United award flight 'sale'

[Exterous]

I know we have (had?) some members on here who did award flights so I figured I would pass this along - United is pricing some award flights well below what they normally are and there are even options during peak Christmas travel season. 60k seems to be a universal award 'sale' price. Places that would price for 70k, 80k or 90k are now showing scattered availability for 60k and sometimes include the most direct routing! (This has been getting rarer these days. Direct rout costs 2x the miles while an extra layover or two is the only option for a reasonable mileage amount). There are some pretty hard to find options like Brisbane included in this. Sadly I couldn't make anything work around our existing trips and work but posting in case someone else can make something work.

Much more detailed information here

 

[brianmanahan]

hmm, i have 170k UR points that i really need to use up

it's been 4 years now since i last took a flight anywhere, and 3 since i had a vacation

hmm i could get to LHR and back for 60k points total this fall! always wanted to drive around the whole island of great britain.

 

[Captante]

Man .... it's been several years since I've had a real vacation.

 

[Exterous]

hmm, i have 170k UR points that i really need to use up

it's been 4 years now since i last took a flight anywhere, and 3 since i had a vacation

hmm i could get to LHR and back for 60k points total this fall! always wanted to drive around the whole island of great britain.

You should do it!

Man .... it's been several years since I've had a real vacation.

Time for one?

 

[brianmanahan]

Man .... it's been several years since I've had a real vacation.

yeah same. i did a couple days in canada 3 years ago, but before that i think it was 2017 for a real vacation of a week or more.

my job has non-negotiable deadlines planned every few months that are barely achievable, so they really do not like people leaving for any extended period of time.

my vacations are usually mostly sitting at home with a day trip here or there. gotta be able to log into work if necessary.

i need a new job so bad. if i had any motivation or mental energy left at all, i'd be searching for a full remote right now.

 

[ponyo]

So explain this to me like I'm a 5 yr old. Where and how can I check to see if flights are available and what price? United website? I'm not moving any of my Amex or Chase points over to United unless I'm 100% sure I can book the flight. My only experience with booking with airline points was with Korean Air since they allowed me to check for available flights without moving points over.

I have lot of Amex and Chase points, and I have plenty of time to travel. I was thinking about going to Thailand, Vietnam, or Philippines in the fall/winter this year so It would be nice to use up some points and book free business or first class tickets for wife and me.

 

[Captante]

yeah same. i did a couple days in canada 3 years ago, but before that i think it was 2017 for a real vacation of a week or more.

my job has non-negotiable deadlines planned every few months that are barely achievable, so they really do not like people leaving for any extended period of time.

my vacations are usually mostly sitting at home with a day trip here or there. gotta be able to log into work if necessary.

i need a new job so bad. if i had any motivation or mental energy left at all, i'd be searching for a full remote right now.

Closest I've come was a couple days in Maine last year helping my daughter move back to Connecticut from school .... after that we're talking about an evening in NYC at a Mets game.

I REALLY need to get the hell out of Dodge for a week or two!

 

[Exterous]

So explain this to me like I'm a 5 yr old. Where and how can I check to see if flights are available and what price? United website? I'm not moving any of my Amex or Chase points over to United unless I'm 100% sure I can book the flight. My only experience with booking with airline points was with Korean Air since they allowed me to check for available flights without moving points over.

I have lot of Amex and Chase points, and I have plenty of time to travel. I was thinking about going to Thailand, Vietnam, or Philippines in the fall/winter this year so It would be nice to use up some points and book free business or first class tickets for wife and me.

https://www.united.com/en/us/book-flight/united-award-travel

Search your desired flights with desired class. I find it a little easier to search one ways there and back because I usually move around a lot on vacation so it makes it easier to search for a route home when I have flexibility of airport (So I might land in Brisbane and fly back out of Melbourne - assuming they have flights available. I'll often map out which cities I can fly to/from and then plan ground travel around that) but then I'll book the final itinerary as a RT due to United's Exclusionist Perk. So basically if I flew to Brisbane and then home from Melbourne a flight between the two cities would be free on a United partner. So you could go to Brisbane for 4 days and then take your free flight to Melbourne for another 6 days before heading home. The free flight could be anywhere in the United defined region as long as it occurs between your departure and return on your round trip (assuming they have award flight availability). Its also in the same class of travel as your first leg so if your first leg of your trip is in domestic first\intl business you get a free domestic first\intl business flight between your cities.

(We've done that many times. For example: We traveled to the Seychelles in business and then home from Nairobi in business. We were able to include a free flight from the Seychelles to Nairobi in business class because it was in the same United defined region)

1: Sometimes this gets reset when searching so make sure to use the drop down to select a different fare class if desired
2: If you have flexibility in date click on #2 to show a longer calendar of prices
3: "Business (lowest)" will often have an economy seat mixed in. Sometimes that is just a short positioning flight but sometimes its the longest leg which is not ideal. Click the "Details" option for the desired flight and it will tell you what cabin your seat would be in for each flight. "Business" is Domestic First\Intl Business the whole trip



Amex points don't transfer to United. Chase does - usually takes 2-5min

According to that flyertalk thread there are a lot of options to SE Asia right now. I found a scattered few to Australia. None to NZ. Options existed for Africa and Europe too. SE Asia, Oceana and Africa would represent the best mile value for those that care about that

