Hot on the heels of Alaska Mileage Plan offering one of its largest sales in recent memory, United is offering up to a 100% bonus on purchased miles from now till 11.59am on 7 September 2018 SGT.
You need to purchase a minimum of 2,000 miles, although the bonus only starts kicking in at the 5,000 mark. Here’s how the bonus varies:
- Buy 5,000 โ 10,000 miles, get a 30% bonus (2.89 US cents)
- Buy 15,000 โ 25,000 miles, get a 70% bonus (2.21 US cents)
- Buy 30,000 โ 40,000 miles, get a 85% bonus (2.03 US cents)
- Buy 45,000 โ 75,000 miles, get a 100% bonus (1.88 US cents)
You can buy a maximum of 150,000 MileagePlus miles a year, post bonus.ย
Click here to buy United MileagePlus miles with a 100% bonus
Why would you buy United MileagePlus miles?
For those of us in Singapore, United’s award chart has one key sweet spot: flights to Australia and New Zealand, which price at 50,000 and 65,000 miles one-way for Business and First Class respectively.
Consider the following routing from Singapore to Sydney:
You’ll fly SIN-BKK on Thai Airways Business Class (because First Class doesn’t exist on this route), have a layover in Bangkok (where you can explore the Thai Airways First Class spa– be sure to select an option with a long enough layover for you to enjoy this!) and then take Thai’s B747-400 First Class product from BKK-SYD.
A one-way cost of 65,000 United MileagePlus miles + S$150 of taxes means this will cost about S$1.8K all in. Not the lowest cost way of getting to Sydney, for sure, but it’s certainly a much cheaper way of experiencing the Thai Airways First Class product (the same route would cost 90,000 KrisFlyer miles)
I mentioned Business Class costs 50,000 miles, but want to see something really cool? Check out this routing, which allows me to visit both Sydney and Auckland (or anywhere in New Zealand for that matter) on the same trip.
My SYD-AKL flight on Air New Zealand’s B777-200 business class costs an incrementalย 0ย miles- I just need to cover the taxes.ย This SIN-BKK-SYD-AKL-BKK-SIN routing costs 100,000 miles in business class, exactly the same cost as if I just visited Sydney.
What I’m taking advantage of is the Unitedย Excursionist Perk,ย and the above routing is just one example of how it can work. I’m going to cover this in a future workshop (hint: it’s not limited to Australia and New Zealand!), suffice to say it’s unique to MileagePlus award tickets and allows you to add a free one-way flight to your holiday (within the same region as your first destination).
Which card should you use?
United Mileage Plus purchases are processed in USD by Points.com, so here’s the cards you should be using to maximize the miles earned:
- BOC Elite Miles World Mastercard- 5.0 mpd, no cap
- Citibank Rewards Visa- 4.0 mpd, capped at S$12,000 per card membership year
- UOB Visa Signature- 4.0 mpd, minimum S$1,000 maximium S$2,000 foreign currency spending per statement period
- DBS Woman’s World Card- 4.0 mpd, capped at S$2,000 per month, you may have to appeal to DBS to get the 7X bonus credited (1.2 mpd will credit automatically)
- SCB Visa Infinite- 3.0 mpd, minimum S$2,000 spending in a month
Purchases made through the links in this article support The Milelion through the generation of an affiliate commission.
I did a check for SIN-MEL. BKK Airlines available but the total journey takes 16 hrs. If you are purchasing for SIN- AUS do check the flight details before points purchase. ๐
Yeah sometimes you get long connections. But there are also those 1-2 hour connection options
How long before the miles expires?
I would also like to know this. ๐ If anyone who has read the T&C can share … thank you thank you
It does not expire as long as you have activity within 18 months.
โAny Member who fails at any time to engage in Account Activity (as defined in Rule 11 above) for a period of eighteen (18) consecutive months is subject to termination of such Memberโs membership and/or forfeiture of all accrued mileage. United may, but shall have no obligation to, send a Member a notification of miles nearing expiration.โ
Thatโs what I like about the mile games in US.
Does this allow for prolonged layovers in BKK? Like 36-48hrs, to tour the city…
I am curious how Citibank Rewards qualifies for this since it doesnt fall within Online Shopping Merchants for Shoes, Clothes, Bags?
Just be careful with United. Worst customer service of any airline. On paper, these deals look great. However, if anything goes wrong, I do not have trust that United will step up and help. Bad experiences with that airline
For a limited time till end September, Maybank Horizon VISA Signature also offers 3.0mpd for foreign currency spend.
There is really little value in stating that “BOC Elite Miles World Mastercard- 5.0 mpd, no cap” when only a selected few individuals have that card,
[…] you are fortunate enough to have United MileagePlus miles, a Business Class redemption would only cost you 50,000 miles […]
Hi Aaron, thanks for sharing. I do want to purchase United miles for a NZ trip next August. But how do I redeem the miles as you demonstrated? I tried searching on United Airline but it didnt come up with any results. Thanks!