Originally Posted by ORDnHKG

Two of the major benefits of UA for non-frequent flyers are

1. Miles never expire as long as you have activity in your account (even non-flight activity) once every 18 months. All other non-US programs have expire date, which means old miles will expire no matter what depends on the FFP, every program has different expiry date of miles, you have to read carefully

2. Award tickets have no fuel surcharge, for programs like NH or OZ, be prepared to pay a hefty fuel surcharge upward to $500 per ticket, compare with UA, the taxes and fees are likely to be less than $100, many times are less than $50 (depends on how many connections and where you connect)