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Gmail sometimes features advertisements that look like emails but have the word “ad” in a green box before the subject header. My eyes are pretty well trained to skip past the “ad” emails, but yesterday I saw an ad in my Gmail for United a few times. Because of the fact that it said “ad”, I assumed was a credit card offer and had skipped over the subject line the first few times, but then I finally read the subject line and realized that it was a code for 15% off of a flight! While that’s not going to be a huge savings in every situation, I was pleasantly surprised that the ad generated a unique coupon code for flight savings, which certainly wasn’t what I expected from an ad for United.
The Deal
- A targeted Gmail ad is out that offers 15% off of United economy class flights. Your mileage may vary (no direct link as it is a targeted advertisement)
Key Terms
- Enter promo code at checkout for discount
- Valid online only
- Maximum 6 items per order
- Offer cannot be combined with any other coupons or discounts
- Google Pay will know when a promo code has been redeemed
- You may see reminders of your activated offers in Google services like Maps, Search, and Chrome when you are logged into your Google account
- This offer is exclusively for you and can not be transferred
- I believe this code (at least in my case) must be used by December 22, 2023 and was valid on flights from January 9, 2024 until sometime in March (I thought I copied the full terms, but the bottom got cut off, so I don’t have the exact dates now)
- See offer for full terms
Quick Thoughts
As noted at the top, I jumped over this ad a few times I think as my eyes saw “ad” and my brain said “ignore”, but the fourth or fifth time I saw it my eyes wandered far enough to read the subject line. I figure that many readers probably also have a similar habit of ignoring ads, so I wrote this post to alert people to be on the lookout for an ad like this as I imagine others have probably been targeted.
It looks like the offer itself is being run by Google Pay, though I went into my Google Pay app and I don’t see the United offer under my activated deals.
The subject line shown in the screen shot above is “Offer ends 12/22” — my eye probably saw that much and assumed it was a credit card offer. Eventually, my eye wandered far enough to see the 15% off discount on a domestic United economy class ticket. This discount works on regular economy class (including full-fare economy), but not on basic economy or other cabins.
Still, the discount brought the cost of a regular economy class ticket to just a little more than a basic economy ticket.
It wasn’t intuitive as to where to enter the promo code on the United website. If you click on the link for “advanced search” on the home page and you scroll all the way to the bottom of the page, you’ll need to expand the field for “Upgrades, certificates, and promotion codes”.
Then, when you enter the code, it really does provide a 15% discount on the base fare (keep in mind that taxes are not discounted, so the new prices won’t be exactly 15% less, but it’s close). Here is an example date from Albany, NY to Las Vegas without the code.
And here are results with the code applied.
The terms indicated that the code was valid on up to 6 “items per order”, and I tested to see that it does indeed take 15% off for multiple passengers, which could make for a nice savings.
I’m not sure I’ll actually line up a use for this deal before it expires, but the discount here, particularly for multiple passengers, could be decent. More importantly, this deal will make me pay a bit closer attention to those targeted Gmail ads in the future.
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Details
Permitted Travel Area: Valid for published one-way or roundtrip fares for travel within the contiguous United States. Excludes Hawaii, Alaska, and the territories of the United States.
Discount Amount: 15% off a qualifying purchase. Maximum discount applies to direct one-way or roundtrip flights. The discount applies only to the base fare, and not to any taxes or government-imposed fees or surcharges. Total price shown on the Review and Purchase page on United.com.is inclusive of taxes and government-imposed fees and surcharges. Additional charges and other optional services may apply and are not subject to the discount.
Eligibility Restrictions: This discount may only be applied to the purchase of new tickets and may not be applied to previously issued tickets. Valid on applicable adult published fares purchased on United.com. or the United app. Published fares are those made generally available to the public by United Airlines. Not all published fares may allow the discount. United Packages, United Vacations, and United Specials purchases do not qualify for this offer.
Valid carrier: Discount is valid for travel on United® and United Express® flights. It is not valid for any other flights operated by other airlines, such as United-marketed codeshare and Star Alliance® flights.
Ticketing Dates: Tickets must be purchased by 11:59 p.m. (U.S. Central Time) December 22, 2023, while supplies last.
Ticketing: Discount only applies when ticket is purchased within the 50 United States, Puerto Rico, or U.S. Virgin Islands. All dollar levels are stated in U.S. currency.
Travel Dates: Discount valid for travel between January 9, 2024, and March 6, 2024. All travel must be completed by March 6, 2024.
Blackout Dates: Travel is valid any day meeting travel period requirements.
Min/Max Stay Requirements: Per rule of fare purchased.
