WineCountryUA

Welcome to FT!, texteach

Purchased miles do take a day or so to show up.

Transfered miles seem to be faster.

Similiar threads
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...iles-post.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...xpediting.html

My credit card transactions for UA flight purchases do not typically show up in my account for 3-4 days.

ahenders

First time poster. Long, long time reader.

So I may have backed myself into a corner. The ultimate goal is to get on a O/W from EWR to DEL on Sun June 30th. I am 8000 miles short of the 40k so I just initiated a purchase for the miles. I opted not to take an instant additional charge of $300 to cover the diff b/c the miles were offered at a 20% discount if purchased separately. This is where the problem lies... The miles didnt post instantly and may take up to 48 hours to post. Errrh!!!

I have a flight via NRT (Sun, 11am) reserved but the hold expires at midnight. There is a good chance it will pop up again and I can reserve it again.

Question: How long does it normally take for purchased miles to post? The full 48 hours?

If it does take the full 48 hours there is a decent chance I can get on the direct EWR to DEL(Sun, 8:30pm) which the mileage required seems to drop a few hours before the flight. Is booking this last minute ill-advised?

Thank you!

P.S. Relevant I am a mileage leech and have no status.

burlax

You should buy miles only through accelerator - those post immediately.

ahenders

Mistake already made. I initiated the mileage purchase transaction separately. I was too tempted by the 20% discount. Human flaw.

Baze

They most likely won't post in time but you never know. Miracles do happen.

todorovic

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 5: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 6_1_4 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/536.26 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/6.0 Mobile/10B350 Safari/8536.25)

Call UA and explain your situation. Have the receipt for the miles ready and ask CS to post miles immediately.

ahenders

I will attempt and report back. I sense they get this request a lot as the status page has 'Please allow 48 hours' bolded. Thanks.

ahenders

30 minute wait to speak. Brutal.

ahenders

The fine young gentleman from the country I am attempting to visit informed me there is nothing he can do push the miles quicker. He did, however, extend my hold until July 1st. (The flight is on June 30th) Ha!

Regardless, I pried for information as to whether the miles may process faster than 48 hours. He passively indicated that its possible. I have little faith.

The internet seems to indicate they process within 24-48 hours. My cut off for comfortably booking this flight is at the 38 hour mark. Perhaps I will fall ...-backwards into the direct flight at 8:30am. Regardless, I am the epitome of a flexible traveler. At this point I'm sealing this one for the Google archives.

Afterthoughts? Thanks everyone.

burlax

I'd go ahead and buy miles through accelerator. You would be able to use another 8k at some point anyway. Especially given that RDMs can be purchased through accelerator at 2.1cpm

ahenders

I'm considering. For context purposes, I am adding miles to an account that's not mine. I have come to be known for buying the contents of friends mileage accounts b/c my travel style. (Last minute, global, 2+ connections, open jaws, and self-made layovers) Thus, I have sunk an investment into this account, $240 deep. It wouldn't be a total loss b/c she would give the right to those miles in the future.

ahenders

SOLVED: The miles posted after 29 hours 13 minutes. They posted at 12:15 am on the second day after purchase, thus, I believe the mileage purchase processing system is set to process at "day of purchase + 2 days" without consideration for hours b/c + 2 days will never be greater than 48 hours. This would explain other users experience of between 24-48 hours. For example, if you purchase at 11:30pm on Friday, the miles will deposit 12amish Sunday morning. (24.5 hours) Less appetizing, miles purchased earlier in the morning would take closer to the 48 hours to reach "day of purchase + 2 days"

stlrod

Purchased 120k miles this morning to book flight to Europe. Return opens up tomorrow. What are the chances the miles will be in my account in the morning? Thanks.