Booking premium domestic products (on the cheap)

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Back in March I observed that Delta's premium transcontinental BusinessElite service was bookable using Alaska Airlines' Mileage Plan miles at the standard domestic First Class rate. That fluke has since been fixed, but it got me thinking about the best ways to book those premium transcontinental seats using partner miles. Here's what I found:

American Airlines

American Airlines operates a 3-cabin First Class product on transcontinental flights between JFK and LAX and between JFK and SFO. Booking these 3-cabin First Class seats through AAdvantage costs 32,500 miles each way at the SAAver level.

The popular workaround of using British Airways Avios on oneworld awards is actually counter-productive in this case, since for premium cabin redemptions British Airways charges 2 (Business) or 3 (First) times the cost of an economy award. Since LAX and SFO are in the 2000–3000 mile band, a First Class redemption will cost 37,500 Avios from JFK each way.

Instead, book your First Class ticket using US Airways Dividend Miles. You'll pay just 50,000 Dividend Miles, since US Airways doesn't have a spot on its domestic award chart for 3-cabin Business Class.

While researching this I naturally started wondering what would happen if you tried to price out a First Class award on a date when seats were available in Business but not First, since they don't have a separate price point for domestic Business. This is what I found:

Clever girl!

Delta Airlines

Delta operates their premium BusinessElite product between JFK and LAX, SEA, and SFO, and prices those seats out at 65,000 Skymiles roundtrip.

Many people would prefer to burn Skymiles instead of other, more valuable mileage currencies, but you can still book BusinessElite tickets with 65,000 Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles roundtrip, which you might consider doing in order to put together an itinerary that mixes and matches American's First Class and Delta's BusinessElite products, perhaps if you're some kind of travel blogger intent on reviewing these products (or if you just happen to be Mileage Plan rich).

If you're booking an award ticket for yourself or a (very) immediate family member, and are willing to persevere through their Byzantine booking procedure, you can transfer Ultimate Rewards points to Korean Airlines and book a roundtrip BusinessElite flight for 45,000 SkyPass miles.

United Airlines

United operates their "Premium Service" BusinessFirst product between JFK and LAX and JFK and SFO. Unfortunately my cursory glance showed essentially no award availability on the product. If you are able to find award space at the Saver level, it costs just 25,000 United miles each way, since it is a two-cabin product.

Star Alliance has a number of member airlines with interesting mileage programs, so you may find lucrative redemption options in your own favorite non-US program. Here are some that occurred off the top of my head:

  • Aegean Airlines. If you happened to have run up a balance of Aegean miles while qualifying for Star Alliance Gold status, you can redeem 21,000 of them for a one-way Business Class ticket within North America;
  • Lifemiles. As you may have noticed, Lifemiles are currently having a moment. If you've accumulated a stash of them, you can redeem 60,000 for a roundtrip Business Class flight within North America. Those miles may be cheaper than you think;
  • Lufthansa Miles & More. As is pointed out ad nauseam whenever a new affiliate link is released, Lufthansa allows you to redeem 35,000 miles for roundtrip domestic First Class (or in this case, BusinessFirst) awards within the US.

Do take a look at United BusinessFirst award availability, in case you think I'm exaggerating. You should probably not plan on redeeming any reasonable number of miles for that product, unless they open up vastly more award space in the future.

I fly Delta because flying United is very stressful

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Let me start off by apologizing to any readers who have contacted me in the last few days that I haven’t managed to respond to yet. I will get to everyone eventually, but I have had even less time than usual as my life has been consumed by wrapping up my responsibilities at work and planning my move.

Now that I’m safely ensconced in first on my last leg of the night, I have time to share today’s mini-travel-hacking saga.

My apartment is totally empty

If you’ve been following my adventures on Twitter, you know I had a lot of problems unloading my (very nice!) furniture at laughably low prices. Finally I broke down and sent out a blast e-mail to my company listserv offering it for free, and instantly had a dozen or so people willing to take it off my hands. The couple that ended up emptying my apartment even gave me some cash for the furniture, which I thought was nice of them since I’d offered it for free.

