Yes, I realize that they supposedly sent out an email in January 2007 that included a whole bunch of new terms and conditions, buried among them being the proviso of cutting back their period of allowed inactivity to 18 months. Checking the internet, I also find other similar retirees who were loyal customers for years who now no longer fly as much and had their miles “canceled” as well. One such customer lost 230,000+ miles, again with no notice. In my case, I didn’t use the miles because I was saving them for a rainy day when I couldn’t afford to fly somewhere that I desired.
My main gripe is that United obviously is taking these actions to make money by taking a deferred expense off their books. Alternatively, I have heard that United sold off this portion of their business to a third party who is clearly doing all they can to make as much money as possible from their purchase. It would have been a trivial matter for United to send an email or, even better, a physical letter to the customer, say a month or so before they unilaterally took this action. Unlike some of their competitors, obviously United intentionally chose not to do so in hopes that they could screw as many miles as possible from unsuspecting or non-vigilant customers.
Given some reasonable notice, I would not have a gripe. They had been sending me over an email per week touting one thing or another, so you know they are capable of automatically generating emails based on an imminent event. But no, they chose to keep their mouth shut, and now religiously stick to their tune of “we told you over a year ago”. Perhaps they did, but they could have provided good customer support by also telling us a couple of weeks before this costly action.
My main gripe is that United obviously is taking these actions to make money by taking a deferred expense off their books. Alternatively, I have heard that United sold off this portion of their business to a third party who is clearly doing all they can to make as much money as possible from their purchase. It would have been a trivial matter for United to send an email or, even better, a physical letter to the customer, say a month or so before they unilaterally took this action. Unlike some of their competitors, obviously United intentionally chose not to do so in hopes that they could screw as many miles as possible from unsuspecting or non-vigilant customers.
Given some reasonable notice, I would not have a gripe. They had been sending me over an email per week touting one thing or another, so you know they are capable of automatically generating emails based on an imminent event. But no, they chose to keep their mouth shut, and now religiously stick to their tune of “we told you over a year ago”. Perhaps they did, but they could have provided good customer support by also telling us a couple of weeks before this costly action.
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