US Airways cuts off-peak business award to Europe, other changes


It would seem that at some point in the past 10 days or so the US Airways award chart has seen a change for the worse. The 60,000 point business class award between North America an Europe has disappeared. This was one of the gems of the Dividend Miles program and losing it will be quite unfortunate for their members. Here’s what the chart looks like now:

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And here’s what it looked like on January 27, 2013, the last date there is a copy in the archive.org system:

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US Airways has also split out Alaska as a separate destination zone for flights from the continental US, raising the rates at the medium and high levels. And low-level first class awards between North America and Hawaii are now 80K rather than 70K. High level business class between North America/Hawaii and Europe are up to 350K from 325K.  High level business class between North America/Hawaii and Europe/South America are actually going down to 325K from 35oK. Finally, the middle and high tier rates between North America/Hawaii and the Middle East have spiked dramatically; at the top end a first class award goes from 240K to 350K.

OUCH!

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Seth Miller

I'm Seth, also known as the Wandering Aramean. I was bit by the travel bug 30 years ago and there's no sign of a cure. I fly ~200,000 miles annually; these are my stories. You can connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

21 Comments

  1. Can I assume this was not announced ahead of time?? Loyalty is a one way street??? Glad we went last Feb to Paris for 110k in business for two (cc discount included)…

  2. So sad. This was such a great deal. For what it’s worth, American Airlines does not offer off-peak awards in business class.

    On the other hand, American Airlines’ off-peak award season has a much bigger window than US Airways. On American Airlines, Europe off-peak is Oct 15 – May 15 while on US Airways it’s only Jan 15 – Feb 28.

  3. Wonder if they’re trying to align themselves with AA’s award chart. This may be the first of several possible devaluations.

  4. On the other hand, I’m really excited about the off-peak South America dates for 2014 (Feb 3 – Feb 13 & Mar 17 – Apr 3). Flights to both Rio and Sao Paulo double the long haul availability, and Brazil is starting to look like a great choice for a winter escape/spring break. The South America off-peak awards were always the most tempting for me, but South America in the winter sounds irresistible.

    1. Glad that the new South America dates work for you, Travel Bug. The cynic in me notes that the number of available dates in 2014 is about 30% lower than the number in 2013, so the window there is shrinking.

  5. How early does US open up their off-peak inventory? I’d love to use some miles for the wife and I to South America next year.

  6. @ Dan – 331 days in advance. I just put reminders on my calendar to look for available flight March 10-March 20 for the February dates, and April 21-May 8 for the March/April dates. Brazil is fabulous! The wonderful thing about flying into Rio is that you can have a diversity of experiences (city, beach, nature) without that much travel. I checked availability a lot this year – but didn’t jump on anything. The availability was decent going from Charlotte to Rio. The hurdle was finding availability from NYC to Charlotte.

  7. Ditto JohhnieD’s comment. Wife and I got our RT to Paris last feb for 110k also. Looks like we were part of the last group that got in on that awesome deal!

  8. In retrospect, is this really surprising? It seems only a matter of time with all the huge discounts/bonuses on buying Dividend Miles.

  9. This change is very abrupt. I was looking at first class saver award rates on Monday or Tuesday. The 30,000 was available CLT to Rome, Madrid and Paris for this February.
    I have been trying to convince my girlfriend to go in style for a few days. Time to drop that idea.
    The lack of advanced warning is the most unsettling part of the change.

  10. Really bad. It makes you wonder what else is coming down the pipe unannounced with the merger. Don’t like the tone of this especially with absolutely no warning from US.

    1. I’m pretty sure I saw a post by Gary about it, too. And, quite frankly, I’m not too surprised that people aren’t posting too much about it. Though I suppose there would be an opportunity to put in a plug for a US Airways CC if they wanted. 😉

  11. Gah – I just got my bonus from work and part of it was going towards buying enough miles to go FC to England again in Feb 2014 like we did when I went home last year becuase I received the notification that I could buy double miles unti teh end of feb.

    I guess we will be going cattle coach.

    This sucks.

Comments are closed.