GREAT DEAL: Buy United Miles From Just 1.13 Cents Each!

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While I usually advise readers that converting hotel points to airline miles is generally a poor proposition, every now and again deals line up in a way that changes the math for the better. Right now is one of those times and, as a result, you can currently buy United Miles at anywhere between 1.13 cents and 1.3 cents each. That’s fantastic.

Last week I received an email from United MileagePlus letting me know that, through 30 November 2017, I can convert hotel points to United Miles with a 30% bonus.

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This in itself isn’t all that interesting and, had I not had some time on my hands over the weekend, I wouldn’t have given this any attention.

Well, it’s a good thing I did look into this further as there’s a fantastic deal to be had.

By itself the 30% bonus United is offering doesn’t really provide all that much incentive to move any points around but, when combined with another two promotions that are available right now, things get a lot more interesting.

Here’s What You Need To Know

  • There is a promotion running right now which sees Choice Privilege points convert to United Miles at a rate of 5,000 points to 2,500 miles

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  • You can use the 30% bonus that United MileagePlus is currently offering in addition to the promotion above – this sees Choice Privilege Points convert at a rate of 5,000 points to 3,250 miles

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a blue and orange sign with white textI was targeted for a 30% bonus but bonuses of up to 50% are available

The Math

If you were targeted for the lowest available bonus (30%) then buying the maximum allowable number of points (50,000) will see you net 65,000 Choice Privilege Points for $550:

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At the current conversion ratio those 65,000 points can be converted to 42,250 United MileagePlus Miles.

Effectively you would have bought 42,250 United Miles for $550 which is a cost of ~1.30 cents per mile.

If you were targeted for the full 50% bonus the math looks even sweeter – you could buy 75,000 Choice Points for $550 and those points would convert to 48,750 United Miles – that is a effective cost of ~1.13 cents per mile.

Here’s a link to buy Choice Privilege Points & to see the bonus you have been targeted for.

Here’s a link to convert your Choice Privilege to United MileagePlus Miles

If you already have Choice Privilege Points in your account then obviously you could convert those to United Miles too (no need to buy points)….just make sure you bear in mind the fact that United caps it’s bonus at 25,000 miles.

This means that you can convert up to 165,000 Choice Points while still getting the 5,000 points to 3,250 miles transfer ratio – and conversions above that amount will convert at 5,000 points to 2,500 miles (through 30 November).

Bottom Line

You’re not going to be able to buy enough United Miles to book a Business Class award to Europe or Asia but you’ll certainly be able to top up your account very nicely…and at a maximum cost of 1.3 cents per mile you’ll be topping up your account  at a very good rate indeed.

To put things in context, the last two mileage sales that United has offered saw miles being sold at 2.15 cents and 2.69 cents each and the best rate I remember ever seeing them sold at is at around 1.8 cents each.

This set of deals blows all of that out of the water so, if you need to top up your United MileagePlus account, you have through 12 November 2017, to make the most of this opportunity.

21 COMMENTS

    • You have to register for the hotel points to United Miles conversion (via the link in the blog post) and, as far as I can tell, everyone is eligible for the conversion

  1. Your goal is for readership of your content. You make it harder to read your content with the pop-up ads and notices. Seems foolish to me to try and keep people from reading your work.

    • Are you reading on a phone/tablet or desktop?

      Also, there shouldn’t be any pop-up ads…only a subscribe form – what ads are you seeing?

      Thanks

        • So far you’re the only reader reporting this so are you sure it’s not your browser?

          I’m having some IT guys check TFM just to be sure but I’d make sure you check your devices too

      • Don’t mean to pile on, but in the spirit of a hopefully constructive comment regarding ability to read the blog, I think your font is too thin or the font color is to light, it is a bit difficult to read with the white background.

        • Thanks for the feedback (which I don’t consider to be piling on at all – it’s very helpful).

          I happen to agree with you and I already have another theme that I want to use but I’m having a lot of issues getting it to work properly.

          Time is an issue too as I just haven’t had very much of it recently and you need to time to tweak a new theme so the site doesn’t look ridiculous.

          I’ve tried to play around with the current theme to make it better but not a lot seems to work (hence the new theme I have) so it’s a case of sitting down and dedicating 2 -3 days to reworking TFM and making it look better.

          It will happen….I just need to find the time.

  2. I tried clicking the link and it says: Enjoy {{BONUS_VALUE}}% . I try registering for it but it states I am not eligible for this offer?

    • I’m getting the same error when trying to register for the 30% united bonus. Enjoy {{BONUS_VALUE}}%
      Are any more people seeing this? I turned off all security and privacy software and cleared history but still get it.

    • That’s something I’m not sure about – you should read the T&Cs of the united offer carefully to see what it says (I’m on an aircraft with terrible wifi right now so cannot check)

  3. The details of the UA bonus says, “Earn 30% bonus miles on all points-to-miles transfers, up to 25,000 miles.” so there is a cap on the bonus miles. Not sure if your math is correct on the bonuses…

    • I mention this cap in the blog and I’m pretty sure the math stacks up.

      Bonus = 30%
      Cap on bonus = 25,000 MileagePlus Miles

      Therefore, to earn the maximum bonus of 25,000 United Mileage Plus Miles, you need to transfer over enough Choice Points to earn you 83,333 United Mileage Plus miles (30% of 83,333 = 25,000)

      Before the United 30% bonus 5,000 Choice Points converts over to 2,500 United Miles…therefore 165,000 Choice Point will convert over to 82,500 United Miles…which is just within the 83,333 maximum mentioned above.

      So, as the blog post says:

      “you can convert up to 165,000 Choice Points while still getting the 5,000 points to 3,250 miles transfer ratio – and conversions above that amount will convert at 5,000 points to 2,500 miles (through 30 November).”

      • That makes sense – thank you. The 30% bonus doesn’t show up when I try to convert Choice points to United miles (it says 65k Choice = 32.5K United), so I’m hesitant to go through with it – are the bonus points added to your United account later after you go through with the transaction? Is there a way to verify you will get the bonus points (I am registered for the bonus points). I’m a newbie so not really sure how it works. Thanks!

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