United MileagePlus Has Been Unable to Book Singapore and Thai Awards for Over a Month, and Now ANA awards aren't bookable either. Note that this is supposed to be temporary and is unique to United MileagePlus; other Star Alliance miles, such as Aeroplan, Singapore KrisFlyer, etc. can book this space.
Now, sometimes other Star Alliance award charts are more attractive anyway, such as Aeroplan awards to Asia 2 (south Asian countries such as Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, etc.) since saver business class (such as Singapore Business Class or ANA Business Class) is 77,500 miles each way from the U.S, vs. 90,000 United miles, while an ANA First Class or other Star Alliance first class award U.S. to south Asia would be 107,500 Aeroplan miles vs. 140,000 United miles.
But for most of us, it's easier to earn plenty of Chase Ultimate Rewards points, which transfer 1:1 to United MileagePlus, via the 3X and 5X category bonuses, and harder to earn high category bonuses for AMEX Membership Rewards points, which transfer 1:1 to Aeroplan. Effectively, this is also a devaluation of Chase Ultimate Rewards points, for anyone who transfers points to United MileagePlus.
Why is United blocking award space on Singapore, Thai, TAP and ANA? According to United, there's a glitch in the connection between United and the partner airlines' reservation systems, such that sometimes the awards MileagePlus is attempting to confirm get cancelled out by the partner. Since this is obviously a big problem, particularly for those trying to use MileagePlus miles to confirm last minute awards on partners, United has decided to block all the space of these partners while the problem gets fixed.
Unfortunately, it doesn't seem as though fixing this issue with partners is high priority, given how long Singapore and Thai awards haven't been bookable.
Have your travel plans been disrupted by United MileagePlus blocking Singapore, Thai, TAP and now ANA awards?
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