United miles are even easier to use when you hold the MileagePlus card, as you will have access to more
economy class award availability.
Let's say that I know I want to fly this route towards the end of July or the beginning of August next year (my dates are reasonably flexible) and I want to search for
Economy Class award availability.
Not exact matches
While
award availability in
economy class has generally improved on American Airlines and its partners over the last few years, you will have more options when you can choose any airline to fly to your destination.
When searching, it's best to select Business or First
Class, even if you're primarily focused on
Economy availability, as BA's
award engine.
If there is no
award availability in
economy, then redeeming your miles for a business
class ticket still makes economic sense.
A huge caveat, however, is
award availability, which is much harder to find in premium
classes than an
economy seat.
The Star Alliance (which United is a part of) has great
economy and business
class award availability to Europe.
Thanks to tons of last - minute
award availability, United miles are a great bet for spur - of - the - moment domestic trips in
economy class.
The aircraft also offers a Premium
Economy cabin which, considering how little seat - width the seats in
Economy Class offer, may be a good compromise if Business
Class is expensive or if Business
Class award availability is non-existent.
If you search for
economy class by default on a carrier that has four cabins, you will not see first
class award availability.
It would be good news for some if the airline was to price Premium
Economy closer to
Economy Class than to Business
Class (in terms of miles needed for an
award) but it may be bad need for Business
Class award availability if Emirates shrinks Business
Class cabins to accommodate the new product.
The Virgin Atlantic Dreamliner has fewer Premium
Economy and Upper
Class seats than both the A330 and A340 aircraft so I suspect this won't do much for
award availability on this route.
On top of this the A380 offers more Business
Class seating than the 777 (good for
award availability) and the
Economy Class product is more comfortable - its a win all round.
-LSB-...] United miles are awesome for
economy and Business
Class awards with no fuel surcharges and great Sav...
availability.
Economy class sucks and sometimes there's either poor business
class award availability and / or paid fares are outrageous...
XN is an
economy saver
award for elites and provides additional
availability over fare
class X which is the
economy saver
award for non-elites.
Unfortunately, you can't find Korean Air first -
class award availability on Delta.com since you can only redeem Delta miles for
economy and business -
class awards on partners, and Alaska does not let you redeem its miles for first -
class awards on Korean.
While
economy award space on American Airlines is still pretty good for many different routes, there has been a lot of grief lately over business
class availability at the SAAver level.
It has trouble with some partner
award availability and pulling up
awards with mixed cabins (for instance, if one flight has a business -
class seat
availability but the next segment only has
economy awards available), though that seems to have gotten better lately.
For instance, there is plenty of
award availability both on United and other Star Alliance carriers between Melbourne and Los Angeles in both
economy and business
class the last week in January...
Sometimes, a business / first
class award only has
availability on one segment with the rest in
economy.