Effective immediately, your United MileagePlus miles will no longer expire.
That’s it.
No strings attached, no minimum activity needed, and no United credit card or other gimmick required.
In fact, United will even retroactively reinstate miles for those members whose miles expired in July and August of 2019.
Why this and why now? Luc Bondar, Vice President of Loyalty and President of MileagePlus, said:
We want to demonstrate to our members that we are committing to them for the long-haul and giving customers a lifetime to use miles is an exceptionally meaningful benefit.
Our MileagePlus program provides customers more ways to earn and use miles than any other U.S. airline. More customers used miles to book award trips in 2018 than in any year before, and we expect with today’s announcement that even more will use miles to travel the world in the years to come.
Even as this news comes in a period of uncertainty over United’s MileagePlus program, this announcement coupled with the end of close-in processing fees this fall will make United a far more attractive loyalty program to occasional and
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CONCLUSION
I’d say this news is not only good for United customers, but potentially for American Airlines customers as well. In matching Delta, whose SkyMiles also do not expire, American Airlines will likely join the bandwagon as well. In the macro picture, it is rare when the Big 3 U.S. carriers do not eventually move in lock step.
Does this new change your opinion of the United MileagePlus program?
This is good for my kids’ accounts. They could potentially go 18 months without a revenue flight so I’m glad I won’t have to track expiration dates anymore.
So true. This is a great change for kids. It is the worst for road warriors but not so bad for them as the infrequent fliers do not save for business class awards but save for domestic economy class.
This does absolutely nothing for the recent years worth of devaluing their miles…
I respectfully disagree. If it will now take a lifetime’s worth of flying to accrue enough miles to reap any meaningful awards on United, it is only fitting that those miles should last a lifetime and not expire. 😉
Will AA respond in kind?
That is good for me because I am currently inactive in AA and UA. I do dumb stuff to keep miles active such as doing a survey or crediting occasional car rental to keep the accounts active.
American is now the bad apple, having 18 months when miles expire. However, the fee to get miles for car rentals is very low when you choose AA. Sometimes, it is only 6 cents for the whole rental versus $1 or more, even per day, for some airlines.
While a nice gesture, most frequent flyers already have a UA or airline associated credit card that already prevents miles from expiring. Most frequent flyers also fly enough that expiring miles are not a concern. UA needs to address the decline in amenities and service on their flights. Reducing meal sizes and quality, reducing wine quality with cheaper blends and reducing wine variety, and cutting flight crews to save costs is negatively impacting their flights. International business travelers are going to bring their spend elsewhere.
How long after flying do you have to credit miles?
Cynic in me says this is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. They’re not going to want to carry increasing billions of liabilities on their balance sheet. So the incentive will be to consistently cut the value of these points to the bone — like SkyMiles. And imagine the bad press that would be generated if they ever wanted to put expiration back on! No folks, this is a “benefit” for infrequent, low balance holders, and a devaluation for those of us that want to maximize value from our frequently growing miles balances.