United Airlines Revisits MileagePlus Bonus Offer

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Three days after receiving an e-mail from Alaska Airlinesabout its offer of a bonus of up to 40% for Mileage Plan™ members who purchasemiles, United Airlines made a similar offer to its MileagePlus® members.

The two offers are slightly different.
United Airlines is offering discounts of up to 40% off itsnormal price of $35 (plus federal excise tax) per 1,000 miles purchased throughSept. 19, while Alaska is offering to add up to 40% to the number of milespurchased through Sept. 28.
In both offers, the maximum 40% bonus kicks in for purchasesof 30,000 miles or more.
A challenge
Whether it was a misstep or intentional, United did not make it easy to find the offer onits web site without using the hyperlink contained in its e-mail, so I’mincluding it here.
The basics
United MileagePlus®members who purchase 42,000 miles will pay $948.15 ($882.00 plus 7.5% federalexcise tax), which works out to a purchase price of 2.26¢ per mile. Alaska Mileage Plan™ members whopurchase of 30,000 miles would earn 12,000 additional bonus miles, for a totalof 42,000 miles. The total cost would be $886.88 ($825.00 plus 7.5% federalexcise tax), which works out to a purchase price of 2.11¢ per mile.
Although the per-mile price of the two programs is close,there’s more to it than that. The actual value is best determined by the amountof money you save by using miles instead of paying cash for a ticket. Usingyour miles to get somewhere is, after all, the point.
Do the math
I recommend working backward. Before you purchase a largechunk of additional miles from either carrier, decide where you’d like to go onyour free ticket and see if you can book that  ticket using your miles. If so, look at the price you’d pay in cash versus how many miles you’dhave to use. Divide the price of the ticket by the miles needed to determinehow much value you’ll be getting from each mile. 
For example, using 50,000 miles to buy a ticket that wouldotherwise cost $800 means each mile is worth 1.6¢. If you can get that sameticket for 25,000 miles, then the miles are worth 3.2¢ each, which is a muchbetter value, especially if you’re paying about 2¢ each.

A little homework can either yield substantial dividends or show that it's not worth the effort. Either way, safe and enjoyable travels!


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