MileagePlus

MileagePlus is the loyalty program of United Airlines and Aeromar that offers rewards to passengers traveling on certain types of tickets. Following the 2011 merger agreement between United Airlines and Continental Airlines, United Mileage Plus was chosen to be the frequent flyer program for the combined airline. The program was subsequently renamed to MileagePlus, and maintains its relationship with its Star Alliance partners, as well as other airline and travel enterprise agreements.

Following the integration and phase out of Continental OnePass on March 3, 2012, MileagePlus also became the frequent flyer program for Copa Airlines and Copa Airlines Colombia. The new program member IDs follow the OnePass format (2 letters + 6 digits) in lieu of the old Mileage Plus format (11 digits), and any members who had existing OnePass member ID numbers retained their existing numbers.

Frequent flier programs were introduced in 1979 by Texas International Airlines. Two years later, American Airlines launched their AAdvantage program, and United's Mileage Plus was launched one week later. On June 29, 2011, United Airlines officially changed the name of the program from Mileage Plus to MileagePlus.

On July 9, 2011, Tom Stuker became the first member of the MileagePlus program to reach ten million flown miles on United. He earned this distinction flying from Los Angeles to Chicago on flight 942. Jeff Smisek, the president and CEO of United Airlines, was on hand to congratulate him. For reaching the ten million mile number, he was given the only United Titanium Card and his name was placed on the side of a United Boeing 747-400.

Several controversial changes were introduced to the program in 2012, following the integration of the Continental OnePass program into MileagePlus. This included the reduction in bonus miles for Premier Gold and Premier Platinum members, as well as the inability of Premier Silver members to reserve Economy Plus seats until 24 hours prior to departure. Changes have also occurred to the upgrade process, where upgrades are being sold at check-in for prices as low as $69, even when elites are still being processed on the upgrade waitlist. Million Mile Flyer George Lagen filed, in late May 2012, a class action against United for taking away or demoting "lifetime" benefits promised to pre-merger Million Mile Flyers. A federal judge eventually dismissed the class-action lawsuit on the basis that the contract which regulated "Million Mile Flyer" customers was the same as for all MileagePlus members, which essentially gave the airline the right to unilaterally reduce or discontinue benefits anytime it wanted to.

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