Thank you! Thank you!! Thank you!!!

[montu6]

Thanks to those who gave me such great advice about applying for a United Visa in order to get FF miles. We did, got 30,000 +5,000 for an athorized user, paid for our cruise, bought 2,000 miles and now have two one way flights to Rome for our TA in Dec. Each ticket was only 30,000 miles. All for the cost of less than $400. We even upgraded to economy plus and bought insurance!

 

I would have never thought of that option and would have spent much more. Cruise Critic and all of the helpful posters have done it again!

[Twickenham]

Credit card bonuses are for me one of the must un-tapped resources among CC members. Glad you were able to make it work for you.

[Rowsby]

Do the free miles have to be used within a certain amount of time.......??

[montu6]

They don't expire. Great isn't it!

[Rowsby]

Yes....really great...!!!

[travelplus]

I also used the Credit Card Bonus as well and it does work well.

[greatam]

They don't expire. Great isn't it!

 

Sorry, but you are WRONG. IF miles are credited to a FF account, MOST have a 1 year expiration date. But it is so darn easy to keep the account alive.

 

IF it is truly a FF account, just do dining, a hotel stay, rental car or some even have online malls or charities that you can donate to keep you miles alive for another year. I never have that problem because I fly enough on my primary airline but some of my "orphan miles" accounts, I have just bought a magazine subscription for $20 and those miles are good for another year.

 

IF you got a credit card that uses those miles to BUY you an airline ticket (I am thinking Cap One), it is a BIG, BIG waste of money IMHO. You have to have enough miles to get a $500 ticket which will cost you about 50,000 MILES. What a rip!!! I really don't care if you can get a ticket any time. You are PAYING FULL PRICE for the ticket on the day you buy the ticket with your miles. RIP, RIP, RIP!!!

 

Please reply how you think your miles DO NOT expire. Thanks

Edited January 25, 2014 by greatam

[Texas Tillie]

Sorry, but you are WRONG. IF miles are credited to a FF account, MOST have a 1 year expiration date. But it is so darn easy to keep the account alive.

 

IF it is truly a FF account, just do dining, a hotel stay, rental car or some even have online malls or charities that you can donate to keep you miles alive for another year. I never have that problem because I fly enough on my primary airline but some of my "orphan miles" accounts, I have just bought a magazine subscription for $20 and those miles are good for another year.

 

IF you got a credit card that uses those miles to BUY you an airline ticket (I am thinking Cap One), it is a BIG, BIG waste of money IMHO. You have to have enough miles to get a $500 ticket which will cost you about 50,000 MILES. What a rip!!! I really don't care if you can get a ticket any time. You are PAYING FULL PRICE for the ticket on the day you buy the ticket with your miles. RIP, RIP, RIP!!!

 

Please reply how you think your miles DO NOT expire. Thanks

 

The miles do not expire as long as the OP keeps the United Visa active. However, after the first year, there is a $95 annual fee for the credit card.

[FlyerTalker]

For a good summary on expiring miles, my go-to guy Gary Leff has THIS RECENT POST.

 

It opened my eyes....for example, Spirit requires program activity every THREE MONTHS!!

 

Guess the non-expiration for SkyPesos is a small bone tossed to the Delta folk.

Edited January 25, 2014 by FlyerTalker

[greatam]

The miles do not expire as long as the OP keeps the United Visa active. However, after the first year, there is a $95 annual fee for the credit card.

 

 

Isn't that what I posted??? IF the miles go to a FF account, generally ONE year for expiration.

 

If it is only a credit card account, you may have to pay a fee or just use the miles on the credit card account (Cap One in particular).

 

So there are all kinds of variations and what montu6 posted is NOT good for everyone. My AA card miles expire after one year no matter how much I pay (and I pay a lot for that AA VIP business card through CITI). Other cards may be different.

 

 

As Flyertalker posted, some are only good for three months. So there is NO standard.

[alcpa1]

OP,

I'm glad that you were able to achieve success.

 

NOW

 

Monitor your flights. Flight changes do happen just don't get caught with inadequate connections, flight cancellations or even seat changes.

Happy planning

[montu6]

It worked for us. I know it isn't for everyone. We used to collect a lot of United miles when my DH was working and making frequent trips to Europe. But we only had 17,000 left in the account. Air would cost us about $1400 each. Someone on CC sugested the card with its 30,000 and 5,000 bonus. We charged the required $1000 and bought a few miles, allowing us to purchase 2 economy plus seats, all for less than $400.

 

Will we keep it after the year is over? I'm not sure. Amex is not accepted everywhere so we might. Cross that bridge when we come to it.

 

So the bottom line is we got 2 tickets with good routing for $2400 less than if we had purchased them from the airline. I appreciate the hint and wanted to share it with others. It may not make sense for everyone but it sure did for us!

[calliopecruiser]

Thanks for that link - it's an interesting site.

 

Personally, I use a credit card that gives me Aeroplan miles, which works for me (even with the annual fee) - I not only like Air Canada's product, I'm usually flying from Canada ;) I have saved significantly on flights in the last 5 years, and plan to continue to do so.

 

Every couple of years I review the credit card offerings and consider the pluses or minus of changing cards. I think that's a smart thing for everyone to do anyway (I also do it for my bank account).

Edited January 25, 2014 by calliopecruiser
grammar

[Texas Tillie]

Isn't that what I posted??? IF the miles go to a FF account, generally ONE year for expiration.

 

If it is only a credit card account, you may have to pay a fee or just use the miles on the credit card account (Cap One in particular).

 

So there are all kinds of variations and what montu6 posted is NOT good for everyone. My AA card miles expire after one year no matter how much I pay (and I pay a lot for that AA VIP business card through CITI). Other cards may be different.

 

 

As Flyertalker posted, some are only good for three months. So there is NO standard.

 

The miles are posted on your United FF account each month from the credit card. So, I don't consider them CC miles, but United miles. If you keep the United CC active, they don't expire. No, if you don't want to use United flights, the United card probably isn't a good deal, but since I live in Houston, it is for me, like United or not.

Edited January 25, 2014 by Texas Tillie

[Riverroad]

I thought AA miles expired after 18 months, not 12. Gary Leff confirms this in the article cited by FlyerTalker.

[thechicagoans]

United's expiration policy is 18 months from the time of last activity: http://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/mileageplus/rules/default.aspx

 

1. There is no "generally" when it comes to mileage expiration. The policies are across the board. For example, Delta miles never expire. Everyone should refer directly to the airline or rewards program in question.

 

2. For most programs, it's very easy to keep your miles / points alive. You don't have to fly United to keep your miles active. You can:

 

- Use a Chase United credit card (there are 2 business and 2 personal ones currently on offer)

- Use MileagePlus Dining Rewards and dine at a restaurant in the program to earn miles

- Redeem miles

- Use the MileagePlus shopping mall powered by Cartera (warning, clear your cookies and make the purchase quickly, print PDF copies of everything as Cartera is notorious for cheating people if they aren't vigilant)

- Credit miles to United via a hotel stay

- Credit miles to United via a car rental

- And so on

 

3. Check to make sure the credit card offer you are looking at is the best one out there. I cringe when I see people taking the 30K United or American offers at the airport. There are better offers online.

 

For future reference, go to Flyertalk: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credit-debit-prepaid-card-programs-390/ and look up what the best offer is for the credit card you are looking at. The Chase United Mileage Plus Explorer can easily be obtained for a 50K signup bonus through a variety of techniques.

 

OP - have a wonderful trip!