Heads up if you've been hoarding Chase UR and/or United miles:
https://thepointsguy.com/news/united...g-award-chart/
I'm not entirely clear on why/whether this will have a practical effect immediately. So, for example, we knew that up until Nov 15th 2019, a "Saver Award" from U.S. to Japan Business Class was 70K miles. However, you still had to comb through calendars and be super flexible to ever actually FIND a "Super Saver" award. Now, I guess, the mileage price can just be whatever. But:
1) I still see flights at the "Saver" price past Nov 15th.
2) Supposedly they already were sometimes just offering flights at whatever mileage price they wanted?
So I don't see why it automatically follows that "no more set prices" means "you will be much less likely to find good mileage bargains", since you already had to cast a wide net to find good award flights anyway. I may just have missed out on the golden age where it was a lot easier?
In any event, the uncertainty here made me finally book the flight to Japan I've been saying I would eventually do. It's 10 months away, First Class there with ANA and United Polaris (biz class) back (both lay-flat), around $15K cash price. I did get the "Saver" prices of 110K and 70K, transferred most of my Chase UR over to United (it hit instantly and became available within a few minutes).
Anyway, you may want to book something quickly!
People think American Airlines will follow, so think about burning those too.