Ground stop in Chicago

On my way out the door to head to TF Green International Airport, I checked the status of my flight to Chicago and saw that it was both delayed 2 hours and cancelled. Quite an achievement, as I’m sure you’ll agree.

Crisis mode

United had already rebooked me on a two-stop itinerary arriving late tomorrow night, which didn’t work for two reasons: I’m going to a concert tomorrow night in my destination, and my apartment is totally empty, so I had nowhere to sleep (see above).

There were no more Delta flights out of Providence tonight, but I checked Boston and there was a 6:47 flight to Detroit which would allow me to connect on to my final destination.

I called United and was told there was a 45-minute wait to speak to an agent. While on hold, I quickly signed into my Alaska Airlines account and – incredibly – found there was low-level award space on the entire ex-Boston itinerary. Unfortunately, Delta still only allows round-trip award reservations – and that applies to reservations made through Alaska – so I booked a return flight in September at the low-level as well.

While still on hold with United, I packed up the last of my suitcases and headed out the door to the train station. When I finally reached an agent, I quickly explained the situation and asked him to book me on the same Delta flight I’d already made my award reservation on. He was happy to do it, but had to call in to Delta's reservations line, which meant another 10-minute hold.

Finally, he came back on and said he’d made my reservation on Delta and gave me a new Delta confirmation number.

On the train

Alaska allows free cancellations within 24 hours of booking on award bookings, so I refunded that ticket immediately just in case Delta cancelled one or both reservations as a double booking. Then I added my Delta Skymiles number to the new, paid reservation and selected my economy comfort seats.

One benefit of being rebooked onto a different carrier on the day of travel is that you’re typically booked into an expensive, last-minute fare bucket, in this case a full-fare economy “Y” fare. That meant that if there were any first class seats available on my Delta flights today, I’d be virtually guaranteed an upgrade as a Platinum Medallion, and also pick up a rack of bonus Skymiles and Medallion Qualifying Miles.

And indeed, my upgrades cleared first at the gate for both my flights today.

Things to follow up on

For reasons I can’t begin to understand, I decided to pay for my checked bag on United online at check-in, instead of at the airport. I never do this, so cannot begin to imagine why I thought it would be a good idea — it never is.

That means United now has $25 of my money that I’m going to have to request refunded, call, e-mail, and tweet about until they give it back, because they are just terrible about refunds.

Additionally, I’ll request original routing credit for my United itinerary, which they’ll hopefully credit to my Aegean Airlines account. While I’m fairly sure they’ll go along with that, this is one I’m not willing to go to the mat over, since while Star Alliance Gold is a fun travel hacking goal, to get the most benefit from it I would then subsequently have to fly United, and ensuring the original routing credit would require more interaction with United than I’m willing to commit to.

Conclusion

Since we're about to take off, here are my take-aways from today's little adventure:

  • Never pay for your checked bags online. Why would you?
  • Keep your eye on developing situations, like the today's radar-tower fire in Chicago.
  • Be proactive: know your options and book refundable backups, if necessary.
  • Ask the ticketing carrier to book you on other airlines, if they can get you where you're going.
  • Don't forget to add your frequent flyer number to the new reservations.
  • And ask for original routing credit from the ticketing carrier.

The time I got 3 cents per Skymile and saved Christmas

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That was exciting.

I've mentioned my upcoming flight in Alaska Airlines First Class to Hawaii to celebrate Christmas with my family (and earn Delta Platinum Medallion status). Well, Sunday's the big travel day, which means that my travel partner is flying tonight from her home base in the midwest out to New England so we could be on the same flights to Kauai. That was important to me because if there are any weather or mechanical delays along the way, I wanted to be able to troubleshoot the issues with her rather than leaving her stranded to negotiate rebookings, hotels, meal vouchers, and the rest of the hassles of winter travel on her own.

