UPDATE: Since United adopted Continental’s reservations system when their merger was completed on March 3, 2012, the airline has insisted it no longer engages in StarNet blocking.
In September 2008, the “On the Fly” column first exposed United Airlines’ previously secret practice of massively blocking “award” seats otherwise made available for mileage redemption by its partners in the global Star Alliance, such as Lufthansa, Thai Airways and Singapore Airlines.
The practice became known as StarNet blocking — a reference to the alliance’s award “middleware” that provides access to those seats by any carrier on a first-come-first-served basis. It caused an uproar and was denounced by loyal United customers as deceitful. In frustration, some of those passengers have turned their backs on United, depriving it of valuable revenue. Some of them canceled corporate contracts with the airline, while others stopped using their United co-branded credit cards.
Apparently, the carrier saves more money by not having to compensate its partners for their “award” seats than it loses by driving some passengers away, so the blocking is still alive and well. Many unsuspecting travelers accumulate thousands of miles in their United Mileage Plus accounts, only to discover later than those miles can’t get them the “award” tickets they hoped to book.
You can read more about StarNet blocking in these columns:
AUG 19, 2010: Clarifying United’s StarNet blocking
MAY 03, 2010: United’s ‘award’ blocking an issue in Continental merger
MAY 25, 2009: ‘Award’ blocks still irk United fliers
DEC 08, 2008: United risks customer loyalty over ‘award’ blocking
OCT 27, 2008: United yields on ‘award’ blocking
SEP 29, 2008: Airlines curb ‘award’ tickets
Also check out this thread on FlyerTalk, the largest online travel community, which has had more than 2,000 posts and 120,000 views:
Washington Times — United Admits to StarNet Blocking!
Tags: awards, StarNet, United Airlines
