We’re only a day into United’s new dynamic award pricing era and already we are seeing partner awards pricing higher. This directly contradicts what was promised when these changes were first announced in April.
Back in April, United announced that it was eliminating award charts and moving to a more dynamic pricing model for award travel starting on November 15, 2019. But while it was made clear that United flights would fluctuate in price, United promised there would be no immediate changes to pricing on partner award space (partners like Lufthansa or ANA or Ethiopian).
I had a lengthy conversation with Luc Bondar, United’s Vice President of Loyalty and head of the MileagePlus program on this very issue. I asked why would United eliminate award chart for partner awards if there was no plan to increase pricing on such awards.
> Read More: My Conversation With Luc Bondar, Head Of United MileagePlus
He stressed the “simplifying” goal once again and told me that partner awards, at least for the foreseeable future, would remain at a fixed level. Furthermore, he assured me there were “no plans” to increase pricing on these awards in November.
Well, here we are and prices have gone up in a very methodical way. By 3,500 miles each way to be exact…
Yesterday morning, partner awards (partner itineraries with no United segments) were still pricing at old levels. For example, a one-way journey between the USA and Europe priced in 30K for economy class, 70K for business class, and 110K for first class.
But by yesterday evening, pricing had jumped by 3.5K points in each direction for flights occurring in the next 30 days.
As you can see, economy class is now 33.5K, business class is 73.5K, and first class is 113.5K. If booking more than 30 days in advance, the old pricing remains.
Put simply, United eliminated its $75 close-in booking fee and replaced it with a 3,500 mile surcharge.
CONCLUSION
Of all the people at United, Luc Bondar is one of my favorites. He’s a straight shooter and not one that would blatantly lie. But while part of me hopes that this is just an error, I am doubtful.
Here, as always with airline loyalty programs, the problem is not the change itself, but the dishonest way in which it was introduced.
United should be ashamed of itself for explicitly promising no changes to partner award pricing only to increase pricing immediately and without any notice.
But I must say, I called it, didn’t I? From April 8th:
United will not change pricing on partner awards in the near future. That’s good news. But the removal of award charts also removes accountability. Delta also did not immediately increase the price of partner flights overnight. It happened over time. But when it happened, it was swift and painful (30% price increase). And of course, Delta denied a devaluation…how can it raise the price when there is no price published?
Much more so than SkyTeam, Star Alliance partners tend to release award space at the last minute. That makes booking last-minute awards a much more valuable proposition on United than on Delta.
My fear is that United will start charging more miles for close-in bookings, just like Delta. Flying to Asia on Delta? It’s 105K miles if you are booking within 21 days of travel or 85K miles if you are booking more than three weeks out. Delta pays the same price to its partner for award space. The increased pricing is simply a mileage-based close-in booking fee.
If United starts charging a premium for close-in partner awards, its greatest program offering, then I don’t see how it will make sense to continue with the MileagePlus program for my own travel needs.
> Read More: My Thoughts On United MileagePlus Changes
Are you surprised that United broke its promise to consumers?
image: Edwin Leong
People wonder why pilots need unions. Could you imagine what airlines could do to pilots without a union and a contract. They clearly treat customers with little to no respect.
So they removed the fee then started charging 3500 miles. Only people they screw over here is the 1K and GS members who would have paid no fee.
The good news is that people will stop talking to Luc, since he is unreliable and not worth quoting, and give him more time to hang out and chill with his family. Isn’t it really everyone’s dream not to be bothered by the press?
Luc does love his family. I admire that about him.
@ Matthew– So, are you gonna do what you said and dump United? I”m guessing NO.
When did I say I would dump United? This is not the last straw, as dissapointing as it is.
“If United starts charging a premium for close-in partner awards, its greatest program offering, then I don’t see how it will make sense to continue with the MileagePlus program for my own travel needs.”
Ah, well indeed I won’t necessarily credit to United. I will continue to fly United.
Interesting. And something I have been considering with American and crediting to BA or Delta and crediting to AF/KLM.
@ Matthew — To whom would you credit? I have tried to find a better place to credit, and other than obtaining United lounge access for free, I have yet to find another program that would provide benefits as valuable as UA’s supposed 1K benefits. With confirmable upgrade pricing unknown, those 1K benefits may turn out to be worth far less than expected. Can you prepare an article for us discussing several alternatives, like Copa, Aegean, M&M, AirCanada, and hopefully some better unknown?
I will dump united..i stayed during the smickek years but enough.gold member…impossible to requalify .I just burned all my miles in LH awards before this kicked in. I may fly enough star alliance to get silver 2021…but from now on I will probably stick to basic economy ..
@ Matthew — Oh, and while I am making predictions, I also predict that upgrades will very rarely be confirmable in advance like they were a few years ago. Instead, 1Ks will have the privilege of paying double the points to skip the line.
Informative post. Thank you!
Entirely predictable these days. Every good step forward will now have two bad steps backwards.
Greedy MFers.
This should surprise exactly no one. The only group of people who give politicians a run for their money in dishonesty are airline execs.
“…the problem is not the change itself, but the dishonest way in which it was introduced.”
Yes, it is totally dishonest. But for people with no morals, who cares what they do and say?
The executives at UA are __________s (fill in your favorite obscenity). They are needlessly giving the middle finger to their customers. How does UA attract such despicable people to work for them? These moves hurt everyone, including UA with all the bad faith they are generating. Their motto seems to be “How can we make people hate us more?” They must have a “Promoting bad faith” team on their staff.
Until people stop giving UA dollars, they’ll get away with more such clever marketing.
I would be surprised if United DIDN’T break its promises. I am a UA Million Miler, largely from travel for which my employer gave me no choice of carrier, and I have hated and despised United for every miserable mile. As noted in the article, more often than not, it is United’s consistent practice of LYING to its customers regardless of loyalty, class of service, or any other factor. Lying is United’s default posture, and I have long ago given up getting honesty or fairness from United in ANY interaction.
My recent Million Miler status now means there is no reason for me to make any effort to fly with them, since I’ll never exceed the lifetime Gold Status I now have. Sure, that status nominally gives me some benefits, but these are more than offset by the consistently miserable experience of flying with them. I have already taken the first step of dropping my MileagePlus Visa card in favor of a generic one (Chase Sapphire Reserve) and the second one of applying to shift my Platinum Status for this year to alternate carriers, especially Delta.
I agree with the comments indicating that people must vote with their feet and stop flying United when there is a reasonable alternative. They will only change their behavior when people stop doing that. Or ideally, they will go bankrupt and pass their planes and gates and routes to more competent airlines.