What to do with UA Miles
 

With all the talk about likely UA liquidation, what are all the frequent flyers out there doing with UA miles? I know you can transfer them to Hilton Honors, but I'm not thrilled with that. Any other suggestions?

I have been pondering the same thing over the past few days. With UA changes in SWU and the chance for Chapter 7 I just don't know what I want to do or what risks I am taking with keeping UA miles. Any ideas, I usually have a travel plan and goals for the year, but this year is really difficult for me. Flew over 45k on AA and 10K on UA in first quarter. I see a continuence of the travel level, just don't know where to put the miles.

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dallasflyer

Just one option:

Go to your local hospital and ask to talk to an Administrator and/or Social Worker. See if there are any underprivileged families or individuals in need of an immediate free ticket to get distant family in to attend a funeral or visit an ill or dying loved one.

I'm gonna guess that United award tickets (whether on United metal or Delta or US Airways partner award tickets) will be safe until at least the end of May. But best to inform them of the situation in advance and advise them not to linger around too long, or they could get stranded if United liquidates.

Similar question, different forum:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum97/HTML/000694.html

It might help you a little more.

Too many years ago, in my first job after college, I was a CPA/Auditor for a national CPA firm. Most of the NYStock Exchange Companies I remember working on have either merged or DISAPPEARED. Later on I worked for another CPA firm, Arthur Andersen, which unfortunately also recently DISAPPEARED. Reality is that UAL could soon join the likes of PanAm, Eastern, Braniff, PeoplesExpress, etc, etc.
The few UAL miles I ever had were used years ago. Were I still holding UAL miles I would immediately demand paper ticketed awards from UAL on Delta for cities I knew I would travel between in the next year. The worst that might happen is that I'd get stuck with a $50 change fee for changing dates.

If you have a Diners Club card you can transfer UA for futer transfer to BA during their 2 for 1 offer or to any other airline, losing 1/2 the value.

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Ms.DtG

Can you redeem miles on a partner airline for a paper ticket say ANA FC 120,000 per ticket and re-deposit if UA can pull off a comeback. Also if you can't re-deposit or UA goes bust and want to change travel dates of the paper ticket, what are the change options/penalties on that paper ticket staying with ANA.

1. Yes, you can redeposit the miles for a fee
2. If the UA were to go under, ANA is not required to accept the ticket

I can transfer my miles to HH -- but what about the miles im the accounts of my minor kids? At least they've only got 7800 miles each. Any suggestions? Hilton only allows members who are at least 18.

Can I use iDine with my credit cards to build the miles up to 10k and then transfer somewhere? Do the names on the accounts have to match?

United might allow you to transfer your kids's miles to your Hilton account. It's worth a shot. I've transferred a lot of airline miles to Hilton, and I don't recall that anyone has ever asked if the two account names matched.

I've got a first class ticket on United to London in July, which cost 100,000 miles. I've decided to hang on to the ticket with one hand, and keep my fingers crossed on the other.

It is Hilton that will care, and I do suspect they check the names, though I don't recall a definitive answer ever being posted in the Hilton forum. I could be wrong (suggest a search in Hilton forum), but the official rule is No, and the general consensus has been don't try it. Keep in mind, if HH rejects your transfer, there appears to be no automated re-deposit. You will likely have to jump through a good few hoops to get your (kids') miles back.

But the good news, xyzzy, as was pointed out by Eugene IIRC, is that the website requires you to be 18, but the T&C do NOT. The implication seems to be that the website doesn't want minors using it, but you might be able to get a kid's membership by calling Hilton or mailing in an app.

If they won't open it over the phone or mail, and if you confirm the policy by reading the minutiae in the T&C, you could always enroll them online and "make a mistake" with their birthdate. If it ever becomes an issue, pull out your dated printed out copy of the T&C and point out that minors were not prohibited, and therefore the accounts should be secure.

Secondly, it has been reported that non-spouses living at the same address have successfully gotten mutual funds. I can't imagine Hilton allowing you to merge more than 2 accounts, but perhaps the siblings could do so, to leverage their points.

Good luck.

[This message has been edited by Rut Dog (edited 03-20-2003).]

Thanks! I was thinking along the same lines. I will be at an HH property this weekend so I think I'll just grab a couple of apps and
either send them in or fill them out online depending on the T&C. Hopefully UA won't go belly-up before I can get the paperwork done.

I'd rather have airline miles somewhere other than UA than still more HH points, but something is better than nothing.

If you're going to transfer UA Miles to the Hilton HHonors program, you better do it quickly, they just now suspended the program and you have until 3/21 at midnight CST to make the transfer by calling UAL and making the request.

This thread may be of interest for those looking to launder UA miles through HHonors