Do United Mileage Plus Miles Expire?
 

I know that United Mileage Plus miles used to expire if there was a period of no activity. But, on the new website, I was not able to locate my mileage expiration date, which used to be displayed on the old United website. Am I not seeing it, or do United miles no longer expire?

I doubt that they changed it but as FT'er you will always be sble to figure out a way to extend the expiry date so don't worry :-).

Log onto your account --- below the "Welcome SWDKE" put your cursor on "MILEAGE BALANCE" and a pop up basically says this, " United Mileage Plus Expiration Policy

A member's miles "will expire if there is no current activity for 18 months consecutive."
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Again, according to the program's TOS, "Account activity, for purposes of these Rules, shall be deemed to occur when a member accrues mileage in his or her account in any manner set forth in these Rules, or as otherwise approved by United, or when the member redeems any Mileage Plus or partner award by the use of mileage in the member's account."
So What Does This Really Mean?

The long and the short of it is this; if you perform any activity that either adds miles to your account or subtracts miles from your account, the life of your miles are extended another 18 months from the date that activity took place. So, for example, if you make a purchase using your United Mileage Plus Visa card and earn miles, the lifespan of ALL of the miles in your account will be extended for 18 months from the date on which your MP Visa miles post to your account.

Alternatively, if you redeem miles for a ticket, the lifespan of ALL of your remaining miles will be extended for 18 months from the date on which the miles were removed from your account.

The key is to ensure that the addition to or subtraction of miles from your account occurs before 18 months have elapsed since the last addition/subtraction, or you could lose all of your miles!

Yes - they do expire and the period remains 18 months.

When you login, your mileage balance appears in a box on the right hand side of the screen. Hover over the words mileage balance (underlined) and the expiry policy appears.

And for how to keep those miles from expiring, go here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...ad-merged.html

I'd recommend buying an iTunes song via the UA shopping mall portal at least once a year to keeps the account fresh.

18 months is pretty generous. ^ ^ ^

That number was chosen because re-sweeps can sometimes take up to 17 months!

It used to be 3 years, and before then, no expiration.

UA claims miles won't expire with the Club Visa, but I'm not sure if that's because you'll use it and earn miles thus constantly pushing back expiration or if it's really a perk of the card.

co non expiring mi now subject to expiration?

i tried to join the mileage plus dining to earn more points but i am currently living outside USA but still frequently travel there, but i need to enter a Zip Code to register, any way around this? thanks in advance :)

Yes, that's correct. But I'm pretty sure that the 18-month period before expiration starts from the date when the miles were transferred to Mileage Plus, not from the last date of activity on your old Continental account.

Pick a zip code in a city where you most often frequent.

Or where you have family. I know someone who uses his sister's address for a similar purpose.

Supposedly mere possession of the credit card halts expiration; no activity whatsoever is necessary. That said, 1) this may not be the case, despite what UA says, 2) Even if it is the case, UA can change that perk unbeknownst to you, 3) Prudence dictates creating some activity in your MP account frequently enough to forestall expiration.

Interesting thing I saw today when I logged into my United account. When I placed my cursor over the "Expiration" section under "My MileagePlus Summary" it opens up a small box which says that the miles never expire if: My Chase MileagePlus card is open, I have paid the annual fee, and the card is not in default. The system clearly sees that I have at least one of these credit cards, as it thanked me for having it. No where does it say anything about actually using the card (which I do, anyways). Hope this helps.