United cuts the lifespan of frequent flyer miles
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United Airlines may be improving the food and seats in first class, but for the majority of air travelers, they’re not winning any points.
And I don’t just mean the pretzels they eliminated. The latest lap in the ongoing race to the bottom is in the Mileage Plus program. The airline is cutting the lifespan of its miles in half, from 3 years to 18 months, for accounts without any activity.
Granted, anyone who spends or redeems any miles whatsoever, whether they’re flying, renting a car, buying stuff through the airline’s online mall, or filling out a survey, during that 18 month period restarts the clock. But for infrequent flyers with low balances in their accounts, hoping to scrape enough miles for a domestic coach ticket, this matters.
Even worse, they backdated it to July 2006, so the clock has already been running.
Last year, US Airways did the same thing. But at that time, immediately following its merger with America West, US Airways was in the process of rebranding itself as a low-cost carrier, a la Southwest or jetBlue. (Whether it is actually a low-cost carrier or not, that’s another story. But it’s the image they’re striving for, even making their ticker symbol “LCC” on the New York Stock Exchange.)
Low cost carriers have tended to put shorter lifespans on their miles. But United isn’t marketing itself as a low cost carrier. If anything, they’re trying to shape themselves as a premium brand. This isn’t how you do it, United.
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January 22nd, 2007 at 2:52 pm |
This may be good for the bottom line, but it stinks for the frequent flier. It won’t do anything to make customers loyal to these types of airlines. It personally pisses me off as I fly with both airlines.
The airlines seem to forget that they need more customers to grow. First, they squeeze their employees to stay afloat and now they are squeezing their customers. I hope this move bites them back.
February 5th, 2007 at 7:33 am |
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March 27th, 2007 at 3:57 pm |
So much for the loyalty programs… I’m glad JetBlue, Virgin American, and even Southwest will be flying out of SFO soon. Now this is a great reason to no longer be loyal to United…
May 20th, 2007 at 7:52 am |
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August 9th, 2007 at 7:44 am |
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June 7th, 2008 at 10:25 pm |
I just found out my 152,000 miles expired last week from this policy. I do not have any recall or record of the policy change supposedly mailed in 2007 in which I was pregnant and unable to travel due to related sciatica. I received no reminders my many miles from past overseas travel, were about to expire, unlike with Delta. Had I known, I could have easily bought extra miles to keep my account active.
I am so mad & even with their ‘flight challenge’ mileage reinstatement, I would have a hard time flying at this stage as a single mom of a teething 8-month old. Why would I want to fly with such a deceptive, lack-lustre service ever again, even if I could??!?!