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I have held Lifetime Premier status (also known as Million Miler status) with United MileagePlus® for many years (I’m almost at the 2 million mark). One of the benefits of this status is being able to assign a companion your current status. When I was a Global Services® member, so was my husband. I’m now Premier 1K® and so is he. What I didn’t realize until today was that there was a loophole where multiple Million Milers could essentially piggyback or “daisy chain” off of each others’ status to grant the highest level to many people. United just cracked down and this is no longer possible.
United Airlines is the most generous with its Million Miler program.
- 1 million miles flown: Premier Gold
- 2 million miles flown: Premier Platinum
- 3 million miles flown: Premier 1K®
- 4 million miles flown: Global Services®
These status levels have value and until recently when Delta began offering Delta 360°™ status for those with five million miles flown, United was the only US carrier to offer up its top-tier, invitation-only status.
Dan’s Deals first reported on the loophole and it now being closed. The site shares:
One popular method that has long been abused is daisy chaining, though that’s something that was discussed more at seminars than on blogs. If a Million Miler with Global Services status nominated a companion with Million Miler status, who in turn nominated another companion with Million Miler status, everyone in the chain would get Global Services status, with no potential limit.
Effective for the 2025 status year, Million Milers will need to choose between being a donor of status or recipient of status. That will effectively kill the daisy chain loophole.”
I had no idea that this was even possible and am glad that United shut this down. It takes away from the value of the benefit it if can be extended theoretically indefinitely. This change goes into effect on January 1st.
Anthony’s Take: I’m glad that United caught this and closed the loophole. It takes serious work to reach one million miles flown and these benefits should not be scammed.
(Image Credits: United Airlines.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
