Direct from a UA press notification:
United Airlines today launched “Boost My Miles,” a four-day promotion offering participating MileagePlus members a bonus of up to 60 percent on award miles purchased from Oct. 16, 2012, through Oct. 19, 2012.
MileagePlus members can log on to the special website to purchase award miles, share the promotion through social media channels and view progress on maximizing the bonus. Each participating member is guaranteed a 30 percent bonus on purchased award miles. This bonus can increase to as much as 60 percent if there are more than 4,000 qualifying member transactions, so participating MileagePlus members are encouraged to share this promotion through social media to generate participation.
“This is a great chance for MileagePlus members to maximize their bonus opportunities by spreading the word to family and friends,” said Krishnan Saranathan, managing director of United MileagePlus. “Through the promotion website, members can easily monitor bonus progress and share through social media channels.”
Members must purchase at least 5,000 miles per transaction. Promotion terms and conditions are found at Boost My Miles. At 3 Days 5 Hours and 42 Minutes there are just over 400 purchasers, so I’m going to assume that the 50% bonus at 2,000 purchasers is almost guaranteed.
Offer details:
- Promotional offer valid until 11:59 p.m. CDT on October 19, 2012
- For a limited time, get a minimum of 30% bonus award miles and a maximum of 60% bonus award miles when you purchase miles via the above links
- Personal Miles or Give Miles cost $35 per 1,000 miles plus a 7.5% excise tax
- 5,000 mile minimum purchase required and then miles are available in increments of 1,000
- Purchase up to 100,000 MileagePlus Personal miles or Give Miles per account per calendar year
- For Give miles transactions, both purchased miles and bonus miles will post to the recipients MileagePlus account
- Credit card will be billed immediately for purchase
- Program fees and mileage rates subject to change
- Initial purchased base award miles post to MileagePlus account (up to 48 hours from when purchase is made) and bonus miles post up to 7 days after promotion ends.
- Personal Miles and Give Miles are non-refundable
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4 comments
I guess we will finally see how many people out there really buy miles now.
@mike – Hah, yes…though 4,000 purchasers within 4 days doesn’t seem that absurd. At 3 Days 5 Hours and 42 Minutes there are just over 400, so I’m going to assume that the 50% bonus at 2,000 purchasers is almost guaranteed.
Adam – I’m new here so please help me understand. The typical round trip airfare to say Palm Beach Florida from NYC is 50,000 miles economy or $250-$500. If I buy 31,000 bonus miles and it hits the 60% bonus I will get 49,600 miles, just under what I need for a round trip. On the UA website purchasing 31,000 miles would cost me $1,166. Why would I do this?
@Allan – Welcome! Purchasing miles makes the most sense for international partner flights, especially in business and first class! Take another example, flying Singapore Airlines from New York JFK to Singapore for 120,000 miles and $114 in taxes. The same flight to purchase on those exact dates is pricing at $10,333. If purchasing miles you want to be thinking international, not domestic flights.