Originally Posted by
giacona
My goal is to have him transfer them to me since he does not need them.
Keep in mind that United charges $15 per 1,000 miles to transfer between accounts.
Presuming this was a return flight, that's just over 10,000 miles, which will cost you $150 to get ($175 by the time you pay the $25 service fee to get them credited to him in the first place)
Depending on what you plan to do with them, that may or may not actually be worth the cost.