• United Airlines’ MileagePlus Named Best Overall Airline Loyalty Program for 16th Year

United Airlines’ MileagePlus Named Best Overall Airline Loyalty Program for 16th Year

by Henrik Olsen

a close-up of a seat

For the 16th consecutive year, Global Traveler readers named United Airlines’ MileagePlus program the Best Overall Frequent Flyer program in the industry in 2019.

Global Traveler is a monthly publication with an audience of over half a million business and luxury travelers who vote in the Global Traveler Reader Survey to determine this award. MileagePlus has earned the top spot for loyalty programs since the survey’s first year in 2004.

Readers also voted MileagePlus Best Frequent-Flyer Bonus Program for the seventh consecutive year. The airline’s co-brand MileagePlus Club Card from Chase was voted Best Overall Credit Card Program and Best Credit Card Rewards Program for the eighth consecutive year. The United Explorer Card from Chase was named Best Frequent-Flyer Affinity Credit Card Redemptions in this year’s survey.

MileagePlus earning the Best Overall Frequent Flyer program for the 16th straight year is a sweet achievement for us, most importantly because it is voted on by members and frequent travelers around the world. This year we made a number of improvements to the MileagePlus program, including announcing that miles never expire, and we know these changes continue to make MileagePlus an award-winning program for our members.

Luc Bondar, president of MileagePlus and vice president of loyalty at United

This year, United made numerous enhancements to MileagePlus to make it a more rewarding loyalty program for members at each level. The airline announced that MileagePlus miles never expire, began offering discounted or free CLEAR memberships for members and introduced an industry leading way for Premier Platinum members and above to manage upgrades with the introduction of PlusPoints. United and Star Alliance offer members more than 1,300 destinations for award travel, more than any other U.S. airline. MileagePlus members also have more ways to earn and use their miles than any other U.S. airline loyalty program including opportunities to use miles for once in a lifetime experiences through MileagePlus Exclusives and opportunities to redeem as low as 1,000 miles for eGift cards.

United is focusing more than ever on its commitment to its customers

In 2019, United is focusing more than ever on its commitment to its customers, looking at every aspect of its business to ensure that the carrier keeps customers’ best interests at the heart of its service. In addition to today’s announcement, this year United:

  • Announced that MileagePlus award miles will never expire
  • Gave Economy customers a choice of complimentary snacks on domestic flights
  • Made DIRECTV free for every customer on more than 200 aircraft
  • Released a new version of the award-winning, most downloaded app in the airline industry
  • Launched a new tool called ConnectionSaver, dedicated to improving the experience for customers with connecting flights
  • Partnered with CLEAR on free or discounted memberships for MileagePlus members
  • Announced PlusPoints, new upgrade benefits for MileagePlus Premier members
  • And introduced products in its amenity kits made exclusively for the airline by luxury skincare line Sunday Riley

Photo: United Polaris seat (PRNewsFoto/United Airlines)

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