United has followed in Delta's footsteps with a big change to its frequent flyer program, and passengers are furious

Personal Finance Insider writes about products, strategies, and tips to help you make smart decisions with your money. Business Insider may receive a commission from The Points Guy Affiliate Network, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective.

David McNew/Getty Images

• United Airlines is making major changes to its MileagePlus frequent flyer program.
• The airline will no longer publish an award chart outlining flight prices; Instead, award flights will be priced dynamically. The change takes effect immediately for new reservations made for travel on or after November 15.
• Passenger reaction has been largely negative, and mileage prices on both economy and business class international flights has begun to increase.
• However, travelers with the most flexibility may ultimately come out ahead if they can choose less in-demand flights.

On Friday, United announced a major change to its MileagePlus frequent flyer program. Following in the footsteps of Delta Air Lines, United is removing its mileage award chart, and switching to dynamic pricing for mileage awards.

The move means that American Airlines remains the only legacy US airline to offer a tiered, fixed-price frequent flyer system.

In effect, the move to dynamic pricing means that beginning just before the holiday travel rush, United frequent flyers will no longer be able to predict how many miles they'll need to book a particular trip - and they'll likely need more miles for those tickets.

Read more: United's credit card is offering a huge sign-up bonus, but it's only around for a limited time

What are award charts?

Traditionally, airline frequent flyer programs make seats available to book with miles at two different prices: "Saver," a lower, baseline price, and "Standard" or "Anytime," a more expensive, but more widely available price. Regardless of how the cash price fluctuates, the mileage price floats between Saver and Standard, depending on when the airline chooses to release availability.

Travelers trying to get an award ticket for the best price will typically monitor for Saver availability, waiting to book until the price becomes lower on those dates. Alternatively, if that person has flexibility in their schedule, they'll plan a vacation around when they can find flights at the Saver cost.

This can lead to some solid deals, like flying business class to Europe for just 57,500 miles. 

Without an award chart, mileage pricing becomes harder to understand

Without an award chart, mileage pricing - both the minimum possible price and the maximum - becomes dynamic and opaque, similar to cash prices.

It also tends to change more often, trending both up and down based on demand. While this sometimes leads to lower prices on flights that are not heavily in demand, it often leads to higher prices for premium cabin tickets.

Read more: The best credit card rewards, bonuses, and benefits of 2019

That's exactly what United claims will happen as a result of this change. On a webpage that United posted outlining the new system, the airline suggested that the new changes would be positive for travelers.

"Increasing award prices for the most in-demand flights allows us to offer lower prices on other flights. If your award travel is flexible, these updates will help you make the most of your miles."

Delta removed its award chart and switched to a dynamic pricing model several years ago, although flights seem to stick to a few different pricing tiers, and by searching over a few months, it's often possible to figure out the lowest possible "Saver" rate for flights. Unfortunately, Delta frequently raises that minimum price for award flights - the latest devaluation involved flights between the US and Europe in business class. 

United, by removing its award charts, seems to be on track to follow Delta's model

The new dynamic pricing model takes effect immediately for new bookings for flights on or after November 15. New reservations made for travel before then will stick to the award chart.

Passenger reaction is overall skeptical of the idea that there will be any improvement for passengers.

Twitter user @Rbakken described the move as "[a] disservice to loyal flyers and an affront to transparency." User @trdraaron described the award chart's removal as causing a "likely possible devaluation in United miles."

Standard 'Everyday' prices are already going up.

When searching for flights after the November 15 cutoff date, price increases were immediately evident.

United

For example, before the cutoff, flights from the North-East to New Delhi, India in business class cost between 85,000 miles at the Saver rate, and 180,000 miles at the Standard rate. While the lowest available cost on partner airlines remains 85,000 miles, Standard flights on United's own planes have gone up to 225,000 miles.

Similarly, Standard prices on business class flights between cities like San Francisco and Hong Kong have gone up from 180,000 miles to 210,000 miles, while increases on Standard flights for both economy and business class have gone up  on flights between other regions.

What about Saver awards? 

So far, there hasn't been a significant change to Saver award pricing, although it's unclear whether things will stay that way, or whether Saver space will continue to be made available. 

Read more: 8 of the best credit card offers this month - including a Marriott bonus that's ending soon

In fact, there are a few areas where prices have decreased, although this seems to be primarily on short-haul domestic economy routes. For example, flights between Los Angeles and San Francisco, which previously bottomed out at 10,000 miles, now cost as few as 5,000.

However, if Delta's price increases and devaluations are any indication, the lack of a published award chart could allow United to raise baseline Saver prices at any point and frequency.

Undoubtedly, there's still significant value to be found in United miles, especially if you find Saver space or book with a partner, and especially when it's possible to earn increased credit card bonuses. For example, United's co-branded credit card issued by Chase - the United Explorer Card, has a limited-time offer of up to 60,000 miles - 40,000 after you spend $2,000 in the first three months, and another 20,000 miles when you spend a total of $8,000 within the first six months.

Under the tiered system, in which more Saver seats could be found on less in-demand flights, travelers with more flexibility tended to snag the better deals. Under the new dynamic system, which United claims will be based on demand, this will likely become even more true.

In an e-mail to Business Insider, a United spokesperson suggested that to be the case: "Customers who can be flexible with their travel day and/or time will benefit significantly from this move to lower prices."

However, the spokesperson also added: "For the busiest travel times of the year when demand is highest, there may be higher award prices than what people see today."

However, there was a bit of good news for United flyers, too. Beginning November 15, United will now longer charge a $75 fee on award tickets booked within 21 days of travel. If a passenger can find a decent miles price on a last-minute trip, this should help with the redemption.

Disclosure: This post is brought to you by the Personal Finance Insider team. We occasionally highlight financial products and services that can help you make smarter decisions with your money. We do not give investment advice or encourage you to adopt a certain investment strategy. What you decide to do with your money is up to you. If you take action based on one of our recommendations, we get a small share of the revenue from our commerce partners. This does not influence whether we feature a financial product or service. We operate independently from our advertising sales team.

Business Insider may receive a commission from The Points Guy Affiliate Network, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective.