JDiver

Your argument holds no water, regardless of name calling and attempts to shame those who disagree with you. (The actual term for that is ad hominem.)

Each FFP has a disclaimer stating the can change the terms of the program anytime.

But, they actually didn't do that. You allowed your account to become dormant through a lack of USDM account activity. Flying US and crediting to UA gained you UA miles and credited your UAMP account, not USDM, and after the period of time expired with no activity your account was no longer dormant, it was dead.

CPRich

Yes, they chose the rules to their program. Every company does. That's how it works. It's your choice as to how to use them. You chose not to fly US. I don't see how it's the airline's fault that you didn't credit miles to your account.

But you seem to prefer criticism and name calling to actual discussion, so I won't bother further explanation. At least your signature is accurate.

oenophilist

Perhaps you should look up the expression ad hominem before you accuse someone of it.
Yes, that is an apologist corporate argument. It doesn't hold water. Sorry.
Wrong. They made my account dormant. I didn't "allow" the account to do anything. I didn't want the account to go dormant. No one told me the account would go dormant. That was entirely the decision of the airline.

You are being a corporate apologist.

Does the airline have the right to do this? Possibly, depends on whether or not someone is willing to subject it to litigation. Is is wrong? Absolutely. Lifetime miles are lifetime. Period. Deleting lifetime miles for lack of activity negates the entire concept of lifetime miles.

Your opinion on this issue is dead wrong.

oenophilist

I have been discussing the issue. It is not my fault if you and others are taking an anti-consumer perspective on this issue. There is no name-calling (unless somehow you consider "corporate apologist" name calling).

oenophilist

The miles credited to UA were with UA. I am not asking for lifetime credit for those miles. I am asking for lifetime credit for the miles that I earned during my lifetime on US. And for the record, I do not know how many miles that is, but I flew actively between 1992 and 2005. That is not a small amount.

oenophilist

Frankly, the corporate apologist propaganda on this thread is repulsive. While it is true that for the past 10 years, I did not credit my US Airways flights to US Airways, my 13 prior years of active flying should count for something. I find the defense of the airline policies regarding lifetime miles to be rather pathetic. I'm guessing that Flyertalk has become more an advocate for the airlines than for the passengers...

One other comment: my lifetime miles on US Airways would not have put me over the threshold for million miler. It simply would have put me closer. Now that my US Airways flights have been wiped from history, I have no incentive to fly AA to push toward a million miler status. And so I won't. Not only is this bad for me, it is bad for the airline.

I know, who cares, right? Good riddance to me! I'm cool with that. But I will say that this left me with such a bad view of AA and US Airways that I will do everything in my power to avoid flying them. And I will no longer buy tickets for family members on the airline (something that I did quite often over the past few years).

eponymous_coward

Given that you didn't actually credit miles to US for quite some time (something like a decade), and apparently gave up on them entirely once they left *A, loss of your custom is no great loss for US and AA, hmm? It's not like those lifetime miles meant anything to you as far as purchasing flights and crediting them, until you realized the US program terms weren't as favorable to you as you thought.

By the by... you do know that BA and AA share TATL revenues, right? Better not fly BA across an ocean ever again, otherwise it's money in AA's pocket. Same is true for IB as well.

oenophilist

BA sucks too. The only reason I fly them is Openskies.

eponymous_coward

I believe OS is part of that too (so flying them means AA gets a cut). Just so you know. I think the phrase is "they got you coming and going".

weero

An ad hominem is an attack on the character of someone whose opinion you disagree with. Shaming someone, even name calling, is not per se an ad hominem fallacy.
But it's not a valid style of argument either ...

OP should try their luck with the the successor AA repeatedly. Only if nothing helps, France would be a good location to see a court. The courts are known for being friendly to individuals. And expiring "lifetime miles" might indeed collide with the courts view on terminology.

OP did you merge the AA and US accounts or was there nothing to merge?

But generally this is a good warning also to myself, I was unaware that lifetime miles can expire and elite accounts can go dormant.

irishguy28

I don't see apologists here - just realists.

Many FFPs need constant care and attention order to ensure that miles don't expire, or some other unforeseen event happens, or just to keep abreast of developments in status- and mileage-earning.

An FFP is not a bank account, which you can forget about for 10, 25, 50 years, and come back to at any time upon rediscovery, and have everything as it was.

You seem to be interpreting the term "lifetime miles" very literally - and again, it is not your interpretation that matters, but the rules set by the airline, which may change from time to time. It does not appear that you kept yourself up to date with the workings of the program, given that you apparently abandoned this program for 10 years.

scubaccr

I believe similar issue exists even once you obtain the lifetime status, in that if your account becomes inactive through lack of visible use, either not flying or crediting miles to another airline , the lifetime account is also closed and will not be reinstated

Requirements to keep accounts active varies from airline to airline (and hotel to hotel) with different periods of inactivity allowed although typically either 2 or 3 years, but 10 years OP mentions is bit of a stretch and I find it hard to be that sympathetic for OPs loss

Lifetime miles/segments etc is simply the running total since day one that a loyalty account is opened and whilst the loyalty account remains active due to regular activity as per programs published t&c's. Loyalty is a 2-way process although heavily weighted as always in the companies favour

Companies don't really care about any past loyalty and are only interested in your current loyalty and current revenue you are still providing

sjpmurph01

I look at FT as a place for people who want to learn how to optimize their participation in a loyalty program, within the published boundaries of how that program works. And there's a great network of people here with experience in just that. You seem to choose not to want to listen to them, just as you chose not to have any activity on your USDM account for a decade.

I'm far from a US or AA apologist, but frankly your tone in here isn't helping win over sympathy from others.

Again, I feel bad for the situation you find yourself in, but I'm not sure what else you want people here to do other than (re)clarify the rules of the program that you didn't fully understand and asked about in your OP:

Unfortunately nobody here is going to have the answer that you want to hear. We don't make the rules, we try to help others understand them and take advantage of them. Welcome to FT!

Grog

OP's argument holds water...just not in your (and obviously US Airways') bucket. And I think it's important to also consider when playing the ad hominem card that ad hominem reasoning is not always faulty. (That is in no way a reflection on this particular situation, but rather in general.)

I, for one, agree with the OP's argument of lifetime miles being lifetime. If the word "lifetime" gets redefined in a company's fine print, then it's shady in my book. But obviously not in yours. Or US Airways'. So be it. But that doesn't render a person's (in this case the OPs) opinion, on the whole, invalid. Will OP's lifetime miles be reinstated based on this opinion? Probably not. But, in my opinion, completely dismissing the reasoning behind his opinion as faulty is unfair.

AlohaDaveKennedy

Why does this discussion remind me of when Bill Clinton was asked if he had lifetime miles with US Airways? Guess it all depends on your particular weasel defines as lifetime!