United Will Further Devalue Million Miler Companion Benefit

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Despite cutbacks and lawsuits, United has the most generous Million Miler lifetime status program.

At 1 million lifetime flight miles you earn lifetime Gold, 2 million earns lifetime Platinum, 3 million earns lifetime 1K, and 4 million earns lifetime Global Services.

As a perk that was carried over from Continental, United Million Milers can also nominate a companion to share their status.

Compare that to American, which caps out at lower lifetime Executive Platinum status, while requiring 5 million miles for that tier without a companion benefit. That million miler program is less generous because American used to count all miles toward lifetime status, which is how my wife and I have lifetime American Platinum status.

Or to Delta, which only awards top-tier Delta 360 at 5 million miles, and doesn’t have a companion benefit.

Last September, United announced a crackdown on Million Miler daisy chaining. Before the 2025 status year, if a Million Miler with Global Services status nominated a companion with Million Miler status, who in turn nominated another companion with Million Miler status, everyone in the chain would get Global Services status, with no potential limit.

Effective for the 2025 status year, Million Milers had to choose between being a donor of status or recipient of status. You could no longer have it both ways.

And today, United announced changes for the 2027 Million Miler program.

Currently, 1 million milers with lifetime Gold status can earn Platinum, 1K, or Global Services, and their companion will inherit the higher status level.

Effective for the 2027 elite status year, companions will no longer inherit a 1 million miler’s higher status level, they will be capped at Gold, unless of course they earn a higher level on their own.

Companions of 2 million milers and higher will still be able inherit a higher status level.

We reached to United about the changes and they responded as follows,

“Today we sent a communication to our 1 Million Milers via email about changes occurring in 2027 to companion benefits.

Starting in 2027, 1 Million Miler companions will no longer receive the earned status of their Million Miler sponsor. They will instead receive Premier Gold status. In 2025 and 2026, 1 Million Miler companions will continue to receive the earned status level of their sponsor.   

There is no change to the companion benefit for 2+ Million Milers. They will continue to receive their Million Miler’s earned status.

A couple important things to note:

• United continues to offer the richest benefits for Million Milers, and companions will continue to enjoy the lifetime level of the one Million Milers.
• No other airline’s Million Miler program allows you to gift status to a companion on an annual basis
• It was important to us to give significant notice to these top fliers, which is why the change doesn’t take effect until 2027
• Companions flying with a one Million Miler on the same PNR will still get the Million Miler benefits – the change will only be when they are on a different record”

I do take some exception to the last note, as United limits free domestic upgrades to one companion, so for a lifetime 1 million miler with 1K status, this would reduce the number of people that could be upgraded at the 1K level from 4 to 2.

While it’s true that United’s million miler program is the most generous in the industry, it’s a good reminder that lifetime benefits at United don’t last for your lifetime or United’s lifetime. They last for the lifetime of the whims of the current United leadership. And the current CEO of MileagePlus previously worked at Comcast…

United previously reneged on upgrade points for lifetime million miler companions, on  SilverWings lifetime membership benefits, and on lifetime club benefits.

As with all benefits that are ahead of industry standards, I’d fully expect further devaluations to the million miler program, so caveat emptor before investing in earning lifetime status, especially on an airline that has shown time and time again that it doesn’t place any value in promises made about lifetime benefits.

If you are affected by this change, consider filing a DOT informal or formal complaint.

HT: SearchGuy, via DDF