Check with your current airlines - my bet is they are offering a similar program to their frequent flyers. "Qualifying" means these miles help you earn status which may not amount to much these days but it does mean you’ll be one of the first to board over the recreational travelers and possibly beat them out of a seat when going standby.
Click here to register.
Offer Details:
Registration is required by June 15, 2008. Only travel completed on or after date of registration is eligible for this offer.
Travel period: April 21, 2008 through June 15, 2008
Earn double Elite Qualifying Miles (EQM) on United, United Express and Ted flights (two times the actual base flight miles)
This offer does not apply to class of service bonus miles or EQM, elite bonus miles, redeemable bonus miles, promotional EQM or Elite Qualifying Segments
Elite Qualifying Miles are not redeemable for flights but do count toward Premier®, Premier Executive® and 1K® status
Baby steps. That’s the best we can hope for.
A reader recently sent me an email asking what he could do to fulfill the requirement for 1K status on United. He was just 5k away and looking for ideas before it was too late.
If you’re relatively close to the next status level, there are a few things you can try.
5 Tips for Making Status
- Call the Premier/Premier Executive 1-800 phone number and explain your situation (maybe you’ll get someone sympathetic)
- Re-route an existing flight through a United hub airport (to keep the price low) for additional mileage
- Check out the United promotions page for segments which qualify for double mileage points and book accordingly
- Sign up for a airline-sponsored credit card for bonus mileage points or convert credit card points to miles (e.g. 10k Chase card points for 1000 EQM)
- Read this Flyertalk message thread for other options
Don’t wait until the last minute to find out you were 100 miles away from the next status level.
I’ve said this once before and I’ll say it again. Miles are the new fool’s gold. With the numerous restrictions and now expiration dates, it’s no wonder I no longer have loyalty towards a single airlines. In fact, I flew my last flight of the year with United – just enough to make Premier status. I will be flying Southwest here on out for the rest of the year. Hopefully I get enough flights for a companion pass so my wife can travel for free whenever I book a flight on Southwest…without restrictions.
Do you wonder why there are expiration dates? This Chicago Tribute article gives you the details.
Just a few highlights:
The airlines are making a bid to get excess miles off their balance sheets. United, for example, had approximately 508.8 billion outstanding unused miles at the end of 2006. It estimates that 70.5 billion of those (about 14 percent) will go unused and probably expire under the new policy.
That’s enough expiring miles at 25,000 miles per ticket for nearly 3 million free domestic flight awards. Or if each mile is worth 2 cents (using a common measure of the value of miles), about $1.4 billion dollars worth of miles. Just at United.
That’s right – when you let miles expire, you lose big-time and the airlines save themselves a cargo-load of greenbacks. You have to keep your account(s) active by flying on the respective airline in order to extend the expiration date. This is not really an issue for frequent flyers, but the restrictions are still ridiculous.
A couple of tips for avoiding the expiration of miles:
Take a paid flight on the airline or an alliance partner (for example, a United frequent flier who takes a Lufthansa flight would qualify).
Redeem miles for a flight, upgrade or even a magazine subscription.
Use a credit card that awards frequent-flier miles. You can “buy a pack of gum for $1” and keep your account active, says United’s Urbanski.
Stay at a hotel that offers miles in the carrier’s program. If you usually receive frequent-guest points in the hotel’s program, you will have to forfeit them at least for one stay.
Rent a car and ask to have miles credited to your program (though some car rental agencies will charge an added fee).
Cash is always better than miles, so don’t fool yourself into thinking you should save those miles for a last minute flight that would otherwise cost you $500. My bet is on the restrictions that keep you from redeeming those miles. Try to plan well ahead and spend those miles as soon as you can. Read the fine print - there are usually cash penalties for booking too close to the departure date when using miles.
Good luck. Don’t let those hard-earned miles go to waste. You earned ‘em, so don’t forget to use them.