Unfortunately, when we booked the ticket a few months ago, it seemed like United's price and schedule worked best to get her out here. I say it "seemed" like it, because I failed to take into account the "United premium" of delays, missed connections, terrible customer service, and the overall disaster of an airline they represent.

With a delayed flight into Cleveland, there was no way my partner would make it into New England tonight. If she was rebooked onto a flight tomorrow, then we'd lose the Saturday buffer in case of additional weather problems. The only way she would get into New England tonight was on Delta:

That flight costs $1,219.60! Using Skymiles, on the other hand, I was able to book the outbound leg at the "Peak" (previously "high") level, and the inbound at the "Saver" (previously "low") level, for a total of 42,500 Skymiles and $10 in taxes and fees. That's a nominal value of 2.85 cents per Skymile.

Now, it's fair to point out that I wouldn't have actually paid $1,220 to rebook her onto Delta. Rather, I would have let United handle it, rebooking her onto flights tomorrow and causing me a huge amount of stress waiting to see whether she makes it in time.

That's the distinction I was driving at in this post back in April. While it's not fair to say that I used my miles to "save" $1,210, since I wouldn't have paid that much for this Delta ticket, it is fair to say that the 42,500 Skymiles I used, which cost me perhaps $243 to manufacture (earning 1.4 Skymiles per dollar, spending 0.8 cents per dollar), bought me something that's worth at least several times that much (including a ticket, my peace of mind, and a buffer day in between traveling), and in that sense I really did get an outsized return on my upfront investment.

Two Alternatives

There were two additional alternatives that were conceivable in this situation. First, I could have bought my partner the paid Delta ticket using my Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard, and redeemed Arrival miles against the purchase. To earn 122,000 Arrival miles, I'd need to spend about $61,000 on the card, which would cost me perhaps $488. That would be slightly more expensive than the Skymiles option, but it would leave me with the 42,500 Skymiles, which is about a third of the new cost of a transatlantic BusinessElite ticket.

Alternatively, and I might have tried this if I were flying with my partner, I could have asked United to rebook me on the Delta flight tonight, instead of paying for a hotel in Madison or Cleveland. Airlines are sometimes willing to do this, although it will depend largely on the agent you're dealing with and how hard you're willing to push. Besides the fact that I didn't want to put my partner on the spot to negotiate her rebooking, the real obstacle to this approach is the agonizing slowness of United customer service agents. If she waited in line to speak to the customer service representative, she would have missed not only the United flight to Cleveland, but probably the Delta flight to Detroit as well. I'd rather go online, book a ticket, and have her walk over to her new gate.

Plus, this way I scored huge brownie points, just in time for the holidays.

More fun with the United devaluation

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Last week on the train to New York for a family weekend I posted a quick-and-dirty analysis of how what formerly seemed like insane "fuel" surcharges on British Airways award redemptions can actually be cheaper than flights purchased through United's new, devalued partner award chart. It was a stylized example (you had to earn a British Airways companion pass – and have a companion – for starters), but I've spent the week thinking about it and have a few more fun examples to share.

Let's start with the assumption that you're flush with flexible Ultimate Rewards points earned through one of Chase's premium credit cards. You might have planned to redeem 125,000 of them for a Lufthansa first class ticket booked through United. Starting in February you know that award will cost 220,000 miles, so you're looking for an alternative.

The good news is, tickets booked on Aer Lingus and air berlin (their punctuation, not mine) using British Airways Avios still don't have the absurd fuel surcharges that make most British Airways redemptions such a terrible value. That means getting to Europe in business class is still affordable using Ultimate Rewards points.

