I followed the FT advice and kept calling back until I found an agent who was willing to help me. After the fourth agent I found one in TPA who not only found I was owed 70,000 miles on the canceled flight but spent a great deal of time working with MP to get the miles redposited. Quite a change from the first agent who said I did not use miles to this one. so, if I had not been persistent would it be fair to say that UA was stealing my miles by denying their existance?