United Airlines Flies Away Customers
I took a flight to the west coast last month on United Airlines (UA). The trip went smoothly; very well in fact. Earlier this week I checked in to see if my frequent flyer miles were credited. They were.
I decided to check the kids' accounts to see how they were doing towards a free ticket. It turned out that on April 30th one of them with alomost 35,000 miles lost all of them for inactivity. I called United to see what could be done.
First I was told that UA sent out numerous emails warning customers that inactivity would lead to loss of miles. After a back and forth discussion that sounded like something out of "Who's On First' it was established that 'numerous' did not refer to the emails I might have received, but to the millions that United customers received.
I received an email in November and forgot about the miles expiring in April.
Then came the question of restoring the miles. It could be done. By paying $199 and flying in the next twelve months. The $199 is not applicable to cost of the ticket. It is a service fee.
I emailed United to see if something could be done. These were the miles my daughter had accumulated since her childhood. So far no reply from United.
I could have used as few as 500 miles on restaurant vouchers and saved the day. Oh well.
In the meantime I pointed out to a supervisor that it was not worth it for United to lose our family's business over 35,000 miles.
I pointed out to the supervisor that I had over 500,000 miles on the airline; that Sara and the kids probably had another 100,000 miles. I went through the hell of flying through Chicago, the cancelled and delayed flights. The buses and car rentals back form O'Hare. The broken promises about improved services.
We all know the drill.
She did not say anything, but I knew what she was thinking.
It is worth it in the grand scheme of things to lose you and your family as a customer.
When United deducts the tens of millions of miles, a few upset customers like me are calculated into the planning. They do not want to lose our business but it is a small price to pay compared to the millions of dollars of liability for those frequent miles that they wipe off the books.
Anyone have Northwest's phone number?

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