(EXPIRED) United MileagePlus Shopping Bonus: Earn Up To 1,700 Bonus Miles By May 19

United has a new promotion offering bonus miles when shopping through the MileagePlus Shopping portal.

The Deal

• Earn up to 1,700 bonus miles when shopping through the MileagePlus Shopping portal:
  • Spring Bonus:
    • Spend $150 in-store or online & earn 500 bonus miles
    • Spend $300 in-store or online & earn 1,000 bonus miles
  • In-Store Bonus:
    • Spend $150 at any in-store locations for an extra 500 bonus miles
  • Featured Stores Bonus:
    • Spend $50 online at Macy’s & earn 100 bonus miles
    • Spend $50 online at Nike & earn 100 bonus miles
• Direct link to offer.

Key Terms

• Expires May 19, 2019 at 11:59:59pm ET.
• During the “Spring Bonus” offer, Member will earn a one-time bonus of up to 1,000 MileagePlus bonus award miles on qualifying purchases made through the MileagePlus Shopping mall or from purchases made through MileagePlus Shopping in-store offers. This one-time bonus award will be determined using one of the following tiers, based on Member’s cumulative qualifying purchases made during the Bonus Period: Tier 1 bonus: 500 miles for qualifying purchases of at least $150; or Tier 2 bonus: 1,000 miles for qualifying purchases of at least $300 or more. The Tier 2 bonus provides the maximum number of miles that will be awarded.
• During the “In-Store Bonus” offer, Member will earn 500 MileagePlus bonus award miles on qualifying purchases made through MileagePlus Shopping in-store offers. This one-time bonus award will be based on Member’s cumulative qualifying purchases made during the Bonus Period through in-store merchant offers: Earn 500 miles for qualifying purchases of at least $150 or more.
• During the “Featured Stores Bonus” offer, Member will earn 100 MileagePlus bonus award miles on cumulative qualifying purchases of at least $50 at one or both of the designated “Featured Stores”: Macy’s, Nike. Member is eligible for one bonus payout of 100 MileagePlus bonus award miles per designated “Featured Store.”

Quick Thoughts

If you only shop online through the MileagePlus portal, you’ll earn 3.33 bonus miles per dollar if spending exactly $150 or $300. That’s a fairly good bonus, but be sure to check rates on Cashback Monitor to ensure you’re getting the best possible return.

The in-store cashback element to the promotion is where things get a little more interesting. That’s because there are only a few portals offering in-store cashback (e.g. Ebates, Alaska Mileage Plan), so there’s less opportunity to pick and choose the best rate. Spending $150 in-store at a participating retailer would earn you 1,000 bonus miles – 500 from the “Spring Bonus” part of the offer and another 500 from the “In-Store Bonus”.

You can find a full list of in-store participating retailers here. While not the most extensive list, there are some stores worth noting like Bed Bath & Beyond, JCPenney, Macy’s, Nike and Sephora.

The latter offers a great opportunity for stacking some deals thanks to the new Sephora Amex Offer. If you were to spend exactly $150, here’s what you could earn:

• 1,150 Membership Rewards (9x from the Amex Offer. There’s a limit of 1,000 for the 8x bonus, with the other 150 MR coming from the standard 1x)
• $4.50 cashback from Dosh (make sure your credit card is linked in the Dosh app)
• 500 MileagePlus miles (from the Spring Bonus)
• 500 MileagePlus miles (from the In-Store Bonus)
• 450 MileagePlus miles (3x for in-store shopping)
• 150 Sephora Rewards points (from their own loyalty scheme)

Ignoring the Sephora Rewards points, that still works out to be ~$40 of value which is pretty decent on just $150 of spend.

h/t Miles to Memories

Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.