United MileagePlus used to be a great frequent flyer program from United Airlines. This airline is also part of Star Alliance, the world’s largest Alliance, with many airline partners. So, this program has many use cases. Since this is a targeted offer, it offers members various bonus miles on purchasing miles. I received a 90% bonus offer for buying United Miles, you may have been targeted for a 100 bonus Promotion or 50% discount. If you are not interested in purchasing these miles, you can always transfer Axis & HDFC bank points to United. Marriott is the option for Amex cardholders. As with the preferred partnerships, you get 10000 bonus miles on a transfer of 60000 Marriott points, effectively creating a 2:1 transfer ratio.
Here are all the details about buying United Miles with a Bonus or Discount.
Buy United Miles Offer Details
On Purchase of United Miles by Dec 23 [11:59 p.m. CT], you can get up to 100% Bonus Miles or 50% Discount. Usually, it costs 3.76 Cents or INR 3.19 to buy one United Mile. However, this offer reduces costs to 1.88 Cents or INR 1.60 Per Mile. You can buy a maximum of 2 Lac miles in a year, and a bonus, if any, on purchases is also included in the 2 Lac miles limit. However, you can buy miles only if you have not already exhausted your limit and
Related: Ongoing Buying Points & Miles Offer
This is a tiered offer with the highest discount as you buy more. Here is the Summary:
Buy From | Buy To | Bonus |
5000 | 14000 | 50% |
15000 | 39000 | 75% |
40000 | 100000 | 100% |
Buy From | Buy To | Discount |
5000 | 14000 | 20% |
15000 | 39000 | 35% |
40000 | 100000 | 50% |
Related: When does it make sense to buy Air Miles?
How much does it cost to Buy United Miles?
One United Costs 3.76 Cents or INR 3.19, including 7.5% tax. With this offer, you can reduce your cost per mile to 1.88 Cents or INR 1.60.
One of the best benefits of using United Miles for award tickets is that you pay one of the lowest fuel surcharges in the world and can enjoy excursionist perks on Star Alliance and Partner Flights.
If you have decided to buy United Miles, then this is how much it will cost:
United Miles Purchased | Bonus | Points Received | Total Cost (USD) | INR Cost Per Mile | Cents Cost Per Mile |
4000 | 0% | 4000 | 150.50 | 3.19 | 3.76 |
19000 | 50% | 21000 | 714.88 | 2.13 | 2.51 |
39000 | 75% | 68250 | 1467.38 | 1.82 | 2.15 |
100000 | 100% | 200000 | 3762.50 | 1.60 | 1.88 |
Once you buy miles, it could take up to 72 hours for your miles to be credited to your account. Also, any purchase of Miles from United is processed through Points.com. That means the purchase is not marked as an Airline Purchase, so a good Forex card must be used.
Discount or Bonus United Miles on Buying [Past 5]
Here is the past five Bonus Points offer summary on buying Miles:
Start Date | End Date | Maximum Bonus % Offered | INR Per Mile | Cents Per Mile |
9th Dec 2024 | 31st Dec 2024 | 100% | 1.60 | 1.88 |
28th Nov 2024 | 1st Dec 2024 | 100% | 1.60 | 1.88 |
6th Nov 2024 | 21st Nov 2024 | 100% | 1.60 | 1.88 |
3rd Oct 2024 | 25th Oct 2024 | 95% | 1.64 | 1.93 |
4th Sep 24 | 20th Sep 24 | 100% | 1.60 | 1.88 |
7th Aug 24 | 25th Aug 24 | 100% | 1.60 | 1.88 |
10th Jul 24 | 31st Jul 24 | 100% | 1.60 | 1.88 |
12th Jun 24 | 18th Jun 24 | 100% | 1.60 | 1.88 |
9th May 24 | 28th May 24 | 100% | 1.60 | 1.88 |
Bottomline
Buying United Miles can be helpful if you’re short of the required miles. However, opportunities to earn these miles exist in India. So, a top-up of miles could make sense for some. United’s biggest advantages are the low fuel surcharge and excursionist perk. However, I would surely check the Avianca Lifemiles or Aeroplan points offer as they have a fixed award chart and better miles requirement on some routes.