Dear Money Helps: Having traveled a lot for work, I’d accumulated 83,000 United Airlines miles by the time I retired in ’96. Recently I tried to use them but was told they had expired! United said they’d announced a few years back that old miles would be phased out if not used in three years, but I never got the word. Is there anything you can do to help me get my miles back? - Larry Pace, Caswell Beach, N.C.
Answer: Used to be you could hold on to unused miles for years without penalty. Not anymore. Over the past few years airlines have quietly been putting expiration dates on them. The first big change came in 1999 when a number of major airlines, United included, said you had to show account activity - either redeeming miles or accumulating more - every three years to keep miles in play. Earlier [...]
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