How & When to Fly Thai 1st Class, MileagePlus Sweetspot Devaluing in 3 Months

It only costs 40,000 United miles to fly Thai Airways First Class between South Asia and Australia/New Zealand. A flight between Bangkok and Sydney is nine hours long. 40k is an incredible price for the travel time and quality of the product.

Sadly on November 1 of this year, the price will increase to 65,000 miles. That is not an unreasonable price, but the award will certainly lose its sweetspot status. The devaluation of this international award is not the only change we'll see to MileagePlus this fall.

Flash Sale on United Miles: 67% Bonus Through June 2

Through June 2, 2017 at 11:59 CT (today and tomorrow), United is offering up to a 67% bonus on purchased miles.

Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: United MileagePlus

This post is part one of a series about how to maximize value when transferring your Chase Ultimate Rewards to loyalty program partners. 
Maximizing Your Ultimate Rewards Series Index

Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: United MileagePlus (this post)
Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: Singapore Krisflyer #1
Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: Singapore Krisflyer #2 
Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: Korean SkyPass #1
Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: Korean Skypass #2
Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: Korean Skypass #3
Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: British Airways Avios 
Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: Flying Blue
Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: Virgin Atlantic Flying Club #1
Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: Virgin Atlantic Flying Club #2
Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: Southwest Rapid Rewards
Maximizing

Free Oneways on United Awards within the USA

Reader Christopher emailed me an exciting tip the other day: free oneways are possible on United awards within the continental USA and Canada. I already knew free oneways were possible on international United awards and awards to Hawaii, but this was news.

He sent me some screenshots, and I was able to replicate his findings and add some more of my own. I learned four things:

Christopher's tip: You can get a free oneway on roundtrip Standard economy awards within the US and Canada. That means three oneway Standard awards for 50k United miles.

Save 15,000 Miles with the Hidden City Trick on Your Next Award

United, US Airways, American, and Delta among others rely on award charts to determine the price of your award.