TYO or ICN will be ideal, and yes, just read that article..
There are options to both ex SYD if you're very flexible with dates and just want one seat. Otherwise, TG MEL-BKK-HND/ICN should work if you want up to 2 J seats
Thanks for that, ill try again and hopefully the seats are still available.. then i guess Aeroplan will be my next one to explore once ive cleanup my miles..
It really depends on what you are after. If you are looking to purely book award tickets, then yeah Aeroplan makes more sense since the points are cheaper to buy and you can make your miles extend much further, especially on flights to/from AU. That being said, United miles can be especially good if you intend on flying them and using your miles to do an upgrade. In particular, I spent 35,000 United miles + 650 USD to upgrade LHR > SYD (via LAX) all to Polaris business class from a cheap K fare which cost me $900 USD return. Flying out of North America my understanding is the upgrade price would've been 30,000 points + $600 USD again on a cheap K-fare. IDK what the CPM for all of this is but I can certainly tell you that either one is certainly more valuable than the cash outlay in buying said points.
It's a real pity United has devalued partner awards by 30+%:
onemileatatime.com
Agreed, if you are using your miles for transatlantic, transpacific and intra US travel. I did a quick search on a local route MEL-BKK and found business partner awards with TG are still pricing at 45K which is good value and roughly on par with Aeroplan and Lifemiles.It's a real pity United has devalued partner awards by 30+%:
United MileagePlus MASSIVELY Devalues Miles
United MileagePlus has increased award pricing across the board, for travel on both United and partner airlines. These increases are huge.
Saw that as well. It might (emphasis added) be a good deal if you are able to find flights at good award prices. For instance, if you can get SYD > North America in J for under 100K that can be a good deal.
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Buying UA miles is quick and easy, but expensive with the AUD being what it is.
I’ve not looked recently but others have reported reasonable reward seat availability - much better than it used to be. If you have a UA MP account, it’s relatively easy to check. They also show on VA where available.Not much going on in this thread for a while? We’ve got some trips planned to the US the next few years, probably an annual trip if not more, so I was looking to buy United miles when on promotion, as they currently are for 90% bonus miles. I know the J availability beyond two or three weeks out is non-existent but we thought we’d give the last minute lifestyle a go
Does anyone still buy United miles? If so, how's your experience been?
I've tried joining Aeroplan a few times in the last week or so and it fails each time.
November is off peak travel season for AU-US, so if that's where you're planning to fly, I'd be relatively comfortable taking the bet that there will be last minute saver award availability on at least one of United's routes.
