Like an Overnight Snowfall, New Asian Lockdown Provides Fresh United Mileage Upgrade and Award Availability to Asia – for Travel All Year

February 2022
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Time for United elites and Chase points travelers to book while the bookings are good.

Crazy times we live in, huh? Case in point, China. It’s locked down again. Flights are being canceled despite the Winter Olympic Games. But here’s a scoop: an overnight dump of insider data found that award and upgrade seats have opened up to nearby Japan, in what was previously barren ground for all of Asia for United award and upgrade seats, as we told you here.

This has suddenly become a blizzard of opportunity. Is all of this connected? Likely. FCF commonly finds airline marketers doing whatever they need to when seats aren’t getting filled as quickly as they’d like: So they often make seats available for miles redemptions when bookings are off, as they have to the region.

Now, the trick is to not get frozen out of a great chance to go to Asia this year. And by this year, I mean that there’s plenty of great space available right now, which probably won’t be for long, once Asia picks up again.

The world is opening-up right now at break-neck speed, and miles travel will soon disappear like a thief in the night. So drop everything and book an amazing trip right now. You can usually cancel it without fees.

Before and After the Blizzard:
Free Award Tickets

This United award chart tells the chilling tale of what we showed you only two months ago here. A snapshot reminder from FCF December 2021’s report shows routes with United Business Class Award seats at the lowest discounted award cost available on just 1 out of 25 routes (or 4%)!

Compare that to our survey this month (below), which had 6 of 25 United routes with free award seats available for 140,000 miles round-trip, the difference is like night and day.

United Airlines Business Class Free Award Availability
Now With 6X the Availability

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Before and After the Blizzard:
Mileage Upgrades

This month our Asia survey shows 6 of 25 routes with United mileage upgrades available. Check out the current opportunities not to miss, below.

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If you’re a United elite status chaser or Chase points (transferable to United miles) collector or someone (anyone) willing to buy United miles to save big, now’s the time to embrace the cold and freeze that upgraded award seat to Asia before it melts away and evaporates.

More Mileage Upgrade INSIGHTS

From previous FCF special reports:

Troubleshooting Lucrative United Upgrade Opportunities with Connecting Flights

How Savvy Elite-Status and Schedule-Focused Travelers Fly Business Class on United

United’s Asian Upgrade Escapade

Ten Reasons Why I’m the Biggest Fan of Mileage Upgrade Awards—and Why You Should Be Too

