BigHabitat
Level 2 Member
Last week I covered the MileagePlus X bonus points program from United. In United’s FAQ on the program and in their service rep answers it claims that using MPX would preserve any category bonuses.
Unfortunately, this is not the case in my experience:
As you can see in the above purchases, the Staples.com purchase of $50.14 earned 5x bonus points while the transaction through MileagePlus entitled “MPX*STAPLES” was coded by Chase as a miscellaneous purchase with no bonus points. While I earned 2 United points in the MileagePlus X app, that gave me 3 miles/points total instead of the 5x Ultimate Rewards I received on the purchase direct from Staples.
So despite the “UA Insider”‘s claim that
Also, the transactions are coded with the category of the underlying merchant. Therefore, if you get double points for dining, in most cases will earn double points when you dine and pay with MileagePlus X. This will depend, however, on your issuing bank and how they implement bonuses
It looks like that’s not true, at least for the one category that I care about most.
A bit disappointing, as stacking that extra bonus could be nice in some situations.
Groupon 6x through Southwest Rapid Rewards Shopping
Well, since $30 flowers don’t appear to be coding for the companion pass, maybe you can scour Groupon for some deals.
Pump this up to 11 points or more per $ by buying Groupon gift cards with your Staples Ink card or buying them at a supermarket to get a category bonus and fuel points.
Final Jet.com ranking
My final ranking was 50. Not too bad… won’t be getting stock options but I should be getting lifetime membership and a small stipend for otders to help them kick the tires. I did get a few minutes with their marketing team and suggested I could get a lot more signups if they were offering a few miles. And that a portal bonus would be a nice differentiator from Amazon!
Sears NTunes headphones
Sears has Monster headphones on clearance for $45.97. Lots of styles, most are store pickup only but stores around me seemed to have an ok supply.
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