United Mileage Plus regularly sells miles with a bonus / at a discount. When these promotions roll around, you can generally acquire miles for 1.88 cents each – but you must buy a substantial amount. This might not meet your needs if you are looking for a small top up of United miles.

Recently, however, I was able to “buy” 11,200 miles for less than 1.4 cents. It required some travel hacking…

Stage 1 – Daily Getaways

During 2022’s version of Daily Getaways – click here for details – I managed to get one of the Choice Privileges packages. I bought 28,000 points for $155.

The points arrived to my Choice Privileges account approximately 10 days later.

I could have chosen a cheaper price-per-point package, but I did not need so many United miles…

Stage 2 – Choice –> United Conversion Bonus

Choice Privileges and United Mileage Plus are offering a conversion bonus until August 31, 2022. Click here for details.

You can convert 5,000 Choice points into 2,000 United miles. Above 5,000 points, you can convert 1,000 mile chunks for 400 miles…

As a result, I almost immediately converted my newly-minted 28,000 Choice points into 11,200 United miles. The miles arrived within 24 hours. (but not immediately)

Bottom Line

Some of the best bargains or “travel hacks” require stacking two seemingly unrelated promotions together. Thanks to Daily Getaways, Choice Privileges and United Mileage Plus, I was able to acquire the 11,000 mile top up I needed – for far less than the promotional price offered by United directly…

The next such opportunity? Perhaps United will offer its standard hotel point conversion bonus in September…