Deadline to Transfer "Original" Miles to New Program
 

Maybe someone can provide more information on this matter. I am only an occasional UA flyer; but I have been in the MP program since Day 1 and have 66,000 Original Program Miles plus a 53,000 Current Program Miles. I thought the "old" miles did not expire; but the "new" would expire after 3 years of inactivity. However, I just happened to run across the following language in the MP rules which indicates that OPM must be transferred to current program by 12/15/00:

"21. Mileage earned prior to July 1, 1989, if not previously redeemed or used, will be maintained in the member's account until December 15, 2000. Miles may be transferred by the member into the new Program. All such mileage thus transferred shall be treated as if earned on the date of transfer, shall be subject to expiration three (3) years after the date of transfer as if credited to the account after February 1, 1995 (see #22 below), and may be used to redeem awards in effect at the time of redemption until such time as they expire.

"22. Post-July 1, 1989 miles held in a member's account on February 1, 1995 (which shall be treated for these purposes as if earned on February 1, 1995), or credited to the member's account on or after February 1, 1995, shall be maintained in the account until they are redeemed for an award or until they expire, whichever occurs first. All such miles maintained in a member's account will expire on December 31 of the third year after they are earned or, in the case of pre-July 1, 1989 miles transferred into the new Program, on December 31 of the third year after the transfer."

I do not remember reading anywhere about a transfer deadline; but since I am not very active, I may not have received all of the notices and newsletters. My search indicates the following thread is closest to this matter: "UA Original Program miles" - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum50/HTML/001645.html

Anyone care to comment?

I only have 17K left in my old program balance and now that you mention it, I recall hearing a MP rep say something recently about transferring them into the regular program. Has anyone confirmed the deadline with MP?

I also have quite a few "Original" miles and was a bit confused last week when I saw that language on the UA website. I called the MP Service Center about it and was told by the rep that it was "his understanding" (doesn't THAT just inspire a whole heap o' confidence!) that at some point after the December 15th date, the original program miles would simply be combined with those in the current program, subject to the same 36 month activity rule as all currently accumulated miles.

Of course, it probably wouldn't hurt to call again (1-800-421-4655) to see if everyone else at MP has the same "understanding."

[This message has been edited by cfrmn (edited 08-25-2000).]

Here's an email I received in response to my question on this issue:

Hello Mr. Lorange,

Thank you for your e-mail.

The original bank of miles will be rolled into the new bank of miles
later this year. This will happen automatically. Once the miles are
rolled over they will have the same expiration policy as the new bank
of miles have. The expiration policy is the miles will not expire as
long as there is activity on your account once every 36 months.

My friend has 19000 miles in his account that expired in 98.He also has a total of 100,000 miles in award checks that United used to send. Does anyone know if we can get that into miles and maybe use it by the end of this year? He would be greatful if he could get all the miles back.

I have over 150,000 original miles-it's been a real long run (over 10 years) of holding those and using others. The primary benefits to not transferring them were no expiration and they could be used for better access to a few awards (Hawaii but not Europe since UA did not fly to Europe 10 years ago-this sounds like ancient history, doesn't it?).
The lack of expiration isn't such a big deal now but sure was for a long time.
Caveat: UA has had many previous announcements that original miles would either expire or be rolled over. I know folks who transferred original miles into the regular program, only to see these prior dealines pass without the threatened expiration being imposed. I have read that UA was holding back on imposing new sanctions on original miles for legal reasons. Whatever the reason, if the difference between original and new matters to you, you may want to wait until we are closer to whatever the latest deadline is and see if this one finally has some teeth.

From what I've read, UA's "original" miles were valid for the "original" award chart only through 12/31/94. Thereafter, these miles can only be used with the current chart. Has anyone (MountainTrader?) has success using their "original" miles for that "original" award chart?

FYI, AA allows (for an indefinite period) its members to use original miles for their original chart (like UA, AA's original chart was capacity-free). .

[This message has been edited by SFO_FT (edited 09-05-2000).]