Why the Marriott & United Airlines Buy Points Promotion Is a Bad Deal!

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If you buy United Airlines miles through October 20, 2014, you’ll get a bonus of 1 Marriott hotel point for every 3 miles you purchase.

Why The Marriott And United Airlines Buy Points Promotion Is A Bad Deal
You Must Buy at Least 9,000 United Airlines Miles to Qualify for This Bonus

It’s nice to get a bonus if you already plan on buying United Airlines miles.  But otherwise this isn’t a good deal.  I’ll show you why.

How to Earn an Extra Marriott Point for Every 3 United Airlines Miles

Link:   Get 1 Marriott Point for Every 3 United Airlines Miles

Step 1 – Visit the Offer Page & Enter Your Account Numbers

Go to the limited time offer page.  Then enter your United Airlines number and your Marriott number.

Why The Marriott And United Airlines Buy Points Promotion Is A Bad Deal

Enter Your Account Numbers

Step 2 – Purchase United Airlines Miles

You must buy at least 9,000 United Airlines miles to qualify for the bonus Marriott points.

Why The Marriott And United Airlines Buy Points Promotion Is A Bad Deal
If You Spend ~$339 You Will Get 9,000 United Airlines Miles and 3,000 Marriott Hotel Points

You can earn a maximum of 50,000 Marriott points with this deal.

Why This Is a Bad Deal

Let’s say you want to take a round-trip domestic flight in coach.  This will cost 25,000 United Airlines miles.

But you can only purchase miles in increments of 3,000 miles.  So you would have buy 27,000 miles to make your trip happen.  27,000 United Airlines miles cost ~$1,016.  You will also earn a bonus of 9,000 Marriott points.

9,000 Marriott points would otherwise cost you ~$113.  If we subtract that amount from your total cost, you’re paying $903 ($1,016 total cost for miles – $113 value of 9,000 bonus Marriott miles) for 27,000 United Airlines miles or ~3.3 cents per mile.

Most round-trip tickets within the US are less than $550.  For example, a flight from Portland, Maine, to San Diego, California, will cost ~$440.

So you’re better off just paying $440 for your ticket instead of spending $903!

However, this is a nice added bonus if you already had plans to buy United Airlines miles.  The could also be a decent deal if you’re 9,000 United Airlines miles short of a round-trip Business or First Class trip to Europe, which can cost up to ~$6,000.

Bottom Line

When you purchase United Airlines miles by October 20, 2014, you’ll get 1 Marriott hotel point for every 3 United Airlines miles.  You must purchase at least 9,000 United Airlines miles to earn the bonus points.

It could be nice to have an extra bonus of Marriott points, if you need to top off your account with a few miles.  But for most folks this is NOT a good deal.

That’s because even after you factor in the value of the Marriott points, you’re still buying the miles for ~3.3 cents per mile.  And there are so many better and cheaper ways to earn United Airlines miles.

Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)

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