United Airlines Mileage Plus

...couple of years ago with United Vacations. The reservations agent advised that I should join Mileage Plus. Yeah whatever, but did it anyway.

Went to the United Airlines website and had a better look at it. United Airlines is part of the Star Alliance, the worlds leading airline alliance. The Mileage Plus scheme is obviously centred around United Airlines, but you can "earn and burn" your miles on any of the Star Alliance ...
...example, I took out the United Airlines Mileage Plus Gold Card and earned an additional 6000 miles last year, recommended 3 friends to the scheme and earned 15000 miles, and 1 round trip economy to the USA gave me 8000 miles. That would have been enough to earn me a free trip with bmi british midland to Europe.

There are a lot of additional offers set up mainly for US residents, such as the ability to earn with telecom companies, ... more

Let me start by saying that I am not a particularly frequent flyer. I don't do many business miles, and have a couple of holidays a year.

However, I booked a holiday a couple of years ago with United Vacations. The reservations agent advised that I should join Mileage Plus. Yeah whatever, but did it anyway.

Went to the United Airlines website and had a better look at it. United Airlines is part of the Star Alliance, the worlds leading airline alliance. The Mileage Plus scheme is obviously centred around United Airlines, but you can "earn and burn" your miles on any of the Star Alliance carriers: bmi british midland, SAS, Lufthansa, VARIG, Air Canada, Austrian Airlines, Mexicana, ANA All Nippon, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, Asiana, and from this year, Spanair, LOT Polish Airlines and US Airways. (phew!). Also, all of the airlines have regional agreements which mean that you can sometimes earn and redeem miles on additional carriers that are not in the alliance. With United, you can earn miles on US Airways, BWIA, Aeromar, Air Dolomiti, Aloha Airlines, Cayman Airways, Delta Airlines, Emirates, and select flights with Continental Connection, Great Lakes Airlines and Virgin Blue.

Miles can add up very quickly. For example, I took out the United Airlines Mileage Plus Gold Card and earned an additional 6000 miles last year, recommended 3 friends to the scheme and earned 15000 miles, and 1 round trip economy to the USA gave me 8000 miles. That would have been enough to earn me a free trip with bmi british midland to Europe.

There are a lot of additional offers set up mainly for US residents, such as the ability to earn with telecom companies, and at thousands of restaurants in the US. However, bmi british midlands scheme seems more focused towards the business traveller, and so I chose United Airlines Mileage Plus to still have access to all of the benefits of the Star Alliance, and to join a scheme that is aimed at all customers, rather than those on Full Economy or Business Class fares.

In summary, Frequent Flyer schemes are not just for Frequent Flyers. They really should be renamed Airline Loyalty Schemes. I saved all of my miles up and have just blown them all on a First Class return to the US. All I paid was the taxes, and the miles paid for the flight, a cash value of approx £5000! Talk about money for nothing!
 

...less