United Bonus Miles for Flying
A few weeks ago I covered the unexpected gift that United sent me. Specifically they gave me a free Economy Plus subscription that is good through the end of January, 2017. As of now I don’t have many (any) United flights locked in, although that may have to change because United sent me a follow up offer to the Economy Plus subscription.
Shawn,
We recently granted you a complimentary Economy Plus® subscription so you can experience all the great things we are changing here at United®. Now, we’re inviting you to take advantage of an exclusive offer: Purchase and fly on United fares to reach your personalized spending milestones and earn up to 40,000 bonus award miles.
The more you fly, the more you’ll earn.
So in addition to extra legroom, I will get bonus miles for flying on paid fares with United through 11/30/16.
So what exactly are they offering?
This isn’t the biggest bonus in the world, but 8,000 bonus miles on $500 in spend seems like the sweet spot for me. I could see doing that on one or two business trips this year and the return on investment would be decent given the 8K bonus. With that said, I earn a 100% bonus on every flight with American and get free domestic upgrades along with Main Cabin Extra so it will be tough to get me to switch.
Conclusion
Between the Economy Plus subscription and this targeted promotion, United is definitely tempting me. If I find a convenient United flight for the right price then I won’t hesitate to book with them because of these promotions. Has anyone else received this offer or another one? Let us know in the comments!
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I received the free economy plus subscription as well. I have flown United less than 5x in the past, but did recently get the United MPE card. I can only assume that had a role in the free subscription. Regardless, I’ve booked at least two flights with United that otherwise would have gone to Delta due to the ability to upgrade to economy plus for free. Great marketing.
I also got the personalized spending milestones but it was something like $1k= 5,000; $1,500 = 8,000; $2,500= 15,000 mi
I’m 1k and have already flown nearly 75k miles this year. My offer looks like this:
Fly your way to 167,000 bonus miles:
$15,500 spend earns 34,000 bonus miles
$17,500 spend earns 50,000 bonus miles
$21,500 spend earns 83,000 bonus miles
Wow! That is a lot of spend.
I am UA platinum with zero flights this year. I got the 50,000 mile total after $3,000 spend offer.
Looks like I might requalify for plat with this offer.
Hi Shawn,
That’s a good offer I think. I got one to spend almost 3x ypurs:
I8m United Gold with 7 Segments flown this year and only $600 PQD so far, I received the following:
8,000 Bonus with $4,000 spend
12,000 more with $4,500 total spend
20,000 more with $5,500 total spend
Total 40,000 miles for $5,500 spend!!
Crazy.
They need to do better If they want my business
Agreed. That is a lot of spend!
My only recent experience with United is my girlfriend having to spend a night on an airport floor after her connecting United flight left early. She’s a tough cookie, but ended up with an ear infection and flu a few days later. They gave her a $100 “voucher” that ended up being unusable because it didn’t have an I.D. number on it. Can’t put a price tag on what we’d pay to change that experience.
My last United experience wasn’t so good either. Not my favorite airline, but I’ll fly them if and only if it is cheaper and more convenient.
My offer is: 10,000 miles for $500, 15,000 for $1,000, and 25,000 for $2,500. I’m pretty shocked since the last time I flew with United was 2013. This offer along with the free Economy Plus subscription sure are tempting.
I didn’t receive the Economy Plus subscription but I did receive this offer. My milestones offer lower bonus points though (see below). I seldom fly United, flown maybe 3 times in the last 2 years.
Milestone 1: spend $500 and earn 6,000 bonus award miles
Milestone 2: spend $1,000 total and earn 9,000 more award miles
Milestone 3: spend $2,000 total and earn 15,000 more award miles
Do you think that you’ll be requalifying for EXP with American? Factoring that in adds another moving part.
Yeah I probably will be. United does have many more flights from LAS than American so I would only fly them if it was direct vs. a connection and much cheaper. I do find that I almost always clear upgrades on American which makes a huge difference plus as you say, every paid mile counts when trying to requalify.