Aer Lingus

From Dublin, Aer Lingus flies to and from Boston Logan, New York JFK, Chicago O'Hare, and Orlando  International Airport. From Shannon, they only serve New York and Boston. Those flights will cost (each way):

  • JFK: 20,000 economy; 40,000 business
  • BOS: 12,500 economy; 25,000 business
  • ORD:  20,000 economy; 40,000 business
  • MCO:  25,000 economy; 50,000 business*

*there are conflicting reports regarding the cost of this award. The flight is technically (72 miles) over 4,000 miles each way, so should price at the levels I give here, but some reports put the cost at 20,000 economy and 40,000 business. I haven't made a test booking yet to find out for sure.

You will pay some taxes and fees for these awards:

  • The Points Guy paid $30.57 in fees for a one-way business class redemption JFK-DUB;
  • One of his commenters paid $157 in taxes for a round-trip business class redemption BOS-DUB, which puts the ex-Dublin part of the cost at around $125;

From Dublin you can use Avios to fly anywhere Aer Lingus flies, or choose a low-cost European carrier. Be aware that if you purchase your connecting flight on a different itinerary, you won't be protected if your Aer Lingus flight is delayed or cancelled.

air berlin

air berlin flies between Dusseldorf and Fort Myers, Chicago O'Hare, Miami International Airport, Los Angeles International, and New York JFK; and between Berlin and Chicago O'Hare, Miami, and New York JFK.

The flights to Chicago, Miami, and Fort Myers will all cost 25,000 Avios in economy and 50,000 in business class, each way. The flight between JFK and Dusseldorf comes in just under 4,000 miles, so costs just 20,000 Avios in economy and 40,000 in business. The flight between Dusseldorf and Los Angeles is over 5,500 miles, so it costs 30,000 Avios each way in economy and 60,000 in business.

It's hard to believe, but that 20,000 Avios economy class redemption from JFK to DUS has a grand total of taxes and fees of...$2.50:

You think that's something? Let me show you the rest of that dialog box:

That's right: you can redeem just 6,000 Avios and pay $162.50 to "buy up" to the rest of the redemption. That values 14,000 flexible Ultimate Reward points at just $160. But those points are already worth $175 when used for a ticket purchased through the Ultimate Rewards travel tool!

It's worth taking a look at the business class redemption as well. The fees are the same $2.50 when using 40,000 Avios one-way, but unfortunately the "Avios and cash" rate is much more expensive. Instead of "buying" 14,000 Ultimate Rewards points for $160 (1.1 cent each), can pay $560 for 20,000 points (2.8 cents each):

 

Taxes and fees on the DUS-JFK flight are somewhat higher, at $103.30:

But you again have the opportunity to "buy" 14,000 Ultimate Rewards points for $160 – an amazing deal.

Roundtrip to Europe for 12,000 Ultimate Rewards points and $425.80 is an unbelievable deal. Roundtrip to Europe in business class for 80,000 Ultimate Rewards points and $105.80 only looks like a ripoff in comparison.

 

 

Why United's devaluation changes everything (and why Delta's didn't)

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By now you've undoubtedly heard about United's overnight announcement of a major award chart devaluation. Here's a roundup from around the web:

I think this is more than a devaluation, making it that much harder to earn enough miles for premium cabin award tickets: it calls for a paradigm shift.

The traditional view in the frequent flyer community is that US-based airline programs have some advantages over their foreign counterparts. The most important of those advantages is that US airlines don't typically charge fuel surcharges on award tickets booked on their own flights, and often don't pass along their partners' fuel surcharges.

Delta's August devaluation announcement was treated with disgust by those who were already frustrated with Delta's non-functional online award booking tool. But while there's no such thing as a "good" devaluation, that devaluation is offset in part by the fact that Delta miles remain among the easiest to earn, since Gold Medallions and higher earn 100% bonus miles on paid flights and the American Express Delta Platinum and Reserve cards earn 1.4 and 1.5 miles per dollar, respectively, at their annual bonus thresholds. Most importantly, Delta left untouched the basic deal between frequent flyer programs and their members: you can redeem your miles for "aspirational" awards in premium cabins anywhere their partner airlines fly.

