Accruing United Miles

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I'm a long time QF points collector, mainly due to the fact that it's easy and points are readily available. I've decided to turn my attention to Uniteds Mileage Plus programme with the target of 160,000 miles for a first class Asia award redemption for two.

What is the best way to funnel points into the Mileage Plus programme without flying? In the past, credit card spending and sign up bonuses have worked best. Are there credit cards in the Australian market that will transfer to United and/ or offer sign on bonuses?

Any advice based on experience would be greatly appreciated.
 
pweekes said:
I'm a long time QF points collector, mainly due to the fact that it's easy and points are readily available. I've decided to turn my attention to Uniteds Mileage Plus programme with the target of 160,000 miles for a first class Asia award redemption for two.

What is the best way to funnel points into the Mileage Plus programme without flying? In the past, credit card spending and sign up bonuses have worked best. Are there credit cards in the Australian market that will transfer to United and/ or offer sign on bonuses?

Any advice based on experience would be greatly appreciated.
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Amex MR to SPG to UA is best I can offer but wait for their annual bonus.
 
burmans said:
Amex MR to SPG to UA is best I can offer but wait for their annual bonus.
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I wouldn't suggest this, as MR to SPG is 2:1 and then SPG to UA is 2:1 so you're looking at 4:1 MR to UA. If you want UA points, I would suggest MR to SPG to Marriott Rewards and then looking at booking one of their hotel + points packages. Alternatively, I would (and have) waited for UA to sell points at a decent discount (I bought my last batch with 100% bonus).

As an alternative, why not look at Thai airways, which is a direct 1:1 partner for Amex MR. Depending on where you're travelling to/from there's nothing on the Thai *A chart [edit: to Asia] that costs more than 196K points from Australia. Given the 1:1 you'll probably find it easier to accrue.
 
jetpack said:
Watch out for the terrible transfer rates. 40,000 Amex MR converts to 25,000 SPG which converts to 12,500 UA miles.
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I didn't say it was a good deal just the best I can offer but on reflection better to go AMEX Mr to SPG to Marriott to UA. EG earlier this year you could transfer 112k Marriott points to 62500 UA. 112 k Marriott = 37.3 k SPG = 74.6 K Amex MR. Of course that's with a 20% bonus that's not currently available but confident at some stage it will be, depends how urgent this all is.
 
I'm hoping to accrue some united miles via SPG to Marriott Rewards. Currently waiting to convert 180,000 Gateway/DJ Amex MR Points to 90k SPG to 270k Marriott, then redeem a flights and nights package to united, but waiting for a transfer bonus from marriott to United (last year did it twice.. yet to happen in 2017).

Ideally, 152k or 157k United miles for 180k Gateway/DJ Amex Points is a pretty decent transfer rate, with a 7 night hotel certificate for a Marriott Property... then the idea to top up to 170k united miles by buying some for 2 J MEL-EUR redemptions on *A.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. It seems that accumulating UA Miles is not as straight forward as I had hoped. I'm going to investigate the Amex MR strategy and the transfer between SPG and Marriott and then to United. Thanks again for the input.
 
I have been accumulating Mileage Plus miles via Hertz car hire. Not an easy way to accumulate Mileage Plus miles but they do add up. The current promotion is 500 Mileage Plus miles + 1500 bonus miles. Costs a little more to hire through United but I feel it's worth it.
 
JohnK said:
I have been accumulating Mileage Plus miles via Hertz car hire. Not an easy way to accumulate Mileage Plus miles but they do add up. The current promotion is 500 Mileage Plus miles + 1500 bonus miles. Costs a little more to hire through United but I feel it's worth it.
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Do they post your bonus points correctly? I find it a nightmare dealing with them chasing for missing points. They NEVER post correctly and every few months I have to chaise back dozens of rentals with multiple emails to Hertz and phone calls to United.
 
boomy said:
Do they post your bonus points correctly? I find it a nightmare dealing with them chasing for missing points. They NEVER post correctly and every few months I have to chaise back dozens of rentals with multiple emails to Hertz and phone calls to United.
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They are terrible. Every couple of months I check United account and then send email to [email protected] with details of car hire and it's fixed within a few weeks. I send separate email for each rental.

I know it's a pain but I think it's worth it in the long run.
 
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