[["From \/ To","Outbound","#colspan#","#colspan#","Return","#colspan#","#colspan#"],["#rowspan#","4 to 8 Days Per Month","9 to 12 Days Per Month","13+ Days Per Month","4 to 8 Days Per Month","9 to 12 Days Per Month","13+ Days Per Month"],["Chicago - Tokyo","<span style=\"color: #009966;\">May<\/span>","May","<span style=\"color: #009966;\">April<\/span>","<span style=\"color: #009966;\">May<\/span>","","<span style=\"color: #009966;\">April,<\/span> <span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">May<\/span>"],["Denver - Tokyo","<span style=\"color: #009966;\">April., May,<\/span> <span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">Oct.<\/span>","<span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">April., Sept.<\/span>","<span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">May to Aug.,<\/span> Sept., Oct., <span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">Nov., Dec.<\/span>","<span style=\"color: #009966;\">March, May,<\/span> Aug.","<span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">June., Oct. to Dec.<\/span>","<span style=\"color: #009966;\">April,<\/span> <span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">May,<\/span> June., <span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">Sept.,<\/span> Dec."],["Houston - Tokyo","<span style=\"color: #009966;\">April.,<\/span> May","","<span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">April<\/span>","<span style=\"color: #009966;\">April.,<\/span> May","<span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">April<\/span>",""],["Newark - Tokyo","","<span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">May<\/span>","<span style=\"color: #009966;\">March, April,<\/span> May","","","<span style=\"color: #009966;\">March, April,<\/span> <span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">May<\/span>"],["San Francisco - Tokyo","May","","<span style=\"color: #009966;\">March, April,<\/span> <span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">May to Dec.<\/span>","<span style=\"color: #009966;\">May,<\/span> <span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">Aug., Nov.<\/span>","Aug., <span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">Oct., Dec.<\/span>","<span style=\"color: #009966;\">March, April,<\/span> <span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">May, June, Sept.,<\/span> Oct. to Dec."],["Washington, DC - Tokyo","<span style=\"color: #009966;\">March<\/span>","<span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">May<\/span>","<span style=\"color: #009966;\">April.,<\/span> May","<span style=\"color: #009966;\">March<\/span>","<span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">July<\/span>","<span style=\"color: #009966;\">April,<\/span> <span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">May, June, Aug.,<\/span> Sept. to Dec."]]
<small>*Months in <u>black</u> at least one seat available; in <span style="color: #6699cc;"><u>blue</u></span> at least two seats; in <span style="color: #009966;"><u>green</u></span> at least four seats.</small>
[["From \/ To","Outbound","#colspan#","#colspan#","Return","#colspan#","#colspan#"],["#rowspan#","4 to 8 Days Per Month","9 to 12 Days Per Month","13+ Days Per Month","4 to 8 Days Per Month","9 to 12 Days Per Month","13+ Days Per Month"],["Chicago - Tokyo","","<span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">Dec.<\/span>","<span style=\"color: #009966;\">April,<\/span> <span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">May to Nov.<\/span>","<span style=\"color: #009966;\">May,<\/span> <span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">July<\/span>","<span style=\"color: #009966;\">April,<\/span> <span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">Aug., Dec.<\/span>","<span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">March,<\/span> <span style=\"color: #009966;\">April to June, Sept. to Nov.<\/span>"],["Denver - Tokyo","<span style=\"color: #009966;\">May,<\/span> <span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">Oct.<\/span>","<span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">Dec.<\/span>","<span style=\"color: #009966;\">April,<\/span> <span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">May to Sept.,<\/span> Oct., <span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">Nov.<\/span>","<span style=\"color: #009966;\">May,<\/span> <span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">June, Dec.<\/span>","June, <span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">Nov.,<\/span> Dec.","<span style=\"color: #009966;\">March, April,<\/span> <span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">May, Sept., Oct.,<\/span> Nov."],["Houston - Tokyo","<span style=\"color: #009966;\">April<\/span>","<span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">May,<\/span> Dec.","<span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">April,<\/span> May, <span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">June to Aug.,<\/span> Sept. to Nov.","<span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">Aug.,<\/span> Sept.","<span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">May,<\/span> Dec.","<span style=\"color: #009966;\">March., April,<\/span> May, <span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">June,<\/span> Oct., Nov."],["Newark - Tokyo","","","<span style=\"color: #009966;\">March, April,<\/span> <span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">May to Aug.,<\/span> Sept. to Dec.","<span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">July, Aug.<\/span>","","<span style=\"color: #009966;\">March, April,<\/span> <span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">May, June,<\/span> Aug. to Dec."],["San Francisco - Tokyo","","","<span style=\"color: #009966;\">March, April,<\/span> <span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">May to Dec.<\/span>","<span style=\"color: #009966;\">May,<\/span> Aug., <span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">Nov., Dec.<\/span>","<span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">June, Oct.<\/span>","<span style=\"color: #009966;\">March., April.,<\/span> <span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">May,<\/span> June, <span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">Sept.,<\/span> Oct. to Dec."],["Washington, DC - Tokyo","","","<span style=\"color: #009966;\">April,<\/span> <span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">May to Aug.,<\/span> Sept. to Dec.","<span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">Aug.<\/span>","Aug.","<span style=\"color: #009966;\">April,<\/span> <span style=\"color: #6699cc;\">May, June,<\/span> Sept. to Dec."]]
<small>*Months in <u>black</u> at least one seat available; in <span style="color: #6699cc;"><u>blue</u></span> at least two seats; in <span style="color: #009966;"><u>green</u></span> at least four seats.</small>