So sorry, United Airlines MileagePlus members – the airline appears to be running another big sale. As first reported on leafletstalkUnited is raising ticket exchange prices when traveling first class with partners like All Nippon Airways and Lufthansa.
News of another United dumping came less than a year later United increased bonus prices to Europe by 33% without notice. Just a few weeks later, United increase rate up to 122% about other international conversions.
Here is information about the latest devaluation.
Related: United’s mileage rate increases to 122%
United MileagePlus discounts first class redemptions
Maybe you’ve dreamed of flying in Lufthansa first class or have purchased a ticket on a flight from the US to Europe. Although the award chart no longer exists, in recent times United typically charged 121,000 miles one-way to book a seat in Lufthansa first class from the US to Europe.
That’s a lot of miles, and that number seems to be increasing. When performing the above search Seats.aero awards tool, seats on days after Tuesday now cost 154,000 miles. This is a 28% increase for Lufthansa first class flights from the US and Europe.
Sadly, Lufthansa is not the only partner airline that appears to have lost value. Flights between the US and Japan operated by ANA will increase the number of first class seats by approximately 100%.
For example, in recent times, you can often fly from the United States to Japan on ANA in first class, if available, for 121,000 MileagePlus miles. However, it is now 242,000 miles one-way.
Related: The best ways to travel to Japan with points and miles
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Flights from Honolulu to Japan also increased by more than 60,000 miles – from 121,000 miles to 181,500 miles.
At first glance, this discount does not appear to apply to all ANA flights.
As you can see in the chart below, it looks like some of the first-class incentives still apply at the old 110,000-mile price. However, when clicking on the cheaper flights currently priced at 110,000 miles in first class to actually book the ticket, the price jumps from 110,000 to 242,000 miles.
For example, on January 2, 2025, Seats.aero reported a flight from Haneda Airport (HND) to O’Hare International Airport (ORD) would cost just 110,000 points in ANA first class; however, when I clicked on the specific date, it said I actually had to pay 242,000 MileagePlus miles. This was confirmed when searching for prices directly on United’s website.
The only silver lining, if you can call it that, is that the best way to book Star Alliance first-class partner awards — like on Lufthansa and ANA — wasn’t through United MileagePlus even before the change This. A better way to redeem one of them flights are usually using Air Canada aircraft or AviancaMiles Life. You can book those awards while seats are available with a minimum distance of 87,000 miles one-way.
Still, this is a disappointing development.
Even though United operates using dynamic pricing instead of award charts, it’s a bit surprising to see this partner’s award prices increase this quickly. The big downside to dynamic pricing is that it can be hard to predict how much it will cost when you book your award flight — and these dramatic changes make me wonder which award flights Other United companies may also have sudden price increases.
We’ve reached out to United for comment.
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