Consolidated "How to Keep/Refresh Expiring Miles" Thread [ARCHIVE]
 

I've seen this question popping up here and there...or people just let their valuable miles expire. Here's what you can do to prevent that from happening in the future:

1. Go to mileageplus dining website and sign up for a free account.
http://mpdining.rewardsnetwork.com/

2. Enroll your (or account holder's) credit card or debit card to the mileage plus dining program. It can be a card of any brand (Chase, Citibank, BofA, whatever). It's free and safe.

3. Search for the closest participating restaurant near you (the closest one near me is a La Salsa fast food place)

4. Go to the closest place and charge your credit card. In my case, I could buy a diet coke for $1.

5. Your mileage plus account will be credited 3 miles for every dollar charged. Miles post in just a couple of weeks. (Or when you dine 12 times an year, you get 5 miles per dollar)

6. Your miles are good for another 18 months because of your dining activity.

I highly recommend register and enroll your current credit card anyway. Sometimes you earn miles when you don't even realize.

I went to NYC a couple of weeks ago and didn't realized that I had dined at a participating restaurant. Viola, my account was credited 250 miles today.

Consolidated "How to Keep/Refresh Expiring Miles" Thread [Merged]
 

I have 18,900+ miles that I earned travelling years ago that are up for expiration. I travel exclusively on AA now, and am Platinum with them. I do quite a bit of personal travel and would love to use these toward hotel points, or AA points...any suggestions of possible ways to convert/use/not let them go to waste? My home airport JAX doesn't quality for one of their reduced mileage awards.

I'm a total novice when it comes to UA miles and their intricacies, and the website makes it sound as though there are no options. Any help would be appreciated. If I do not find anything to do with them, I will donate them.

Thanks!

Welcome to FT, ebiddix!

Conversion is impossible - United is a "dead-end" program. There are plenty of ways to extend the expiration, as any activity will do it. The easiest way is to get the MP Visa - lots of bonus miles and a good way to trickle them miles in over time. Other good ways are to sign up a credit card for iDine and buy a cheap meal or buy something from the Mileage Plus Mall. Grocery Miles is another good option, though it may take time to buy $250 of groceries for your first bonus.

Thanks, I thought that may be the issue. I will hold onto them for the year, just in case, but otherwise, at least they have a donation program.

E

I typically use car rentals to keep our assorted accounts alive.

How about signing up fro MileagePlus Dining?...(it's free)...

...then either use the miles for some vouchers on restaurants that you frequent...

...or make a purchase at one of the member restaurants and earn more points (assuming that this will extend expiration due to "activity" on your MP account).

Any further thoughts on the above?

Why doesn't JAX-IAD qualify as a short-haul award?

You could sign up for one of United's grocery partners to gain a little while keeping the miles alive. Maybe you'll want them one day for a segment that you can't otherwise cover on AA - in Europe, e.g..

I'm in the same boat
 

Somehow DH has 14,000+ miles in his account that will expire in about a year. He got an offer for a Mileage Plus Visa, 21K miles 1st purchase with no annual fee for 1st year. That would give him enough miles for a free ticket. How hard is it to get award seats with United? I've been getting my award seats over he last few years from AA (easy to get), Delta (Sometimes easy) and CO (Very limited). I don't want to get another credit card to get miles that won't ever be able to be redeemed. I see that when transferring in SPG points it's 2:1, not good. What about Am Ex MR points-does United participate with Am Ex?

Susie

Generally pretty easy. Unless you are wanting to go to Hawaii, and even then there are a surprising number of saver seats available if you plan either far-out or last-minute.

It should,. I'll bet either the OP doesn't know about it, or doesn't want to go there.

going to Hawaiii on DL
 

We usually go for business class seats to either Europe or Asia. I plan 11 months ahead most of the time and am on the phone as soon as the seats pop into the system. AA lets you make a reservation and hold it for 2 weeks. Delta only holds the res for a few days. I actually bagged 2 first class seats to Hawaii this coming April with DL Skysaver miles at 7 months in advance I was shocked at how I got the days and flights I wanted on my first phone call! Of course it turns out DL first class to Hawaii sucks-it's domestic first on small planes, not the metal used on trans ocenic flights. But I guess it's better than coach.

Any good quck way to get some UA mileage?
 

I need to have a transaction posting, to keep miles from expiring... I live overseas, and would greatly appreciate any suggestion for a quick, simple, and hopefully inexpensive way to get some mileage activity.

Also, is there a place on this website that lists these kind of mileage earning opportunities? i can't seem to find it.

thanks in advance...

And wasn't there a website that used to post all the ways to get non-flying mileage???

The quickest way is probably to buy something from the Mileage Mall. Since shipping overseas may not be practical, you might want to ship to friends or family living in the U.S.... or send them a nice gift. :)

You could also rent a car for a day - I think even foreign rentals provide mileage, though you should check with the rental agency.

However, remember that redemptions also keep your account active, so you can also consider doing that. For example, you could donate some miles (I think the minimum is 1000).

Good value for miles is www.hartwickandgrove.com, wine merchants, 25 points per $ spent.

But can take up to 3 weeks to post, as with any shopping-miles.