Elite members of United Mileage Plus got a surprise recently when they discovered that their Mileage Plus 500-mile e-upgrades will no longer be converted into 500 miles in their account if they do not use them in the allotted time of a year — now they must either use them for an upgrade, or lose them. Premier members get the 500-mile e-upgrades after every 10,000 miles flown on the airline and as of June 1, 2007, if your e-upgrade expires, it truly expires. Members we heard from were not happy that the change in policy was quietly made without advance warning. United heard their complaints and made a concession: “In response to customers’ feedback on the change to the 500-mile upgrade program effective June 1, 2007, we are offering our current Global Services, 1K, Premier Executive and international customers a one-time only registration process. This will allow you to continue the conversion of unused 500-mile e-upgrades into miles upon scheduled expiration.” You can register at http://insideflyerus.wpengine.com/link/?422 with promotion code MPP697. Note that you must register by Aug. 15, 2007, and once registered, your 500-mile e-upgrades will continue to be auto-converted upon expiration as long as you maintain Premier Executive, 1K or Global Services or reside outside the 50 United States. The e-upgrades will not be converted before their scheduled expiration date. (The story behind this last statement is that many members were asking for the conversion before the expiration date and United obviously feels that this is not the best practice.)