Last Day Before United Airlines MileagePlus Devaluation!

UPDATE 1: According to this FlyerTalk post about the MileagePlus devaluation, the effective date for the new award chart has been postponed to February 3, 2014. If you were planning to book an award that was supposed to have a reduced mileage requirement starting on February 1, 2014, United will still honor the reduced amount in the interim, but the difference will be retroactively credited to your account within 10 business days. Looks like they may be having some implementation issues, and I can't blame them since this is a major overhaul to the way award itineraries are priced. In the meantime, keep burning those miles on premium class partner airline awards!

UPDATE 2: According to this Flyertalk Post, United is being somewhat more generous than previously thought with regards to mixed itineraries. For premium class awards on United metal with a short partner connection tacked on in the same class of service and within the same region, the United-only mileage requirement is being charged, not the partner mileage requirement. In addition, for itineraries booked prior to February 3, 2013, certain changes are being allowed without triggering a mileage re-price. See the FlyerTalk post for details.

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Just a quick reminder that today is the absolute last day before the massive devaluation of United Airlines miles takes place on February 1, 2014. I wrote about this more extensively in my previous post when the devaluation was first announced back in November of last year. Virtually all long-haul premium class awards on partner airlines will be effected by these changes, with some redemption requirements increasing by almost 100%. Here is the chart I compiled that documents all the changes on one-way routes to and from the Mainland U.S., Alaska, and Canada. Increases are highlighted in red:

For other regions, take a look at the old and new United Airlines award charts:

• United Airlines Award Chart through January 31, 2014

• United Airlines Award Chart starting February 1, 2014

Although premium class awards on United Airlines metal have milder increases, note that if any leg of your itinerary includes partner airlines in the same class of service, the miles requirement will automatically be bumped up to partner award levels. However, if the partner legs are in a lower class of service, then the United Airlines only award level prevails. This is a bit confusing, and I'm slightly skeptical that all the awards will be pricing out correctly come February 1st.

My suggestion would be to burn as much of your United Airlines miles right now on premium class partner awards, even speculatively, since the cost of booking these awards in the future far outweighs any cancellation fees, in my opinion. From what I have seen in the past few weeks, premium award space on partner airlines is drying up fast, but there are still quite a number of good options out there, especially if you are willing to travel during off-peak dates. Good luck!

Very Weird Activity On My MileagePlus Account

Today, I was on AwardWallet and noticed that my United MileagePlus account increased by 2,500 miles. I was a bit confused since I hadn't flown on a revenue flight with them in quite some time and I don't remember signing up for any offers lately. In addition, the only flights I've flown this month were for my return from Cambodia using MileagePlus miles on a variety of Star Alliance airlines in first class. So I logged into my account and this is what I saw (click for larger view):

Since I booked this itinerary before the MileagePlus award chart changes in June 2011, my one-way first class ticket cost 72,500 miles. Whereas after the changes took place, it only cost 70,000 miles. I didn't mind since I just wanted to lock in my flights as early as possible. Anyway, I returned from Cambodia almost two weeks ago, and today I suddenly see that they've redeposited my miles from the award ticket, and then re-deducted it again immediately. However, they only deducted the current amount required, 70,000 miles, and not what I originally paid, 72,500 miles - hence the additional 2,500 miles.

Very weird indeed. I have absolutely no idea why they would do this, but I'll take it. Perhaps it has something to do with the program merger between MileagePlus and OnePass? Has anyone else experienced this lately?

Taiwan's EVA Airways Accepted Into Star Alliance

As I posted last June, Taiwan's EVA Airways has been in the process of joining Star Alliance for many months now. Finally, this past Thursday, they were officially accepted into the world's largest airline alliance, with full membership expected in early 2013. This follows on the heels of China Airlines (Taiwan's biggest carrier) joining SkyTeam in late 2011.

Adding EVA Airways strengthens Star Alliance's position in greater China. The extremely lucrative cross-strait route between mainland China and Taiwan (in which foreign carriers are not allowed to fly) gives Star Alliance a huge boost, since Air China and EVA Airways alone account for more than 30% of the total capacity. For people wanting to visit mainland China, EVA Airways operates dozens of daily nonstop flights from Taipei to 19 destinations.