United's award chart devaluation breaks that deal with their customers. The problem with United's award chart devaluation is that the "partner" award chart is activated when any one of your flights is on a partner airline, even if United doesn't fly to your ultimate destination . Lucky elucidates this point nicely.

So far bloggers have been thinking about the devaluation from the point of view of a person trying to redeem United miles. But if you take one step back, you can see the consequences are actually much further reaching than that.

Let's say I'm trying to redeem my flexible Ultimate Rewards points for a round-trip, business class ticket between Boston and Prague.  Since I can redeem United miles on their partner airlines, in this case Lufthansa, at the same mileage cost as on United metal, using the current award chart I'll pay 100,000 United miles and $97 in taxes and fees. After February 1, when the new partner award chart takes effect, that'll increase to 140,000 United miles (let's assume the taxes and fees stay the same for now).

With British Airways Avios, also an Ultimate Rewards transfer partner, I'll pay those enormous fuel surcharges you're always hearing about, in this case about $1,028. But I'll pay just 98,000 Avios. That values 42,000 Ultimate Rewards points at $931, or about 2.2 cents each. That's on the high side, but it isn't crazy, for example if you're planning a high-value Hyatt redemption.

Let's take this example one step further.

Under the current United award chart, the Chase British Airways Visa credit card isn't a great value for most people. It comes with 50,000 Avios, which many people use for short-haul American Airlines flights, which cost just 4,500 Avios each way. But the companion pass that you earn after spending $30,000 during the calendar year has the major drawback that you still have to pay the formidable taxes and fees attached to the second award ticket.

Under the new United award chart , the calculus changes completely. Using the example above, where we found that the British Airways award ended up costing about the same as the United partner award when we value Ultimate Rewards points at 2.2 cents each, now when we book a companion ticket for an additional $931 we're saving not 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points, but 140,000. That's like buying Ultimate Rewards points for just 0.67 cents each. Since you can redeem Ultimate Rewards points for cash at 1 cent each, this is a no brainer.

In other words:

  • Two round trip tickets on Lufthansa using United miles: 280,000 miles and $194;
  • Two round trip business class tickets on British Airways: 98,000 miles and $2,056 (plus a $95 annual fee);
  • Cash value of 200,000 Ultimate Rewards points: $2,000.

This is the example that came to mind most readily because British Airways and United are both Ultimate Rewards transfer partners. But I suspect there are a lot more situations like this, where increased redemption costs under the new United award chart – especially in premium cabins – will make it worth paying potentially astronomical fuel surcharges to their rivals.

United is simply abdicating its position as America's most coveted airline currency, and this decision is going to have unforeseen consequences throughout the industry.  What do you think?

Do this now: double redeemable miles with United

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 [update 10/22/13: I failed to mention that the promotion is only valid in the following fare classes: A, J, C, D, Z, P, Y, B, M, E, U, H, Q, V, W and S. If you're planning to take advantage of this promotion, be sure your fare qualifies before booking.]

I don't typically write about airline promotions since they tend to be either targeted to certain customers or valid only on certain routes. However, there's currently a United Airlines promotion that doesn't appear to be targeted and that everyone should register for immediately.

Under this promotion, you'll earn double redeemable (not Elite Qualification) Mileage Plus miles on all flights operated by United or United Express within the continental United States between October 21 and November 21, 2013. Unfortunately, you'll only earn the bonus miles on flights you book during the promotional period, not existing reservations.

If you're flying United in the next month this is an incredible promotion, and if you're planning to mileage run for status before the end of the year, it's definitely worth scheduling your run during the promotional period. Register now, before you forget.

No, buying miles and points still (usually) doesn't make sense

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On Sunday I described a mistake I made when making an upcoming Marriott reservation: since Marriott allows you to purchase points for 1.25 cents each, if a Marriott redemption makes sense on the merits (I wanted to stay at the airport the night before my departure) then you should buy any points you need. Instead, I transferred super-valuable flexible Chase Ultimate Rewards points from my Sapphire Preferred account, even though those points are worth at least 1.25 cents each when used to purchase paid airline tickets through the Ultimate Rewards portal.

