Frequent Miler's latest team challenge, Million Mile Madness, is happening now! Follow us as Greg, Nick, and Stephen compete to earn 1 Million SAS miles by flying 15 airlines before November 23rd. Who will complete the challenge with the most Speed, Affordability, and Style?
| Sorry, this deal is no longer available. Do you want to be alerted about new deals as they’re published? Click here to subscribe to Frequent Miler's Instant Posts by email. |
United has launched an award fare sale that’s offering up to 50% on round trip flights to India. The largest savings are reserved for those that have both top tier status and a United credit card, but there are still some good savings for those with one or the other or even neither.
You’ll need to jump on this deal quickly though as it’s only available today (August 20).
The Deal
- Save up to 50% on round trip award flights from the US to India booked through United MileagePlus.
- Direct link to offer.
Key Terms
- This offer for discounted Saver Awards is available to all MileagePlus members.
- Discounted Saver Award is only valid for roundtrip travel in United Economy on routes from the U.S. and Canada to Mumbai.
- Tickets must be booked no later than 11:59 p.m. local time on August 20, 2019.
- Offer is valid for travel beginning on or after September 8, 2019, and completed on or before November 3, 2019.
- Blackout dates do not apply.
- Discounted Saver Award is combinable with other award types as long as the itinerary is roundtrip (e.g., a member can book a Standard Award for the outbound portion of an itinerary and a Saver Award for the return portion, or vice versa) but only the flight segments purchased with a qualifying Saver Award will be eligible for a discount.
- For this offer, “roundtrip” is defined as travel from an origin city to a destination city with return travel ending at the origin city, and with all segments on flights operated by United Airlines. A segment is defined as one takeoff and one landing. Open-jaw itineraries within the same region do not qualify for the discount. Stopovers are not permitted. A booking service charge may apply for travel booked less than 21 days before departure.
- Discounted pricing will vary by itinerary and will vary among members based upon MileagePlus program status and whether or not members are United Chase cardmembers. Please log in on united.com to see offer pricing applicable to you.
Quick Thoughts
Standard round trip economy awards to India usually cost 85,000 miles with United. With this award sale, your savings will range from 29.5% to 50%, with the largest savings being available for those with both top tier status with United and one of their credit cards.
I don’t have United status or any of their credit cards, so my searches were restricted to the 60,000 mile round trip price. Note that you have to book round trip flights in order to take advantage of this deal – one way flights will price out at the standard 42,500 mile price.
There seemed to be good availability on the limited number of flights I checked. For example, here’s the award availability for four people on their direct flight from Newark to Mumbai:
So long as you can find saver award availability from regional airports, you’ll get the same discounted pricing. For example, here’s just one of the options from Norfolk VA to Mumbai that routes via Newark.
In addition to only being available on round trip award flights, it’s also only available on economy flights. You’ll therefore need to be OK with sitting in economy for up to 15 hours (something I did a couple of weeks ago), so this deal obviously won’t be for everyone.
Having said that, you can pay to upgrade your flight. For example, on the EWR-BOM route it was offering upgrades to Economy Plus for $234-$268. Interestingly, the second bundle that includes United Club access was cheaper than the bundle that offered a standard checked bag. Seeing as seat assignment fees are eligible for reimbursement for the Amex airline fee credit, you could use them help offset some of these fees if you have United set as your airline for the fee credit. Note that the prices listed below are only for that one direction – you’ll have to pay again if you want Economy Plus on the return leg.
If you’re interested in these discounted award flights, you’ll need to get on this ASAP as your reservations have to be made by the end of today (August 20).
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
