Last Chance to Maximize the Heck out of Current United Stopover Policy

I’ll keep it short and sweet. Today is the last day to take advantage of current generous United program’s routing rules. So, if you’ve been planning on it and just procrastinating, now is the time. Hire a babysitter for  the evening because as of tomorrow, your United miles will lose value. Sell, sell, sell!

If  you currently don’t have a lot of United miles or Ultimate Rewards points, then this change has no bearing on your life. And let’s be honest, very few regular families have been taking advantage of  stopover rules. I don’t know about you, but my husband has a hard time taking more than a week off work at one time, so adding extra side trips is usually not on the agenda.

But let’s say you have a flexible schedule, do homeschooling  and are able to work online. If you’ve been planning a trip with your United miles, right now you can visit two places for the price of one. So why not? Basically, you can stop in Europe on the way to Asia, and only pay for the award to Asia. Et cetera, et cetera.

There are two barriers to entry: 1)You need to have a decent supply of United miles or Ultimate Rewards (transfer to United instantly), 2) award tickets have to be booked as a roundtrip. There is sort of a workaround on the latter, but it probably won’t help most of you. Plus, you’ll still need miles to get back to US.

So, let’s say you are interested but have no clue on how to execute the award booking. Well, luckily for you, many have written excellent posts on the subject, which is why I won’t bother repeating all the details. Short version: you’ll need lots of patience and may end up calling United, hence the babysitter.

For the best round-up on maximizing current United stopover rules, I recommend this post on Rapid Travel Chai   It has links to other blogs, so you’ll have all the tools you need. If you are confused or simply don’t have the time for it, you can always hire someone to book an award for you.

Several bloggers offer this type of service, check out this page on Saverocity (I don’t get any kickback for mentioning it). I’m not sure someone will get back to you before tomorrow, though, so instead you may want to reach out  via Saverocity Forum. I’m sure folks will be happy to help you.

You don’t have to take advantage of current stopover rules!

I know it sounds obvious, but no way should you burn your precious miles just to take advantage of this perk. If you weren’t planning on doing a trip, there is absolutely no reason to book it due to this upcoming change. But if you were thinking about it anyway, it’s now or never. Get booking, the clock is ticking.

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Author: Leana

Leana is the founder of Miles For Family. She enjoys beach vacations and visiting her family in Europe. Originally from Belarus, Leana resides in central Florida with her husband and two children.