Why United's devaluation changes everything (and why Delta's didn't)

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By now you've undoubtedly heard about United's overnight announcement of a major award chart devaluation. Here's a roundup from around the web:

I think this is more than a devaluation, making it that much harder to earn enough miles for premium cabin award tickets: it calls for a paradigm shift.

The traditional view in the frequent flyer community is that US-based airline programs have some advantages over their foreign counterparts. The most important of those advantages is that US airlines don't typically charge fuel surcharges on award tickets booked on their own flights, and often don't pass along their partners' fuel surcharges.

Delta's August devaluation announcement was treated with disgust by those who were already frustrated with Delta's non-functional online award booking tool. But while there's no such thing as a "good" devaluation, that devaluation is offset in part by the fact that Delta miles remain among the easiest to earn, since Gold Medallions and higher earn 100% bonus miles on paid flights and the American Express Delta Platinum and Reserve cards earn 1.4 and 1.5 miles per dollar, respectively, at their annual bonus thresholds. Most importantly, Delta left untouched the basic deal between frequent flyer programs and their members: you can redeem your miles for "aspirational" awards in premium cabins anywhere their partner airlines fly.

United's award chart devaluation breaks that deal with their customers. The problem with United's award chart devaluation is that the "partner" award chart is activated when any one of your flights is on a partner airline, even if United doesn't fly to your ultimate destination . Lucky elucidates this point nicely.

So far bloggers have been thinking about the devaluation from the point of view of a person trying to redeem United miles. But if you take one step back, you can see the consequences are actually much further reaching than that.

Let's say I'm trying to redeem my flexible Ultimate Rewards points for a round-trip, business class ticket between Boston and Prague.  Since I can redeem United miles on their partner airlines, in this case Lufthansa, at the same mileage cost as on United metal, using the current award chart I'll pay 100,000 United miles and $97 in taxes and fees. After February 1, when the new partner award chart takes effect, that'll increase to 140,000 United miles (let's assume the taxes and fees stay the same for now).

With British Airways Avios, also an Ultimate Rewards transfer partner, I'll pay those enormous fuel surcharges you're always hearing about, in this case about $1,028. But I'll pay just 98,000 Avios. That values 42,000 Ultimate Rewards points at $931, or about 2.2 cents each. That's on the high side, but it isn't crazy, for example if you're planning a high-value Hyatt redemption.

Let's take this example one step further.

Under the current United award chart, the Chase British Airways Visa credit card isn't a great value for most people. It comes with 50,000 Avios, which many people use for short-haul American Airlines flights, which cost just 4,500 Avios each way. But the companion pass that you earn after spending $30,000 during the calendar year has the major drawback that you still have to pay the formidable taxes and fees attached to the second award ticket.

Under the new United award chart , the calculus changes completely. Using the example above, where we found that the British Airways award ended up costing about the same as the United partner award when we value Ultimate Rewards points at 2.2 cents each, now when we book a companion ticket for an additional $931 we're saving not 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points, but 140,000. That's like buying Ultimate Rewards points for just 0.67 cents each. Since you can redeem Ultimate Rewards points for cash at 1 cent each, this is a no brainer.

In other words:

  • Two round trip tickets on Lufthansa using United miles: 280,000 miles and $194;
  • Two round trip business class tickets on British Airways: 98,000 miles and $2,056 (plus a $95 annual fee);
  • Cash value of 200,000 Ultimate Rewards points: $2,000.

This is the example that came to mind most readily because British Airways and United are both Ultimate Rewards transfer partners. But I suspect there are a lot more situations like this, where increased redemption costs under the new United award chart – especially in premium cabins – will make it worth paying potentially astronomical fuel surcharges to their rivals.

United is simply abdicating its position as America's most coveted airline currency, and this decision is going to have unforeseen consequences throughout the industry.  What do you think?

Weekend thoughts from around the web

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No great insights in today's post, but I wanted to mention a few of the biggest things I've been thinking about as they crossed my plate this week. 

  • According to Frequent Miler's correspondent, new Citi Forward card accounts do not offer 5 ThankYou points for "entertainment" and restaurant spending. While American Express Campus Edition cards weren't hugely scalable (limited to $6k in loads per rolling 12 month period), they were a nice, cheap deal. See the comments to this post for details on that hack. Fortunately, a similar (better?) version is still available with the US Bank Cash+ card, which allows cash redemptions, unlike ThankYou points which require a little finesse to monetize at their full value (for example, student loan and mortgage rebate checks).
  • Chase Sapphire Preferred's new real-time breakdown of points earning is completely addictive.  Instead of having to reverse engineer your earned points when your statement closes, you can now view your bonus points in real time in your online account's "recent activity." I use my Sapphire Preferred as my default card so it doesn't affect my everyday usage pattern much, but I was surprised to see that a local cafe where I get an occasional cup of coffee was not posting "restaurant" bonus points. Of course, the Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard posts your earned points throughout your statement cycle, so you don't need to wait for your statement to close to make a redemption.
  • Speaking of the Sapphire Preferred, Friday November 1, 2013 is the first Friday in November: earn 3 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar on restaurant purchases made today.
  • Finally, this is ridiculous . Are you really willing to commit to putting $3,000 on this card 12 months from now? Do you know where you'll be 12 months from now? Try harder, Citi.

