In May 2013 United Airlines launched the MileagePlus Small Business Network to expand the scope of the MileagePlus program. Seems the experiment didn’t go so well; the program is being shuttered at the end of the year.
The good news here is that the points accumulated in a Small Business account can be freely transferred out to a regular MileagePlus account between now and the end of the year without any fees. After 31 December 2014 fees will be charged for such a move.
The MileagePlus Small Business Network was essentially just another online shopping mall portal but rather than accumulate the points in a personal account they went into a business account. From there the general redemption options were all available including award travel, upgrades and more. For an individual running business purchases for their company and choosing to credit those points to the company rather than take them for personal use this was a rather useful feature and benefit. Seems like there weren’t all that many people actually doing that, though, given that United is pulling the plug. I guess far too many enjoy the view from those points in their personal accounts.
Also worth noting that this is not the only MileagePlus-related operation to close up this year. A couple months ago Bckstgr ceased operations as well. Not exactly the same circumstances but similar in several ways.
The important action item here is to make sure the Small Business network account is closed out before the end of the year. No sense in paying for that transfer when they’re willing to give it to you for free right now. As for me, however, no points to transfer. Turns out it was pretty useless for my needs.
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