United Vacations: The Case Of The Missing Bonus Miles

We prove yet again that earning points can be serious business and hard work.

Way back in March we made two quick flying trips to Canada on a United Vacations promotion. As discussed in this Flyer Talk thread, the Go Canada package featured cheap prices for flight and hotel, and 5000 bonus miles added to the miles actually earned for the flights.

Off we went, first to Quebec City for a terrific four nights and then to Edmonton for a quicker trip.

We continued to monitor Flyer Talk thread as reports surfaced of problems with the bonus miles. By mid-July, with no sight of those bonus miles added to our UA Mileage Plus accounts, it was our turn to join the fray.

Sure enough, when Brian called United Vacations the rep's response was that she saw no proof that bonus miles were ever part of this package. When Brian pointed out that the Go Canada promotion, complete with promise of bonus miles, was still linked to our reservation, the rep replied that she couldn't see that on her screen so we'd have to send proof in writing.

Brian e-mailed July 19. Lo and behold, a "mere" ten days later the same rep. calls back to tell us the miles have now been added and we should see them in our account in "six to eight weeks." She added that our Mileage Plus account number hadn't been included originally in the reservation. That's a little hard to swallow, especially since the actual miles we flew on these trips had been promptly added to our accounts. and it turns out that at least one other Flyer Talker reported the same
lame excuse.

We're left with the suspicion that United Vacations wasn't all that excited to cough up the bonus miles, and simply hoped that flyers like us would never notice. They don't know us, do they? We're nothing if not focused on earning miles, and we've already marked it on our calendar to make sure we each have a total of 10,000 bonus miles added to our accounts by the end of September.