United showing 1-year TravelBank expiration (likely glitch)

We have heard reports from many readers in recent days that funds added to United TravelBank very recently are showing an expiration date of 1 year from the date they were added. We believe this to be a glitch, as the landing page for Travel Bank terms and conditions still indicates that TravelBank cash will expire 5 years from the date added, but it is worth being aware of and keeping an eye on this.

For those unfamiliar, United TravelBank functions like a stored gift card balance that can be used to book United flights directly with United. The funds added get pooled together and can be used on a single transaction, and they have historically expired 5 years from date of purchase, which can be a convenient way of banking credits for future use.

I added money to my own United TravelBank last night. Just as it has for others recently, that newly-added TravelBank funds show an expiration date of 1 year from the date added (1/25/27).

We don’t expect that this is intentional since the graphic under “Expiration” (screenshot shown above) still clearly notes that TravelBank cash expires 5 years from date of deposit. Doctor of Credit reports that people are being told by support that this is a glitch, so I wouldn’t worry much about this unless it persists this way for a month or two. I assume that this will be fixed, though we’ll keep an eye on it.

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