United Airlines Has A Pretty Broad (Targeted) Spending Promotion
Now that all of the big 3 have started phasing in some form of revenue-based earning, it appears we’ve moved on to a stage where they’re getting even more precise at how they reward customers.
United Airlines has a targeted promotion that many folks are eligible for. It’s pretty lucrative for a number of folks. Here’s the link to find out if you’re registered.
The offers appear to be targets based on your spending so far this year. The individual offers listed on this FlyerTalk thread are all over the place, with offers starting as low as $1,000 in new spending triggering bonuses of 10,000 RDMs (redeemable miles, not elite-qualifying). For the most part, the offers appear to have three tiers and stretch from a total of roughly 50,000 miles to the absurd.
David, who was the one that told me about the offer, got the craziest offer I’ve seen so far:
The offer nets him an astounding 324,000 bonus miles. Assuming he would hit these targets anyway, he’s being bonused upwards of 30 miles per dollar spent. That number seems absurd, so United must be betting that people weren’t planning to hit their initial tier without some incentive, thus reducing the amount of miles they feel they’re handing out for incremental spend.
While the rewards seem to vary, my best guess is that these are stretch goals for some, very achievable for others. Here’s the offer I received:
That’s unfortunate, though I’m not crying in my beer. American is my primary carrier, United gets the business when flight times on AA don’t work. So, I’d have a puncher’s chance at a stretch PQD goal this year but it’s not something I’m focused on.
The offers appear to run until the end of November, so lots of time to hit these goals. Make sure to check if you’re eligible!
The post United Airlines Has A Pretty Broad (Targeted) Spending Promotion was published first on Pizza in Motion
I got a rock, like I usually do for these promotions. About 13k miles in UA, 6k lifetime flight miles (I tried them out on a status match in 2011 and then went NOPE NOPE NOPE after going 4-4 on delayed flights).
Eponymous, not surprising if you have no flights this year. I would expect they targeted most members with activity and some form of status (though not me).
Cool! Thanks for the tip!
3 children & I each got: Spend $500 earn 6,000 bonus miles, spend $1,000 total earn 9,000 more bonus miles (15.000 bonus miles total), spend $2,000 total earn 15,000 more bonus miles (30,000 bonus miles total).
Spouse got: Spend $500 earn 8,000 bonus miles, spend $1,000 total earn 11,000 more bonus miles, spend $2,500 total earn 19,000 more bonus miles (max = 38,000 bonus miles).
Small portion of the fine print: “Registration is required by November 15, 2016. Only tickets purchased and ticketed after registration and within the ticketing dates will qualify. Ticketing and dates: May 25, 2016, through November 30, 2016.”
Marty, do any of you have UA paid activity this year?
Hi!
Wanted to leave my feedback.
United Gold with 7 Segments flown this year and only $600 PQD so far I received the following:
8,000 Bonus with $4,000 spend
12,000 more with $4,500 total spend
20,000 more with $5,500 total spend
Total 40,000 miles for $5,500 spend
I don’t think this is worth pursuing, I see other offers gave a better return per $$.
Leonardo, that does seem to be a steep hill to climb given where you are right now.
17k bonus with $8k spend
25k bonus with $9k spend
42k bonus with $11.5k spend
My wife and kids got the $500/$1000/$2000 spend promo. The challenge will be that only flights ticketed during the promo period counts, and only after registration. So I have from now until Nov 30 to earn those PQD. I’m at $4000 PQD right now, and I typically spend around $13k PQD a year, it will be pretty close for me to get to the $8k and $9k milestones. Little to no chance I get to the $11.5k milestone, unless I take a trip overseas.
Gobluetwo, let’s just say you hit $9K. That means they’d award you almost 17 miles per dollar for that incremental spend. Still not worth it, but interesting to see how they’re scoring things.
My co-worker and I are both 1Ks. We both have only gone on work trips so far this year, same flights, same fare classes. The only difference is I have gone on one more work trip than him, so have 4500 more miles and have spent $350 more. That being said, my offer was:
$2,000 for 10,000 miles
$2,500 for 15,000 miles
$4,000 for 25,000 miles
My co-workers was $500 less for each amount with the same miles.
Sad thing was we both just booked $1,700 worth of trips 36 hours ago, so no cancel and rebook 🙁
Paul, bummer that you just booked that travel! Are your tiers still achievable. I think it’s interesting that they’re adjusting the spend requirements that precisely as evidenced between you and your co-worker.
I’ve not flown United in years, was just offered Premier 1K status challenge (via American ExecPlat, status)- my offer:
$500=10K
$1000=15K
$2500=25K
So ya, it’s all a game- lol
Colin, interesting that they’re inviting folks who haven’t spend anything in quite a while. Given, if you were on the fence between United and another airline for an upcoming trip, 10,000 miles would be a nice spiff.
Data points: husband got comp E+ subscription. Now, an add’l 8K miles for $500 spend PLUS 12K miles for cumulative $1000 spend PLUS 20K miles for $2000 cumulative spend. Total bonus miles 40K for $2000 spend. He’s had no activity other than a couple of dines in 2015.
I got same bonus offer without E+ subscription. Only recent activities are dines and surveys.
Interesting. That’s not a lot of spend for a decent bonus. The E+ subscription is a pretty easy one for them. They probably give up a bit of revenue to do it, but I imagine a high percentage of those seats go to elites. They can do that around the edges and as long as they don’t piss off too many elites, it costs then virtually nothing.
First time checking out your site and I found this offer! Mine came in at:
$24k = 26k miles
$25k = 39k miles
$26k = 65k miles
for a total of 130,000 miles potentially.
I fly frequently and I’m GS, but that seems quite high.
Dr. Frank, glad you found the site. I’m surprised that your spend tiers are so close together. First one of those I’ve seen. 26,000 miles for an extra $1,000 in spend if you somehow happened to make that top tier is awesome.