A couple of weeks ago I flew from Tampa to Seattle via Washington Dulles, Orlando, Denver, and Portland, for the same price as Tampa to Seattle via just Denver. Yes, that’s over 75% more miles for the same price. As a consumer I love it, but at the same time there’s something wrong when a company allows that.
Well, it looks like United has finally come to their senses and has realized how ridiculous their routing rules were. For the most part United allowed four transfers in each direction of travel on domestic itineraries, which was just insanely generous. I realized they didn’t intend for people to ever choose to take that many connections, but of course many of us did.
And finally United has made the change. They’re not allowing a bunch of transfers in each direction of travel anymore. As much as I absolutely, positively hate this change as a consumer and in particular mileage runner, I’ve gotta give United credit. It’s a smart business decision, and as much as I’d like to, I definitely can’t blame them. United has certainly lost their mileage run edge.
It’s a sad day for consumers and a happy day for United.
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June 8th, 2010 at 7:06 pm
Gary said,
Wow.
TPA-PHX/CLT/PHL/CLE/HOU/EWR/WAS/CHI/
DEN/LAX/SFO-SEA*
May she Rest In Peace.
June 8th, 2010 at 7:07 pm
Matthew said,
I was bemoaning this earlier today on FT. I can’t blame UA, but I am really sad tonight.
It’s going to be twice as hard to re-qualify next year.
June 8th, 2010 at 8:56 pm
Angus said,
Mileage running makes sense at times, but what blows my mind is when someone values their time so little (or has nothing better to do with it) that they’re willing to spend five extra hours in airports and on flights for an extra $50 worth of miles ($10/hour). If you could earn $200 worth of extra miles for an extra 2 hours of your time, I’d understand, but such lucrative offers are rare..
June 8th, 2010 at 9:11 pm
Matthew said,
@Angus: You assume that someone cannot multi-task on an airplane or at an airport. I find I am most productive at 35K feet above the ground. I don’t waste time when I fly.
June 8th, 2010 at 9:54 pm
Charlie Sheen said,
@Angus: I totally agree. I’d say watching the same episode of Two and a Half Men eight times and eating the same salad 3 times is definitely a waste of (my) time. But then again, my poor college days are over.
The old saying is true – when you’re young, you have more time than money. When you’re old, you have the money, but hardly the time.
I think Matthew must be an exception if he is most productive on an airplane. I find the whole process (airport transfer, security clearance, boarding, takeoff, IFE, meals, landing, deplaning, etc) hugely disruptive to my concentration (if I’m trying to work)…. but as they say, to each their own!
June 8th, 2010 at 10:35 pm
JOSH said,
Well said.
JOSH
June 9th, 2010 at 4:54 am
Azi Ronen said,
“but of course many of us did” – how many? 5 people? 10 people?
I think it costs UA 1000 times more to make the change.
June 9th, 2010 at 6:33 am
JAR said,
Blame airfarewatchdog! Oh, wait.
June 9th, 2010 at 7:45 am
hobo13 said,
To all the posters saying ‘what a waste of time’ –
Let me ask you: why do you ready Lucky’s blog? The whole point here is mileage running! If extra segments are a waste of time, than the whole concept must be waste of time to you. Yet you come here anyway.
June 9th, 2010 at 8:03 am
The end of 5-stop transcons on United - The Wandering Aramean said,
[...] Indeed, these wacky and very lucrative routings appear to be just a historical footnote now as United has severely changed their routing rules on most fares. In many cases the rules are now only permitting one or two connections rather than four en route. Indeed, a quick look at the above two trips suggests that the MSP-GEG routing is still pretty loose while TPA-ONT has tightened up quite a bit. Lucky over at One Mile At A Time notes that his favorite route, TPA-SEA, is now only permitting single connections. [...]
June 9th, 2010 at 8:08 am
Wandering Aramean said,
This has been a long time coming – or at least should have been – and yet I’m still a bit sad to see it go. That being said, not all routes are affected, at least not yet. MSP-GEG still permits four segments each way while TPA-ONT looks to be down to three. Considering the cooperation that Continental and United are exercising these days and the fact that Continental has long had quite restricted routing rules this really shouldn’t be a huge surprise.
It is not all bad news but certainly a bit sad on some routes. Just means we have to work a bit harder to find those diamonds in the rough.
June 9th, 2010 at 8:11 am
Erich said,
I believe Lucky suggested 1K could be had for ~$2,000 in year’s past. What would be the estimated monetary cost post-change? $3,500?
June 9th, 2010 at 8:51 am
HunterSFO said,
@Angus – you are assuming that people don’t do this for the enjoyment of it. For example, stamp collecting or salsa dancing could also be considered a waste of time – or sports for that matter. I enjoy the “magic” of flying and the entire experience that goes with it. This is my hobby and while for you it is a waste of time, this is how I choose to spend a lot of my recreation time. Of course I have other hobbies too, but this is a big one for me. If you don’t like it, don’t do it, but I don’t need you to judge my hobby for me. I’m sure most of your hobbies would be a waste of time to me, but I understand that it’s not my place to sit here and try to beat you over the head with that.
June 9th, 2010 at 9:35 am
Bikeguy said,
Northwest did 2 connection limits many years ago and Delta did this a little over 5 years ago. United is slow to the party.
MRing with United will now be confined to cheap and mistake fares, as it is with SkyTeam.
Sorry for your loss.
June 9th, 2010 at 2:30 pm
MechTeach said,
I agree with Matthew. I don’t find the airport security, etc. procedures too time consuming, and I have an RCC membership that I use between flights to catch up on e-mail. When I’m up in the air, I’m much more productive than I am on the ground. I don’t have people calling me, e-mailing me, knocking on my door, etc., (and I’m not wasting my times on blogs), so I can tear through a lot of work that otherwise backs up.
August 21st, 2010 at 5:23 pm
Bye bye bumps, hello good fares - One Mile at a Time said,
[...] mileage running on United just won’t be the same as in the past, thanks to United’s change in routing rules this past June. Nonetheless I’ll be taking to the skies while I still can. I’d like to get Million [...]
August 21st, 2010 at 5:41 pm
SFO1K said,
Is this still true? I just priced TPA-SEA and in the fare rules found this:
FOR ONE WAY FARES
4 TRANSFERS PERMITTED.
NOTE -
FARE BREAK SURFACE SECTORS ARE NOT PERMITTED.
August 21st, 2010 at 6:22 pm
lucky said,
@ SFO1K — Strange. While the fare rules say that, every itinerary I price out doesn’t reflect that. Hmm…
October 3rd, 2010 at 9:02 pm
Some quick mileage run musings… - One Mile at a Time said,
[...] same day mileage run yesterday, which was, believe it or not, a first for me. Ever since United changed their routing rules to no longer allow convoluted routings, I haven’t been able to build very many routings that can’t be done in a single day. So [...]
October 4th, 2010 at 11:02 pm
Hans Mast said,
Actually, a bunch of fares still have generous routing rules. It’s a bit hit and miss, though. For instance, at the end of this month I’m flying ICT-ORD-ORF-IAD-PIT//PIT-IAD-MDT-ORD-ICT on a single RT fare for a total of $245.
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