carlitos

I completely agree. The only good thing AA (maybe by luck) did correctly, was never giving points conversion to any bank (only SPG had it, and Marriott kind of devalue it). So, with no SPG Amex Card anymore, you do need the AA Mastercard from Citi or Barclays, but with UA or DL, the CSR, CSP, Amex Gold, Amex Plat paired with Unlimited or BBP will give you always more than 1.5X UA miles and more than 2X DL Miles on everything!!! I only have the those kind of combo cards in my top of wallet, of course. And, if they devalue too much, I can always use them as Avios, WN Points, etc. etc. etc. #Kirbyispissed #yousigneditUAandDL

jsloan

I mean...

You do realize that the Explorer Card actually includes "miles won't expire" as a perk, right?

So your suggestion is that they're trying to catch up to the competition by removing a feature? That doesn't pass the sniff test, even for UA marketing. Whatever their rationale is, it's not trying to catch up to other rewards cards.

LimeyFlyer

Who cares? We should delete this thread as it gives more importance to the announcement than it deserves.

cricketer

There will always be future devaluation. Almost by definition. I'm not sure this announcement accelerates that in any particular way. UA can, per my understanding, estimate likely redemption, and thus not have to carry 100% liability on the books for the miles. So given the devaluation and award scarcity that has already occurred, a charitable view might be that they've crunched numbers for a while, seen that they can look good for little cost, and taken the plunge. It's not entirely implausible that a corporation once in a while does something that's positive for its customers, right?

All that bubbling optimism aside, I'm under no illusion that the longer I keep my miles, the less they will be worth. Any post-1K leisure travel in a given year will be on miles, and once I reach 2MM (60K to go), I may not even bother striving for 1K. Have to enjoy the travel you do, not the travel you might do in the future.

tarheelnj

The dynamic award pricing and doing away with the close-in fees (making the 1K no-fee redeposit benefit less valuable) were bigger deals. Yes, this does save a few $5 gift card exchange charges every year and a half for family who earn the occasional miles on paid tickets, but mostly fly on my miles.

zombietooth

+1
This is like Nero offering flasks of water to the citizens of Rome while the city burns around them.

PVDProf

I saw this on Bloomberg TV this morning. For a minor change to a loyalty program rule like this to be released there, someone has to think it affects a stock: I like the idea this is motivated by Chase. I'm certainly seeing more and more of my spend move away from the MP Platinum, as it doesn't offer much value once I get the PQM (and I can't see much value at all in MP cards that don't have this legacy feature).

As the value of MP Miles falls, then other points, or even cash back, cards start to look more appealing. That said, my MP miles this year again got the family to Europe for a summer holiday (at saver economy rates), so I'm not making any chances yet!

This'll help me worry less about my kids' miles expiring, but doesn't provide much reassurance about the value of my miles.

naumank

eng3

It's not a big deal for UA to do this if they just drastically devalue the miles

spin88

I argued before AA backed off on Y- that their and UA's policy would cost them business in light of what DL was doing. AA admitted it was, and fixed the problem. UA seems to be more stubborn, or less inclined to look at its data on passenger buying patterns. There is no reason why AA's flyers would respond differently than do UAs.

It is likely a "win-win" for both customers and UA, which will avoid the risk of POing those whose accounts lose their miles.

Never, never, never underestimate UA's inability to judge what consumers buy on, or what it takes to keep them loyal. 5 years of "changes you will like" + loss of PRASM/yeild and underperformance should have disabused anyone of the idea that United is a well run consumer brand.

+1

goalie

For once, it’s a good thing with UA copying DL

HoyaSFOIAD

narvik

"Lifetime" and "never expire" will last exactly as long as United wants it to.

WineCountryUA

Lifetime miles from a previous account can be merged into an existing account. At least for now LT miles are good for your lifetime, never expire. Might be able to do it online Merge MileagePlus Accounts

Smiley90

Had to do a double-take on my e-mail, that's for sure!