The Day United’s Excursionist Perk Died

Man, the hits keep on coming. After learning earlier this morning that Citi is putting the ThankYou kibosh on the 10% annual points rebate enjoyed by Rewards+ cardholders, we’ve now discovered that United is killing one of the last remaining sweet spots in its program: the Excursionist Perk. Here’s Greg’s simplified explanation of the Excursionist […] The post The Day United’s Excursionist Perk Died appeared first on Frequent Miler. Frequent Miler may receive compensation from CHASE. American Express, Capital One, or other partners.

May 23, 2025 - 04:05

Man, the hits keep on coming. After learning earlier this morning that Citi is putting the ThankYou kibosh on the 10% annual points rebate enjoyed by Rewards+ cardholders, we’ve now discovered that United is killing one of the last remaining sweet spots in its program: the Excursionist Perk.

Here’s Greg’s simplified explanation of the Excursionist Perk:

If you book a multi-city award that begins and ends in the same region, then:
You can book a free one-way segment in the middle of your trip as long as that free segment is in a different region from where you began.
Your free segment must not cross regions.

This has been very cool feature of United Mileage Plus for years now, and one that Greg used to great effect in the 40K to Far Away Challenge, after which Nick took excellent advantage on a trip to Africa. Unfortunately, as one of several updates that United published today, it announced that award tickets using the excursionist perk would no longer be possible as of 8/21/25.

The News

In a published announcement today, United announced several changes to its Mileage Plus program, including:
- The Excursionist Perk will no longer be available on award tickets, starting 8/21/25. Bookings made before that date will be honored.
- United will no longer publish a mileage upgrade chart, starting 11/24/25.
- Instant upgrades will no longer be offered at booking for elite members on expensive economy fares (Y,B,M), starting 8/21/25.

Quick Thoughts

Pour one out for our good friend, the Excursionist Perk. I think that everyone one on the FM Team has used it for one reason or another, as it effectively allowed you to buy two, get one free on United award tickets.

United has been steadily chiseling away at Mileage Plus for years, to the point that it’s now difficult to find redemptions in the program that can’t be done more cheaply or efficiently through other Star Alliance carriers. The Excursionist Perk was a shining exception that we hoped would fly under the radar (pun intended), since it’s complex enough that not many people would take advantage of it…or so we thought.

The eye of ~~Sauron~~ United has finally landed on this last bubbling bit of Mileage Plus joy and decided to plug it up, once and for all, on August 21st. I suppose the good news is that you can still take advantage by booking an Excursionist ticket before then, just know that if you make changes after 8/21, you’ll lose it.

The other two changes will be fairly banal for most folks. United doing away with the award chart for upgrades indicates that it will now start pricing them dynamically, according to demand. That could cause some upgrades to be cheaper, but will undoubtedly mean that others will be dearer. The complimentary upgrades at booking for elite members flying top-end economy tickets will likely only will affect those whose work would pay for them. They’re not cheap, and sometimes those fare classes are actually more expensive than buying directly into discount first class.

The post The Day United’s Excursionist Perk Died appeared first on Frequent Miler. Frequent Miler may receive compensation from CHASE. American Express, Capital One, or other partners.