As Frequently Flying pointed out, EVA Airways currently serves six destinations in North America, with daily nonstops to Los Angeles and San Francisco, four times weekly to New York and Seattle, and three times weekly to Vancouver and Toronto. In addition, EVA Airways also serves London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Vienna in Europe. Those of us in the States now have a real alternative to fly nonstop to Taipei with Star Alliance, and also visit cities such as Kaohsiung in Southern Taiwan and Surabaya in Indonesia that were previously off limits. Best of all, EVA Airways now gives us a brand new one-stop route to many popular destinations in Southeast Asia.

With Shenzhen Airlines also becoming a full member in late 2012, Star Alliance would arguably have the best reach in all of Asia, and perhaps even trump SkyTeam in terms of domestic China routes. It also offers those of us who collect United Airlines Mileage Plus miles or US Airways Dividend miles greater ease and flexibility in redeeming for award flights in the region.

Award "Sale" On Aeroplan

Via View From The Wing and this FlyerTalk thread, Air Canada's Aeroplan appears to be pricing business class awards at the economy level, and first class awards at the business level. It started last Friday December 2, and most people thought it was just an award system glitch, but now there is word that this is in fact a "special promotion" that has been confirmed by people affiliated with Aeroplan. Not sure how accurate this confirmation is, but as of today, it looks like the discount is still on.

I had thought about visiting Toronto next summer, and I am currently still seeing SFO-YYZ business seats going for 25,000 Aeroplan miles roundtrip! Be aware that Aeroplan does tack on fuel surcharges to Air Canada award tickets as well as some partner airlines, which can add up quickly. But if you have been planning an award itinerary for sometime next year, I would take advantage of this massive discount right away. There is no word yet on when this "promotion" will be pulled, but I don't expect it to last more than a few more days, if that.

Remember that American Express Membership Rewards is a transfer partner, and miles are deposited into your Aeroplan account almost immediately. This is a great way to burn some of your MR points, especially since Continental is no longer a partner and British Airways has massively devalued their award chart.

EDIT: Seems like they are gradually fixing the issue. There may still be some business and first class seats at the lower level, but most are back to their normal pricing. Take advantage of this "sale" while you still can!

Global Alliance Options To Taiwan

With my affinity for Taiwan (since my parents are from there), and having visited a number of times the past few years, it's always been a frustration of mine that neither of the two major Taiwanese carriers, China Airlines and EVA Air, belonged to any global alliance. Well, soon that will no longer be the case.

China Airlines will officially become a member of Skyteam on September 28, 2011. And although CI has long been a partner of Delta Airlines and one could redeem Skymiles with them, formalizing the alliance relationship should make award seats more readily available for all members of Skyteam as well as standardize the miles needed for redemption (which I believe has already been reflected in the new Delta award chart). However, due to reciprocity agreements, Delta Skymiles members will still be unable to redeem for F seats due to the lack of an international F product on Delta itself. It's a shame since CI's F suites for the LAX-TPE route actually look fairly decent.

Even more exciting, however, was EVA Air's announcement on February 23, 2011 that they have formally applied for entry into Star Alliance. As great as CI joining Skyteam is, the thought of accumulating more Skypesos is a tough pill to swallow. But with the possibility of EVA joining Star Alliance, the more valuable United/Continental miles just got even better. I think EVA will nicely compliment the routes that OZ, NH, CA and SQ already fly, and ultimately give Star Alliance the edge in terms of global reach in Asia. And best of all, it finally gives us Bay Area folks a real redemption alternative for SFO-TPE nonstop. Granted, EVA doesn't have a first class offering, but the announcement of them revamping their Premium Laurel Class is welcome news, and hopefully they will finally go with fully flat beds to catch up with the business standards of late. No word yet on when they might become a full member (assuming they are even accepted), but my best guess would be early 2013.

And finally, though not directly related to a Taiwanese airline, Malaysia Airlines just announced yesterday that they have been formally accepted into the OneWorld Alliance. The official entry date will most likely be mid to late 2012. The main reason why this is relevant is because of MH's route from LAX-KUL via TPE. This will allow members of American Airlines AAdvantage program or British Airways Executive Club (if you took advantage of the Chase BA Visa 100,000 mile promotion) to finally redeem for a USA-Taipei direct flight on the 3rd largest global alliance. MH offers a fairly decent J product on their 2-class 777-200ER out of LAX, though it is an angle-flat seat.

If anything, the integration of Taiwan's airlines into the global alliance system should benefit business travelers, who can finally receive reciprocal lounge access and earn miles in their "native" FFP, as well as allow for tourists to perhaps consider Taiwan as a vacation destination their accumulated miles can now reach with more ease. And finally, it gives us travel enthusiasts the means to try out the premium offerings of airlines that were previously off limits.