United MileagePlus 100% Bonus Miles
As luck would have it, 24 hours after I posted an article about buying miles & points in Australia, United is running a new promotion offering a massive 100% bonus until the 12th of September!
As per usual, the bonus is tiered, meaning you get the best amount of bonus miles when you buy over 50,000 miles. The tiers look like this.
For example, if you buy 50,000 miles you will get a bonus 50,000 miles meaning you will spend $1,881 to get 100,000 United miles.
At this rate, you are basically buying United miles for ~1.8c usd per mile.
November Devaluation
United announced an award chart devaluation that will come in to place for all flights booked after the 1st of November 2017. Unfortunately, this devaluation does impact some of the good redemption opportunities out of Australia.
It is important to note that you can still redeem flights that are for travel after 1 November 2017 at the current (cheaper) rates provided you book and get the flight ticketed prior to the 1st of November.
Here are a few of the redemption opportunities out of Australia with the current rate as well as the rate for bookings made post the 1st of November.
| Route | Current Redemption Rate | New Redemption Rate Post 1/11/17 | % Increase |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aus to Bangkok Business Class | 30,000 | 50,000 | 66% |
| Aus to Bangkok First Class | 40,000 | 65,000 | 62% |
| Aus to Hong Kong Business Class | 30,000 | 50,000 | 66% |
| Aus to Hong Kong First Class | 40,000 | 65,000 | 62% |
| Aus to Japan Business Class | 40,000 | 50,000 | 25% |
| Aus to Japan First Class | 50,000 | 65,000 | 30% |
| Aus to USA | 70,000 | 80,000 | 12.5% |
Current award chart is available here, the new award chart is available here.
Is This Promotion Good Value?
Assuming you buy miles at the biggest bonus rate, at the current rates you can redeem some great options such as:
- Thai Airways First Class Sydney to Bangkok return for ~$1,500usd
- ANA Business Class Sydney to Tokyo return for ~$1,500usd
These prices spike considerably when you redeem for the new rates:
- Thai Airways First Class Sydney to Bangkok return for ~$2,444usd
- ANA Business Class Sydney to Tokyo return for ~$1,880usd
So, if you have an immediate need and you can find availability and book straight away this promotion could be great value. A 9-hour flight in Thai first class for $750usd is pretty great value.