implemented recently, so I wouldn't be surprised if it's marketed more in the future. However, it is already advertised. For example, if you pull up a United credit card application, you'll see the following:
"As a cardmember, you have access to special pricing on award travel redemption for United-operated flights, when available."
That message could be referring to a thing that's been a while though, in the sense there were slight discounts (like 10k miles off) for some routes and some additional availability for being a Chase cardmember.
To categorically basically block Polaris awards for non-members / non-elites would be new.
I wonder if AI contributed to this topic at hand.
The Star Alliance airline or the large language model?
Unlikely to be the star alliance airline, it's hard to get them to do anything most of the time!
Is this recent (as in last 2 months or so?), because up until about May this year, United was pretty consistently releasing Polaris award seats for close in dates (0-21 days out) across the Atlantic.
@ Trey -- Yeah, this has all started within the past two months.
Two speculations.
1) MileagePlus members are complaining about a lack of reward seats available. So UA decided to prioritize their own members first.
2) For many MileagePlus members, we are sitting on hundreds of PlusPoints. They are effectively unusable. Again, maybe this is a way to get a higher success rate to burn PlusPoints for intercontinental upgrades?
PlusPoints require PZ (for Platinum and 1K) or PN (for Global Services) space. IN is separate inventory, but sometimes correlated like in the photo (PN9 PZ9 IN9 I0).
I don't think this is what you are talking about, but I still see good United point redemptions across the Atlantic with Swiss, Luftansa and even Ethiopian. Usually 80-88 united miles for business class. That is generally how I use mine.
@ Andrew -- There are no doubt still some good uses of MileagePlus miles, but even availability on carriers like Lufthansa and SWISS isn't what it once was.
Why does Aeroplan have access to some all-LH or all-Swiss itineraries those flights aren't bookable through MP.
Knowing that AA is quite the copycat, does this impact your thinking on Atmos as a vehicle for AA rewards? Depends on what kind of AA flights you are booking, of course, I don't think regional jet availability is drying up tomorrow...
Atmos as a vehicle for AA rewards is actually so good. Earning their loyalty miles or whatever it's called for cheap domestic redemptions would be amazing
@ Peter -- It's a great question. It's definitely something I think about, but it's not really impacting my decision making, at least yet. In a similar light, if American AAdvantage were horribly devalued for premium cabin redemptions, I'd also be rethinking my strategy with AAdvantage. At that point I'd probably just become a full-on "free agent."
Fair enough, and obviously you are playing the game at a different level than most!
I do wonder if United is possibly preserving some of its own metal for when the B6 partnership goes live so it can offer some of its flights to B6 trueblue program before other partners like Aeroplan?
As for AS relationship with AA, still some significant alignment there, I think, which hopefully preserves some of the cross-availability.
The good...
Fair enough, and obviously you are playing the game at a different level than most!
I do wonder if United is possibly preserving some of its own metal for when the B6 partnership goes live so it can offer some of its flights to B6 trueblue program before other partners like Aeroplan?
As for AS relationship with AA, still some significant alignment there, I think, which hopefully preserves some of the cross-availability.
The good news with AA is the partner redemptions are still there, at least for now. The AA metal popular route redemptions are certainly not at DL levels and are probably still better than UA, but perhaps not by much these days.
It's def intriguing. I booked two flights next year, and although they are short flights (phx to las), they were 4.5K atmos each for economy. Then I chatted with AA and had them put my AAdvantage number in there so I could pick my MC+ seats. I did get a flight from OKC to LGA for 7500 atmos as well. Great domestic redemption if you ask me.
AA definitely has the ability to do this, they just don’t make “Saver” inventory available (thus no inventory for partner programs), but they can still dynamically price awards on their own metal at relatively attractive redemption rates
Scott Kirby and Ed Bastian are the Tweedledum and Tweedledee of major US air carriers. Robert Isom is the Dormouse.
US air carriers are like the decadent empire they serve - making improvements in the front of the plane, and making life punishing for everybody else in the back.
Money talks, bro.
Wonder how award search companies such as seats.aero and Roame could use this IN search for UA credit cardholders. It’s quite tiring to do manual search and find IN spaces
i was just thinking this. like if Seats dot Aero is searching as a general member with no status or credit card, it might be unable to see saver awards I would be able to if I logged in as myself (UA Platinum with a Quest card).
Websites like Roame and Seats.Aero are a good part of the reason that airlines are now further restricting award access or jacking up the the miles required to fly in a premium cabin. That and the massive amount of copycats of a certain points and miles website on social media promoting "free travel".
No one likes it but accept it for what it is and adjust your game accordingly. Spend your time and energy on what works. Be happy.
That's so beautiful, and added much actionable advice to the conversation.
And practical advice. Suddenly, nobody is upset that the value of what they've been promised is no more, because they can now, thanks to your coaching, accept it and adjust their games accordingly. And be happy.
Bless your heart.
Promised? Can you point to any airline or hotel program (other than a defined value program like Accor) that has PROMISED there would be X amount of award inventory or value per point?
BA guarantees award availability on every flight. https://onemileatatime.com/insights/british-airways-award-seat-guarantee/
This is no different than Marriott's abandonment of its no black out dates feature. This is no different from the hotel award inventory control. This is no different from AA not opening transcon F to partners. It is industry wide.
If you want actionable advice: publicly disclosed practices either get swamped to inaccessibility or shut down.
Maybe Kirby would be better served by redirecting his mental energy to UA's own issues instead of dire predictions of competitors' demise ...
I noticed this too, so glad to see you writing about this with your theory. This has happened enough times before that, hopefully, it gets reversed when they realise they're missing the incremental revenue. On the other hand, Cathay haven't reversed their changes despite not selling out business class.
I'm not sure when but in the last year United apparently forced the major transferrable programs to start charging the same rate that MP charges for award tickets. Both Lifemiles and Aeroplan started charging the same rate for United-only metal that was equal to the United price. Previous to that, United was limiting its release of seats to both programs, especially transpac. It would be sad if even after they got their partners to charge...
I'm not sure when but in the last year United apparently forced the major transferrable programs to start charging the same rate that MP charges for award tickets. Both Lifemiles and Aeroplan started charging the same rate for United-only metal that was equal to the United price. Previous to that, United was limiting its release of seats to both programs, especially transpac. It would be sad if even after they got their partners to charge MP rates they pulled the rug out from under them to not release any seats to them also.