United Is Switching Frequent Flyer Program to Demand Pricing

United Airlines is changing the way it prices seats purchased with frequent flyer miles. On November 15, the carrier is switching to a system that prices award seats based on demand rather than specific tiers. The pricing strategy will allow United to slide award prices up when demand is high for a particular flight and ease off on costs when there are more seats available. Portions of this system already went into place last month when several frequent flyers noticed that award seats on some routes were pricing out at rates lower than normal. Additionally, a bracketed version of dynamic pricing also went into effect at the airline for MileagePlus Everyday Awards last year. As of Friday, that movement is now formally part of a full-fledged effort to apply dynamic pricing across United's entire award calendar without boundaries. The practice of dynamically pricing award seats as a function of demand is a stark contrast to the traditional system of award-tier booking where seats ar