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United Airlines has reinstated the 500-mile minimum award in an apparent attempt to appease their frequent fliers, but we don’t see this as any cause for celebration. Back in July, United began awarding only the actual miles flown to frequent flier members instead of allocating at least 500 miles per flight, as they’d done in the past. The guaranteed 500 is back, but only for United’s elite members who fly at least 25,000 miles per year. The “get what you pay for” model still applies to the average Joe Six Pack flier.
If you’re looking to actually reap award benefits, I say ditch global airlines all together and fly Southwest or Jet Blue whenever possible. Recently I tried to book a flight on US Airways (a United Star Alliance partner) with the 24,980 award points I've scraped together over about 15 years. But by the time I bought my extra 20 miles, added the booking fees and the fee to actually use the miles, (not to mention the potential fee to check bags) it was actually cheaper to just fly Southwest. F it. [Crain's]
Photo by Drewski2112.
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The only problem with Southwest is that if I fly to Florida or the west coast (1,000+ miles each way), I get the same amount of credit as if I flew to St. Louis.
Then again, the threshold for rewards is much lower on Southwest, with only 16 one-way segments needed to claim a reward (even in my example, 16,000 is less than United's 25,000).
I absolutely cannot stand Southwest. I've flown them once and will never do it again. Last Christmas, I flew to Florida and back within 72 hours. On the way there, my 1 checked bag didn't make it, but finally showed up the next day. On my way home, it took an additional 2+ hours to get my 1 bag off the plane, so my 2 1/2 hour flight + arriving 90 minutes early (4 hours total) turned into 6+ hours. Not to mention I live 15 minutes from O'Hare and the cost to get to Midway and back eats up all the savings. United, American, and US Airways have never lost my luggage.
With all due respect, the frequent flyer programs are supposed to be for exactly what they say... frequent flyers.
Flying 25,000 miles a year isn't difficult so United's trying to entice people to earn their way up to Premier level to reap the rewards. That's the whole point of it, not to grant free flights to the average joe that flys twice a year, but for the guy that flys twice a week.
I'm thrilled to see this back. I spent 160,000 miles on United aircraft last year so anything they can do for me is welcomed.