For many frequent fliers, the carrot on the end of the long stick is a dream vacation trip to Hawaii or Europe. Especially when that trip can be in business class.
But travelers who are planning such a trip with United or their partner carriers in 2009, should start planning such a trip now.
United Airlines has touted that its lowest award, a coach ticket within the U.S. (except Hawaii) is not increasing in 2009. But Hawaii coach and business class awards are increasing by 5,000 miles. First class, on three-class planes, is going up 10,000 miles.
But the bigger jumps are overseas, especially with premium class tickets. Want to go to Europe next year in business class? It’s going from 80,000 to 105,000 miles. Asia? From 90,000 to 125,000 miles.
Tickets booked by December 31, 2008 are still valid for 2009 at the lower 2008 levels. And mileage availability is already tight, perhaps in anticipation of the higher levels. (No word from United if they will release more seats after the first of the year.) For example, looking for next September, and working with a very good United reservations agent, it took quite a while to find business class seats to anywhere in Southeast Asia. And that was with connections and partner carriers.
United does charge $25 per ticket for booking award tickets over the phone, but in this case, zero seats showed available on United.com. While it’s worth a shot online, I have found it well worth it to pay a competent human. (Note: if you get someone who sounds clueless, it’s probably better to politely hang up and call back.)
I can promise too, from bitter experience, that the Mileage Plus phone lines will only get busier as the deadline approaches and people panic. Before one of the last changes a few years back the hold times were over an hour, if you could get through at all.
At least there’s one good thing about this holiday shopping, though: there’s no need to go to the mall.
