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

I purchased two tickets from Sydney to London on
Thai for later this year in order to get the miles out of UA ticketing and into another carrier. Do you mean that if UAL goes south Thai could cancel my tickets?

I have since accumulated another 150k miles or so - so I would like to spend these too asap.



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Chris

Exactly. The money for the tickets does not change hands until after you fly, so Thai would be flying you for free if UA wasn't flying still. They might honor the tickets as a goodwill gesture, but there is no requirement they fly you for free.

I have a comment and question:

I booked an award for me and companion from NYC to NZ and OZ in mid-May on a combination of UA, NZ, and TG (using MP on a star award), returning end of May. I booked these tickets last October. I am keeping my fingers crossed that United will still fly. I want to go ahead and buy some domestic tickets in OZ on Virgin Blue, but I'm not sure if I should buy non-refundable tickets, given that there is a chance of no trip. What advice can you give? Do people see UA hanging around for another 2 months? I am at the point of not knowing what to do.

1. Mid May is quite safe on any kind of UA issued award IMO.

2. The UA -- > Hilton transfer mentioned often above has now been cancelled. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

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~ Glen ~

Come visit HERE the most ** FRIENDLY FORUM ** on FlyerTalk. No flame wars, no personal abuse, no substance abuse. Not much of anything really!

hmm, frightening conversation, I have a ticket (paper, incidentally) on Lufthansa that cost me 70,000 UA miles. The flight is in June. Are ya'll saying that if United goes down, this ticket may be defunct?

Yes, that's what everybody is saying. Purchase Award Guard "assurance" if you want to attempt to protect your travel plans [although I have some questions about its coverage and have not done so myself; caveat emptor].

Because your travel is relatively soon, however, perhaps UA has a better chance of riding out this crisis in the immediate short term. I would be less concerned about a ticketed award in June than I would, for example, about one set for October.

Additionally, there is the possibility that Lufthansa might honor the ticket as a goodwill gesture even if UA gets liquidated. But they have no obligation to do so.

So keep your fingers crossed, and if you can move up your travel plans to take advantage of your reward, by all means do so!

[This message has been edited by cAAl (edited 03-24-2003).]

The temporary pay cuts expire May 1. The unions and UA have not reached agreement on permanent cuts for after May 1, which is why it's gone back to the bankruptcy judge to void all the labor contracts. A lot can happen in the next few weeks. I'm not booking any UA travel until I see how this is resolved.

Here's a link covering what is currently going on with the unions:
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030317/cgm084_1.html

[This message has been edited by tom911 (edited 03-24-2003).]

According to an article in the LA Times this weekend, the U.S. Dept. of Transportation does require other airlines on the same route to honor a ticket of a bankrupt airline if there's space available. There's a $25 fee each way and the ruling (Section 145 of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act) is effective until 2/04.
Read more about it here: http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/rules.htm

But does it require other airlines to honor award tickets? I don't see anything on that site that addresses frequent flyer tickets. There's actually a section that talks about receipts for payment of fare. Would be nice if award travel was specifically included by name in that section.

Tom - Randy has spoken to DOT and posted that award travel IS indeed covered.

See "Only Randy Petersen" Forum for fuller detial.

A useful way to burn UA miles right now is:

http://www.cruise4miles.com/specials/results.asp



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~ Glen ~

Come visit HERE the most ** FRIENDLY FORUM ** on FlyerTalk. No flame wars, no personal abuse, no substance abuse. Not much of anything really!

Terrific theory.

Last I heard however, Lufthansa was **NOT** an American airline. And DOT and Congress can only dictate such things to American domiciled airlines. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

I can't help it if Randy and I read the same articles! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif


Don't shoot a messenger! Actually, Glen, it is hard to imagine a name like Lufthansa is anything but foreign. I can imagine, however, our government dictating to others what they can and can't do (even when not on our soil!)
It might help us if either you could find a reference to your statement or have Randy put in another call http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

To answer my own curiosity, I did a little research today in my spare time and I found info at the following page :
International routes are also covered by the Act but it does not apply to foreign carriers. For example, passengers holding tickets on a flight originating in Kansas City connecting to London on a U.S. carrier could only be accommodated on another U.S. carrier flying between both Kansas City and London. If the passenger was to fly beyond London to a point not served by another U.S. carrier, the passenger would most likely be accommodated to London, but not necessarily beyond. It follows that if there is only one U.S. carrier flying to the international point and it ceases operations, foreign carriers are not obligated to honor the ticket. If the insolvent U.S. carrier is in alliance, it should be assumed the other alliance members will honor the ticket in some manner.
If the insolvent carrier is the only one operating between a city-pair, there does
not appear to be any obligation for other carriers to honor the insolvent carrier's
tickets since there is little likelihood they will be compensated for carrying the
passenger....

Sorry to be so dense, but I don't quite keep up with American business news being on the other side of the Atlantic.

Why the sudden huge flap and panic over United Airlines potentially going bankrupt?

I've got 100,000+ miles on Frequent Flyer - should I start thinking about using them?

Andrew

Go to the UA forum and search under "chapter 11". There's plenty of material already posted there about their bankruptcy filing.

I know it is not a lot of miles, but I do believe that 25K (50K in some circumstances) may be protected by moving them to Amtrak's program. From there the miles may be moved to CO or Midwest Express (or what ever they are calling themselves these days).

Unfortunately, you got that backwards. You can trasfer CO miles to Amtrak Guest Rewards (and from there, into UA or other partners), but you cannot transfer UA miles to Amtrak. It's a one-way street.

Thanks for the clarification, I didn't know that. How about from Midwest to Amtrak?

There are people ( see my post on Coupon Connection) still interested in UA miles as they can redeem them for LH-intra-europe.
The best redemption strategy for UA if you don't want to fly yourself now is to echange them for an later-time award on another airline

How does one do that concering the above post about transferring an award to an international carrier without having a specific date requested. Sorry for my ignorance. I am just a leisure traveller with about 150,000+ ua miles and my husband with 200,000+ ua miles. Thanks

First, I do not have any crystal ball knowledge about UA's future, as some seem too.

We are holding on to our UA miles and using them are usual. Yes, well more that 1/2 million. I will likely "go along" on a trip to London in June (likely will pay full points, for Bus or FC, as the dates are never firm until the last minute with my wife's travel). We also have booked our trip in FC to MEL in August. It is likely she will compile enough miles this year to replace those awards, so we will still have a pile.

We passed on the Hilton transfer of any, as we have a large cashe of those points transferred from AMEX to Delta then to HH.

So in answer to the orignal post, you can just ignore the growing risk of airlines Chapter 7's as one alternative, and keep everything crossed. There is the case that no airline will go Chap 7, or even if, that they may have there ff program taken over by someone else with some compromise value assigned.

In our case, we do not take this as a head in the sand decision, but a best case result for us.