United Promo: 30% Off Short Haul Award Redemptions

For a limited time, spend 30% less of your United Mileage Plus miles for flights 700 miles or less in distance. For example, a roundtrip flight between San Francisco and Seattle which normally costs 25,000 miles, is now available for 17,500 miles. The 30% discount applies to tickets booked by August 31, 2010, for travel through January 7, 2011. These are pretty good deals particularly into regional airports, which are often costly to purchase. More details here.

Play United's Optathlon Games and Win Big (or Small)

Check out the United Airlines Optathlon games where you could win a million Mileage Plus miles, or some of the smaller instant prizes, such as Red Carpet Club passes and discount travel vouchers. I just played and scored a 10% off e-voucher for domestic travel. Good luck!

1,000 United Miles for Each Night At Hyatt Hotels

Earn up to 1,000 United miles for each night (not stay) you spend at a Hyatt property now through September 30th. This is in addition to the 500 base miles earned per stay. Maximum 30,000 miles can be earned with this offer. Click here for details.

United Announces New Award Travel Options

United Airlines has announced two new award travel options for members of its Mileage Plus program. Effectively immediately, you can now book a one-way flight for half the miles of the roundtrip award. This is great for people who don't quite have the 25,000 miles needed for a standard roundtrip. Click here for the official United announcement.

Miles & Money is another award travel option just introduced by United. If you find yourself a bit short of mileage, United will allow you to combine your miles with cash in order to secure the flights you want. Here's the announcement.

New United Q1 Promo: Fly Often, Earn up to 20,000 Bonus Miles

Check your email for a new United promotion awarding you up to 20,000 Mileage Plus miles when you book and fly roundtrips before March 31, 2010. This is a targeted offer, and registration is required prior to travel. Also, and this is a biggie, it appears only the higher fare buckets "H" and higher qualify. Therefore, inexpensive seats such as K/L/T/S/W booking classes likely won't qualify (check your specific offer to be sure however).

United Discounts Award Travel to Europe and Middle East

United Mileage Plus members can now save 20% off award travel redemptions for flights between the United States and Canada to Europe and the Middle East. The discount applies to economy class tickets on United Airlines flights booked by October 31st, for travel between January 10 and March 15, 2010. For example: A roundtrip flight between San Francisco and Rome which normally requires 55,000 miles, can be had for just 44,000 miles.

Ideas on Redeeming Low Balance Frequent Flyer Accounts

By Mike Grasso

I'm often asked what to do with a few thousand miles stored in a frequent flier account. Since most airlines require 25,000 miles for a free domestic award redemption, it may take quite some time to bump that mileage balance high enough for a free flight. One idea is to redeem miles for a magazine or newspaper subscription, which require as little as 400 miles.

Here are some examples:


Magazine subscriptions
-12 issues of Conde Nast Traveler for 600 miles AAdvantage miles
-12 issues of Wired for 400 SkyMiles
-50 issues of Business Week for 1600 AAdvantage miles

Newspaper subscriptions (mileage may vary by market)
-8 weeks of the San Francisco Chronicle (7X weekly) for 1534 SkyMiles, 1840 AAdvantage miles or 2300 MileagePlus miles.
-39 weeks of the Wall Street Journal (6X weekly) for 2626 AAdvantage miles or 3282 MileagePlus miles.

Many airlines also allow you to redeem miles for dining certificates and airport lounge access. You can even donate small sums of miles to charity. To take advantage of these and other offers visit your airline's frequent flyer page to view all redemption opportunities.

Earn Double Elite-Qualifying Miles or Segments with New United Promo

Quick to respond to yesterday's American Airlines double-elite qualifying miles offer, United Airlines just released a similar promotion. Register to earn either double elite-qualifying miles or segments for travel on United between September 3rd and December 15, 2009. If you are a general member with United (no status), or you are close to achieving the next tier of status with the airline, definitely register for this promotion, as it makes it much easier to reach various elite level thresholds.

United Offers 500-Mile Booking Bonus to Infrequent Travelers

In an effort to bring in new business and increase bookings on their website, United Airlines is awarding 500 bonus miles to customers who have not purchased tickets from united.com within the past 12 months. According to the terms, the bonus is available for one-way or round-trip tickets purchased at united.com between August 14 and October 31, 2009.

Double Southwest & United Credit for Flights to/from Colorado

Southwest and United Airlines are both offering frequent flyer promotions for travelers flying to and from the state of Colorado. In both promos, registration is required prior to travel.

Southwest Airlines: Register by July 31, ticket and travel by September 30, 2009; earn double credits for each flight to/from Denver.

United Airlines: Register and ticket by June 30, travel by September 30, 2009;
earn double miles for flights to/from Denver, Aspen, Colorado Springs, Durango or Grand Junction.

Earn Bonus Miles With New Netflix Subscription

First time Netflix customers can earn bonus frequent flyer miles when signing up for new service. Netflix offers the convenience of ordering movies online, and having them shipped, usually within 24 hours, directly to your home. Some titles can also be watched online, real-time.
Here are direct links to some of the participating airlines:

American Airlines: 2500 Bonus miles offer
United Airlines: 2000 Bonus miles offer
Delta Airlines: 3000 Bonus miles offer

Tip: Be sure to print out a copy of the offer in the event your miles do not automatically post. This will serve as proof of your registering for the offer.

