United MileagePlus Miles Drop Expiration Date

The latest change to United Airline’s loyalty program allows flyers to keep their miles, regardless of activity in their MileagePlus accounts. Effective immediately, MileagePlus miles will have no expiration date – making them usable years after they are earned.

If you collect United MileagePlus miles, the airline’s latest announcement could increase your balance for years to come, no matter how much activity you have. In a press release, the Chicago-based carrier announced they are dropping the expiration date on miles effective immediately.

Prior to the announcement, miles had a 18-month expiration policy unless flyers completed a qualifying action. These included flying aboard United and crediting the flight to your MileagePlus account, or spending on a United co-branded credit card. But with the policy change, flyers no longer have that limitation – meaning they can hold on to their miles as long as they like and use them towards rewards that make sense for their lifestyle, from flights to hotels and more.

“Our MileagePlus program provides customers more ways to earn and use miles than any other U.S. airline,” Luc Bondar, vice president of loyalty and president of United MileagePlus, said in the release. “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.”

Although FlyerTalkers are receiving the news warmly, many are concerned that the change could precede a devaluation. Noting experiences with competitors, the running suspicion is United may be preparing for potentially negative program shifts.

“If history is anything to go by, positive news from United invariably is followed by negative news,” writes MileagePlus 1K member narvik. “The positive thing normally costs UA nothing, but the negative one saves them heaps. I’ll be looking out for some bad news in the next week to 10 days.”

“Miles may never ‘expire’,” notes FlyerTalker fumje. “But with dynamic awards they can become worthless at any time, with no notice.”

Meanwhile, restlessinRNO may have the most positive outlook on the change: “I think this is of limited benefit to those of us active on FT. How difficult is it to have some activity over 18 months?”

The new benefit is one of many United has rolled out over Summer 2019. The airline previously announced an investment in biometric security company CLEAR, offering discounted memberships to MileagePlus elite members.