Valid Routing: Travel is valid for any permitted United routing meeting travel period requirements.
Stopovers: Per rule of fare purchased.
Fare Rules: All rules and travel restrictions of the purchased fare apply.
Qualifying Fares: The discount may only be used on United Economy fares, excluding Basic Economy.
Restricted Fares: This discount may not be used on the following fares: companion, contract, bulk, convention, tour conductor, children, family plan, government, group, military, tour basing, senior discount, student, youth, infant, Around the World, Circle the Pacific, Visit USA, or any non-published fares.
Flights on award travel tickets are not valid for discount.
Maximum number of uses per promotion code: 1.
Maximum number of passengers per itinerary: 9. All passengers must be ticketed in the same reservation/record locator.
Combinability: Not combinable with any other discount travel certificate or other discounted fares.
Upgrades: To determine if the fare purchased with this discount allows the use of an upgrade certificate, refer to the terms, conditions and booking class restrictions associated with the upgrade type you are using.
MileagePlus® Accrual: MileagePlus mileage credit is awarded based on the purchased fare.
Changes: Rules of the fare determine if changes are permitted. If changes are allowed, there may be service charges and fees associated with a change. You will receive the value of the discounted ticket, less any of the aforementioned service charges and/or fees, towards the purchase of a new ticket.
Reaccommodation: In the event of a flight irregularity, alternative travel will be provided only on United flights or select partner airline flights.
Refunds: This discount is non-refundable. Once used, the discount will not be reissued for future use. Any refund due is based on the amount actually paid, minus any service fees. The discount may not be applied toward the purchase of another ticket when exchanging or refunding your original ticket, except when the original ticket qualifies for a reduced fare (guaranteed airfare rule applies).
Denied Boarding Compensation: Permitted.
Transfer of Certificate: This certificate is not transferable. Offer Code has no cash or MileagePlus deposit value and may not be sold, bartered or purchased.
Important Notes: Offer subject to availability and may not be available on all flights/dates. United’s Contract of Carriage will be applicable to all travel undertaken, hereby.
Offer subject to change without notice. Other restrictions may apply.
Reservation and ticketing: If you go to the United.com. home page, enter origin, destination, travel dates and other search criteria; select the “Advanced search” link; and follow step 2.
Enter your unique promotion code in the “Promotions and certificates” field. Please do not include any spaces. Select the “Search” button.
In your search results, flights displaying “Special offer” are eligible for your discount. The price shown is the discounted price.
Choose your seats and book your flights.
Tickets are not permitted through United Reservation, airport ticketing or a travel agent.
Mobile: If you go to the United mobile app home page, click Book Flight, and enter origin, destination, travel dates and other search criteria; select the “Advanced search” link; and follow step 2.
Enter your unique promotion code in the “Promo code” field. Please do not include any spaces. Select the “Search” button.
In your search results, flights displaying “Special offer” are eligible for your discount. The price shown is the discounted price.
Choose your seats and book your flights.
If you did not enter the promotion code in the “Advanced search” link, you can enter it on the “Review booking” screen, in the “Have a promo code?” field. The coupon code will apply after entering if eligible fares are selected.
Tickets are not permitted through United Reservation, airport ticketing or a travel agent.
i haven’t had any gmail ads in years. Many years ago I saw banners to the right of the emails but that’s been long gone.
But have never seen ads in the inbox itself (at least not that I remember). When i click on the promotions label to the left, it’s just ad emails from Starbucks, Goodyear, etc. that i had signed up for.
Did you see the screen shot I added to the post? They look like general marketing email but say “ad”. Possible not everyone sees them, but I’ve seen them under promotions in all of my inboxes for years.
yeah, i don’t see those emails labelled as ads. very strange. First time I have ever seen these. Always wondered how Gmail monetizes as i haven’t seen any gmail ads in years.
I do not see Ads on my PC browsers (probably due to a plethora of blocking) but I do see them in my “Promotions” section of my mail when on my Android phone except they are called “Sponsored” there. So far I have not noticed this United promo.
Never had an ad in my Gmail. Guessing my adblocker does it’s job.
They show up in the email inbox under the “Promotions” tab mixed in among other emails. Maybe the adblocker is blocking them or maybe you’re just not even noticing them mixed in with the email. Personally, I don’t bother with an adblocker because ads generally don’t bother me much and every now and then I see a good one like this, but I get that they annoy some people enough to want to block them.
Just got the ad again and added a screen shot to the post.
I don’t have a promotions tab in gmail
I think there is a setting in Gmail that creates 3 tabs for your Gmail inbox, but I have that feature turned off. I think it’s called focused or compact view.