Yesterday, Doctor of Credit reported that the United MPX app has once again begun carrying over merchant codes for the purposes of bonus categories, at least for restaurants and Chase cards. For example, when buying a restaurant gift card with a Chase Sapphire Reserve, people are reporting both receiving the United miles from the app and the 3x restaurant bonus on the CSR. This is a recent change as those purchases stopped coding for bonus categories until the past couple of weeks. Data points indicate that purchases in April did not earn category bonuses, but those MPX purchases from around May 21st onward are once again earning category bonuses. Note that this may not be true on all cards / categories as recent data points are still limited, but this can be a great way to stack for maximum mileage on in-person purchases.
MPX app
The United MileagePlus X app (most commonly known as MPX) is an app from United that sells various merchant gift cards and awards United Mileage Plus miles for their purchase. The number of miles awarded at each merchant varies, as do minimum purchase requirements. However, you can usually buy a gift card for the exact amount you need while standing at the register for an in-person purchase. For example, I always use the MPX app when we’re at the mall and my wife decides she wants realizes she needs something from Sephora or when we’re on a road trip and we unexpectedly stop at Panera for lunch. If you’re a United Mileage Plus credit card holder, you even earn a 25% bonus on the miles awarded for the gift card (as shown below).
Of course, you aren’t necessarily limited to in-person purchases. For example, you could buy a Macy’s gift card and use it on Macys.com or a Staples gift card and use it on Staples.com.
Current datapoints limited to restaurants / Chase cards
So far, the data points I’ve seen have been limited to restaurants and Chase cards that earn restaurant bonuses. If you have recently used cards from other issuers or at merchants that would earn other category bonuses to buy gift cards through the MPX app, it might be worth checking to see how they coded. Again, it seems that only purchases from around May 21st onward are earning the category bonuses. I would expect earlier purchases did not trigger category bonuses.
I would not expect MPX purchases to earn airfare credits or airfare category bonuses on Amex cards. That is pretty surely dead.
Bottom line
The ability to stack the United miles with good category bonuses can certainly make for some good opportunities to earn a bundle on your purchases, whether in-person or online. Hopefully, this extends to other categories and cards.
H/T: Doctor of Credit
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
I hope this is still a live discussion still. Can I buy Airbnb gc on the MPX and use those to book through the CSP app?
Bought Uber gift cards on May 20th and coded 3x with CSR.
Curious if AirBnB will start coding at 3-1. Last time I used MPX with CSR it did not. Unrelated but similar question: Do you have a data base of reference points for which shopping portals/airlines actually award bonus points for gift card purchases? Maybe I just got luck because when Moosejaw was at 10x (and said gift cards did not qualify), I still got the points through their shopping portal, but when I tried with AA, did not get them. Both purchases seemed to come through Cartera???? Also, Underarmour gift card did not register for the bonus points on Alaska portal.
It does as of about two weeks ago, actually.
AirBnB stacks, I mean.
The big one, IMO, is office supply stores. Sure, you can’t buy gift cards through MPX, but if you’re buying stuff normally, it’s a great stack. I was crestfallen when it stopped working previously. I sure hope that it’s back.