United Offering Double Miles to and From Seattle — And How They’re Doing it Wrong

United is offering double miles on flights between Seattle and Los Angeles, Portland, San Francisco, and Anchorage. You have to register and purchase travel by December 31 and fly by May 31.

Here’s the kicker: flights booked prior to December 2 are ineligible for the bonus.

If the idea is to generate loyalty, rather than just protect yourself from seeing mileage bonus-savvy customers booking away for the generous offers in the market from Delta and Alaska, then United should value all of its customers — especially those who were already loyal and purchasing travel with them. Instead, this sends the message that their business is taken for granted.

Clearly United wants to goose its Seattle flights, and protect itself from customers who might book United looking elsewhere instead — and do it at the lowest possible cost. Award miles to everyone, even everyone that registers, costs more than awarding miles only to those making new bookings.

But in a highly competitive market, where both Alaska and Delta are being super-generous, telling your existing customer base that their previous purchases aren’t as important as new purchases doesn’t make sense.


About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. This is not new behavior. United regularly excludes prior bookings, restricts eligible fares, and targets its least frequent customers for the most generous bonuses (because, as you say, they take existing loyalty for granted).

    The worst part of this promotion is that many of the eligible flights are operated with regional jets (all but one flight a week to LAX, and about 40% of flights to SFO). I already avoid flying United on these routes to avoid substandard aircraft, and double redeemable miles (no DEQM) aren’t enough to change my mind.

  2. They’ve been embarrassed in the past in response to customer outrage over excluding prior bookings from double elite qualifying mile promotions. I don’t think it’s any better for them to do it now. And I think it’s at the very least consistent with where United seems to be as an airline presently. Most unfortunate.

  3. Seems like in the Terms and Conditions, they will only award direct flights. Do I have the interpretation wrong Gary?

    “2. Connections to and out of Seattle, Los Angeles, Portland, San Francisco or Anchorage are allowed. However, the bonus is only valid for nonstop segments between Seattle (SEA) and any of the following cities: Los Angeles (LAX), Portland (PDX), San Francisco (SFO) or Anchorage (ANC).”

  4. Get over it. Hotels do the same thing on their bonuses. The lawsuit- happy frequent fliers have created this problem because they think nothing ever has an end and everything must be retroactive. Oh and nothing can ever change. So the rest of us suffer.

  5. The flights that are too and from Seattle earn double points, not flights that connect to those flights. Put a different way, it is double miles on the FLIGHTS IN AND OUT OF SEATTLE, not double points on ITINERARIES in and out of Seattle. That’s why I listed the specific cities in the post.

  6. Gary – United told me what they thought of me two years ago when CO took over. As a 1K – I was over-entitled then. I am a lowly silver now ONLY because they are in bed with Marriott and are giving silver away as though it were water. If I was over-entitled then, I am certainly over entitled now.

  7. I guess what I mean to say is that the language seems to suggest that SEA-LAX direct will earn double, but if I choose SEA-SFO-LAX, then SEA-SFO will get double, but if I do SEA-DEN-LAX, then there is no double. Is that your understanding?

  8. RDM just don’t move the dial for me. Especially after they just devalued them a huge amount.

  9. It is an incentive to book with them. Clearly if you already booked flights prior to this offer you didn’t need any further incentive to do so. Why should United (or any other business) pay money/points/whatever to chase business they already have sewn up? I note that airlines like Qantas always exclude existing bookings from similar promotions. The fact that this is even an issue demonstrates just how entitled US based flyers have become vis-a-vis airlines.

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