It's also good to see them increasing the number of
saver awards available.
At the time of writing, most of the economy award inventory on United from Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York to Rio has been wiped out, but there are a handful of first class
saver awards available for the final week and a half of games.
As you can see from the calendar, there are
no Saver Awards available in either cabin class on our original date of July 1.
It appears to be a commonly held belief that while Delta decimates the value of SkyMiles on a quarterly basis and while American Airlines stubbornly refuses to make premium cabin
saver awards available, award availability via United is quite good.
Currently, if you want to fly from New York City to Miami for Thanksgiving, there are no United
saver awards available if you fly out on the day before Thanksgiving and return home that following Sunday as those are the peak travel dates.
Options for the return flight aren't quite as good, as there are
no saver awards available on the Monday after the game.
However, finding a Delta saver non-stop award to Israel in any class of service is an adventure, and you can only book a partner's flight if it has
a saver award available.
Not exact matches
In order to get the most value from your miles, you need to do everything possible to find these rare
saver awards, and consider saving your miles if only the so - called standard
awards are
available.
Saver Award flights are available on flights operated by both United and their partner airlines, and these are the MileagePlus award types we'll address in this
Award flights are
available on flights operated by both United and their partner airlines, and these are the MileagePlus
award types we'll address in this
award types we'll address in this post.
GuestSeat is similar to «
saver»
awards at other airlines, but these may not be
available.
Based on the best
available data, this chart shows the
saver level cost of Delta One
award flights to and from the U.S.
It's also due to the fact that Delta simply makes fewer
Saver award seats
available than its peers.
For the day Donna would like to leave, a
Saver Business Class
Award for a nonstop flight is
available.
Assuming
Saver Economy level
awards were
available, United's
award chart indicates that this trip should be doable for a mere 65,000 miles per passenger through United and its partners.
Saver Economy space was
available for this flight, meaning the total for an
award came to just 40,000 miles + $ 128.90, including the $ 75 close - in booking charge that's waived for elites.
While I'm not holding my breath that these
awards will be anywhere near as generous or
available as, say, American's off - peak flights to Europe, even an expansion of regular
Saver availability would be excellent.
This means when a
saver award is
available, you can fly on an American Airlines flight from Dallas to Las Vegas or Miami to New York City for just 7,500 Avios instead of 12,500 American Airlines miles.
Here we had a stroke of luck, depending on how you look at it: while the direct service flight from Los Angeles did not show availability for a Business Class or First Class
Saver Award on most dates, a mixed class award connecting through San Francisco was avail
Award on most dates, a mixed class
award connecting through San Francisco was avail
award connecting through San Francisco was
available.
Just because a zone and a price exist on an
award chart doesn't mean
saver level
award seats will be
available.
The next morning, a flight on United from San Jose to Newark is
available at their
Saver award level.
If
Saver Award space is
available on United Airlines, you could transfer 25,000 miles to Singapore Airlines» KrisFlyer program to book the United flight.
Searching with flexible dates allows you to find the best availability of
Saver Awards, which are typically
available for half of the miles a Standard
Award requires.
In order to use Turkish Airlines Miles and Smiles on United, there will need to be United
Saver award space
available.
United is in the Star Alliance network, which means it has many other airline partners whose members can use their miles to book flights operated by United when a
saver award is
available.
To book an Avios
award,
Saver level seats must be
available on American to AAdvantage flyers.
If the lowest cost roundtrip
available is 50,000, then the return flight costs 30,000 miles and is therefore a
Saver award.
There are six unique economy
saver level
award flights
available on the Friday before the game.
Since business travel plummets during holiday weeks, airlines often make first - class
awards available at the
saver award level even when economy seats are selling like hotcakes.
Upgrade rates are no longer included in the Hawaiian Airlines
award chart, but cost roughly 25,000 miles for flights when First Class
Saver awards are
available and 50,000 when only Flex
awards remain.
As an example of how one program works, United normally offers its
saver award seats in the lower 48 states at 12,500 miles each way, but when a
saver award isn't
available, those with a United co-branded credit card or United elite status typically can secure an
award seat at the 25,000 - mile standard
award level each direction, as long as seats are still
available for sale with cash.
Mile redemptions aren't always
available for the
Saver (cheapest)
award.
Indeed,
saver level
awards were
available on all my flights.
Since the cost of
award tickets are based on the price of the Value fare, you'll get the same 2.89 cents per point for any route unless the cheapest
Saver level fare is
available.
If you can see that an
award you'd like to book is
available right now (or if your research tells you that the
award you're looking to book isn't scarce) then buying miles at 1.72 cents each may be a good money
saver....
The best value can be achieved by redeeming for
Saver awards when they're
available.
Saver Award flights are available on flights operated by both United and their partner airlines, and these are the MileagePlus award types we'll address in this
Award flights are
available on flights operated by both United and their partner airlines, and these are the MileagePlus
award types we'll address in this
award types we'll address in this post.
If these flights area
available as a
Saver Award on United.com then you will be able to call in and book the flight using Miles & More miles.
If you really need a flight on a specific date and
saver level space isn't
available, cardholders also have guaranteed access to standard level
award space.
Arrival miles are also good to use when the lowest or
saver redemption rate is not
available for an
award flight using another program's miles, but the cash ticket price is low.
Leaving aside my amazement at the fact that American Airlines
saver awards were
available (they're rarer than a Dodo) I was impressed at the breadth of search that this tool allows.....
Cardholders receive access to extra
saver level
awards for economy class and guaranteed standard level
awards as long as a seat is
available for purchase.
This is assuming
award tickets are
available at the
saver level.
Keep in mind that just because the
saver - level
award rate will be reduced, there is no guarantee that
awards will be
available at that rate.
Unfortunately, there was no business class
award space
available at the
saver level.
There is a
Saver award business class seat
available for your destination.
Saver level first class
awards were
available 5 out of 7 days from March 12 - 18 traveling west, but only 2 days when traveling east.
Remember, you can only book your
award flight on a partner airline if there is the lowest,
saver rate
available.
The
Saver Award is more easy on the air - miles pocketbook, but is capacity - controlled and may not be
available on certain flights where demand is high.
Because Delta does not publish an
award chart, it can be difficult to know when you have found the cheapest «
saver»
awards that are made
available to partner airlines like Alaska.
When Air New Zealand came out with changes to its frequent flyer program from points to dollars in 2004, I worried about what it would mean for the future of frequent flyer program value, although they kept both a points as money idea and a traditional
award chart (with
saver awards also continuing to be made
available to partner airlines).