Thank you, United!

Today I cut up my United Miles Visa. As I was cutting it (carefully, into at least 8 tiny pieces) I paused to be grateful to United for their Visa.

Several years ago we got an offer in the mail. "Use our credit card", it proclaimed, "and get lots and lots of free miles!" We already had 10,000 or so United miles — but we knew the chances of getting more were pretty slim. If we got the credit card, the bonus miles would give us at least one free ticket. It seemed like a worthwhile deal.

A year later we looked at the mileage total. (We use a credit card for everything and pay it off every month.) We had the magic number. 60,000 miles — enough to fly to Hawaii. I logged onto the United website to try to get tickets without high expectations. I had heard lots of frequent flier horror stories from my sister in law, and so I expected to have problems finding dates that we could use our miles for. What happened surprised me.

I logged in, created an account, picked some dates, gave them my mileage number, and paid the small fees with my credit card. And that was it.

For a long time I was in shock. I secretly expected to get an e-mail from United telling us that it was all a mistake, and that we didn't really have tickets. But as you have recently seen, we did indeed go to Hawaii.
And it was amazing.

I am embarrassed to admit that sometimes I tend to be overly aware of the good things that happen to other people, and forget easily the good things that have happened to me. So I want to go on record as having said:

Thank You, United!