That reminded me of an e-mail I received recently from reader Kimberly in San Diego. She asked:

When I checked in for a united flight from San Diego to Chicago they asked if I want to get double miles (over 1700 extra) for around $60 I think. The ticket was $400. Should I do it?

This is the kind of split-second decision that frequent flyer programs love forcing their customers to make. After all, checking in at the airport you might not have any idea whether this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to stock up on points, or even whether it's a better deal than buying points online at united.com. That's one reason why you should always have a general idea of what a mile or point is worth to you.

Now, some travel hackers take this to extremes and try to establish specific prices they're willing to buy points at and specific values they're willing to redeem points at. Those travel hackers also accumulate vast quantities of miles and points because they're always waiting for the perfect redemption. 

My approach is slightly different, and it works better for my lifestyle: I'm always eager to redeem my miles and points instead of spending cash, but I also only acquire them at the lowest cost possible: that's why I have a single-minded focus on my cost per point. For example, when the no-fee Hilton American Express card gave 6 Hilton HHonors points per dollar spent at drug stores, it was possible to earn HHonors points at a cost of 0.13 cents each. For me, that makes it academic whether I'm redeeming my HHonors points for 0.55 cents each or 0.8 cents each: either way I'm beating the house every time.

That brings me back to Kimberly's question: should she buy 1,700 United MileagePlus miles for $60 when she checks into her Chicago flight? For me there are three numbers that make this decision easy:

  • 25,000: the number of MileagePlus miles required for a domestic round-trip award ticket;
  • 60,000: the number required for an economy transatlantic award ticket;
  • 100,000: the number required for a business class transatlantic award ticket. 

Those are the three awards I redeem my MileagePlus miles for most frequently. And purchasing United miles for 3.5 cents each would value those tickets at $875, $2,100, and $3,500, respectively.  Since I know I would never spend that much money on one of these tickets, I know that I should pass on the offer to buy miles.

How much would you pay for United Premier Silver?

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A few days ago, Marriott and United Airlines announced the RewardsPlus partnership, obviously modeled on the Crossover Rewards program offered by Delta and Starwood. Basically, if you're a United Premier Gold elite or higher, you can receive Marriott's mid-tier Gold status for free, and if you're a top-tier Marriott Platinum elite, you can receive United Premier Silver status for free.

Naturally, my first thought was "how can I hack this?" Here's what I came up with. Note that I don't actually recommend doing this: whether or not it makes sense for you depends on your specific situation.

Approach #1: Status Match to United

United has a published status match program which runs from January 1 to August 31. If you have Delta Gold or Platinum Medallion status, you can have your United account upgraded to Premier Gold or Platinum for 90 days. If you fly 12,500 PQM (Gold) or 18,000 PQM (Platinum) within those 90 days, you'll keep United Premier status for the rest of the program year.

What I don't know  is whether you would be able to register for RewardsPlus during your probationary period, or only after successfully completing the status match. Either way, once registered you would receive free Marriott Gold status for the remainder of the 2013 program year.

Assuming you intend to complete your challenge exclusively through mileage runs at 4 cents per PQM, you can buy Premier Gold status for $500 or Premier Platinum status for $720. Through RewardsPlus, you'll also then have Marriott Gold status.

Approach #2: Status Challenge to Marriott

Marriott likewise offers status challenges to their top-tier Platinum status, through a program called "Taste of Platinum." You have 3 calendar months, plus the remainder of the calendar month you begin your challenge, to complete 9 paid Marriott stays. If you complete the stays within the challenge period, you're upgraded to Platinum status for the remainder of the program year.

At the end of the program year, you can use 40,000 Marriott Rewards points (for example, transferred from a flexible Ultimate Rewards account), to buy back your Platinum status for the next year.

