United Mileage Plus Just Got Friendlier
We are happy to see that United is taking a cue from other players in the frequent flyer mileage segment by adding more flexibility and options to their program. Today United introduced hotel and car rental rewards (cool), in addition to one-way and miles/cash awards (very cool). These new features will make it much easier for frequent flyers to use their miles even if they haven’t reached the golden 25,000 to redeem a roundtrip award fare.
One-Way Awards take half the amount of miles as a roundtrip ticket (12,500 base) and are available on saver and standard awards. You can only use the miles to fly on United or United Express - no flying with partners, thank you very much. You can have connections but no stopovers on one-way awards. To get around this rule, you need to book multiple one-way awards to different cities.
Miles & Money Awards allows you to purchase the additional miles you need to reach the mileage required to redeem an award. For instance, let’s say you want to fly from Denver to San Francisco. Using a saver award, it would take either 25,000 miles or 10,000 miles + $110. Same rules apply - United flights only, no partners….connections but no stopovers. Miles & Money Awards are available on some saver tickets and not on standard awards.
This is another step in the right direction as airlines continue to improve their programs so frequent flyers find them easier to use, and thus more valuable. So go use those miles! And in just a short time, we’re going to help you start UsingMiles!
