Subscribe

Get Started

Learn more about Credit Cards, Travel Programs, Deals, and more.

Start Here
Credit Cards
United Airlines

United Adds a New Close-In Booking Fee

DDG
DDG

Enjoy MtM's content? Shop Amazon and we earn a commission!

Find all of the latest deals.
Shop now!
This post may contain affiliate links - Advertiser Disclosure. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

United Close-In Booking Fee

United Adds a New Close-In Booking Fee

Back in April of this year, United Airlines announced that it would remove award charts and close-in booking fees. Moving away from award charts was surely bad news, but no fees seemed like a positive change.

Those changes kicked in on November 15th. But the good news regarding close-in booking fees doesn’t seem to be as good as expected. Yes, there’s no longer a $75 fee for booking within 21 days of departure, but we see a similar charge now being added in miles instead.

New Close-in Booking Fee

If you try to book United awards within 30 days of your departure date, you will now see a price increase of up to 3,500 miles each way. This includes partner awards as well, which have the higher fees.

What’s worse, this new fee that is paid in miles, is affecting everyone, even those with top-tier United status or United cards.

Conclusion

This is very sneaky from United. They proudly announced the removal of the $75 close-in booking fees, but then went ahead and added a different fee. Yes, 3,500 miles is better that $75 for most people. But elites were paying no fees at all and now they have to shell out more miles when booking close to their departure date.

Disclosure: Miles to Memories has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Miles to Memories and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.

 Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is the old king of travel rewards cards. Right now bonus_miles_full

Learn more about this card and its features!

Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
DDG
DDGhttp://dannydealguru.com
Based in NYC. Points/miles enthusiast for years and actively writing about it for the last 6+ years at Danny the Deal Guru. I'm always looking out for deals. Making a few bucks is always nice, but the traveling is by far the best part of this business.

Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

3 COMMENTS

  1. Wether cash, miles, or points added, they are all considered fees! Swapping one for another in not eliminating close-in booking fees. United said they were eliminating close-in booking fees. Just another company not keeping their word. Is anybody surprised.

  2. This is why I’m on SWA right now and SWA will be my primary carrier going forward. So done with the BS, constant changes.

    The loyalty program dumpster fire is getting pretty crowded now that United has joined Delta and AA with this latest devaluation. I really liked the old Mileageplus, too. What a shame.

    I guess my $30K/year doesn’t matter in the greater scheme of things.

    Buh-bye.

  3. … and UA said there wouldn’t be an increase in miles for partners. Liar Liar Pants on Fire. If I was a UA Elite, I’d be pretty ticked off.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Related

7,703FansLike
9,903FollowersFollow
16,444FollowersFollow

At Miles to Memories we share the best tips, tricks and deals plus travel rants, musings, hotel, airline and loyalty program reviews and a lot more! Our goal is to help people save money so they can get out there and travel the world! Through our various blog posts, podcasts & videos we teach others how to maximize loyalty rewards, hotel & airline programs and credit cards to achieve amazing things.

Disclaimer - Miles to Memories & the author are not credit providers and do not provide personal financial or professional advice or credit assistance. The information published on this site/page is of a general nature only and does not consider your personal objectives, financial situation or particular needs.

All information published here is personal opinion and comes from personal experience. The information published on this site/page should not be relied upon as a substitute for personal financial or professional advice. ESR Media, LLC, Miles to Memories and the author strongly recommend that you seek independent advice before you apply for any product or service, which is described on the site/page.

Editorial Note - Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any partner bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other partner. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.