United removes partner award chart

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It’s a sad day for United Mileage Plus members: United has removed its partner award chart. That absolutely stinks. This means that partner awards will now follow United’s dynamic pricing algorithms and may cost more or less than they do today (though I wouldn’t count on them costing any less). The lack of clarity as to the value of a mile (since you can’t plan for how many you’ll need for a particular trip) makes collecting United miles a questionable proposition moving forward.

a man taking a selfie in an airport

United had done away with its own award chart last year (Greg did eventually note the bright side of that, but let’s be real: it was mostly a devaluation). When they removed the chart for their own flights, United said that the partner award chart would be unaffected for the time being. I don’t think any of us expected that they wouldn’t eventually follow Delta like a lost little puppy dog move to dynamic pricing on partner awards, but it is disappointing nonetheless. I find it particularly crummy for them to usher in this change with no notice at a time of such uncertainty about the program and the future of partner airlines. It sure feels like they tried to sneak this in when many members aren’t paying much attention due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Moving forward, I’d question the wisdom of crediting flights to United Mileage Plus given that you have no idea how many miles will be needed for an award ticket. Given my United Silver status due to having Marriott Titanium, I will probably continue to credit to United until my status expires, but after that I would rather use wheretocredit.com and credit to an airline where I can have a more clearly-defined value and use for the miles for planning purposes and stick with earning Chase Ultimate Rewards as a backup to transfer to United if and when it makes sense to do so.

H/T: TPG via DoC

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