United Elite Flyers: Earn 2000 Miles for Each Hertz Rental

Here's an offer that's been around for a while, but worth a repost. United Mileage Plus Elite members who rent from Hertz through February 28, 2010 will earn 2,000 bonus miles for full size or larger vehicles rented 1-4 days in length, and 4,000 miles for each rental 5 days or longer. The bonus is in addition to the 50 or so miles Hertz awards for a standard rental. Click here for full details.

10,000 United Airlines Miles for College Grads

One of those programs that keeps giving and giving is United Airlines College Plus Program. The key benefit for college students is a whopping 10,000 miles gift from United Airlines upon graduating from an accredited college or university. I took advantage of this wonderful program from United a few years ago after graduating from San Francisco State University.


Here's what you need to know to qualify:

1. Register for the United Airlines College Plus Program. You must be a member prior to graduation.

2. Once you've graduated (congrat's in advance!), provide UA an official copy of your final college transcript, mileage plus number and email address. They will credit your account within 4-6 weeks.

And two thumbs up to United Airlines for continuing to offer this benefit for our college grads.

Be sure to forward this post to friends who plan on graduating college soon.

United Offers Bonus Miles on Select Routes From San Francisco

United Airlines is offering mileage plus members bonus miles for flights to/from San Francisco and Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle and Boston now through April 30, 2009. Unlike many recent United promotions, this offer is valid for even the lower cost (booking class) ticket purchases.

Here's what you do: Register for the promotion before February 9th. Then, purchase a roundtrip ticket between the city pairs listed above. The amount of bonus miles is determined based on the booking class of your ticket purchase as shown here. This may be a targeted promotion, meaning if you did not receive an email from United about this promotion it's possible you will not receive the bonus.

Earn 1,000 Bonus United Miles At Safeway

United and Safeway continue their GroceryMiles partnership, rewarding shoppers with 125 United miles for every $250 spent at Safeway.

Now, for a limited time, you can earn 1000 bonus miles for shopping at Safeway, Vons, Dominick's, Genuardi's or Pavilions twice between November 12th and December 31, 2008 and spending at least $250 on each visit. Now that is a cart full of groceries! But with grocery shopping for the holidays on the horizon, spending $250 - twice, may not be such an impossible task.


Click here for general information about the GroceryMiles program.

United Announces 2009 Mileage Plus Changes

In a press release Monday, United announced some fairly significant changes to Mileage Plus, its frequent flyer program. Depending on your specific travel habits, you will find the changes either favorable or as yet another example of the devaluation of frequent flyer miles. 

• Restoration of 500-mile minimum accrual for elite members. This past summer United eliminated this benefit for short-distance flyPublish Posters. The policy changes is retroactive for flights dating back to July 1, 2008.


• Mileage Award Adjustments. UA will maintain the 25,000 mile requirement for economy saver tickets for flights within the U.S. But, it will increase the mileage requirement between 5,000 and 25,000 additional miles for flights between the U.S and different regions throughout the world.


• Co-Payment and reduction in miles requirement for upgrades effective July 1, 2009. If you purchase an economy class ticket, United often allows you to upgrade that flight with miles. The airline will lower that mileage requirement, but institute a co-payment of up to $500 for this benefit. Additionally, the airline will allow international upgrades, regardless of the fare class purchased. Previously, only higher cost fares were upgradeable.

Grocery Miles: Earn United Miles Shopping for Groceries

We've mentioned this in the past, but no harm in bringing it back; United Airlines continues to offer bonus Mileage Plus miles for grocery shopping at Safeway, Krogers, Dominick's, Vons, Pavillions and Genuardis stores throughout the United States.

Once you have registered, you earn a 125 miles for every $250 spent. More importantly, for those who fly United infrequently but want to keep their Mileage Plus account active, this is an easy way to do so. Visit United Airlines GroceryMiles page.

Bonus United Miles For Safeway Delivery

For a limited time, United Airlines' GroceryMiles program will award up to 1000 miles for having groceries delivered to your home. Now through June 1, 2008 earn 500 mileage plus miles for a single delivery totalling $150 or more, and 1000 miles for spending $200 or more.
Click here for more information.

United Drops 'Minimum 500 Mile' Accrual Policy

In an email to customers today, United Airlines announced they are doing away with awarding a minimum of 500 miles on short flights. The policy to date awarded 500 miles even for flights that were shorter - such as down to Los Angeles or Las Vegas. With the changes, mileage plus members will receive credit only for actual miles flown.

In effect in makes sense. You earn miles for what you fly. But particularly for business travelers who travel short distances, the rounding up of mileage accrual to 500 miles was icing on the cake. Effective July 1st, the icing goes away. All travel from July 1st on is subject to the reducing earning standard.

This change aligns with a similar policy change U.S air implemented earlier this year.

United Increases Fees for Award Travel

According to an update on the United website, higher fees will be incurred when making or changing award travel reservations with United Airlines.

• Change fee of $150 applies for changing the routing or destination of an existing ticket. (Originally $100 fee)


• $150 fee if you decide to cancel your ticket and redeposit miles. (Originally $100)


• $25 fee for booking award travel with United Reservations phone reps, such as when booking with United partners. (Originally $15)

Additionally, the "last minute travel" processing fees policy has changed. You will now pay a fee of $75 for booking within 3 weeks, or $100 for booking within 1 week of your requested departure date. Previously the airline did not penalize you for booking travel 2 weeks or more in advance.

These new changes go into effect on May 15th, 2008. Tickets booked prior to this retain the original rules and fee structure. Click here for more information.