1.1 million miles expired 6 wks ago
 

I've been a Mileage Plus member for 16 years, made 1K 8 years in a row, became Million Mile flyer 5 years ago and qualified for Global Services earlier this decade - all thanks to corporate travel. My Hertz and Hilton plans were linked to UA and I had signed up for Mileage Plus Dining. I clearly remember reading in some brochure that as a Million Mile flyer, I will stay Premier Executive for life and my miles would never expire - not that it was ever a concern given my frequent travels. Found out today that all my 1.1 million miles expired Sep 30, 2009.

My employer and I had parted ways earlier this year and I forgot to update my email profile on UA website. In my new job, I don't need to travel and so haven't flown United, rented a car or stayed at a hotel all this year (though this should change shortly). I didn't receive any notice from UA that my miles were about to expire, even though I get a monthly solicitation in the mail about signing up for Mileage Plus Visa and United Customer Service called me couple of times in August/September to have me select my preferred contact information.

When I called Premier Executive Customer Service, I was advised to dig up Hertz rentals or Hilton stays between Dec-08 & Sep-09. I don't believe I have a qualifying event in that time period.

Can any other Million Miler confirm my recollection that - at least initially, our miles were never supposed to expire? What's my best option for getting the miles reinstated? Appeal to a supervisor? Clearly, if had any inkling I was about to lose 1.1 million miles, I could've taken care of it very simply by using Mileage Plus Dining etc.

Best regards,

Sad Million Miler

wow that sucks the big one...not sure if anything can be done other than begging if you cant find something that should have posted though....1.1M miles DAMN!

The rental cars or hotel stays don't have to be under your own name. So you just need ANYONE who has an uncredited car rental/stay to help you out here, and you can add your MP number to that stay for retro credit.

Did this with Hilton to rescue 40k miles, and it worked.

-bmir

That hurts big time. DAMN!

Look, I won't even allow 15K miles expire in family member's MP account.

I am stunned that you lost more than 1 million miles. A lot of free first class tickets to the world.

Wow, that's tens of thousands of dollars worth of miles lost! Hope you get them back.

Wow, that's a bummer. I hope you can figure out how to get them reinstated.

I put almost everything possible on my United MP Chase Visa, including my monthly gym fees, and my local phone company (Verizon) charges.

The idea about past missing rental/hotel stay credits has been a winner for some. Also it has been reported being offered a deal to re-instate miles if you do a flight within xx days -- ask about that.
There have been some threads with folks having similar problem that may be worth researching

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...ad-merged.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...d-threads.html
Mileage_Expiration_(UA)

BTW, Welcome to FT!, unitedmillionmiler - sorry for the lousy situation

When the program originally started miles did not expire. However, sometime in the early 90s they changed the program and miles were held in your account as "original miles" and "new miles." These "original miles" had no expiry date. And as I recall you could use the original miles under the old redemption chart. The "new miles" expired in 3 years. Currently, miles expire after 18 months of no activity on your account. See this link.

And welcome to FlyerTalk unitedmillionmiler!

Woah what a first post! Sorry to hear about the expiration of thousands of dollars worth of UA currency.

Never been in this situation and hope to never be. Good luck.

Is that possible that miles never went expired ? Permanent 1P is for sure,not heard of the miles would be kept for no timelimit, given that it's now 18 months' validity,it was actually 36 months a couple of years ago,to be straight out... 1.1m are buckets of Intl'tickets, join the mile-reinstated pros and get miles back....

Can anyone PM UAMMiler and help him/her out with a credit from anywhere in the window before 9/30/09? Sounds like that is a chance.

If not, oh snap- 1.1MM!!! wow.

Welcome to FT UAMM, post circumstances lousy, sympthy waves your way.

HEY LETS GET A CREDIT FROM SOMEWHERE TO PUT TO THE ACCOUNT! I just checked, I got nothin to credit :(

Damn, I just credited my forgotten Omni stays a few weeks ago :(

Good luck, 1.1MM is some serious mileage.

I have an uncle in Nigeria who will give you his 1.1 million miles if you will help him first by giving him $2000 so he can get them out of the country...

:D:Dtoo funny

If I'm reading this right, lifetime 1MM status (Premier Exec) alone will not save your miles? I didn't know lifetime status required a flying element, or any other mileage accruing activity, to keep the miles in account alive. Learn something new here every day.