If you're completing your 9 paid stays exclusively on mattress runs at $75 per night, you'll earn Marriott Platinum status (and United Premier Silver) after spending $675.

Is it worth it?

A status match to United or Marriott (or any airline or hotel loyalty program) always makes sense if you actually intend on flying or staying with that airline. For example, if your company forces you to fly an airline or stay with a hotel chain you don't yet have status with, be sure to status match before you start traveling in order to take advantage of your new elite benefits.

The specific question I'm interested in here is whether it's worth doing a status match specifically to take advantage of RewardsPlus.

Unfortunately, it usually won't be worth hacking RewardsPlus. The more lucrative version would usually be Approach #2, and it's probably too late for this to be worth doing this year (since the United Premier program year runs through the end of February). But if this program is continued again in the 2014 program year, then paying about $700 for United Premier Silver status, which entitles you to a 500-mile earning minimum and a 25% earning bonus, plus free Economy Plus seats at check-in, might be worth it for leisure travelers and those who fly short-haul domestic United and US airways flights, who without status are only earning the flown mileage on short routes.

You can think of this as bundling an Economy Plus subscription (which United sells for $499) with an award accelerator and free checked bags. If you're the kind of traveler who is likely to take advantage of some or all of those, then having Premier Silver from the beginning of a new program year may be worth the upfront cost of a Taste of Platinum challenge. Of course, the cheaper you can find your mattress runs, the better a value you'll receive, and you'll also earn 15 Marriott Rewards points per dollar spent on your mattress runs, which gives a rebate value of 10-15%, depending on the properties you're likely to use your points at.

How long does it take to get a refund from United?

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I have no idea.

Last month I wrote a paean to Delta Airlines in response to Gary's rhetorical question of "who still flies Delta?" and in passing mentioned that,

every flight I've flown on pre-merger Continental and pre- and post-merger United have been absolutely abysmal. The cabins are dim and unpleasant, the flight attendants are apologetic at best and rude at worst. I'm graciously leaving unmentioned the libertarian capitalist fantasies expressed by United CEO Jeff Smisek in almost every issue of their inflight magazine.

Meanwhile, it looks like Gary's on board after all.

Which brings me to the question I asked above: How long does it take to get a refund from United? Back on June 6, I was scheduled to fly to Portland, OR, for my brother's bachelor party. I was connecting in Newark from a Commutair DBA United Express flight, which was blocked at 1 hour 28 minutes, but is actually only about 40 minutes wheels up to wheels down. I was scheduled to have a 30 minute layover in Newark. When I checked in online for my flight, I saw that there were first class upgrades available for $75 and 20,000 United miles. Since flying on United is unbearable, I thought I'd treat myself and splurge for the upgrade.

Cut to me sprinting down Newark's C terminal and arriving at my gate just as the agent closes the door.

Fine; I scheduled a tight connection, I didn't make it. No big deal. After waiting in United's customer service line for 90 minutes, I was given meal and hotel vouchers and checked into economy for the first non-stop flight to Portland the next morning. 

And then I started waiting for my refund. And waited.

According to United's website, 

In some cases, such as a last-minute change of aircraft or an irregular operation, you may be reaccommodated in a seat other than the one you originally selected. In most cases, you will be issued a new boarding pass. If you were not reaccommodated in a seat with similar or greater value, and you were issued a new boarding pass, the fees paid for the seat will automatically be refunded. If you were not issued a new boarding pass, please complete all fields in the form below to request a refund.

After a week of waiting, I completed the refund request form. After another week, I called to request a refund. And today (3.5 weeks after my missed connection), I was told that my refund would appear on my credit card within 3-5 business days.

Great. But what about my 20,000 miles? The agent explained that she only handled the cash portions of refunds; if I wanted my miles refunded, I'd need to call MileagePlus directly. 

Which brings me to my answer: I have no idea how long it takes to get a refund from United. After all, Smisek is trying to run a business, not an airline, and there's no money in giving people refunds!