Bad news for United MileagePlus members, with last week’s devaluation of premium cabin awards now spreading to regions wholly outside the USA. Business class awards are now absurdly more expensive and some economy class awards are more expensive too.
Latest United MileagePlus Devaluation Spreads Outside USA To Business Class
Last week, United increased the price of first class redemptions on ANA and Lufthansa in first class. Now it has drastically raised prices on business class awards in regions outside the USA. Let’s take a look.
Within Europe, the price for an intra-Europe business class award has risen from a flat 27,500 miles to as high as 49,500. For example, a three-hour journey from Istanbul to Frankfurt will now set you back 49,500 miles for business class…
Look at the disparity between Lufthansa and Croatia Airlines between Frankfurt and Zagreb:
Lufthansa shorthaul awards are now double the price in economy class…I suspect the 6K pricing on Croatia Airlines will not last either. 33K miles for business class on a 1-hour flight? Crazy.
Intra-Africa awards have severely risen in price. A one-way ticket yesterday was 22.5K miles in economy class and 42.5K miles in business class. The pricing has now more than doubled for business class and also risen for economy class:
(I’d say this is the most brutal change of all).
Awards within Asia have risen in price in both cabins, with business class awards jumping significantly:
Awards within South America have also risen in price:
Yesterday, business class was only 30K miles on this route…
This is a bloodbath and far more pervasive than the first class devaluation last week since these business class awards are so much more widely available.
My Prediction: Delta Will Match United…What A World
I never thought we’d come to the day when Delta awards are cheaper than United, but outside the USA you can now often find a much better deal on premium cabin awards via SkyMiles versus MileagePlus.
Folks, that won’t last long. I just booked a ticket for an Award Expert client from Paris to Dubai for 42,500 Delta miles on Air France in business class…the cash ticket was going for nearly $3,000.
I just flew on an intra-Europe business class ticket on Delta for 25,000 miles. Do you really think it will keep pricing at that level when United is charging 49,000 for the same origin-destination journey?
Miles are a depreciating asset…that’s fundamental to this game. If you’re sitting on Delta SkyMiles, you may wish to consider a redemption on routing that does not touch North America before Delta matches United…
And while Air Canada Aeroplan is by far the more valuable program now, don’t think that disparity will last…we are long overdue for a devaluation of that program as well.
CONCLUSION
This is all so bad…I had updated my presentation on United Airlines for Saturday at FTU Seattle and now I will have to do so again.
Tomorrow, I’ll publish a detailed analysis of how these recent changes are totally uprooting the way I think about loyalty to United and loyalty in general.
I’m sitting on a fair number of United miles and they are suddenly worth far less. But United has boxed me into a corner and these changes are not in a vacuum. Put another way, United may get away with this.
While devaluation may be the natural progression of any loyalty program over time, the way United has torpedoed the value of MileagePlus on the redemption side is tragic…and as I will argue tomorrow, may backfire. But it also may just be the start of what is to come…
Image: Turkish Airlines // Hat Tip: View From The Wing