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Exploit The “Excursionist” United Airlines Loophole for Free Segments: Part 3 – Extend Your Vacation & Save Miles

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    United Airlines recently changed their MileagePlus program, including some of their award flight booking rules.  For some folks, booking award flights has become trickier and even more expensive.

    But for others, via Travel is Free, United Airlines’ new rules will provide great value.

    This is due to a new rule under the United Airlines award program called Excursionist Perk.  The Excursionist Perk is a free one-way flight you can book in addition to a round-trip or multi-city itinerary.

    Use the United Airlines Excursionist Perk to Get a Free One-Way Flight on Your Next Vacation to South America

    In this 4 part series, I’m teaching you how to use the Excursionist Perk to get Big Travel with Small Money!

    Exploit The “Excursionist” United Airlines Loophole for Free Segments: Series Index

    Using the Excursionist Perk to Add a Free One-Way Flight and Stopover

    Under the previous United MileagePlus program rules, you could book a free stopover as part of a round-trip award flight.  So how is the free one-way flight with the United Airlines Excursionist Perk any different?  I’ll show you!

    Best Use of Free One-Way Flight

    Under the new rules, you can still book a “normal” free one-way flight and stopover on your next trip.  But you can also utilize the free one-way flight in conjunction with 2 one-way flights, making the perk even more valuable!

    So you can use the one-way flight for a free stopover on your vacation, allowing you to visit one more city for free!  This is the simplest use of the United Airlines Excursionist Perk, and will be very valuable for most people.

    For example, you could book the following:

    Or you can get a free one-way flight when trying to “piece together” 2 or more separate trips.  For example, you might use your free one-way flight in Europe in between two domestic (continental US) trips.

    Use Your Free One-Way Flight on a Completely Different Trip

    So your booking could be as follows:

    Note:   So anytime you book a regular round-trip flight within the mainland US using United Airlines miles, you can add a free one-way flight within any other region.  Just make sure the date of your free one-way flight falls between the other award flights!
    Your One-Way Flight From Dublin to Vienna Would Cost Zero Additional Miles!

    If you can plan your trip far enough in advance, you can essentially “sandwich” a free one-way flight between 2 flights you already need to take.  By doing so, you can save 15,000 United Airlines miles per person!

    In this scenario, you would save 15,000 United Airlines miles.  Paying only 22,500 United Airlines miles for a trip that should have cost 37,500 miles is a GREAT deal!

    Even if you don’t need the final flight from Newark to Washington, DC, you might want to book your trip this way and “throw away” your final flight!  That’s because you save 15,000 United Airlines miles on your flight within Europe by paying 10,000 miles for the final segment!

    Pay Zero United Airlines Miles When You Use the Free Excursionist One-Way Flight
    Note:   To “throw away” the last segment of a flight means to not use it. In the above example, you would only use the first 2 flights, and intentionally not take your flight from Newark to Washington, DC.

    Generally, airlines don’t like when passengers do this, and it is against many airlines’ terms and conditions.  But “throw away ticketing” is not illegal, so only use this strategy if you are OK with the risks! 

    For example, airlines have been known to suspend the frequent flyer accounts of folks who “throw away” tickets on a regular basis.  And United Airlines (unsuccessfully) sued a company, Skiplagged, which helps folks find cheaper fares in conjunction with throw away paid tickets.

    Remember that your free one-way flight must fall sometime between your 1st and 2nd booked flights.  So your flight from Dublin to Vienna would need to occur before your flight from Newark to Washington, DC.  This requirement makes “throwing away” your final segment even more valuable, because you can book it up to 1 year in the future!

    So if you needed a flight to Newark in January and a flight to Johannesburg in December, you could book the following itinerary:

    Or, Use Your Free One-Way Flight Within Africa

    Or you could construct the same itinerary as above, but with your free one-way flight within the region of Africa.  That’s a great deal to get such a long flight for no additional miles!  A flight from Nairobi to Johannesburg normally costs 17,500 United Airlines miles.

