Another 5000 Mile Bonus for United Co-branded Credit Card Spending

by Gary Leff

Yesterday I posted an offering of 5000 miles for spending $1000 between August 1 and October 31 on a United credit card.

The offer terms and conditions do not indicate that it’s targeted. Instead, the terms say,

You must be an existing cardholder as of August 1, 2012. You must register for this offer….Bonus may be earned one time per primary cardholder. To be eligible for this offer, your account must be open and not in default at the time of fulfillment… Offer valid once per MileagePlus account number.

All statements that would indicate pretty clearly that the offer isn’t targeted. Of course it also says, “[o]ffer subject to change without notice” so there are no guarantees. But it’s worth signing up.

It turns out there is also an offer of 5000 mile for spending $3000 on the card between August 1 and October 31. Again, not open to folks who did not have a United credit card on August 1.

If it were me, and I either had already spent $3000 on the card or was about to (during the offer period), I would register for both promotions. It’s possible that both would be earned. It’s possible only one would be earned (so registering for the higher spend one won’t hurt). And it’s possible that, despite the terms and conditions of the offer, it really is targeted and United won’t honor it.

And we’ll have to wait awhile to find out, both offers specify that points will post 8-10 weeks after the end of the promotion, we may have to wait until mid-January to find out.

Some will want to take screen shots of the offers, as we as of their accounts if those display having signed up for the offer, and make the case to United that the terms and conditions should be honored — in the event that United doesn’t post the points.

Others will just register, hope for the points, and not worry about it. It’s easy to register for one or both offers, and good points for activity that folks would be undertaking anyway on their United credit cards.

Not clear it’s worth putting spend on the cards that folks wouldn’t have otherwise on the chance of earning the bonus, though folks willing to press for the bonus might still be so-inclined.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

More articles by Gary Leff »

Pingbacks

Comments

  2. Sweet, thanks for the heads up. Got confirmed both. Guess I know where my AP spend will go this month for myself and my AU. 🙂

  3. I have the no-fee UA card from Chase (not Explorer or Club…just the standard one)…does it qualify for this deal?

  4. We got a card in the mail offering double points on the MP Explorer for any spending above $2000 each month. I recycled it, so I don’t have the code. I think we were automatically enrolled. I wouldn’t be surprised if Chase is figuring out that only a small fraction of cardholders put everyday spending on this card.

  6. When I registered after reading ur post, the confirmation just indicated the sign up date till Oct 31. So we’ll see which it is. In any event, thanks for the head’s up

  9. Hmm, that’s interesting. I got an immediate confirmation email from MileagePlus after registering for this one! I registered for the lower-spend deal recently, and didn’t get any confirmation email. Not sure what that means.

  10. Gary – does the 3k spend ‘clock’ start from August 1st, or from the date we signed up (i.e. today). hence wondering if purchases in August/Sept counts even if we signed up today.

    its unclear.

  16. Does united have a history of making these promos and then not honoring them because I’m actually gna spend….

  19. This is what shows on 3000$ one..
    Eligible card for this promotion is only Standard Bank- Argentina.

  20. Both me and my significant other got a 5,000 miles “Chase bonus” with an activity date of 12/1/2012. I did not even spend $1,000, after hearing about Argentina bank clause added later on. YMMV

Comments are closed.