United Airlines awarding millions of miles to healthcare workers

  • United Airlines is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the MileagePlus program this month
  • MileagePlus has evolved to meet the ever-changing needs of our members as well as reward their loyalty
  • United is giving away four million miles to essential healthcare workers

United Airlines is celebrating the 40th 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 Airlines. “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.