United Close In Booking Award Devaluation
Some good historical advice in the points and miles world has been that there can be great airline award deals close to your travel dates, as there may be more award availability. Well, that advice is no longer applicable to United Airlines. It looks like there was a no notice United close in booking award devaluation that happened this week. Let's dig into the details.
Close In Booking Just Got 33% More Expensive
To show an example of what's going on, I searched for award flights between two hub cities for United- Denver (DEN) and Houston (IAH). Upon selecting my dates, you can see the rate calendar already shows the increase in rates for close-in travel:
The cheapest Saver awards we're seeing for the next 12 days from writing are 20,000 points for a (connecting) economy ticket from Denver to Houston.
Further out, prices return to lower, but dynamic, pricing that we've been seeing. You can fly to Houston on a holiday week for as low as 12,700 miles.
Why Is United Doing This?
The historical theory on last-minute award travel availability is that the airline was likely not to sell those seats. So, making them available to award travelers makes sense, as it moves miles off of United's books. Here, it seems that there's no real underlying business reason other than United thinks they can get away with raising prices.
The slimiest part of the whole situation is that the change was unannounced by United. This is a sneaky devaluation not just for regular United members, but credit card holders as well, who have access to lower rates at times and more award space for holding a United credit card.
What Other Options Are There?
For those of you who have transferable bank currencies, there are other airline programs that you can redeem for saver availability on United flights. Aeroplan is a transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Capital One. The same flights priced at 20,000 miles through United's program are available for only 15,000 miles (and ~$33 in taxes).
Avianca LifeMiles is another option priced at 15,000 miles. Turkish Airlines offers economy flights on Star Alliance partners for only 10,000 miles each way.
So, there are plenty of alternative options available to savvy award travelers like yourselves. The sad thing is that the vast majority of United customers won't notice or care about a 33% increase in their close-in awards.
United Close In Booking Award Devaluation: ToP Thoughts
Unfortunately, devaluations happen often in the points and miles space. United has continued to raise the price of award travel within its program. Thankfully, with the right credit card, you can avoid a lot of these devaluations by using the right transfer partner, like Aeroplan or Turkish Airlines. Look for more tips in the ToP Facebook Group.
