United to devalue partner awards effective November 15th

United Airlines announced earlier this year that they were dropping their award chart and moving to dynamic award pricing effective November 15th, 2019.  At the time of their announcement, United had stated that partner awards like those on Star Alliance carriers would not be affected and would remain on a tiered system.  However, as of this morning, United quietly and sneakily made a change to their website:

While not especially surprising, it is disappointing that United would make an about-face for their partner awards, which is where you can typically find the best value out of United miles.  In terms of Chase Ultimate Rewards, United has long been the token transfer partner where you could still book international long-haul premium award flights at a reasonable rate.  But with the impending dynamic award pricing that will now also affect Star Alliance and partner awards, we will likely see much higher award pricing for premium class awards.  So this change could also have a negative impact on the value of Chase UR if you're looking at booking int'l long-haul premium class awards.

SFO-TPE in Eva biz for 80k no more after Nov 15th?

 Bottom line

As with all points and miles, live by the "earn and burn" methodology where the sooner you redeem your miles, the better.  United has given sufficient advanced notice for these changes, so it's a good idea to unleash your United MileageMinus...er...Plus miles now before these impending changes go into effect on November 15th.


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