 

[ponyo]

https://www.united.com/en/us/book-flight/united-award-travel

Search your desired flights with desired class. I find it a little easier to search one ways there and back because I usually move around a lot on vacation so it makes it easier to search for a route home when I have flexibility of airport (So I might land in Brisbane and fly back out of Melbourne - assuming they have flights available. I'll often map out which cities I can fly to/from and then plan ground travel around that) but then I'll book the final itinerary as a RT due to United's Exclusionist Perk. So basically if I flew to Brisbane and then home from Melbourne a flight between the two cities would be free on a United partner. So you could go to Brisbane for 4 days and then take your free flight to Melbourne for another 6 days before heading home. The free flight could be anywhere in the United defined region as long as it occurs between your departure and return on your round trip (assuming they have award flight availability). Its also in the same class of travel as your first leg so if your first leg of your trip is in domestic first\intl business you get a free domestic first\intl business flight between your cities.

(We've done that many times. For example: We traveled to the Seychelles in business and then home from Nairobi in business. We were able to include a free flight from the Seychelles to Nairobi in business class because it was in the same United defined region)

1: Sometimes this gets reset when searching so make sure to use the drop down to select a different fare class if desired
2: If you have flexibility in date click on #2 to show a longer calendar of prices
3: "Business (lowest)" will often have an economy seat mixed in. Sometimes that is just a short positioning flight but sometimes its the longest leg which is not ideal. Click the "Details" option for the desired flight and it will tell you what cabin your seat would be in for each flight. "Business" is Domestic First\Intl Business the whole trip

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Amex points don't transfer to United. Chase does - usually takes 2-5min

According to that flyertalk thread there are a lot of options to SE Asia right now. I found a scattered few to Australia. None to NZ. Options existed for Africa and Europe too. SE Asia, Oceana and Africa would represent the best mile value for those that care about that

Awesome info. Thank you very much. My mind is blown about that Exclusionist Perk. I need to read more about that to see how to use it but concept of free flights in the same region while paying no points and minimal $ is awesome. Definitely some next level stuff. You're the man.

I didn't know Amex points didn't transfer to United. That sucks. I just checked my Chase points and it looks like I have less Chase points than I thought. I did waste lot of Chase points last year trying to use it all up but I thought I had restocked more than what's showing.

 

[Exterous]

Awesome info. Thank you very much. My mind is blown about that Exclusionist Perk. I need to read more about that to see how to use it but concept of free flights in the same region while paying no points and minimal $ is awesome. Definitely some next level stuff. You're the man.

I didn't know Amex points didn't transfer to United. That sucks. I just checked my Chase points and it looks like I have less Chase points than I thought. I did waste lot of Chase points last year trying to use it all up but I thought I had restocked more than what's showing.

You're welcome. This link might be a little better at explaining it and includes a map of United's regions so you know what would be a valid search.

Warning: Lots of reading and thinking through the logic from the links in this paragraph if you want to go really crazy. Sadly the best site I knew of explaining all the crazy things you can do doesn't seem to work anymore. this site has some good examples starting with example #2 about halfway down the page. This site has some more examples too

Last thing about United flights I'll mention is a return to those "Business (lowest)" award bookings. Remember when I said sometimes a leg of those is in economy? After it's booked you can contact United and ask to be waitlisted for "I Fare" on that economy leg. If space opens up you are then automatically upgraded. The best part is that since you already 'paid' the business class mile amount for that trip including that leg you clear ahead of everyone else besides cash bookings. So those flyers with high status who get free upgrades only clear after you. The award space, if it opens up, never shows as bookable online because you're automatically dropped into it. Does it always happen? No and I wouldn't risk a 12 hour flight in economy planning on the waitlist clearing but we've cleared about 75% of the time I've done that (and it might not clear until 24-48 hours before the flight). The biggest downside is that almost no United phone agents know this is a possible thing so that would take me 3-4 calls to get someone who knew about it. But since United started doing customer service requests via Twitter I now send United a DM and, within 24 hours I've been successfully waitlisted with zero fuss

 

[feralkid]

yeah same. i did a couple days in canada 3 years ago, but before that i think it was 2017 for a real vacation of a week or more.

my job has non-negotiable deadlines planned every few months that are barely achievable, so they really do not like people leaving for any extended period of time.

my vacations are usually mostly sitting at home with a day trip here or there. gotta be able to log into work if necessary.

i need a new job so bad. if i had any motivation or mental energy left at all, i'd be searching for a full remote right now.

You should do it!

 

[brianmanahan]

You should do it!

i almost applied at a couple places, but i'm glad i didn't because they've both done layoffs in the past few months

though i might prefer being laid off... work has had me going 60 hours a week since shortly after this thread was started

it's become very popular with management to say "this is a 12 month project, finish it in 6 months"

edit: oh huh i guess that thread bumper was a spambot

 

[purbeast0]

We opened 2 credit cards in the past 3-4 months to get the 120k points we need to fly to Italy this summer.

We'll be saving like $3k in flights for 2 of us. Right now they are looking around $1500 a piece.

Last week we opened a new Southwest card to get the 30k + companion pass until next February. We're going to DR in June and probably somewhere Southwest flies in April, leaning back to Grand Cayman.

"Paying" for 2 flights with points, and then 2 free flights due to companion passes, is awesome!