United Celebrates 40 Years of MileagePlus by Awarding Millions of Miles to Healthcare Workers

Airline celebrates loyalty program anniversary with contest to recognize healthcare workers

Celebration also includes an award sale, customer giveaways, partner promotions and more

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May 03, 2021, 08:07 ET

CHICAGO, May 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- United Airlines is celebrating the 40^th anniversary of the MileagePlus® program this month, and to recognize this milestone the airline is giving away four million miles to essential healthcare workers. The contest will recognize four deserving healthcare workers with one million miles each. In addition, United is showing its appreciation to MileagePlus members around the world with domestic and international fare sales, surprise customer giveaways and 10 exclusive promotions with MileagePlus partners.

"Throughout the past forty years, MileagePlus has evolved to meet the ever-changing needs of our members as well as reward their loyalty," said Luc Bondar, vice president of marketing & loyalty and president of MileagePlus at United. "That's why we celebrate this major milestone by offering our members generous promotions throughout May. We're also taking this occasion to launch the contest to show appreciation for the healthcare workers who stepped up to protect our communities during the pandemic."

Essential Healthcare Worker Contest

From now until May 17, 2021, customers are invited to nominate any frontline healthcare worker in the U.S. that goes above and beyond to make a difference for their community and embody some of United's core values including:

Safe: They make the world a safer place for everyone around them.
Caring: They show appreciation for all members of their community by being welcoming, kind and compassionate.
Dependable: They're the person you can rely on for anything, big or small.
Determined (Efficient): They keep things going even when the going gets tough.

Submissions will be reviewed by a panel of expert judges comprised of Dr. Pat Baylis, corporate medical director at United, Luc Bondar, and Dr. Jim Merlino, chief clinical transformation officer at Cleveland Clinic. Four winners will be announced in June and each will receive 1 million MileagePlus miles, which never expire like all MileagePlus miles, allowing these heroes to book award flights to more than 1,000 destinations when they are ready to travel. The contest is just the latest way the airline is showing support for healthcare workers during the pandemic; in 2020, United flew more than 3,000 healthcare workers to hotspots around the U.S. and Guam to be on the frontlines of battling COVID-19.

To nominate an essential healthcare worker and for the full contest terms, customers can visit united.com/essentialthanks and write a short explanation of why this person, or themself, deserves recognition. No purchase necessary.

Member Promotions

To recognize all MileagePlus members for their loyalty, United is launching a variety of promotions throughout May. Leading up to and on the MileagePlus anniversary, United will have discounted glasses of Moët champagne available at United Clubs across the country. Full details on the upcoming award sale will be announced later this week. The airline also worked closely with its MileagePlus partners on 10 anniversary offers for members to earn more miles and celebrate with exclusive deals including giveaway opportunities and the chance to win bonus miles. Highlights include:

MileagePlus X eGift Cards: Earn up to 2x miles on eGift cards from 40 select brands using the United MileagePlusX(SM) app, now through May 31.
United Cruises: Earn up to 7 miles per $1 spent, plus up to 40,000 bonus miles on select cruise lines when you book a cruise through 2023. Book now through May 31.
Buy Miles: Starting May 5, boost your balance with 40% off when you buy miles through May 10.
MP Dining: Starting May 10, dine out and enter for a chance to win bonus miles in our 1,000,000 Mile Sweepstakes. Valid through June 10.
And more offers to launch throughout the month of May.

To take advantage of the anniversary offers, customers must be a MileagePlus member. For the full list of 40^th anniversary promotions visit united.com/mp40.

A 40-Year Legacy

Over the past four decades, MileagePlus has continued to be a leading airline loyalty program, with a number of industry-first innovations designed to enhance the travel experience for members. United first introduced its airline Premier program in 1983 and then its first loyalty credit card in 1987. More recently, in 2019, United announced that MileagePlus award miles never expire, and introduced PlusPoints for MileagePlus Premier members, giving customers more flexibility in how they choose to fly. United has also proudly worked together with MileagePlus members to contribute to the communities it serves, most notably donating 3.4 billion miles to charity organizations since 2003.

MileagePlus was named the 2020 Best Frequent Flyer Program by Global Traveler for the 17^th consecutive year and was recently recognized as the Best Overall Frequent Flyer program by WalletHub. For more milestones in MileagePlus's history throughout the past 40 years visit united.com/mp40.

About United

United's shared purpose is "Connecting People. Uniting the World." For more information, visit united.com, follow @United on Twitter and Instagram or connect on Facebook. The common stock of UAL is traded on the Nasdaq under the symbol "UAL".

SOURCE United Airlines