How Does the United Excursionist Perk Work?

One of the best features of United MileagePlus, and certainly a hallmark of the program, is the Excursionist Perk.

Put simply, the Excursionist Perk allows you to add a free one-way segment on eligible itineraries when booking award flights with United miles.

By learning how to use the Excursionist Perk and then leveraging it to your advantage, you can squeeze some additional value out of your miles.

What Is the United Excursionist Perk?

The United Excursionist Perk is a feature in the MileagePlus program which allows ‌members to add a one-way flight to an award booking at no extra cost in miles.

There are a couple of rules you must follow, but one of the best parts about the Excursionist Perk is that you can book it online without having to phone United.

Therefore, as long as you know the rules, you’re able to make your own bookings without having to run them by someone else.

Before we dive into the specific rules, the most important thing to understand is how regions play a large role in getting the most out of the Excursionist Perk.

United Airlines has its own published classification for regions, which can be found on the United website. In total, there are sixteen distinct regions, illustrated in the following world map.

Certain regions are rather small, such as Japan or Hawaii, whereas other regions span a much greater area, such as Europe, Central & Southern Africa, or Mainland US, Alaska, and Canada.

Understanding these regions is the key to unlocking the most value when using the Excursionist Perk, so you may want to spend some time analyzing the above map.

For example, a 1.5-hour flight from Tokyo to Osaka can be booked for very little, making it hardly worth booking an Excursionist Perk itinerary just to save this small amount.

On the other hand, a six-and-a-half hour flight from Cape Town, South Africa, to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, tends to cost significantly more when booked with cash.

Since this flight falls within the same region, according to United’s chart, this route would be eligible for the Excursionist Perk, and could potentially be added to an itinerary for free, as we’ll show below.

In addition to understanding how United designates the regions, there are also additional rules that must be adhered to for the Excursionist Perk to apply.

First, the trip must be a multi-city…