United and American are Offering Bonus Miles via Their Shopping Portals
United and American airlines’ shopping portals have introduced bonus miles earning opportunities good over the next week and a half.
As with past promotions, extra miles can be earned when specific spending thresholds are met now through January 19/20, 2022.
Here are the details for each.
United MileagePlus
The United MileagePlus Shopping portal is offering up to 1,000 bonus award miles for purchases made between January 10 and January 19.
- Earn 500 bonus miles when you spend $150
- Earn 1,000 bonus miles when you spend $300
The one-time bonus will be based on cumulative qualifying purchases made during the Bonus Period (1/10-1/19). Which means, you can make multiple purchases at multiple retailers on the MileagePlus Shopping portal and all of those purchases added together will determine which bonus miles tier you fall into.
United’s MileagePlus Shopping “in-store offers” qualify as purchases, as well. So, if you are an “in-store offers” user, those spend amounts will count towards bonus tier levels. This is an added perk for those earning MileagePlus miles since no other airline shopping portal has the option of in-store purchases counting toward tier awards.
And, of course, there is language that defines “Qualifying Purchases.” The purchase of gift cards stands out as not being a “Qualifying Purchase.” Click the United MileagePlus Shopping portal link above to read all the fine print.
American Airlines AAdvantage eShopping
The American AAdvantage eShopping portal is offering up to 1,000 bonus miles for purchases made between January 10 and January 20.
- Earn 500 bonus miles when you spend $150
- Earn 1,000 bonus miles when you spend $300
Just like United, American’s one-time bonus will be based on cumulative qualifying purchases made during the Bonus Period (1/10-1/20).
And also just like United, the “Qualifying Purchases” language mentions gift cards as not being a “Qualifying Purchase.” You can read all the fine print at the AAdvantage eShopping link above.
Wrap Up
No matter your preferred airline, this is a good way to grab some extra miles for doing nothing more than the shopping you likely were already planning.
Simply click through to your preferred airline shopping portal, find the retailer from which you want to shop, click the Shop Now button and you’ll be taken to the retailer’s website just as if you were shopping like normal…all purchases will be registered as coming from a specific portal, and the appropriate purchase amount will be recorded.
It’s always smart to keep track of your purchase amount/date just in case something doesn’t register correctly with the shopping portal, though. If you’re making the effort to shop via a particular portal, you want to get the bonus points you’re due.
And, of course, bonus miles for hitting a specific spending tier are in addition to the typical miles-per-dollar-spent each retailer offers for making a purchase.
One caution when trying to meet bonus miles spending levels…each airline portal exempts shipping and handling and taxes from the amounts that are considered “qualifying purchases.” Only the amount spent on the item(s) purchased will qualify. This could mean the difference between hitting a spending tier level and not should you factor in the amount spent on shipping and taxes.
As you can see, it’s pretty easy to rack up a nice amount of miles/points just by doing your normal shopping via a specific portal.
