Triangle Trip

Furthering my previous post regarding United counting partner miles towards United’s MileagePlus Million Miler Program, it seems like United is only performing a one-time true-up to count all partner miles toward the Million Miler Program as a part of the Continental merger. I have flown USAir and Lufthansa flights after the merger and banked my flight miles to my United MileagePlus account. The PQM (Premier Qualifying Miles) showed up on my account but was counted toward my Million Miler miles. I have heard from others where their Lufthansa miles were counted towards United’s Million Miler Program.

After reviewing United’s Lifetime Flight Miles section of the Million Miler Program website, I came to the following conclusion regards what flight miles count toward the Million Miler program:

1.  You must be on a United or Copa flight.

2.  You must purchase the ticket on United with a United Airlines flight number even though it is operated by another carrier. For example, you purchased on United a round trip ticket from JFK to FRA where the outbound is a United fight and the return is a co-shared Lufthansa flight.

For sure, United does not count the following flight miles toward its Million Miler Program:

1.  Flights operated by USAir (which is its competitor in the US).

2.  Flights operated by Star Alliance partners that does not originate or return to the US. For example, a Singapore Airline flight from HKG to SIN.

Please share your experiences, thoughts and suggestions with us.