United’s misleading bonus mile offers

by Janice Hough on March 25, 2009

Everybody loves earning frequent flyer miles. And bonus mile promotions are even better. Except when they are not.

Two clients cheerfully forwarded me a great new United Airlines bonus for travel to London through June 30, 2009. Up to 50,000 bonus Mileage Plus miles per trip! A great deal, right? Well, depending on your plans, not exactly.

As is not uncommon, this bonus is only for specified fare classes. The 50,000 mile bonus is for business class. There is a 25,000 mile bonus for “select” economy class bookings. “Select” being the operative word.

For example, on a trip in April, United’s lowest fare including tax from Washington Dulles to London roundtrip is $501. The lowest fare that qualifies for the 25,000 mile bonus is $939. Now, if you really need those miles, it is cheaper to spend the $438 extra than to buy the miles. Otherwise, it’s not exactly a bargain.

And here’s the really irritating part. The promotion is for NEW bookings only. Which means that one of my clients, a 1k (100,000 mile a year) flyer, who booked her qualifying trip to London last week and received the email this week, is out of luck. Unless she refunds the ticket for a $250.00 penalty and starts over.

Clients who booked business class qualifying discount tickets have a similar decision, do you pay a $400 penalty to cancel and start over with a new fare, or just forgo the bonus miles.

The limit on fare types for the bonus, while frustrating, is relatively typical of these promotions. The required registration before ticketing is not. Clearly United feels that the promotion will spur new business, but by emailing it out to their frequent flier members, and not allowing the bonus on already purchased tickets, they are likely to alienate many frequent fliers.

Of course, airlines have been known to change policies based on customer feedback. And there are instructions on how to reach customer service on United.com. So depending on how many complaints they get…who knows?

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Tagged as: bonus miles, frequent flier programs, London fares, Mileage Plus, united airlines

  • Wrona

    American has a similiar promotion. The 50,000 miles are for first and business class only and 25,000 miles for select economy fares. I didn’t look as I can’t take advantage of it but it’s probably for new bookings only as well.

  • Matthew

    I tried this with AA…I have many trips already booked during the double EQM promotion, but all were booked prior to the start date…I wrote a polite email that they change or wave the ticketing date requirement, and in reply to me, at least AA was honest about the reason they would not do that:

    “Let me assure you that this promotion was created in good faith, with the sincere intention of rewarding qualifying members who performed the activity required. Additionally, promotional bonuses are designed to be true incentives rather than rewards for behavior that would have occurred regardless. The intent for this offer is a win-win outcome: our members win by receiving double elite-status qualifying miles for specific activity, while American Airlines wins by receiving their incremental business. ”
    -Barbara J., AAdvantage Customer Service, American Airlines

  • Henry

    How sad, how very, very sad. Airlines will quibble with people rather than recognizing that in this uncertain economic period, they (like all discretionary businesses) need to do more for the customer.

    I understand the rationale for American’s response – it saves them money, since frequent flier points must be accounted for as a liability on an airline’s balance sheet. While not offering retroactive EQM will work for American’s bottom line, I doubt its behavior will make people feel more “loyal” to American. It’s regrettable how airlines routinely appear to put their costs ahead of their customers’ satisfaction.

  • Matthew

    Re: Henry’s comments…I agree…we were not asking that AA give us the DBEQM for the entire year, rather just waive the purchase/ticket requirement as we have to be careful with our travel budget…as I told the AA agent, we’re now looking at UAL since AA doesn’t want to acknowledge that brand loyalty deserves a little above and beyond these days.

  • Dolores M, Westminster, MD

    I gave up on United long ago. I’ll buy a seat when it’s inexpensive, but they lost my loyalty. United, of course, is not unique. Customer service on any 3 star airline can be inconsistent, and airline policies are not always customer oriented. I count myself lucky to get a kind airline agent, and flight attendants are helpful more often than not. The airline that stands out in my mind for really going above and beyond on one occasion was British Air. The worst travel experience ever was on Iceland Air. And we’ve had everything in between. That is air travel nowadays.

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