(Video tutorial) How I’ve saved thousands of dollars and miles on United Airlines flights
- mike
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
As a NJ-based traveler, I have the benefit of flying out of Newark, LaGuardia, or JFK as they are all relatively close to home. When flying out of Newark, I am pretty much limited to flying with United, since they operate about 70% of the flights out of Newark Airport, according to the Port Authority. However, what’s great about United is that they are part of the Star Alliance, which is the largest of the “Big Three” airline alliances in terms of scheduled traffic and revenue. This means that I am able to book flight itineraries to more destinations around the world. It also means I can book United flights on partner airlines’ websites, which typically offer better award pricing than United does. In this post, I’ll share more details on airline alliances and how I particularly used Star Alliance partners to book a flight to Aruba for my family.
What is an airline alliance?
An airline alliance is essentially a business agreement between two or more airlines to share resources to help drive more efficient operations while simultaneously providing more value to passengers. This additional value comes in many forms, including partner airlines offering connections to destinations that single airline itineraries otherwise wouldn’t be able to offer. For example, United does not fly direct to Vietnam from Newark. It’s likely because the demand for flights to Vietnam from Newark is very low, so it’s not worth it for United to offer this specific route. However, I can still book a flight from Newark to Vietnam on United’s site, thanks to its partnership with ANA, which is a Japanese airline based in Tokyo. In this scenario, I would fly to Tokyo, which is a route offered out of Newark, and then take a connecting flight operated by ANA to Vietnam - all without having the need to book separate flights - they just do it for me!
But where airline alliances REALLY come in handy is when they codeshare. This is a strategy used by airlines to market certain flights on partner airlines’ websites for the sake of expanding their reach, offering more destinations, and potentially selling more tickets by partnering with other airlines. And in a lot of cases, the pricing is WAY different - like this flight to Frankfurt, Germany which is bookable with both United and Lufthansa (a German Star Alliance airline based out of Frankfurt, Germany). You can see that the SAME EXACT flight is bookable on different platforms, but at different prices for economy class.
While $140 may not seem like a boatload of cash, it does represent savings of 25%, and those savings add up over time. I should also note that you won't be able to do this for domestic flights that are paid in cash since foreign airlines don't post US domestic cash flights, however they DO post US domestic flights for award redemptions.
(Video) How I search for United award availability using partner sites
Key Points
The formation of Airline alliances has created opportunities for people like us to take advantage of differences in pricing for the same flight. The Avianca/Air Canada strategy is one many that can be employed across several airline alliance partnerships. When searching for availability, keep the following in mind:
You have to be flexible. There are only so many dates that have available awards.
Mind your points. Chase Ultimate Rewards points don’t transfers to Avianca, but check the rates for Air Canada - all points transfer to their program
Make sure the value makes sense. Using points is not always the best option. Sometimes paying full value is better. It all depends on your point value hurdle rate.
If you live near a United hub such as Newark, Chicago, Denver, Washington Dulles, Houston, Los Angeles, or San Francisco, this strategy should be one that you consider.
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