I do understand that, at least for award tickets, one doesn't have to fly before the end of the year to get the activity credit. Just not sure if I can find any useful award before the end of the year.

I'm still not sure how this works. United, in their notifications of expirating miles, never said (or at least I missed it if they did) that one had to do these activities 2 or 3 months before the expiration date cause it is the posting date that counts. I just never thought of this until I waited several days and never saw any sign that purchases were in the process of being credited. Do you know for sure that they will not count the purchases even if they were made before the end of the year?

Please someone tell me if there some activity I can do (which does not involve burning miles) to assure credit for the "activity" quickly instead of this awful system where you have no idea whatsoever whether your mileage credit is going to be credited at all or when it is going to be credited. United is the only airline I am having difficulty with this mileage expiration thing.