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Citi is an advertising partner of OMAAT Obviously this isn't the time to buy miles speculatively. However, for those planning in advance, it could make sense to buy miles at a discount. That's why I'll keep covering deals to buy points as they arise.United Airlines MileagePlus has just launched their latest promotion on purchased miles.
Through 11:59PM CT on Friday, May 29, 2020, United is offering a mystery bonus on purchased miles. The accounts I manage mostly show a bonus of 75% when you buy at least 30,000 MileagePlus miles in one transaction.
With the 75% bonus you can purchase a total of 175,000 miles for $3,500, which is a cost of 2.0 cents per MileagePlus mile.
Of course other accounts may very well see different bonuses, so you'll want to see what you're eligible for.
United offers bonuses on purchased miles with some frequency, and when they do, the bonuses typically range between 50% and 100%. A 75% bonus is right in the middle in terms of how good it is, so it's not a promotion I'd generally recommend taking advantage of.
That's especially true when you consider that we recently saw a 100% bonus on purchased miles, and also given that MileagePlus devalued partner award redemptions just a couple of weeks ago.
With this promotion, it can take up to 48 hours for purchased miles to post to your account.
Personally, I value MileagePlus miles at ~1.4 cents each, though there are ways to get more value out of them than that.
Keep in mind that a lot of negative changes have been made to MileagePlus recently:
Nonetheless with a specific use in mind it could make sense to buy miles, either for redemptions on United, or for redemptions on partners.
United mileage purchases are processed by points.com, meaning they don't count as an airfare purchase for the purposes of credit card spend.
Therefore I'd recommend using a card on which you're trying to reach minimum spend, or otherwise, a credit card that maximizes your return on everyday spending, like the Chase Freedom Unlimited® ( review) or Citi® Double Cash Card ( review).
See this post for more on which credit cards are best for buying points.
If you're looking to earn United miles, MileagePlus is a Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partner, so you can convert Ultimate Rewards points into United miles at a 1:1 ratio.
See this post for the best credit cards for earning United miles.
Do you plan on buying United miles with this offer?
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