Jan 9, 2015, 4:29 pm
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
United announces "MileagePlus Miles Never Expire" (effective immediately)
Archive thread: Consolidated "How to Keep/Refresh Expiring Miles" Thread [ARCHIVE]
If you want to keep all your existing miles, and thus want some new miles to post quickly and reliably, here are some ways, from cheapest to most expensive:
Archive thread: Consolidated "How to Keep/Refresh Expiring Miles" Thread [ARCHIVE]
If you want to keep all your existing miles, and thus want some new miles to post quickly and reliably, here are some ways, from cheapest to most expensive:
- Book an award ticket and then cancel at no cost within 24 hours.
- If you have a United credit card, downgrade it to the no fee version that gives 1 mile/$2 and use it every so often. Will help with aging as well which is good for your credit score.
- Dining option still works (as of May 22, 2014). Posted to United in about 3 weeks after activity. I think it is one of the easiest options. No need to even take survey if you dont want extra survey points. I didn't do it.
- Buy a gift card and trade it to United for miles. See http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/21020349-post702.html for an example that cost $15, and resulted in miles posting in under 24 hours. If you are not a U.S. resident, then buy an acceptable gift card on eBay and ask seller to email you the gift card number and pin. The gift card can be purchased with anyone's credit card (or cash) and applied to anyone's M+ number (name on credit card and M+ account need not match). It is not known if e-gift cards work. Physical gift cards known to work are:
- Buffalo Wild Wings (available for as low as $15 at Walgreens pharmacy). Note this card did not have a pin. Leaving the pin field empty in the submission worked fine.
2013 Update: - Ref, Ref
- Online bought GCs (i.e. e GCs) are not working successfully - Failed: Walmart, Lowes, NewEgg
- Store bought cards that worked recently as per some members: Buffalo Wild Wings, Target
- Buffalo Wild Wings (available for as low as $15 at Walgreens pharmacy). Note this card did not have a pin. Leaving the pin field empty in the submission worked fine.
- Buy miles directly from United. http://www.ualmiles.com/PersonalMile...Personal+Miles. The minimum purchase is about $75.
- Mileage activity from third parties -- rental car, hotels, .... -- look for previously not posted activity
- Buy a ticket on united.com, and once it tickets, purchase award maximizer. Look for a flight with a short distance, such as COS/DEN to keep the award maximizer cost low. Miles will post in under 24 hours. Cancel ticket within 24 hours to get a full refund.
2013 Update: Ref, Ref
This seems to be the simplest way to do it for low cost, without much running around or waiting or donating miles.
- Bought an IAH > Austin ticket for 69/79 $.
- Went back in to change/ modify ticket reservation and then Award Acc was offered - 500 miles for 17$. Bought it.
- Miles posted in few hours. Cancelled the ticket. Refund to Visa card pending.
Note: Buy any low cost short distance ticket, go back in and buy award accelerator and then cancel in 24 hr after award miles post. . - Make a purchase using MileagePlus X – Shopping App to Earn Additional Award Miles / Introducing MileagePlusX -- miles reportedly post very quickly. Doesn't work if the name on credit card doesn't match the name on the M+ account.
- Another option if you are in he United States is with BP gas stations with their BP Driver Rewards program. They give at least 1 mile per gallon. Signing up is free and the miles post instantly.
Have a look here: https://www.mybpstation.com/united
- Magazine subscriptions
- Charitable giving
- Mileage Purchases -- generally a poor use of miles
- Reinstatement Miles for a fee -- if the expiration is as recent as 18 months ago, roughly 0.5 to 1 cpm.
- Find a recent (last 12 months typically) hotel stay or rental car credit that has not yet been posted. If the date was prior to expiration that should reinstate the expired miles.
Consolidated "How to Keep/Refresh Expiring Miles" Thread
Sep 13, 2017, 8:58 pm
#212
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Los Angeles
Programs: Southwest, United, American, Alaska, TACA
Posts: 10
extending or restarting expiring miles
My United Mileage Plus miles are set to expire in about two months. I'd like to keep them operational until next year so as to use them. The current rules are long and dense; I will read them but wonder if anybody has a quick tl;dr answer.
Can I either buy miles or do a short flight and extend the useful life of these banked miles?
I checked the wiki but did not find an answer there.
Can I either buy miles or do a short flight and extend the useful life of these banked miles?
I checked the wiki but did not find an answer there.
Sep 13, 2017, 9:07 pm
#213
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,850
My United Mileage Plus miles are set to expire in about two months. I'd like to keep them operational until next year so as to use them. The current rules are long and dense; I will read them but wonder if anybody has a quick tl;dr answer.
Can I either buy miles or do a short flight and extend the useful life of these banked miles? ...
Can I either buy miles or do a short flight and extend the useful life of these banked miles? ...
However this thread's wiki has many low / zero cost methods for resetting the expiration. The survey or the use of MileagePlusX are two popular essentially free ways (assuming you wanted the purchased item).
