Unable to use miles for car rental
Oct 1, 2012, 8:38 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 2
Unable to use miles for car rental
With the recent move to the new United Mileage Plus I have become victim of the new rules. Planning a family trip down Eastern US and attempted to rent a car using my 95,000 miles. But when I book online I get the message:
Any suggestions? Anyone I can call and try and get this rental car sorted out?
You are not eligible to use miles for Hotel and Car Awards at this time. You may be eligible for other options such as newspapers, magazines, dining, and air awards. Please visit our Use Miles web page for more information.
After calling customer support, it appears the problem is that I am not a US Citizen (I'm Canadian). It looks like my options are now extremely limited. Why would I want to use United anymore? Any suggestions? Anyone I can call and try and get this rental car sorted out?
Oct 1, 2012, 8:59 pm
#2
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,850
Welcome to FT!, sgrimm
yep the limitation (residence, not citizenship) is there on the united site
personally I find the redemption values for rental cars/hotel to be pretty poor.
Looks like you will need to look more at redemptions for air trips
... After calling customer support, it appears the problem is that I am not a US Citizen (I'm Canadian). It looks like my options are now extremely limited. Why would I want to use United anymore?
Any suggestions? Anyone I can call and try and get this rental car sorted out?
Any suggestions? Anyone I can call and try and get this rental car sorted out?
Cars
Use award miles instead of money to book car rentals in select locations worldwide. 1
1 Available to residents of the US, Puerto Rico and Guam only.
Use award miles instead of money to book car rentals in select locations worldwide. 1
1 Available to residents of the US, Puerto Rico and Guam only.
Looks like you will need to look more at redemptions for air trips
Oct 3, 2012, 6:52 am
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: San Francisco/Tel Aviv/YYZ
Programs: CO 1K-MM
Posts: 10,762
buy a magazine subscription, or buy a refundable shorthaul ticket, buy the mileage accelerator and then refund the ticket.
There are many ways to have activity to prevent your miles from expiring, car rentals represent one of the worst ways to spend.
There are many ways to have activity to prevent your miles from expiring, car rentals represent one of the worst ways to spend.
Oct 3, 2012, 6:55 am
#5
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: MCO UA:3MM1K AA: EXP
Posts: 365
Is residence location the only factor? I have a friend whh encountered the same problem as the OP while his address on file has been a US location for years. I was suspecting (bedore reaading this thread) the reason was that he had too few flying activities on UA.