Following the lead of Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, Avianca LifeMiles and Malaysia Airlines Enrich, United’s frequent flyer program MileagePlus has become the fourth major frequent flyer program to announce a devaluation to its award chart this year.

MileagePlus miles are usually accessed by travellers based in Australia through their regular buy miles promotions.

Do note that you can still redeem at current prices for travel after 1 November as long as the flight is ticketed before the changes come into effect.

Here is a summary of how the changes will affect Australia-based travellers:


1. THAI First Class sweet spot disappears

The redemption that currently represents the most value to travellers in our region is a one-way First Class award on THAI between Sydney and Southeast Asia for 40,000 miles – that’s a steal! This will increase to 65,000 miles from November.

THAI First Class

I actually have a MileagePlus booking from Hong Kong to Sydney via Bangkok in THAI First Class for September and would encourage those who want to try it to book a redemption before the changes come into effect.

THAI also flies from Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth to its hub in Bangkok but does not offer First Class on these routes.

2. Flying to US on United and partners gets 10,000 miles more expensive

Finding Business Class award space on a direct flight between Australia and US is very difficult, so the increase in United’s pricing on its Sydney/Melbourne to Los Angeles/San Francisco (and Sydney to Houston starting 18 January 2018) routes from 70,000 to 80,000 miles isn’t much of a worry in practice.

Plus, based on my experience of United’s 787 Dreamliner Business Class from San Francisco to Sydney last year, I wouldn’t recommend it.

United 787 Dreamliner Business Class

However, if you have more time up your sleeve and can transit through Tokyo with ANA or Singapore with Singapore Airlines, then a one-way Business redemption will increase from 80,000 to 90,000 miles, which isn’t a huge change but still notable.

3. ANA Business Class Sydney to Tokyo spikes in price

A Business Class redemption on ANA’s 787 Dreamliner flight between the largest cities in Australia and Japan will increase substantially from 40,000 to 55,000 miles.

ANA 787 Dreamliner Business Class
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4. Lufthansa First Class between Europe and North America stays the same

Luckily, you can still access Lufthansa’s fantastic onboard First Class product and First Class Terminal in Frankfurt for the same price.

Lufthansa First Class Lounge Frankfurt

However, keep in mind that Lufthansa still only releases premium cabin award space to its partners like United 14 days before departure, so this is a last-minute redemption opportunity.

5. A much less significant change

As KrisFlyer does, United differentiates between Saver and Standard Award pricing, with the latter being more expensive.

MileagePlus will replace its fixed (but expensive) Standard Awards with dynamically-priced Everyday Awards, which will be pegged to the revenue cost of the ticket.

Standard Awards have never represented good value for frequent flyers, so this change isn’t very important.

The current vs new award charts

Here are the current award chart in interactive form (for awards ticketed up to 31 October 2017) and new award chart in table form (for awards ticketed from 1 November 2017.)

Summing up

The last time MileagePlus devalued its award chart was in February 2014, so it is understandable they are wanting to increase prices, and giving four months’ notice is quite generous.

Having said that, if you have a specific flight redemption in mind and are sitting on some MileagePlus miles, you may want to book in your plans before the changes come into effect in November.

Supplementary images courtesy respective airlines.

United MileagePlus devaluation coming in November: how it affects us in Australia was last modified: June 20th, 2019 by Matt Moffitt