My issue is that I have more than 250K in US miles and so does Mrs Sbtinme. Together, that's 500K that could well be lost to the winds.

In the past, there have been times where a failing airline's assets get bought up and the "buying" airline agrees to absorb the roster of the failed airline's Loyalty Program (think TW -->AA and perhaps PA -->DL).

However, there are more than plenty of times (think Braniff #2 and #3, Altair, Presidential, etc) when carriers fold and the story ends there. Miles instantly become worthless.

I have some real concerns about this over the next forseeable future with US. I take some consolation in their joining *A since that presumably will provide them with a little more feed while at the same time they are thinning their supply. However, US has really become a lesser carrier in this past calendar year. In many ways it has devolved into a regional airline flying regional aircraft. Yuck. Even with my US2 status, we're starting to book completely away from US for comfort and quality reasons.

Keep your fingers crossed for some of the fine folks still left at US.