United MileagePlus MASSIVELY Devalues Miles

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about how United’s MileagePlus frequent flyer program rolled out a huge mileage devaluation. Initially this impacted transatlantic awards, but I wanted to post an update, as over the past couple of weeks this has progressively spread to just about all routes globally. It looks to me like the devaluation is now complete, because there’s not much left to devalue!

This might just be the worst devaluation we’ve seen in the history of the MileagePlus program. It’s not just the amount by which award costs have increased, but also how consistent these increases are across the board, for travel on both United and its partner airlines.

United MileagePlus increases award costs by 30%+

United has made a no-notice mileage devaluation. It’s not surprising that the program didn’t provide notice, given that MileagePlus no longer publishes award charts, which greatly limits transparency.

It would appear that saver level award costs have increased by an average of over 30% for most routes, whether traveling on United or partner airlines. While the devaluation started with routes to Europe, it has now spread to routes to Asia, the South Pacific, Africa, the Middle East, South America, etc.

For example, one-way saver transatlantic awards for travel on United used to start at 30,000 miles in economy and 60,000 miles in business class. Those costs have increased by 33%, as these awards now start at 40,000 miles in economy and 80,000 miles in business class.

As before, MileagePlus has higher award costs when you’re booking within 30 days of departure, even when there’s saver award space. Those same types of awards will cost you an extra 2,300 miles in economy or 2,800 miles in business class.

Partner awards have similarly been devalued. For example, one-way saver transatlantic awards for travel on partner airlines used to start at 30,000 miles in economy and 70,000 miles in business class. Those costs have increased by 39-47%, as these awards now start at 43,900 miles in economy and 97,100 miles in business class.

As before, MileagePlus has higher award costs when you’re booking within 30 days of departure. Those same types of partner awards will cost you an extra 4,000 miles in economy or 10,000 miles in business class.

Interestingly the cost of transatlantic first class awards has remained the same, as Lufthansa first class continues to cost 121,000 miles one-way.

Looking at Asia, a one-way partner award between the United States and North Asia used to cost 38,500 miles in economy and 88,000 miles in business class, while it now starts at 60,400 miles in economy and 110,000 miles in business class. That’s a 57% cost increase in economy and a 25% cost increase in business class. Ouch.

Looking at South America, a one-way partner award between the United States and Southern South America used to cost 33,000 miles in economy and 66,000 miles in business class, while it now starts at 49,500 miles in economy and 87,800 miles in business class. That’s a 50% cost increase in economy and a 33% cost increase in business class.

Suffice it to say that these changes are brutal.

United MileagePlus redemption rates are becoming awful

Unfortunately we’ve seen so many program devaluations in the past couple of years, that nothing really surprises me anymore. A few things to note about these latest changes:

• If you’re not earning MileagePlus miles directly from flying United, you should absolutely instead be using programs like Air Canada Aeroplan and Avianca LifeMiles, which offer much more attractive partner redemption rates; you shouldn’t be transferring your Chase Ultimate Rewards points to United MileagePlus
• I can understand why United would want to increase costs of awards for travel on its own flights, since there’s often an internal battle between folks working in loyalty and revenue management, but the huge partner award cost increases are downright punitive, since it’s not like those reimbursement rates have changed overnight
• It very much feels like United MileagePlus is trying to follow Delta SkyMiles’ lead here when it comes to the value of miles

It’s really quite sad how innovating and offering value to frequent flyers no longer seems to be the priority for many programs. Nowadays it’s all about cutting costs, despite how high margin these businesses are (the loyalty programs, not the airlines).

Bottom line

MileagePlus has significantly increased award costs, for travel on both United and partner airlines. These changes are rough, as the cost of many awards has increased by over 30% (and in some cases significantly more than that). This is the worst devaluation I recall seeing from MileagePlus.

This makes both Air Canada Aeroplan and Avianca LifeMiles even more lucrative.

What do you make of these United MileagePlus changes?