Through 11:59PM CDT tomorrow night (Wednesday, April 25) United is offering their Facebook fans a 40% discount on the purchase of United miles.

With this promotion up to 100,000 United MileagePlus miles can be purchased per account for 2.1 cents each, plus a 7.5% excise tax, for a grand total of ~2.25 cents per mile.

Is that a steal? No, but it’s the lowest price I’ve ever seen United miles sold at. United miles are among the most valuable mileage currencies out there, so if you need to top off an account, this is a great promotion through which you can do so.

Posted on April 24th, 2012 by lucky
Filed under: Great Deals, United | 26 Comments »

  1. April 24th, 2012 at 8:55 am

    Stacey @VeryGoodPoints said,

    I need 500 miles…any ideas on how to top up my account w/out buying miles?

  2. April 24th, 2012 at 8:58 am

    Sky said,

    Depending on how soon you need them you could always use top guest for 50 points per day.

  3. April 24th, 2012 at 8:59 am

    lucky said,

    @ Stacey — If you need them to post quickly (in less than a few weeks) your only real option is to buy the miles or transfer points from Ultimate Rewards. Everything else would take a couple of weeks.

  4. April 24th, 2012 at 9:04 am

    Zach said,

    if you do Top Guest check in’s it would take 10 days.. if there are no lags between the check in and posting.

  5. April 24th, 2012 at 9:15 am

    Paul said,

    A Hilton stay is 500 miles……..

  6. April 24th, 2012 at 9:19 am

    aeronathan said,

    I bought some miles @ 25% off some time back to top off my account for a trip to Europe.

    I used my Sapphire Preferred for the purchase and noticed I got the double travel points for the purchase for a little extra bonus. Just FYI for anybody thinking of buying extra miles…

  7. April 24th, 2012 at 9:36 am

    lucky said,

    @ aeronathan — That’s a good point. It’s worth noting that mileage purchases through Delta and United are done directly through the airline (and therefore qualify as “travel” for credit card spend), while American and US Airways outsource it to points.com, and therefore don’t count as “travel.”

  8. April 24th, 2012 at 9:57 am

    Sam said,

    @Stacy: There is a 4000 mile netflix offer for United and according to the flyertalk thread they have been posting within a week usually on mondays.

  9. April 24th, 2012 at 10:01 am

    Jon said,

    @ aeronathan & lucky:

    Do you know if the purchase will qualify for the 3x “airfare” spend for the AMEX Platinum or Premier Rewards Gold card?

  10. April 24th, 2012 at 10:02 am

    lucky said,

    @ Jon — Yes, qualifies for triple points on the Premier Rewards Gold card.

  11. April 24th, 2012 at 10:14 am

    Jon said,

    @ lucky – Thanks!

  12. April 24th, 2012 at 10:59 am

    WLN said,

    Not sure where the conventional wisdom is on the MP Explorer card, but I’m targeted on united.com for up to 65k – 50k after first use, 5k for adding another cardholder, and 10k for hitting 25k in spend. I’m 2P, still waiting for my CO card canceled before the merger to clear off my Chase account before I can apply for the UA card.

  13. April 24th, 2012 at 11:25 am

    stacey said,

    Lucky,

    I’m planning of transferring UR points to United – when you spend on the Chase cards (Bold and Sapphire Preferred) do the points immediately get credited to your UR balance? Or you have to wait till the next billing cycle? Do you happen to know please?

    Thanks!

    Stacey

  14. April 24th, 2012 at 11:26 am

    lucky said,

    @ stacey — They only post at the end of the cycle, unfortunately.

  15. April 24th, 2012 at 1:43 pm

    vroomvroom said,

    @ Lucky – Good thing I just read your post in #7, cuz I was about to have some beef with the Chase folks! I bought 35,000 points on US Airways under their 100% bonus promotion (1/2 from them, half from points.com). That’s a whopping $1,300 and I charged it to my Sapphire Preferred card, expecting to get double points on the purchase. Oh well, you saved me a call…

  16. April 24th, 2012 at 2:49 pm

    steelgla32 said,

    lucky, so if you were buying these points, what card would you use?

  17. April 24th, 2012 at 3:18 pm

    lucky said,

    @ steelgla32 — The best card, in my opinion, is the American Express Premier Rewards Gold card which offers triple points. Otherwise any card that earns double points would be best (like Chase Sapphire Preferred).

  18. April 24th, 2012 at 4:02 pm

    Peter_Ng said,

    Can this itin be booked by US or UA mile (120K in J)

    LAX(ac)-YUL(lx)-ZRH-SGN//SGN(oz)-ICN(stopover) – LAX

    Thanks

  19. April 24th, 2012 at 6:35 pm

    Mike S. said,

    “United miles are among the most valuable mileage currencies out there”

    Lucky: Based on your experience, what would you consider the most valuable? Just curious, thanks.

  20. April 24th, 2012 at 8:44 pm

    lucky said,

    @ Peter_Ng — Yes, that’s a legal routing with either program.

    @ Mike S. — I’d say United and American miles are the two most valuable points currencies, depending on your specific travel needs.

  21. April 24th, 2012 at 9:42 pm

    nelumbo said,

    Another option to lower your cost for buying these miles is to buy $500 visa gift cards at Office Max with the Ink Bold card (5 UR points) or AMEX business card (OPEN gives you 5% statement credit) and then use the gift cards to buy these miles.

  22. April 24th, 2012 at 10:06 pm

    Mike S. said,

    Can this itin be booked by US or UA mile (120K in J)

    LAX(ac)-YUL(lx)-ZRH-SGN//SGN(oz)-ICN(stopover) – LAX

    Thanks
    ————–

    N.America to S.E. Asia via the Atlantic or Pacific is allowed (but not with American miles-I believe you have to cross the Pacific only)

  23. April 25th, 2012 at 11:30 am

    Kilman said,

    I just purchased miles three days ago at the regular price. Has anyone managed to get United to refund the difference or award the extra miles?

    How does United respond if you contest the credit card charge? Could I cancel the previous transaction and simply repurchase?

  24. April 25th, 2012 at 11:32 am

    lucky said,

    @ Kilman — Unfortunately I suspect you’re out of luck, as United is one of the most bureaucratic airlines out there, in my opinion. If you dispute the charge you’ll need a good reason for doing so. Much like buying an airline ticket, prices are always subject to change, so I doubt you’d get anywhere. Sorry to say!

  25. April 25th, 2012 at 2:15 pm

    Sam Laghi said,

    Is it worth topping off 60,000 miles in order to have 100,000?

  26. April 25th, 2012 at 2:21 pm

    lucky said,

    @ Sam — Without knowing your financial situation, mileage redemption goals, and future points earning ability, it’s tough to say. I’d say probably not. If you have the ability to, I’d much rather apply for a credit card to get those miles in your shoes. So I wouldn’t say it’s a “slam dunk” in your case.

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