jugglesfire

So, I live part time in the US and in Finland. Until now I have kept my MP account at my US address. Clearly now there is a benefit to switching to my Finnish address to circumvent the spend requirement (in fact, even flying the 4 legs on UA metal was somewhat of an inconvenience last year). I just wanted to see if there are any drawbacks from having an MP account registered at a foreign address.

relangford

Some promotions are limited to the US (I know because I also don't live in the USA and have missed some). Otherwise, you might be better off from the dollar spend requirement using a foreign address.

UAConcorde

some reported the fares will quote in the currency of the primary address. I'm waiting for a confirmation. Anyone?

Also, watch for account audit.... Im holding off changing address for now.

lhrsfo

I always used to have everything set for my UK address. When I realised I was missing out on promotions, I switched the address to the US, although the website still quoted me in Łsterling. I never got any extra relevant promotions, but my US address was inundated with credit card offers. I've now switched the address back to the UK.

yyzgigi

The only issue I see is if you wanted a MP credit card. These are generally limited to US residents and I am pretty sure UA and Chase would talk. If you don't have a credit card cannot see any big drawbacks.

buhuffer

was using a business address in the states(which I spent half of the time staying at, now want to switch back to HK home address.

jugglesfire

Well, I typically spend in Euros so that would actually be nice if they would quote in my currency. However, whenever I buy with my Finnish credit card it goes through the Swedish site and I get charged in Krona, which is kind of annoying. I wonder if that means though that there will be a problem with me having a Finnish address.

What do you mean by account audit? What would they audit and what kind of hassle is that?

GUWonder

They may demand proof of residence status in Finland in order to unfreeze the account/miles.

Atuchan

I do not see that would be too problematic. If you move to foreign country, it is not usually possible to get CC from the new country as you do not have credit history. In that case, many people keep their CC from old country with friends or family's address as billing address. So long as you are not delinquent in payment, I do not see any problem.

XCstud

A couple things to look into and consider. If you use a non-US address for your MP account, can you use the US website or a US based credit card to purchase tickets and are there cost differences? Is there VAT on airline tickets in the EU?

When I recently purchased Eurostar tickets, I found a significant price difference (after accounting for exchange rate) between identical tickets on the US and UK websites (US was actually much more expensive) so I don't know if you would see something similar with United or not.

I am currently living in the UK, but have a US residence and still have my account linked to my US address and US credit cards and I haven't tried to purchase UA tickets using a UK credit card.

GUWonder

Yes and yes. Point of sale changes are possible still and there may be cost differences related to point of sale.

lhrsfo

Having a US or a UK registered address makes no difference to the ability to benefit from lower rates on either side of the pond - and only a slight difference to the convenience of doing so. I use my UK or US credit card depending upon whether I want the price in sterling or dollars - you just switch the billing address on the site and you get the prices local to that new address. Remember that UA does realise that the traveller and the payer can be different and in different countries - we are talking about business travel here. Recently, generally, fares have been broadly similar whether you are looking at Ł or $. However, it may be that fares will change depending upon your origin city and it's a whole lot more complicated changing that - you are either looking at one ways or nested itineraries, on which there's a whole extra thread.

If you want a credit card, you have to declare your residence at the date of declaration. If you do not tell the truth, then you could have all sorts of problems. If you already have one, and move but still keep the old address alive, or merely change the statement billing address, then perhaps the cc company would take a different view, especially if you keep on paying the bills on time.

noah

FWIW, when I was living in Paris for a year, I had my UA address set to France and my Chase address in the US and it didn't seem to impact anything between the two.. YMMV of course.

5khours

On the website, you can select on the fly the country (regardless of your mailing address) in which the credit card you intend to use to purchase a ticket is registered. If you select Japan, you'll get fares in yen. If you select the U.S. you will get fares in US$. You can freely switch it back and forth depending on which credit card you intend to use.

BetsyF

Sorry if this query previously answered but why the waiver if you have a non-US address? Did I miss something?