We are an independent publisher. Our reporters create honest, accurate, and objective content to help you make decisions. To support our work, we are paid for providing advertising services. Many, but not all, of the offers and clickable hyperlinks (such as a “Next” button) that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. The compensation we receive and other factors, such as your location, may impact what ads and links appear on our site, and how, where, and in what order ads and links appear. While we strive to provide a wide range of offers, our site does not include information about every product or service that may be available to you. We strive to keep our information accurate and up-to-date, but some information may not be current. So, your actual offer terms from an advertiser may be different than the offer terms on this site. And the advertised offers may be subject to additional terms and conditions of the advertiser. All information is presented without any warranty or guarantee to you.

This page may include: credit card ads that we may be paid for (“advertiser listing”); and general information about credit card products (“editorial content”). Many, but not all, of the offers and clickable hyperlinks (such as a “Apply Now” button or “Learn More” button) that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. When you click on that hyperlink or button, you may be directed to the credit card issuer’s website where you can review the terms and conditions for your selected offer. Each advertiser is responsible for the accuracy and availability of its ad offer details, but we attempt to verify those offer details. We have partnerships with advertisers such as Brex, Capital One, Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo and Discover. We also include editorial content to educate consumers about financial products and services. Some of that content may also contain ads, including links to advertisers’ sites, and we may be paid on those ads or links.

For more information, please see How we make money.

New United.com Award Calendar Design, How to Navigate It

  • Million Mile Secrets

    • Signing up for credit cards through partner links earns us a commission. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. Here’s our full advertising policy: How we make money.

    Update: One or more card offers in this post are no longer available. Check our Hot Deals for the latest offers.

    United Airlines has made changes to its website!

    Without a peep from United Airlines, the award calendar received an extreme makeover.  It appears that everything else on the site has remained the same.

    You Can’t Sneak an Update by Million Mile Secrets!

    I’ll show you the changes.

    Another Update to the United Airlines Award Calendar

    This isn’t the first time United Airlines has redesigned its website!  But folks seemed to enjoy United Airlines’ previous changes, including me!  The old calendar looked clunky and outdated.

    This time, United Airlines has switched from a festive, colorful award booking experience…

    United.com’s Old Calendar, With Splashes of Yellow, Blue, and Green
    …to dots and dashes that look a bit to me like Morse code.  But the changes are straightforward so there’s no need to panic with an SOS!  😉
    United.com’s New Calendar, Which Has Developed a System of Dots and Lines

    Thankfully, the steps for booking an award seat are the same!

    What’s the Difference Between Saver and Standard Awards?

    United Airlines, like most airlines, has 2 kinds of award seats:

    What’s Different With the New Calendar?

    The process of booking an award seat is the same, but this time coach Saver Awards are represented by a solid line, and Business and First Class Saver Awards display as a dotted line.

    Another change is that Standard Awards do NOT appear on the calendar.  This is a negative change, because you will now need to search day-by-day for available Standard Awards, instead of giving the calendar a quick glance!

    You Will Need to Select a Date and Scroll Down and View the Available Flights to Find a Standard Award Seat

    While I don’t find the changes helpful, I suspect folks with colorblindness will will have a easier time identifying shapes rather than colors!  Although I wish they’d have added the shapes instead of replacing the colors.

    Don’t Have United Airlines Miles?  Here’s What to Do!

    Link:   United MileagePlus® Explorer Card

    Link:   Chase Sapphire Preferred

    Link:   Chase Ink Plus

    United Airlines miles are some of the most valuable miles!  That’s because their award chart is generous with stopovers, open jaws, and free one-ways!  Here’s my series on the usefulness of United Airlines miles for Big Travel!

    There are plenty of ways to earn United Airlines miles.  You can earn LOTS of United Airlines miles with all the possible cards that earn United Airlines miles, like the Chase United Explorer card.

    And, if you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Ink Plus, or Chase Ink Bold (no longer available), you can instantly transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to United Airlines at a 1:1 ratio!

    Bottom Line

    While the award booking process remains the same, United Airlines has updated the appearance of its award booking calendar.  The only benefit I can see is for folks with colorblindness in the miles & points community!

    If you don’t have United Airlines miles, they are easy to earn.  You can apply for cards like the Chase United Explorer, or transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to United Airlines with cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred.

    What are your thoughts on the new United Airlines calendar look?

    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! :)