Double trouble: United wants to double or triple your miles, for a fee
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United just launched a program called Award Accelerator, giving you, the lucky consumer, the chance to pay an extra fee in order to earn double or even triple miles on your flight. But is it worth it? Let’s do the math.
This is similar to Northwest’s “supersizing” promotion.
Northwest gave 1000 extra miles for an extra $20 fee. United, on the other hand, has a sliding scale, based on the distance flown. From their press release:
From To Miles Flown Award Accelerator
miles* (USD)Chicago Cleveland 316 Double Miles: $9
Triple Miles: $19Chicago Orange County 1,726 Double Miles: $52
Triple Miles: $104Washington, D.C. London Heathrow 3,677 Double Miles: $110
Triple Miles: $221Los Angeles Sydney, Australia 7,483 Double Miles: $224
Triple Miles: $449*Prices subject to change without notice. Based on one-way option.
In each of these examples, the fee for the extra miles is effectively 3 cents per mile. That’s expensive. While that would be a decent rate when redeeming miles, you generally shouldn’t be paying that kind of bank for something that you might not be able to redeem for equal or greater value.
3 cpm is slightly less than United’s “BuyMiles” program — which I could swear used to be cheaper. The rate there is 3.225 cents per mile, plus a $35 fee.
So, in comparison to buying miles, the “accelerator” program is a discount, but that still doesn’t mean it’s a good deal. It’s getting harder and harder to cash in United miles, after all, so I wouldn’t spend any extra money to collect more of them.
Granted, this is a clever marketing campaign. But it’s in their interest, not yours. If you’re within 1000 miles or so of a great award, then sure, spend the 10-spot and top your account up. But stay away from “accelerating” long flights.
Related:
- The value of frequent flyer miles
- Reader mail: Is it worth $20 to get 1000 bonus miles?
- Is a new frequent-flyer point exchange a great opportunity or a new ripoff?
- Should you put all your miles in one program?
- Whose miles are worth the most: What does the black market tell us?
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August 6th, 2008 at 9:10 am |
Mark, UA has had a program like NWA’s “Supersize” promo for a while as well. It used to be $20 for an extra 1000 miles, but timed with with the rollout of this accelerator promo the price jumped to $30 for 1K miles.