More bonus Flexpoints

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I know a lot of my readers have the US Bank Flexperks Travel Rewards Signature Visa, which gives 2 Flexpoints per dollar spent in whichever of gas stations, grocery stores, or airline ticket you spend most in each statement cycle, and 3 Flexpoints per dollar spent on purchases coded as "charity."

If you're one of them, check your e-mail for a message from US Bank offering bonus points for spending a certain amount of money on your card between November 1 and December 31. The version of the offer I received gives 2,500 bonus Flexpoints after spending $2,000 with the card, but these offers sometimes vary depending on your spend pattern and relationship with US Bank, since they're typically trying to motivate additional spend above your usual pattern.

If you spend all $2,000 in a double Flexpoint bonus category, you'll earn 3.25 Flexpoints per dollar, worth up to 6.5 cents in paid, mileage-earning airfare.

The offer does require registration through the Flexperks promotions center or the link in your e-mail. 

Did anyone get a different version of this offer? 

 

Do this now: double redeemable miles with United

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 [update 10/22/13: I failed to mention that the promotion is only valid in the following fare classes: A, J, C, D, Z, P, Y, B, M, E, U, H, Q, V, W and S. If you're planning to take advantage of this promotion, be sure your fare qualifies before booking.]

I don't typically write about airline promotions since they tend to be either targeted to certain customers or valid only on certain routes. However, there's currently a United Airlines promotion that doesn't appear to be targeted and that everyone should register for immediately.

Under this promotion, you'll earn double redeemable (not Elite Qualification) Mileage Plus miles on all flights operated by United or United Express within the continental United States between October 21 and November 21, 2013. Unfortunately, you'll only earn the bonus miles on flights you book during the promotional period, not existing reservations.

If you're flying United in the next month this is an incredible promotion, and if you're planning to mileage run for status before the end of the year, it's definitely worth scheduling your run during the promotional period. Register now, before you forget.

Bonus points at Amazon with US Bank Cash+

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While Amazon.com as a rule doesn't participate in shopping portals (their partnership with Hawaiian Airlines' online mall ended earlier this year, but purchases only earned 1 Hawaiian mile per dollar, so it was no great loss), it's long been known that the Citi Forward card, which offers 5 ThankYou points per dollar spent at bookstores, would also bonus purchases made with Amazon.

Last quarter I selected bookstores (along with charity)  as one of my bonus categories with the US Bank Cash+ card, which gives 5% cash back in two categories of your choice each quarter, and made a little over $100 in purchases at Amazon to see if US Bank would treat these purchases the same as Citi. And sure enough when my statement closed today, I saw that for $126.95 in Amazon purchases, I had earned $6.35 in cash back:

Although both the Discover More/it and Chase Freedom are bonusing Amazon.com purchases this calendar quarter, this is a great option to earn 5% cash back at Amazon during the rest of the year. And if you spend less than $1,500 on Amazon purchases, you can earn the rest of your cash back through bonused Kiva loans.

Earn Delta MQM for Hilton stays

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I've said before that 90% of casual travelers are better off crediting Delta flights to an Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan account, rather than a Delta Skymiles account.  For those who stubbornly persist in pursuing Medallion elite status (for example, to enjoy free award changes and redeposits with Platinum or Diamond Medallion status), Hilton has brought back a promotion from last year whereby you can earn 250 Medallion Qualifying Miles for each 2-night stay between September 30 and December 13, 2013 (up to 10,000 MQM).

You have to register for the promotion here, and select Delta as your "double dip" earning partner in your Hilton HHonors account.  In my experience stays are credited according to the earning preference you have selected when you make the reservation, rather than your earning preference at the time of your stay.

Since any MQM you earn in excess of your Medallion status will roll over to 2014, there's no reason not to take advantage of this promotion if you have any 2-night Hilton stays planned during the promotional period. You'll also earn double Skymiles for stays completed under this promotion. 

Check your e-mail for lucrative Barclaycard promotions

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Barclaycard seems to be running a pretty consistent promotion across many of their proprietary and co-branded credit cards, offering 5 bonus miles/points/whatever per dollar spent for "gas station, restaurant or department, toy or game store purchases" between October 1, 2013 and December 31, 2013. You can earn up to 2,500 bonus miles this way (on up to $500 in purchases).

