Yes, and for penance you deal with the ICC.

When Mrs. Fredd called today and identified herself as a lifetime member she was first told that the program was cancelled, and then put on hold for some time before the phone rep returned after talking to a supervisor.

"I have good news..."

I phoned them yesterday (Friday), after having identified myself as a livelong SilverWing member and asked about the current silver wing inner USA zone coupon offer.

1st answer: silver wing program doesn't exist anymore

2nd: after I explained that I have been told otherwise for livelong members, I was put on hold ... and after 12 minutes (international call from Switzerland) I gave up.

Was that calling 1-800-720-1765 ?

not sure, I made the initial call to the UA Reservation number for Switzerland; +4144 212 47 17 (which then is answered by staff in Ireland ...) and they did connect me to 'some' Silver Wing staff elsewhere ...

Mrs. Fredd had exactly the same response when she called and ended up with the ICC rep who was at the "Silver Wings" desk. After waiting on hold for several minutes she was given the "good news" according to the rep that lifetime SW members are still entitled to "mileage-based" fares.

The way to do it on the United site is to enter "Silver Wings" in the "electronic ticket or promotion code" space that you will find in "More Search Options." You'll be prompted to log in.

We've just now tested a couple of mock bookings. The difference in SEA-VIE came in as a "Silver Wings Zone Fare" at $932 vs. $1694.

Maybe there's hope after all.

Cheers,
Fredd

Just found this in the Silver Wings FAQ: http://tinyurl.com/yvwuz6

There is no call centre in Ireland anymore

You were either sent to Poland or India, depending on the language choice.

I would Skype or direct dial the 1-800 number I mentioned before as it a specific Silver Wings Travel Centre number:

Or use the booking code if using a United Website as Fredd posted above.

Dream on ...

thank you AdamUK and Fredd: very helpfull advice/tips.

Rudi

You need to enter "silverwings" as one word.

Thanks for the clarification.

It is now impossible to redeem the Silver Wings $100 travel credits. I get the error messageIt can issue $75s but I don't want that. To get to the point to redeem online you have to answer the question "Are you planning to make your flight reservations before June 30, 2007?" with a yes. I was told to do that previously. Else it tells you to call 800-720-1765. If you try calling that number no one answers. I waited 15 minutes and then a 1K Desk Service Director waited 30!!!!!!!!!! She was great and is escalating the problem and will call me back tomorrow.

I had earlier spoke to a 1K Desk CSR with the initials AM (I have the full name) that had no clue about Silver Wings. That CSR hung up on me when I insisted to be transfered to someone who was familiar with SW. This was report reported to the helpful SD also. I hope the recording of that conversation is retrieved and AM is out the door. I don't think it was an ICC person.

Today I was finally able to book a simple 2 segment PHX-ORD-PHX ticket and get the $100 discount mentioned above. There were so many issues in making the reservation that I had to spend over 2 1/2 hours on the phone (20 calls, 157 minutes to be exact) with UA. Additionally I spent another over another hour on my own trying to work out the website issues -- more than 3 1/2 hours of my time to book a trip that should have taken 5-10 minutes. It was finally accomplished by the excellent service by a service director named C.M. in the Chicago reservations center. I will be taking this up with customer relations when I have the time and energy.

There are still $25, $50 and $75 travel credits that can be issued on the Silver Wings site. I suggest you get them while you can. Follow my instructions in the above post. Often the e-certs will not work on ual.com and then you have to book and hold the ticket and have ual.com support apply the e-cert. If you cannot hold the reservation you need give the exact routing to web support and they will ticket and apply the e-cert. Web support is getting better at applying e-certs, I guess they have to do it so much.

Bumping this old thread up...

What Silverwings seems to be offering to "lifetime" members is nothing, certainly in regard to international fares, which were up for awhile about a week ago and then disappeared.

Has any other lifetime member successfully booked a zone fare recently?

Cheers,
Fredd

Interesting, their SSL Certificate expired on 1/30/2008. Wondering if the site is not being maintained.

I have a lifetime membership. Paid for it. At the time it was an attractive deal. Not sure where are my papers/receipts. Will look for the plastic card.

What irks me most is the surreptitious termination of the silverwing program by sneaking under the radar.
Haven't used the program much after the beginning of the UA bankrupcy proceedings at the end of 2002. In 2003 I was ill, then my wife, also a life member, got ill. So the fun trips were suspended.
For the moment I have to think this situation over.
This tricky sneaky termination of the program to life-time paid-members will spill over on-to all my other criticisms of United Airlines. There is a lot UA could have done with the life-time members of Silverwings in lieu of this skunky tricky termination.
The right karma will re-visit United Airlines in the right moment.