They changed the rules today. Inactivity period was halved from 3 years to 1.5 years when all miles in the account will go poof.

I believe that's the same as DL's recent policy change.

www.united.com/press/detail/0,6862,57394,00.html

More seriously is that the policy applies retroactively to July 1, 2006. So, a lot of people may say bye-bye to all their miles after Dec 31, 2007 - less than one year from now.

That sucks for those people (there will be a lot of people who won't get a chance to say buh-bye). Funny that they should say that this is a good thing for the most loyal customers (like me) because those people won't be competing for awards. They aren't competing now, that is why there miles would expire later.

I do agree with the statement that there are plenty of ways to earn and use miles (and thus keeping them from expiring).

The easiest, no-brainer, way is to register a grocery discount card:
http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,50830,00.html

DL is now 2 years. You may be thinking of US which I think is now 18 months.

When our son's USAir miles were about to expire we got some junk mail with magazine purchase offer - if we used miles to buy a magazine subscription it counted as "activity". They were mostly magazines I had not ever heard of and did not want, but we subscribed to something just to keep miles active (it required under 1000 FF miles).

Have not yet received magazine, but website lists later exp. date for his miles - I wonder if other airlines will offer similar sort of scheme.

Like mrwunrfl, I am registered with my grocery, Safeway, to get points on United. Simple, free, keeps you account active, and gets points!!

The grocery miles could take some time to earn since you have to spend $250 and then get 125 miles.

Another easy option is "Mileage Plus Dining". Register a credit card and then use it at a participating restaurant and get miles for the dollars spent.

http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,1176,00.html