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Home » United Airlines » Massive United Airlines Devaluation: What To Do Now
AnalysisAward TravelUnited Airlines

Massive United Airlines Devaluation: What To Do Now

Matthew Klint Posted onMay 17, 2023November 13, 2023 49 Comments

a man smiling next to a plane

United Airlines rolled out a massive devaluation of economy class awards last week and now has devalued premium cabin awards as well on both United metal and on partner carriers. This represents a gut punch to MileagePlus members and a steep reduction in the value of your United miles. That said, do not panic: I’ll address below what I plan to do with my (large) balance of United miles.

In This Post:

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  • United Airlines 2023 MileagePlus Devaluation: Even Without Award Chart, Prices Rise By As Much As 47%
    • What To Do Now With Your United Miles?
    • This Move Reflects Very Poorly On United
    • CONCLUSION

United Airlines 2023 MileagePlus Devaluation: Even Without Award Chart, Prices Rise By As Much As 47%

I began tracking this last week when I noticed that last-minute economy class awards rose from as little as 33K to 47K one-way. Now this pricing has spread to premium cabins as well and impacts both United metal, partner awards, and mixed awards.

For example, business class awards between the USA and Europe on United that used to cost 60K are now 80K. Last-minute partner awards that were anywhere from 73-83K now cost as much as 107.1K one-way (as little as 97.1K if you book more than a month in advance). Last-minute economy class awards on partners now run 47.9K miles each.

a screenshot of a flight ticket

A couple of exceptions I’ve found. First class awards have not (yet) gone up in price.

a screenshot of a flight schedule

There’s a no-brainer upgrade if I’ve ever seen one…

Flights outside the USA also have not risen in price. For example, one-way nonstop awards in Europe are still 6.5K miles each:

a screenshot of a flight schedule

Another sweet spot between Asia and Australia remains reasonable in business class:

a screenshot of a computer screen

But the flights I’ve booked the most for myself and for Award Expert clients are business class tickets between the US and Europe as well as domestic flights, both of which have gone up in price.

It’s not just so-called “saver space” as well. One of the best uses of United miles has been a one-way “anytime” award between the USA and Europe. Whenever a partner segment was added, the price was capped at 158-178K one-way in business class. These days, that was a great buy. So for example a one-way ward from San Francisco to Frankfurt might have been 298K one-way in business class, but adding a segment from Frankfurt to Stockholm on SAS dropped the price in half. That was the sort of deal I expected United to put an end to, but I did not expect such a massive devaluation of partner awards.

These anytime awards are now routinely running up to 398K one-way between the USA and Europe: that’s almost as bad as Delta SkyMiles…

a screenshot of a flight schedule

Even more from Latin America:

a screenshot of a computer screen

As One Mile At A Time reasons, the cost to United for these awards has not risen overnight and the changes are downright punitive. This is sad news.

What To Do Now With Your United Miles?

First, do not panic. This is sad, but it’s done…and I do not expect it to roll back. But I also do not expect another devaluation for the next several months. United usually rolls out devaluations at once and then is done for a year or two. With a devaluation this steep, I hope United is done for a while.

If you are outside the USA, these devaluations may spread to other markets so booking travel within Europe or from Europe to Africa or the Middle East may make sense now if United decides to devalue other regions.

But the price is price…there’s no fighting it. Start saving again for the trip you want and book it as soon as you have the miles to do so. With dynamic pricing, I do expect we will occasionally see reductions in pricing as well, at least on United metal.

I’ve been hoping to use my miles to book four one-way tickets on Austrian Airlines from Vienna to Los Angeles this summer. What would have been 33K for economy class or 77K for business class will now be at least 43K for business or 99K for business class. That hurts, but I’ll continue to wait for that space to open (though I may use another currency if we find that United does not devalue award travel wholly outside the USA).

This Move Reflects Very Poorly On United

United can smugly say “we have no award chart therefore this is no fixed pricing therefore this was not a devaluation” until its face turns blue, but we know that is not the case. Most awards still followed fixed pricing even if there is no award chart published.

Finally, this devaluation makes Air Canada Aeroplan program all the more valuable. Aeroplan transparently publishes award charts and announces devaluations in advance.

It’s time for you to cut up your United Airlines co-branded credit cards from Chase and shift spending to a more flexible currency like Chase Ultimate Rewards points via a Sapphire Preferred or Reserve card.

The devaluation is bad enough, but not giving MileagePlus members any sort of heads-up really stings. We’ve reached out to United for comment, but I expect a vague response about how United periodically adjusts pricing, blah, blah, blah.

As I always have insisted, points and miles are generally depreciating assets and you should not consider them a nest egg, but a currency to be used sooner rather than later. This devaluation just reinforces that trend.

