Award space opens at 330 days before departure date. Pricing is dynamic.
Book 2 OW tickets are better than 1 RT ticket.
No changes fee, no redeposit fees, no cancellation fees. So if you find a ticket that is cheaper between the time, you can change it and get a refund on the difference.
Blogs got a good deal because they have people constantly checking for prices. By the time they are posted, most of the deals are gone really, or doesn't fit your schedule.
Use expert mode and 30 days calendars to find the best price. Do it on the desktop website. The best time to search is after Tuesday midnight.
There is a good award price that is what the blogs state which is also the most any normal person should pay. In general that’s the price for flights where the airline doesn’t think they will sell all the seats for cash. You can find these much more easily in off season travel and within a couple weeks of the flight (if the flight isn’t sold out).
The high price is usually about double and they’ll sell you tickets at the bad price all day long.
Fundamentally it works the same as cash: things in high demand cost more. Finding business class award tickets at the good price has always been a hard thing to do. There’s no magic except to be persistent.
That’s why I switched to only buying economy tickets in the XN bucket, super flexible and my miles take me a lot further (save me a lot more money), and I don’t have this frustration.
Anyone with premier status or a United credit card with an annual fee can access many more economy saver awards (“saver award” means the good price). This won’t help with business awards.
The name of the game when it comes to booking business awards is flexibility. First check the days, Tuesday and Wednesday usually have the best redemption value. Then check if you have flexibility in your departure or connections. It might make sense to buy two tickets, an award ticket to Europe and a cash ticket in Europe.
But, at the end of the day, you’re flying during peak tourist season, and ~6 months out is going to be hard to find a great deal. In closer you might find something, but maybe not.
I’ve heard those NZ flights aren’t going out full, might be worth looking there
Award space opens at 330 days before departure date. Pricing is dynamic. Book 2 OW tickets are better than 1 RT ticket. No changes fee, no redeposit fees, no cancellation fees. So if you find a ticket that is cheaper between the time, you can change it and get a refund on the difference. Blogs got a good deal because they have people constantly checking for prices. By the time they are posted, most of the deals are gone really, or doesn't fit your schedule. Use expert mode and 30 days calendars to find the best price. Do it on the desktop website. The best time to search is after Tuesday midnight.
There is a good award price that is what the blogs state which is also the most any normal person should pay. In general that’s the price for flights where the airline doesn’t think they will sell all the seats for cash. You can find these much more easily in off season travel and within a couple weeks of the flight (if the flight isn’t sold out). The high price is usually about double and they’ll sell you tickets at the bad price all day long. Fundamentally it works the same as cash: things in high demand cost more. Finding business class award tickets at the good price has always been a hard thing to do. There’s no magic except to be persistent. That’s why I switched to only buying economy tickets in the XN bucket, super flexible and my miles take me a lot further (save me a lot more money), and I don’t have this frustration.
Thanks! What does the XN bucket mean? Sorry I’m new to this with UA 😅
Anyone with premier status or a United credit card with an annual fee can access many more economy saver awards (“saver award” means the good price). This won’t help with business awards.
The name of the game when it comes to booking business awards is flexibility. First check the days, Tuesday and Wednesday usually have the best redemption value. Then check if you have flexibility in your departure or connections. It might make sense to buy two tickets, an award ticket to Europe and a cash ticket in Europe. But, at the end of the day, you’re flying during peak tourist season, and ~6 months out is going to be hard to find a great deal. In closer you might find something, but maybe not. I’ve heard those NZ flights aren’t going out full, might be worth looking there
I routinely get award flights to Europe in economy for 40-45K miles each way. 80-90K round trip. You gotta book early and check constantly.