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United is out with a flash sale for its Mileage Plus members. Until September 29, 2023, you can book award flights on United for as few as 30,000 miles one-way to 12 different European destinations. That's the previous rate United charged for economy flights between the U.S. and Europe prior to the program's latest devaluation. Let's take a quick look at this deal so you can rush off to snag seats quickly.
Key Terms of United's Award Flash Sale
With the opportunity to book flights to Europe at lower rates, here are the terms:
- Applies to new award bookings.
- Book by September 29, 2023.
- Travel between September 26 and December 14, 2023 (no blackout dates).
- Both nonstop and connecting itineraries are permitted.
- Destination airports include: AMS, BRU, CDG, DUB, EDI, FRA, GVA, LHR, MAD, MUC, SNN, and ZRH.
- Only applies to economy flights.
- Taxes + fees start at $47.15 roundtrip.
- Full terms are available here.
The sale is live and runs until September 29. As is always the case, more United award availability is available to United co-branded cardholders and Premier elite members. Make sure to log into your account before searching if you have a co-branded United credit card.
Eligible United International Award Flights
The “standard” rates for award flights to Europe in economy increased by 33% earlier this year — up to 40,000 miles — so this promotion offers the previous rates. This works from all mainland U.S. airports and is lucrative for those who don't live near a big hub. That's because you won't need positioning flights if there's saver award space for connecting itineraries.
To select European cities for 30k miles
The promotion lists the following cities/airports as eligible for the sale:
- Amsterdam (AMS)
- Brussels (BRU)
- Paris (CDG)
- Dublin (DUB)
- Edinburgh (EDI)
- Frankfurt (FRA)
- Geneva (GVA)
- London (LHR)
- Madrid (MAD)
- Munich (MUC)
- Shannon (SNN)
- Zurich (ZRH)
I found plenty of award space from my home airport of El Paso (ELP) to different cities on the list, such as Amsterdam (AMS), when I was signed into my Mileage Plus account. However, if you don't have elite status or don't hold a United cobranded card like the United℠ Explorer Card, you will find fewer flights are available
We also found cities not listed in the promotion, like this one to Rome, pricing at 31,800 miles. That's a bit higher than the 30k offered in the award sale, but it's definitely lower than United's standard saver rate.
You may pay less with LifeMiles
It's worth mentioning that LifeMiles sometimes offers better prices on United flights if you're booking a non-stop flight. You could pay as little as 23,000 LifeMiles for some of these flights, assuming it's a direct flight. However, if you need a connection to get to your destination, you're probably better off booking with United here.
Getting United Miles
This United award flash sale is great for those who already have miles in their MileagePlus account. However, if your United account is too low to book these awards, you aren't out of luck. There are several options for topping up your account with transfers from other programs:
You also could consider opening a United credit card and using the miles from its welcome bonus during a future flash sale.
Related: Which United Credit Card is Right for You?
Bottom Line
United is running a flash sale for its MileagePlus program, offering quality economy ticket pricing to Europe. The promotion only applies to economy flights but is an effective 25% discount for these flights. Those are great prices if you can find a date and time that works for you.
Are you booking a trip with this latest United award flash sale? Let us know where you're headed in the comments section.
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
I can’t believe I missed this! I was JUST thinking about booking a flight to Rome!
Too good to be truth. Sure there are some tricks.
This is cool to see some reward flight deals for United since they seemed to have devalued their points over the last couple years, requiring more and more points for decent flights. Hope their business class award availability is good.
Yes, I’ve found opportunites from Buenos Aires to DC for about 40k. Its amazing
I was frustrated yesterday because when I searched for flights from Ogdensburg, NY to IAD, the matrix said “4k” for the flights. But after clicking through to the “pay” page the price ramped up to 12,500 points. So I wasn’t able to take advantage of this offer.
I did get several emails about this but I do not need any trips right now. I know they are trying to boost but now I wouldn’t think they need too much. I thought I heard that searches are up for travel.
This is great! Does this also apply to COPA Airlines flights?
Amazing!
Whilst I’m sure some people will be able to make use of this, it looks a little underwhelming when compared to the AAdvantage 40th promotion.
I don’t like the limited dates on this flash sale. They know it’s too early still to travel for a lot of people. They should allow longer travel dates.
I suspect that their goal is to entice people to start traveling again. People will resume travel on their own eventually, so this is a sale to speed that up, only works if it’s for travel sooner than people are quite ready for.
The routes are listed in only 1 direction, but in case it wasn’t clear, both directions work. You don’t have to start in the city listed first, you can do your roundtrip in either direction. Every flight obviously isn’t available at the 4k rate, but in my quick search there were some good times, not only 6am flights!
What is United’s cancelation/redeposit of miles if I cannot go?
Great question! There’s no fee if you change or cancel 31+ days in advance. The fee within 30 days is $125 per passenger for general members. That fee is reduced for elite members.
Thank you for asking/answering this. That was going to be my question.
Do you know what the fee is for elite members?
Premier Silver: $100
Premier Gold: $75
Premier Platinum: $50
Premier 1K: $0
Can you combine this with United’s excursionist perk?
Potentially! We didn’t have the chance to check as we wanted to publish this ASAP!
Any offerings in Business?
Not that I’ve seen. Just standard premium cabin rates.
I usually don’t advocate for using miles for short-haul flights that only cost a couple of hundred dollars but if only using 4K miles, it would be worth it.
i booked a july 4th trip PDX-AMS (via IAH and ORD) for 40k. we’ll see if that actually happens! i put a reminder 32 days out to reevaluate before the free cxl period ends.
Nice!