CONCLUSION

United Airlines should be ashamed of itself for such a steep devaluation without notice, especially on partner awards. Award chart or not, there is an implied contract of good faith between United and its members. When pricing rises by almost 50% without notice, it shows how much disdain United has for the very people that fuel its most profitable division. This is shortsighted greed and is a pathetic move by the bean counters that want to kill the cash cow that MileagePlus has been precisely because it offers reasonable value to its members.

I’m not waking away from United over this – the route network is far too convent for me and I still very much like flying on United – but that does not mean United gets the last laugh here. I’ve long stopped using any co-branded MileagePlus credit cards. If enough people do this, United will get the message…or at least Chase will.

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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49 Comments

  1. john Reply
    May 17, 2023 at 1:48 pm

    Cash Back into your brokerage account is the best long term option now.

    • Mr. Marcus Reply
      May 17, 2023 at 2:01 pm

      Do you like a specific company or product John? I only recently learned about bask, for example.

      • john Reply
        May 17, 2023 at 2:14 pm

        Citi DC + three revolving 5% cards from chase, Citi, and discover.

    • Jan Reply
      May 17, 2023 at 2:55 pm

      Can still catch 3-5 cents per point or mile from other programs using transferrable points.

      • Matthew Klint Reply
        May 17, 2023 at 4:01 pm

        Or Delta starting from outside USA…

  2. Santastico Reply
    May 17, 2023 at 1:50 pm

    Welcome to the best and biggest airline in the world. LOL!!!

    • Jan Reply
      May 17, 2023 at 2:48 pm

      All part of the plan of the most intelligent CEO in the planet.

      • whocares Reply
        May 18, 2023 at 1:15 pm

        he has a big nose….but folks don’t know how to face read.

  3. cy Reply
    May 17, 2023 at 1:55 pm

    i keep a united branded card for free checked baggage on our 2-3 ski trips a year…that’s it. Why anyone would spend any money on a united card when you can do it on chase and transfer if needed is beyond me.

    • david Reply
      May 17, 2023 at 1:59 pm

      Excellent point. The only reason to have an airline credit card.

  4. David Reply
    May 17, 2023 at 1:56 pm

    The smart ones will learn chasing miles is fools gold. Miles earned on flights are just a small fraction of what it used to be. For credit cards I do something that does cash back.

  5. Mr. Marcus Reply
    May 17, 2023 at 2:16 pm

    My wife and I started accumulating Continental miles around 20 years ago. After a few years, we transitioned away from attempting to accumulate airline miles, but we had built up a pile of miles with Continental, then the merger with United happened, and they became United miles.

    Naturally, I’d spend some of the miles when the opportunity arose, but I would also acquire some from business travel.

    Two weeks ago, I booked some flights for the family to bring us home from a Hawaii trip– my United miles balance hit 200 miles, and my wife’s was 0. I finally did it– and just in time by the sound of things.

  6. Steve Reply
    May 17, 2023 at 2:20 pm

    Might as well rename them PesosPlus…goes well with SkyPesos, because they’re becoming just as worthless.

  7. staradmiral Reply
    May 17, 2023 at 2:24 pm

    I am not seeing a corresponding increase in sign-up bonuses. I got 70k for the united explorer 7 years ago, and it’s still around 70k. use to be two round trip domestic flights, which is now only possible on limited days. Now can’t even do round trip to europe with that 70k.

    I know amex is not linked with united, but I don’t feel bad about cashing out my amex points to schwab and investing into index funds.

  8. Derek Reply
    May 17, 2023 at 2:26 pm

    I’d rather they go to something like a fixed 1.2 cents per mile

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      May 17, 2023 at 2:37 pm

      No, no, no.

      • Derek Reply
        May 17, 2023 at 3:52 pm

        At least at 1.2 cents a mile, there would be more PQP on reward tickets than the 1 cent today

    • Jim Lovejoy Reply
      May 17, 2023 at 3:32 pm

      Yes. Have them make totally clear that there is no point in collecting United miles.

    • Jan Reply
      May 17, 2023 at 6:46 pm

      With Chase points having a 1.5c pp floor, ain’t no way that’s happening.

  9. Jan Reply
    May 17, 2023 at 2:46 pm

    I looked up the same LAX-MUC itinerary that you had for 398k miles and it’s 318k SkyPesos on Delta. lolz.

    But devaluations are just part of the game, I’m wondering why you guys are so appalled and shocked. If you have a good airline, like DL, no one else outside the travel blogosphere will pay much attention to the crappy SkyPesos value.

  10. FormosaROC Reply
    May 17, 2023 at 2:56 pm

    Matt, my United Club credit card is metal, how would you advise cutting this up?

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      May 17, 2023 at 4:00 pm

      Ok, you can just trash yours.

