United Changes Award Pricing for Partner Flights, Including Some Lower Prices

United Airlines has updated its award pricing numerous times over the past few years. Typically, “updates” are synonymous with devaluations, meaning you need more miles to book an award ticket after the changes.

However, the most recent update includes both price increases and price decreases. The most interesting feature of flights requiring fewer miles now is that the list includes both short-haul and long-haul partner flights.

Here’s what travelers should know about the latest changes for redeeming their United miles.

United Airlines Award Price Changes for Partner Flights

If you’ve followed United Airlines’ MileagePlus program at all in the past few years, you know that any announcement about changes to award charts is usually chock full of bad news. The question is often, “How bad is it this time?”

Earlier this year, United increased pricing for business class flights within Europe (from 27,500 to 33,000 miles) and first class awards between the U.S. and Europe (from 121,000 to 154,000 miles). The latest changes are more nuanced, however, and aren’t an overall devaluation.

This time, United has adjusted its pricing for partner awards — flights where you’re redeeming United miles to fly on another airline, such as Air Canada or Lufthansa, as first noticed by DansDeals.

For short-haul flights on Air Canada, flights under 1,500 miles in distance are now cheaper. Previously, these awards cost 20,000 miles per person, but the new price is 17,500 miles.

It’s not all good news, though. Business class got more expensive on these under-1,500-mile flights, jumping from 33,000 to 45,000 miles per person on these redemptions.

And if you’re flying more than 1,500 miles in business class in Canada, you’ll now pay a whopping 65,000 miles per passenger on these awards — up from the previous 33,000 miles. That’s nearly double the old price.

The most interesting change includes partner award flights leaving North America. Previously, you could expect to pay cheaper prices on United’s own flights or pay more on partner airlines — even if they were both operating a nonstop flight on the same route on the same day.

That elevated partner pricing has gone away, however. You’ll now pay the same number of United miles regardless of the airline you’re booking.

However, you’ll only see that preferred pricing if you’re logged in and have elite status with United or a United Airlines credit card. Otherwise, you’ll still see the old pricing — pricing where United’s flights are cheaper than the partner flights, using Lufthansa in this example.

Final Thoughts

United Airlines reshuffles its award pricing regularly. The latest changes include some positives, such as short-haul flights within Canada getting cheaper and the long-haul partner award pricing matching flights on United — assuming you have the right credit card or elite status.