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.

I am sure you all received an email from United stating that Premier/Elite benefits will be extended into the first quarter of 2012. However it not state the exact date. The good news is your United status will not expire on January 31 unlike other carriers which carries your previous year’s status to the end of February (see my previous post).

The real news United did not highlight is the fact that United will be adopting the Continental OnePass system as I have predicted last summer (see previous post). This means United flyers will need to use their OnePass number to bank miles starting in March 2012 (see United link). For those United flyers without a OnePass number, I’m sure United will be sending you a new six digit account number soon.

More importantly, United will be adjusting all the actual airline miles you have earned from partner airlines and count them towards your MileagePlus Million Miler program. To get this information, login to United MileagePlus Personalized Preview via this link. As you can see below, all of my miles earned from partner airlines and Continental have been added to my lifetime miles on my MileagePlus account.

As indicated by United, MileagePlus and Continental’s OnePass program used to track lifetime activities differently. United MileagePlus counted only base EQM (actual flight miles on United and United Express), while OnePass counted both base EQM and additional EQM (those earned on partner airlines or through promotions or certain credit cards).

United was kind enough to recalculate its MileagePlus lifetime miles balances to include additional EQM earned since enrolling in the program. United will refresh the balance before the 2012 MileagePlus program begins on March 3, 2012.

For those of you who are curious, below are the perks of becoming a United Million Miler.

As you all know, United has been charging non-Premier customers to sit in Economy Plus seats with extra legroom. United has now considered exit row seats as a part of Economy Plus even thought larger planes’ exit rows are not in the Economy Plus seating area. I was recently on a United flight from Newark to San Francisco and was seated in the exit row aisle seat after Economy Plus. The entire exit row was empty by the time the plane cabin doors were closed. Soon after take off, two passengers moved to the exit row aisle and middle seats adjacent to my seat. The flight attendant went to the couple told the couple to return to their seats as the exit row seats require additional payment.

Caveat Emptor!  If you are planning to pay for an exit row seat, you should be aware that some of the exit row window seats on larger planes has a limited legroom because the emergency exit slide protrudes into the leg space. An example is United’s Boeing 747-400 planes’ seat numbers 33A and 33K. Everyone should check with Seat Guru before purchasing an exit row seat or you’ll end up paying extra for a seat like the picture below.