  11. Stuart Reply
    May 17, 2023 at 3:08 pm

    First off, not giving notice is beyond egregious. This is my main sticking point in being really upset about this. They lure you in to build your accounts with flying and cards and then give you absolutely no notice so as to use the miles you got (based on the rates at the time of accumulation) prior to a devaluation. I dunno, despite their terms, this borders on having being illegal to me…its classic bait and switch.

    Now, with that said, if there was an opportunity to actually see MORE saver award, even at the new rates, I would not be upset. In fact, that seems a fair trade off. They give you more availability at saver rates in exchange for the higher rates…fair enough. So, if United came out and said, “Hey we raised the award rates BUT we are increasing Saver award availability by 30%” this was be a win for everyone.

    • Gene Reply
      May 17, 2023 at 3:17 pm

      @ Stuart — Most all airlines are dishonest and fraudulent. Why would you expect anything other than all devaluations to be no-notice?

    • Arthur Reply
      May 17, 2023 at 3:54 pm

      I have been only seeing the 60 day saver awards in business this year for ridiculous routings, such as two connections or a 12 hour connection, though there seemed to be plenty of those types of flights available (and if I were flying by myself, I would consider them more, but that is not often the case). In fact, one of the main reasons I have a bunch of UA miles in my account is that I have made some flights with two connections at 60K each way that I later cancelled when saver awards with one connection on other airlines (with better food and service) came up. Other than that, any UA or partner flight I wanted to fly in TATL business class has been 155K each way, and I have always found better with OAL. It seemed to me that UA was filling up their planes anyway, so can’t be surprised they are raising the prices.

      I would prefer a decent routing at 100K over an inconvenient one for 60K, but I think it remains to seen if available saver award inventory will change. I doubt it, frankly, as long as flights are full.

      And I had already redirected some spending to the AA card to get some minimum status.

      • Dick Bupkiss Reply
        May 17, 2023 at 5:21 pm

        Unfortunately. when they raised the prices, they also removed any nonstops or one-stops with a reasonable layover. Now all I see are high prices AND 9-12 hour layovers in EWR and IAH (sometimes more than one). That’s not a flight, that’s a nightmare.

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      May 17, 2023 at 4:00 pm

      I think your tradeoff is a false hope – I’m seeing no indication of increased saver space at the new rates. Even if there, it now makes sense to transfer Chase to Aeroplan instead of United to book (in many cases).

    • Mr. Marcus Reply
      May 17, 2023 at 5:50 pm

      @Stuart, given the rate that the US government devalues the currency, it’s hard for me to understand why point devaluation would be illegal– unless the idea is the govt doesn’t want others getting into the devaluation game

  12. Amnesia Reply
    May 17, 2023 at 3:35 pm

    recall https://liveandletsfly.com/united-airlines-mileageplus-ceo

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      May 17, 2023 at 3:59 pm

      I will ask about this soon – there’s some sort of event next week.

      • Jared Houser Reply
        May 18, 2023 at 2:51 am

        You referring to that Denver event? Saw there was something in Denver next week but have no idea what it’s about.

  13. Christian Reply
    May 17, 2023 at 3:40 pm

    I think that redemption price should be based on when miles are earned. If you earned 200,000 miles in 2020 then the redemption rates at that time should apply. If there’s a mix of rates, it should be the average. That system would ensure some protection for all the poor schmucks who save up their miles then get the rug yanked out from under them in situations like this.

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      May 17, 2023 at 3:58 pm

      Agreed! Good concept.

  14. Billy Bob Reply
    May 17, 2023 at 4:36 pm

    Remember all the taxpayer money the airlines got to stay afloat? Good times

  15. Mitch Cumstein Reply
    May 17, 2023 at 4:49 pm

    I just booked a one-way award in J for the family (GVA-IAD) at the old rate (60k) a couple days ago. I was hoping to find some saver J availability on the outbound, but that will now be out of reach at 80k. I’m wondering if I should just top off my account with some UR points and then burn the remaining miles on premium Y (45k) and be done with United miles. Last year I got round-trip J also at the 60k level, so at least I got 720k miles off the books at a good rate, with only 130k left in the tank.

  16. marc_oak Reply
    May 17, 2023 at 5:25 pm

    A few thoughts:

    – For those of you with large MP balances, this sucks. Sorry. But you shouldn’t have trusted UA. They have been significantly reduced availability of premium award space. Things were trending downwards and this was coming.
    – I agree that it’s lame UA didn’t notify ahead of time. This, in combination with the fact that award rates are up 33% to 50%, implies that the airline is very confident that demand for paid tickets will continue to go up. So far, they’ve been right. Look at fares for US to Europe this summer – maybe not as bad as last summer, but still high – folks still are planning to travel despite inflation and political unrest.
    – There’s still a massive glut of miles. And we’ve known for a while that $/mi rates are dwindling quickly. Chase probably values MP miles at less than 1 cent/mi and may have been driving the devaluation

  17. Jared Houser Reply
    May 17, 2023 at 6:53 pm

    Obviously no devaluation is fun, but I don’t understand why everyone is so up and arms as they are. Business class to Europe for 80k miles still seems reasonable in my opinion. It’s ridiculous some are comparing this devaluation to the value of Delta’s SkyPesos. Don’t think Delta is offering business class anywhere close to 80k miles.

