United MileagePlus has the most generous million miler program, and it’s a great incentive to stay loyal to the airline. Not only can you earn (ordinarily) invitation-only Global Services status with the program, but you can even nominate a companion to get that status as well.
United is closing an interesting loophole when it comes to million miler status, as reported by DansDeals, and flagged by View from the Wing. I wasn’t even aware this was a thing that people were doing, so I find it to be quite intriguing.
In this post:
United updates million miler companion eligibility
For some background, United million milers can nominate a companion to have the same status that they have. The companion is supposed to be a spouse, significant other, or person who resides at the same home address, based on MileagePlus profile information.
The cool thing is that the companion gets the higher of either your annual earned status, or your million miler status. Just to give an example, say you earn Premier 1K status with United (the highest published tier), and you’re a one million miler. One million miler would ordinarily earn you Premier Gold status (the second lowest tier), but since you earned Premier 1K status, your companion would receive Premier 1K status as well.
The big update that United has made is that your million miler companion can’t already be the companion of another million miler. Or if they are also a million miler, they can’t have a companion of their own.
So, why does this policy change matter? Apparently many people created quite the conga line of high-tier million milers. Say you have Global Services status (United’s very highest elite tier), and you’re a million miler. Your companion would then get Global Services status, and under the old rules, if they were also million miler, they could also give someone Global Services status.
As you can see, this could create quite the interesting chain of status nominations. I guess enough people were abusing this so that the airline is now cracking down.
I’m curious how widely this was used
As I said above, I wasn’t even aware this was a thing, so I find this to be quite interesting. I’m curious just how many people used this trick to secure higher status. United’s policy update seems fair, and I have to imagine this was motivated by an increase in people taking advantage of this.
The interesting angle here is that in order to make this conga line work, presumably you’d have to stretch the truth regarding your relationship with your companion. Unless you’re polygamous or have a ton of roommates (no judgment either way), odds are that these status “chains” involved a lot of people nominating people who didn’t actually live at the same address, and weren’t family or significant others.
This status conga line concept reminds me a bit of InterContinental’s invitation-only Royal Ambassador status back in the day. Those who earned Royal Ambassador could nominate someone else to get that status. Then the person who was nominated would also be able to nominate someone else to Royal Ambassador, creating a never-ending chain of people who could get that status.
Surprisingly that stuck around for many years, though the policy did eventually get updated, which is fair enough.
Bottom line
United is making some changes to its million miler program, regarding how you can nominate companions. A million miler can’t nominate another million miler as their companion, unless that companion doesn’t have a companion of their own. The logic is that people may have been taking advantage of this a bit too much, creating opportunities for more people to earn higher tier elite levels, like Premier 1K and Global Services.
What do you make of United’s million miler policy change?
A bit OT but UA-related. I’ve been looking for flights from Indonesia to NYC with UA miles for next month and I’ve been seeing 900,000 and 850,000 mile award levels in business class (CGK-JFK). This is insane - I’ve never seen anything like this in UA - is it trying to follow Delta and its SkyPeso program?
Everyday is available for 25K minus October 14th…. In business
Yep, it’s gone from 900k to 250k in two days. Wild fluctuation. Never seen 900k UA awards before though…
Maybe I won't be number 47 on the upgrade list anymore.
Haha
@Andrew-the 22 year old might have a “relationship” with the GS individual.
Excellent. I'm always astonished by the number go GS's that board first ...sometimes twenty-somethings which never made sense (and no they were not traveling with someone else)...a 22 year old with GS status ???
Happy UA is culling the ranks !
Not all GS members are high-net worth individuals above a certain age.
A friend of mine achieved GS at 25 while working at a non-profit making ~50k a year. The nonprofit was based in London and she had to make several last minute trips between IAD and LHR over the course of a year. At the time, corporate travel policy allowed J to all employees on all flights over seven hours. She didn't even...
Not all GS members are high-net worth individuals above a certain age.
A friend of mine achieved GS at 25 while working at a non-profit making ~50k a year. The nonprofit was based in London and she had to make several last minute trips between IAD and LHR over the course of a year. At the time, corporate travel policy allowed J to all employees on all flights over seven hours. She didn't even know what GS was (let alone the Premier program) until she got the membership kit in the mail. We joke about it now, especially as she never travelled again for work once she hit GS.
You have to spend how much to earn GS? More than $50K? In the grand scheme of how much people pay for first and business class fares on commercial airlines, that isn't a lot of money.
Yep I am 25 years and will be getting GS this year
How nice for you. You really are prioritising the right things in life and just have it all figured out.
This crackdown certainly makes sense. Too many abuse the system. The benefit should likely be restricted to spouses (since all can marry anyone now).
"since all can marry anyone now" . . . that is, for now. Certain political factions seek to restrict this ability, including interracial marriage. Besides, some long-term couples don't marry. Alternatively, there might be an adult child who is the obvious choice. Seems best to leave it at the household level.
I'm surprised that you didn't know about it
You are right! This has been discussed on Flyer Talk for a long time. Apparently the author did not pay attention, or he is simply not informed enough to be a travel writer.