Roundup of United Visa Offers and a New 30,000 Bonus Mile Enticement

The United Visa used to be the easiest, most reliable churn there was. In other words, you could sign up for the card over and over (by some reports, as frequently as every 60 days) and grab the signup bonuses each time. Each member could net perhaps 200,000 miles a year that way with annual fees waived.

Then a year or so back they shut down churning and started awarding bonus miles only for first-time cardmembers. Now there are mixed reports, some people say churning is back. I’m testing this myself. I applied for a new card last week just to see what would happen. I’ll report here when I learn the results.

Even so, you can definitely have more than one United Visa at the same time, and more than one of the same type at the same time. And if you’ve had a personal card you can get a small business card and get the bonus even if you can no longer churn.

I’ve written about several different United Visa offers. My favorite still is the 25,000 mile bonus after spending $250, along with annual fee waived the first year. (As the year ends, either close the account or call up Chase and have them fold the credit line into another card with no fee). That’s been a great offer the past 18 months since I first saw it.

They’ve gotten even more creative lately, offering gift cards in addition to bonus miles and upping the ante on miles, alas usually not waiving the annual fee along with the bonus.

Here’s another offer, just came through via a friend’s email box. It’s not targeted, no fee waived, but 30,000 miles after $250 in spend. I’ve heard of offers as high as 50,000 miles recently but those are paper offers rather than offers open to anyone online.


Dear XXXXXXX, As a valued Mileage Plus® member, you are invited to apply for a Mileage Plus Visa® 1 and soon see your mileage balance grow.Earn more than enough miles for a roundtrip ticket.As a new cardmember, after you spend $250, you’ll earn 30,000 bonus miles2 and you’ll earn enough miles for a roundtrip Saver Award ticket!3

Balance as of 5/14/2008: XXX,XXX miles
Bonus miles:   30,000 miles
New total: XXX,XXX miles
 

You will also enjoy these Mileage Plus Visa benefits: Visa Signature Card

  • Earn 1 mile per eligible $1 spent 
  • Exclusive cardmember redemption opportunities 
  • No pre-set spending limit

Apply by June 15, 2008!

Apply now and earn more than enough miles for another roundtrip ticket!

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 »

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Comments

  1. Haven’t heard anything new on this. FT hasn’t said anything new. I’m assuming you were not able to restart churning UA cards.

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