The CEO of 
United Airlines
confirmed this week that over three million people redeemed their frequent flyer miles on flights this summer. Already one of the largest airline loyalty programs in the world, United’s MileagePlus was just named as the most valuable for US flyers in an independent study.
Three million and counting
This summer has been one of the busiest ever for US airlines. United Airlines previously indicated that it was the Star Alliance carrier’s busiest Memorial Day, and the airline expanded capacity for major events like the Democratic and Republican National Conventions and significant football games.
This summer, the most popular destination for United Airlines passengers was Boston, an interesting choice given United only offers domestic connections from the Mattsachuses airport. Speaking this week at the US Chamber of Commerce’s Global Aerospace Summit, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby revealed just how vital the airline’s frequent flyers are and how many of them are using their miles for flights:
“This summer, over 3 million people flew on a free flight on United Airlines using the Mileage Plus program. That, just for some context, is about 1% of the entire U.S. population, on just one airline, in just one season.
“So customers love these programs. We’ve known that – that’s why we keep trying to make them better.”
MileagePlus members have also been generous with their points, donating more than 10 million miles to non-profit organizations and over 350 in-kind flights to disaster relief partners during the second quarter.
The news comes as United takes the top spot for US airlines in a study of 62 global airline reward programs conducted by reward travel search platform Point.me to give consumers transparency and greater confidence in earning and redeeming points.
What is United Airlines doing well?
The carrier’s frequent flyer program was already off to a great start, considering it is reported to have over 110 million members. Nevertheless, the airline has made several significant improvements to its program this year. The most notable of which is the implementation of points pooling among friends and family members, making it the first major US airline to do so.
The program already offers points that never expire and no blackout dates for award seats. This means that if there’s an open seat on any flight, it can be bought with miles. In contrast, many carriers worldwide only offer a certain number of seats for award ticket redemptions, with the rest being reserved for paying customers.
The result is often points and miles redemption opportunities for flights that would otherwise fly with empty seats. While the shift from distance-based to dynamic pricing for award flights has come under federal scrutiny, some would argue that it provides an opportunity for the everyday traveler to find good deals.
In United’s case, there appears to be a significant emphasis on increasing load factors, even if that means offering unbooked seats at a reduced price to loyalty members. Speaking to Simple Flying for this piece, Tiffany Funk, Co-founder and President of Point.me explained how the airline uses its multi-billion dollar frequent flyer program to fill empty seats and provide value at the same time:
“They are really leveraging MileagePlus to drive revenue for United, which means that they are much more flexible with their points prices than Delta or [American Airlines’] AAdvantage.
“So it’s like, ‘If somebody wants to give us 5,000 United miles for this seat, and that means it goes out with a human in the seat, that’s a win for us.”
The airline has also looked to innovate in other ways to bring the most value to its customers. Simple Flying recently explored how you can use a unique booking feature offered by United to book a free side quest on your existing trip. For example, someone flying from NYC to London could add a London to Paris flight at no extra charge, provided they fly back to NYC from the City of Lights.