Have you ever wanted to take a vacation or trip but didn’t have the miles to afford it? United MileagePlus is working to help solve this problem by introducing the MileagePlus Gift Registry. You can set up an account, personalize it for a special occasion (graduation, birthday, honeymoon, anniversary, or any other reason!) and provide a link for friends and family to contribute miles toward your travel goal. If they already have United miles they can transfer them to you in chunks of 1000 miles ($15 per 1000 miles transfer fee); if they don’t have miles but want to contribute then they can purchase miles towards your goal in chunks of 1000 miles, with a 2000-mile minimum ($35/1000 miles + 7.5% excise tax). This is definitely on the higher side of per-mile cost, but it’s a great way to allow for reasonable gift purchases from those who would like to contribute and for them to know specifically what it’s going for (and watch for the pictures on Facebook and Twitter).
Is this something you would find useful – would your friends and family contribute? Where would you go, and how many miles would you need to get there? Have you had success with the United MileagePlus Gift Registry? I’d love to hear your stories!
$15/1000 miles transferred is absurdly high. That’s taking miles you have and devauing them by 42% to give them to someone else. Just by them the miles @$35 each and keep your own. Or think of it as paying $50/1000 miles. Why United is so draconian about mileage transfer compared to some others($30 total to transfer any amount, etc.) is beyond me.
Ford – While I understand your point, I think you’re looking at this the wrong way. It’s not $15/1000 miles for miles you already have/own. It’s $15/1000 miles for someone else to transfer you miles THEY own. While I find it distasteful that UA is essentially charging someone to transfer miles (not buying new miles), I would be able to understand a “one-time transfer fee” that wasn’t per-mile based a whole lot better. It’s certainly not, though, paying $50/1000 miles – it’s having someone with 1000 miles to give pay $15 per 1000 to do it.
Ford’s point is simple and correct. By TRANSFERING miles the giver lose miles at the same time. This 1.5pcm transfer fee in some sense more expensive than 3.5pcm purchase rate. No one would actually recommend it if not lol at it.
Max – One would expect that if transferring miles that the giver “loses” miles – that’s what transfer means. The net difference is cost – you can either BUY miles for the recipient at $37.63/1000 (with taxes), or you can transfer at a cost of $15 + 1000 miles (as the sender), meaning you “earned” $22.63 for your thousand miles. That’s 2.26 cents per mile “earned” (“saved”?) by the sender for spending 1000 miles and $15 to give someone else 1000 miles. Is it the best deal? No. Is it a potential savings for a sender who spends less cash ($22.63 less per thousand miles) to provide 1000 miles? Yes. That’s all. In any universe, though, 1.5 cpm is less than 3.5 cpm. Sure, those miles had a cost to earn, but that’s not a factor in how they’re spent – in this case.
[...] yesterday’s post about the MileagePlus Gift Registry, today’s mileage earning option is the MileagePlus Gift Card Exchange. Have you received [...]
[...] I’ll be over 100,000 in that account in no time. Besides, if I really need it, I can always open a gift registry and ask friends and family to contribute, [...]