    Also, to the point that their costs haven’t gone up that someone made above, that is false. Inflation is through the roof in the past 2 years, everything costs more. This applies to almost everywhere in the economy, not just the airlines. For the airlines, fuel is much higher, and the labor costs are about to go through the roof.

    Finally, to the point made above about the new MP CEO who came from Comcast, I am curious to what extent he is involved in this. I would assume pretty minimal, especially given how quick this came out after he joined, but I know a lot of people are not fans of Comcast and therefore were not fans of that hire, so would be curious to know more about that.

    • Jan Reply
      May 17, 2023 at 7:11 pm

      Also true. Rent has gone up 25-30%, mortgage rates have shot up the moon, real estate is also high despite said mortgage rates, food and groceries are of course also up, car dealers selling over MSRP is becoming much more commonplace, in combination with car manufacturers jacking up their MSRP several times in a span of a year. Then you have the unions (of different professions) wanting their raises. Just can’t expect the value of imaginary airplane money to stay the same.

    • Aaron Reply
      May 18, 2023 at 1:40 pm

      I wonder if people are pissed off more for the suddenness of it all?

  18. SINJim Reply
    May 17, 2023 at 6:59 pm

    I recently read Oscar Munoz’s autobiography and he described a former airline, not United of 2023.

    I just got back from an Asia-USA roundtrip that was booked on United.com. This means “016” ticket. All flights were United ticket numbers but some flights were operated by ANA. The ANA flights did not count toward my lifetime miles. This is hard to swallow. I have asked the 1K Desk to verify that my experience is not a mistake. If they say it is intentional, I am done with United. I earn far fewer miles, redemptions cost magnitudes higher, PlusPoints are practically impossible for me to redeem. MileagePlus has become a rice cake of a loyalty program.

    • David Reply
      May 18, 2023 at 5:27 am

      You get award miles flying ANA. Sometimes it takes awhile for them to post. ANA and other Star Alliance flights do not count towards Million Miler. It’s strictly flights on UA metal. Has always been that way.

  19. UA-NYC Reply
    May 17, 2023 at 7:15 pm

    bastard united nigards

  20. Ekrem Reply
    May 17, 2023 at 7:38 pm

    My problem is that work travel is often on UA and I have 1MM status (which i just got) so had hoped to stick to UA. I guess I need to credit to AC going forward?

  21. Pete Reply
    May 17, 2023 at 9:17 pm

    I’m an Australian based 1K, 1MM and from here there has been no usable MP award space for at least a year. My MP points are earnt by flying or purchased as access to US credit cards is not viable. This brutal devaluation has pushed me to be a free agent. Sorry UA, and btw fix your long haul catering.

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      May 18, 2023 at 12:22 am

      Hope you have some Delta/AMEX points to fly to MEX…

  22. Derek Reply
    May 18, 2023 at 7:08 am

    So glad that I just burned all my United miles except for about 26k.

  23. Ben Reply
    May 18, 2023 at 3:53 pm

    United Service no longer aligned with peers, one more reason to move away, after millions miles flied with them…Byebye. Good luck

  24. Mick Reply
    May 18, 2023 at 5:11 pm

    @pete I still have some United points and have flown quite a bit to asia on them. Last minute flights to Taiwan and japan for 57.5k miles not bad. I also just booked 3x seats to chicago from Sydney for 80k in biz for July. That’s a pretty awesome deal.

    Incidentally Matt, that 57.5k price to asia is a sweet spot but not as good as AA who still charges 40k! And 50k for F (which I now think is limited to the BA flight to Singapore and back). Simply miles thank you!

    Otherwise I use LifeMiles for my most of my star alliance travel. I barely “earn” any flying miles these days without business class for work.

  25. Grumpy1K Reply
    May 19, 2023 at 10:44 am

    United has been on the downhill path for quite a while. It started with Kirby’s quest to become the biggest airline in the world. Once he attained that status for the corporation, it no longer be came necessary to court new business or elites as it becomes the self licking ice cream cone. As a result increased fares and devaluation was inevitable.

    I certainly agree with others here that communication is paramount in these situations. However, seeing that the VP over MP is former Comcast explains a lot. If you’ve ever been a customer there you know they raise prices without warning.

    As of today I’ve been on 56 individual United and United Express aircraft since January 1st. As the flight attendant/pilot often states “We realize you have a choice in air travel “. Why yes, I do…

    Great job Scott!!

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