United Announces MileagePlus Miles Will No Longer Expire

You will never again need to worry about your United frequent flier miles going to waste. The airline announced this week that its MileagePlus Miles will no longer expire.

On Wednesday, the airline announced that MileagePlus members will be able to retain their miles for life, effective immediately. Previously, miles expired after 18 months of inactivity on MileagePlus accounts (redeeming or earning points).

"We want to demonstrate to our members that we are committing to them for the long-haul and giving customers a lifetime to use miles is an exceptionally meaningful benefit," Luc Bondar, vice president of loyalty and president of MileagePlus at United, said in a statement.

The airline will also retroactively reinstate miles for those that expired in July and August, according to Live and Let’s Fly.

“More customers used miles to book award trips in 2018 than in any year before, and we expect with today's announcement that even more will use miles to travel the world in the years to come,” Bondar said in his statement.

United passengers can use their frequent flier miles to apply for TSA PreCheck, upgrade class on upcoming flights or even purchase Apple products or gift cards.

Delta Air Lines and JetBlue also have similar “no-expiration” policies. American Airlines miles expire after 18 months of inactivity. Southwest and Alaska Airlines miles expire after two years.

With your new points accumulation, check out Travel + Leisure’s guide to using your United MileagePlus miles as wisely as possible.