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Sep 13, 2017 at 9:17 pm Reason: iTunes approach is dated
Sep 17, 2017, 7:18 pm
#215
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 5
Hi, As a Canadian wanting to keep my miles alive a bit longer and not able to redeem for a flight, it sounds like my best option is the donate to charity option. But, what I can't find searching here, is there a minimum amount of miles you need to donate to trigger the new expiry date of miles? There is mention of 500 miles, but it seems I can type in less miles to donate, but I haven't tried to process the transaction yet.
Sep 17, 2017, 8:32 pm
#216
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,850
Hi, As a Canadian wanting to keep my miles alive a bit longer and not able to redeem for a flight, it sounds like my best option is the donate to charity option. But, what I can't find searching here, is there a minimum amount of miles you need to donate to trigger the new expiry date of miles? There is mention of 500 miles, but it seems I can type in less miles to donate, but I haven't tried to process the transaction yet.
UA does state "a minimum of 500 miles is required per donation" and if you try a donation of less, it will error out
A minimum of 500 miles is required per donation. Please revise the amount of miles for this donation.
Sep 29, 2017, 4:42 am
#217
Join Date: Dec 2006
Programs: IHG Amb, MR Plat, FB Silver
Posts: 138
Just noticed that my miles will expire on 10/01/2017! Will they expire at midnight Sept 31 - Oct 1 or at midnight Oct 1 - 2? I just transferred 2 SPG points to extend the miles but not sure if that will be processed fast enough. Depending on that I will purchase some miles just before midnight on Sept 31 or just before midnight Oct 1 (if 1 mile from SPG does not post in time)…
Sep 29, 2017, 6:13 am
#218
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: CLE (mostly)
Programs: UA Plat, Hyatt Explorist, Mlife Gold, Starbucks Gold
Posts: 823
Just noticed that my miles will expire on 10/01/2017! Will they expire at midnight Sept 31 - Oct 1 or at midnight Oct 1 - 2? I just transferred 2 SPG points to extend the miles but not sure if that will be processed fast enough. Depending on that I will purchase some miles just before midnight on Sept 31 or just before midnight Oct 1 (if 1 mile from SPG does not post in time)…
FT thread
Sep 29, 2017, 12:09 pm
#219
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,850
Just noticed that my miles will expire on 10/01/2017! Will they expire at midnight Sept 31 - Oct 1 or at midnight Oct 1 - 2? I just transferred 2 SPG points to extend the miles but not sure if that will be processed fast enough. Depending on that I will purchase some miles just before midnight on Sept 31 or just before midnight Oct 1 (if 1 mile from SPG does not post in time)…
Oct 3, 2017, 3:39 pm
#221
Join Date: Jul 2017
Posts: 197
If you're in the US, you can also buy a gift card on the MPX app. Those miles do post instantly.
FT thread
FT thread
I have about 600,000 miles that expire in a few months, I don't use UA or *A much anymore, but I'll eventually go business from southeast Asia to South America a few times, or something like that. So I don't want them to expire.
Oct 10, 2017, 8:24 am
#222
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: On strike
Posts: 8,135
In case anyone needs reassurance, I can confirm that this is still true. Dining activity in early September failed to post. I contacted the partner with proof of the transaction in late September. In the meantime, United expired all miles as scheduled on 9/30, and then reinstated them automatically once the dining miles posted this month (with the original transaction date).
Nov 11, 2017, 9:37 am
#223
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: PDX|AKL|AMS|GVA|AGP|CPT - or somewhere in between
Programs: DL DM; 2MM
Posts: 2,418
It was quietly sneaking up on me, but luckily noticed in time that 360k miles were expiring soon.
Still the easiest way for me is to simply buy an e-giftcard (that you use anyways) through the MileagePlusX app and get the account instantly updated.
Still the easiest way for me is to simply buy an e-giftcard (that you use anyways) through the MileagePlusX app and get the account instantly updated.
Nov 17, 2017, 11:27 am
#224
Join Date: Jan 2013
Programs: AA Platinum
Posts: 119
Extending Mileage Expiration
I recently (04/16/17) earned 4 miles through United Mileage Shopping, but the expiration date of my miles has not been extended from 1/31/2018, any ideas?
Last edited by macintoshd; Nov 17, 2017 at 11:49 am
Dec 3, 2017, 10:23 am
#225
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 42
How do you transfer 2 SPG points? The SPG website gave me an error if I try to transfer 2 points. It states that the min required to transfer to United is 2500 points unless you are a Platinum member. Any other way? Please advise. TIA.
Just noticed that my miles will expire on 10/01/2017! Will they expire at midnight Sept 31 - Oct 1 or at midnight Oct 1 - 2? I just transferred 2 SPG points to extend the miles but not sure if that will be processed fast enough. Depending on that I will purchase some miles just before midnight on Sept 31 or just before midnight Oct 1 (if 1 mile from SPG does not post in time)…