    Use Your Free One-Way Flight Anywhere in the World, as Long as It Is Within a Single Region!

    So it might be worth it to book the final leg from Newark to Washington, DC, even if you don’t need it!  In this case, you would end up saving 7,500 United Airlines miles, even if you didn’t need the last flight.

    Use This Handy Trick to Extend Your Vacation, or Get a Free Flight in a Different Region!

    For example, you could book the following itinerary for 30,000 United Airlines miles:

    Or, you could book the following itinerary and “throw away” the last segment:

    If You Don’t Need a Free Stopover on Your Next Vacation, Use the United Airlines Excursionist Perk to Save Miles!
    Note:   You can use your free one-way flight in any other “region” as well, as long as it is not the continental US.  For a list of United Airlines’ region definitions, visit the United MileagePlus website. 

    Free One-Way Flight in Business Class

    Even better, you can use the United Airlines Excursionist Perk’s free one-way flight when booking itineraries in Business Class.  This means you can get even more value from your free one-way flight!

    The Free One-Way Flight as Part of United Airlines’ New Booking Rules Can Be Incredibly Useful Within Africa

    Consider the following itinerary in Business Class on United Airlines’ Star Alliance partner airlines:

    Get Even More Value From Your Free One-Way Flight When Flying Business Class

    The total amount of miles needed for this itinerary is only 45,000 United Airlines miles.  But individually booking only the first 2 segments would cost 65,000 United Airlines miles!  The pricing would be as follows:

    By adding the final flight from Brussels to Frankfurt, you satisfy the rules of the United Airlines Excursionist Perk and can get a free one-way flight.  And even if you “throw away” the flight from Brussels to Frankfurt, booking this itinerary will still save you 20,000 United Airlines miles!

    Note:   As long as you are booking the flights with United Airlines miles, you can use the free one-way flight on any of United Airlines’ Star Alliance partners!

    In summary, use the following strategy to save miles:

    1.  Book 2 inexpensive one-way award flights within a single region
    2.  Then, book an expensive one-way award flight within a different region
    Note:   If you want to fly Business or First Class on the free one-way flight, you must also book it on the previous flight.  But that could still be a great deal!

    So you are saving miles on the expensive flight, because it is your free one-way under the United Airlines Excursionist Perk.  And you can take advantage of geographically big regions, such as Europe and Central & Southern Africa.

    Things to Remember

    Unfortunately, the date of your free one-way flight must fall sometime between your 1st and 2nd booked flights.  So it would be impossible to book the above flight from Brussels to Frankfurt before the free one-way flight in Africa.

    If you want your free one-way flight to be in Business or First Class, your first booked flight must be in the same cabin or higher.  So you can only book a free one-way flight in First Class or Business Class if your first award flight is in First Class or Business Class, respectively.  However, you can always book your free one-way in a lower class of service than your first flight, if no premium cabin seats are available!

    Additionally, the United Airlines booking tool can be somewhat clunky.  And with the new updates to the United MileagePlus program, you are only allowed to book itineraries created by the United Airlines website.

    Note:   If you are searching for award flights and receive an error screen, go back to United.com to start your search over.  That should resolve the issue!

    Bottom Line

    The United Airlines Excursionist Perk can be incredibly valuable, giving travelers a free one-way flight.  For most folks, this can be useful to add a free stopover on their next vacation, or to get a free one-way flight for a completely different trip.  You are also eligible to use your free one-way flight in Business or First Class as long as your first award flight was in the same or a higher cabin.

    You might also want to consider using “throw away ticketing” to save miles on flights you would book anyways.  The free one-way flight helps folks get a free flight in a more expensive region when booking two flights in cheaper region, leading to possibly huge savings!

    In my next post, I’ll show you a few crazier examples of how to use the United Airlines Excursionist Perk to get Big Travel with Small Money!

    Ask questions in the comments and we’ll try to help!

    Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)