In the past, I could buy extra miles (and add on Elite maximizer miles) after having booked a ticket on continental.com. In addition, when checking in at the airport, I could _again_ buy extra miles, and _again_ add on Elite maximizer miles.

In the last 3 weeks, however, I have had two flights where I was not able to buy miles/Elite maximizer miles at the airport after having already purchased them online. It has always been possible since day one of the online mile purchase/Elite maximizer option to buy them both online and then again at the airport. I find this particularly convenient for reaching Platinum/100k Elite status.

I had been using this strategy this year and am very close to 100k Elite status, but based on the travel I plan to do the remainder of the year and the apparent change to this program, I won't quite make 100k.

Is this an intentional change on Continental/United's part? Has any one else been able to continue getting the double purchases to work? The last time I was able to do this was in mid-September on the outbound leg of a flight to Europe. On my return leg, I was not able to purchase more miles at the airport, nor was I able to do so on a subsequent domestic trip this past weekend.

Thoughts? (And yes, I know that buying miles is a 'bad deal' in the mind of some, but I would rather buy my way to 100k Elite given my current amount of travel than spend the time in the air it would take for me to get there with additional unneeded trips.)

Welcome to FlyerTalk!

You can just buy more tickets online, buy the maximizer and then refund the ticket if you really want them that way.

I am still be able to do purchase last Oct 3