You must receive an e-mail about the promotion in order to be eligible, because registration for the promotion is through a link in that e-mail. I received the promotional e-mail for my Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard, which means I'll earn 7 Arrival miles per dollar spent at gas stations – an easy category for manufacturing spend. 3,500 Arrival Miles are worth $38.50 in statement credits against travel purchases, thanks to the 10% rebate on travel redemptions.

Mommy Points reported an identical promotion for her US Airways MasterCard and one of her readers reported it for the NFL Extra Points Visa Signature.

Since these bonus categories don't have anything to do with each other, I hope that this is an effort by BarclayCard to get into the quarterly bonus game and that we'll see more (and more lucrative) promotions like this in the future.

I HAVE ever been to South Korea! Have you?

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I woke up to a curious headline on View From the Wing: Have You Ever Been to South Korea?

Turns out if you bought a ticket to or from South Korea on Korean Air Lines or Asiana Airlines between January 1, 2000 and August 1, 2007, you're entitled to come cash and coupons in the settlement process. I spent 3 weeks in South Korea in the summer of 2006, so I went ahead and entered my flight information.

Turns out not only is documentation not required, but flight details aren't even necessary. You just need to specify the number of economy, business, and first class tickets you purchased in each of the eligible years. I entered one economy ticket in 2006, "certified" my response (under penalty of perjury!), and submitted it. It took about 90 seconds. 

So if yu traveled to or from South Korea on Korean Air Lines or Asiana Airlines during the eligible period, submit your claim here.

Plink: it works, but changes are coming

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I've mentioned a few times here on the blog a new retail marketing program called Plink, which works a little like the dining rewards programs operated by several airlines (and the Upromise cashback system). With dining programs, you can typically register up to 6 or so credit and debit cards, and then each time you make a purchase at a participating restaurant, you earn some number of airline miles or cash back.

Plink works slightly differently, in that you register a card by entering your online banking login information. Plink then identifies your eligible cards with that bank and you can select a single card (instead of 6 or more), where your eligible purchases will be recorded.

If you think this seems to have a lot of disadvantages over dining rewards programs, you'd be right. I'm writing about it because it also has a few advantages.

First of all, Plink has a wider array of retailers than just restaurants. Most importantly for me, it gives $2.50 worth of Plink points for each purchase of $25 or more at 7-11 store locations – including store locations coded as gas stations on Visa and MasterCard credit cards.

Now, ordinarily the temptation is to make purchases as close as possible to the eligibility threshold (in this case, $25) in order to maximize the rebate value of your rewards. However, since PayPal My Cash and Vanilla Reload Network reload cards have a flat reload fee of $3.95 per card, you're only reducing your cost per dollar of manufactured spend, not actually making money, through this technique so there's no advantage to splitting your purchases up.

Changing your registered card account is easy

Thanks to the Discover it and Chase Freedom "gas station" Quarter 3 bonus categories, I bought a lot of PayPal My Cash cards at 7-11 this quarter. And I can happily report that changing the card you have registered to your Plink account is easy and instantaneous. I had to register my Discover, Chase, and Bank of America accounts this quarter, and the change went through without a hitch. However, be sure that your points have posted from all your transactions so far before changing your linked credit card.

Problems with points posting 

As I indicated in the title of this post: Plink works, earned points post, and they can be redeemed for Amazon gift cards almost instantly (you have to wait for an e-mail from their gift card contractor).

However, I did run into one problem with my points posting: when I made two 7-11 purchases using a Bank of America credit card on the same day, apparently Plink was not able to differentiate the charges in my Bank of America account transaction history, and I only received Plink points for one of them. 

For that reason I've stopped making multiple 7-11 purchases with a Plink-linked card on the same day, and since then all my points have posted correctly.

Changes coming

Unfortunately, starting September 23, 2013 7-11 purchases will only earn 150 Plink points (worth $1.50 when you have earned enough points to make a redemption – 500 is the current minimum) on purchases over $20. This is a transparent attempt to pay out less to those who have been taking full advantage of the current payout rates. However, those 150 Plink points will still reduce your cost per dollar of manufactured spend to 0.49 cents, from 0.78 cents – better than a hole in the head. If you're able to liquidate PayPal My Cash cards using a 1% cash back PayPal Debit MasterCard, that will bring your CPD down to 0.27 cents.

Do this now: Hyatt fall promotion

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Registration is now open for Hyatt's fall promotion, whereby you can earn up to 50,000 bonus Gold Passport points after staying 20 paid nights between September 9 and November 30, 2013.

As always, you can see all the ongoing hotel promotions, and make sure you've registered for each of them, on my hotel promotions page. 

Register now, before you forget.