The annual United UA Transfer Plus event is about to begin, and the link is already in sight.
Basically the same rhythm as last year, Ping An Wanli to Marriott points plus 100% activity ended in August, at that time the cost of transfer points was about 450 yuan / 10,000 points, taking advantage of the United Airlines UA plus bonus activity to transfer points is OK.
Registration Period: October 1 to October 31 (United States Eastern Standard Time)
As in previous editions, you can earn up to 25,000 miles by converting United UA partner hotel loyalty program points into UA miles.
Please refer to the screenshot above for detailed terms, note that eligible transfer-in points must be credited to your account by 11:59PM EST on October 31, 2025, and 30% of the bonus points will be credited to your account by January 31, 2025.
Reply to "20240930" in the background of the official account to get the event link, and you can't register yet, so you can try it after noon on October 1 (time difference).
01 It is the most cost-effective to use Marriott to transfer points
At present, there are several hotel groups that can convert points into UA miles.
- Marriott, 3:1, 10,000 miles for every 60,000 points converted, i.e., 60,000 points converted to 30,000 miles;
- Hyatt, 2.5:1, 5,000 miles for every 50,000 points converted, or 20,000 miles for 50,000 points;
- Intercontinental, 5:1, i.e. 10,000 points to 2,000 miles;
- Accor, 2,000 points to 1,000 miles;
- Hilton, 10,000 points to 1,000 miles;
- Shangri-La, 1:1, i.e. a minimum of 2,500 points to 2,500 miles;
- Choice Privileges，5,000分转换1,000里程；
- Wyndham, 6,000 points to 1,200 miles, 16,000 points to 3,200 miles, 30,000 points to 6,000 miles.
Obviously, the only thing worth the transfer is Marriott.
Marriott points can get 10,000 miles for every 60,000 points, which is equivalent to 60,000 points for 30,000 miles, according to the 2023 event rules, the 10,000 miles given by Marriott points will not get an additional 30% UA miles, so the optimal transfer plan is like this-
For every transfer of 60,000 Marriott points, you will get 30,000 miles + 6,000 miles plus = 36,000 miles;
A total of 4 transfers, a total of 240,000 Marriott points, get 120,000 miles + 24,000 miles plus bonus = 144,000 miles.
In terms of the cost of points, calculated based on the Ping An Wanli transfer and bonus activity in August (reference), the cost of Marriott points is about 450 yuan/10,000 points.
The cost of getting 144,000 miles is 24*450=10,800 yuan, which is equivalent to 750 yuan per 10,000 miles.
Is the 02UA mileage still good?
The recent depreciation of UA can be described as alarming, after the major change in May this year, the exchange ratio of business class/first class is almost equivalent to the currency of the underworld, this problem even the United States Department of Transportation can not stand the problem, on September 5 issued an announcement that it will conduct a comprehensive investigation of the mileage award programs of the four major United States airlines.
The survey mainly focuses on four aspects: mileage depreciation, opaque dynamic pricing, reasonableness of surcharges, membership program integration and competitiveness, according to the plan, there will be a conclusion at the end of the year, I don't know what the final result will be, but it is always better than nothing.
At present, UA also has certain advantages on short-haul economy class routes within Europe and Japan.
For example, I just flew Munich-Rome, 6,000 miles + $56.1 in taxes, the total cost is 840 yuan.
The calendar ticket price in the same period is 1,255 + 626 = 1,881 yuan, which directly saves 1,000 oceans, almost 4.5 discounts.
A more advanced way to play is Excursionist Perk (EP), also known as "hamburgers", which simply means redeeming miles for a round-trip ticket with an additional trip outside the region.
It should be noted that at present, all routes in Chinese mainland have been blocked and cannot be released, and this kind of play can only be considered in other regions.
For example, the above one, such an open round-trip trip as Seoul-Osaka + Tokyo-Seoul, you can insert a free section of Hong Kong-Singapore in the middle, 25,000 miles + 81.7 US dollars in taxes, and the total cost is about 2,450 yuan.
Directly using miles out of Hong Kong-Singapore requires 22,500 miles + $34.10 in taxes, which is obviously more suitable for EP play, of course, such an itinerary needs to build 2-3 trips in advance, you can check it yourself on the UA website.
A more cost-effective way to play is the North American prominence ticket, which is often found for the last two or three days, and you can often see a one-way business class ticket that only costs 110,000 miles plus a small amount of taxes.
Take the BOS-HKG above as an example, although it has to transfer twice, and the United States is a short haul of UA, but the two sections of ORD-NRT-HKG are ANA business class, which is still good, the total cost is 11 * 750 + 18.9 * 7 = 8,382 yuan, this cost of North American business class is already very invincible.
This is not an isolated case, for example, EWR and LGA in New York have similar tickets and cost the same.
However, the core of this game is the expiring ticket, not everyone has such a degree of freedom to play, and there is a risk that you will probably not be able to find it, if you don't have a ticket, you have to prepare Plan B.
03It's also good to upgrade with miles
Although the mileage redemption ratio of UA has been depreciating, the mileage upgrade ratio has not changed for many years, and it still seems to be a good choice.
For example, on the route from North Asia to North America, a cash ticket in S/T/L/K/G class can be upgraded from economy class to business class for 30,000 miles + $600 co-pay fee.
Taking the direct flight route from Shanghai to San Francisco as an example, the ticket price of Basic Economy cannot be upgraded, so we take Econmoy's G class as an example, the price is 880 US dollars, after calculating the mileage and co pay fee for the upgrade, the total cost is 880 + 600 + 3 * 750 / 7 = 1,801 US dollars, which is about 5% off compared with the cash ticket of 3,770 US dollars.
04 Summary
The disadvantage of UA mileage tickets is that they depreciate without warning, so it is really not recommended to hoard them in large quantities, and if you can't use them, don't do them.
I've always been saving UA and using UA, mainly because their mileage never expires and the mileage ticket can be refunded for free before takeoff, and sometimes I can use it to cover up, and it's still a short-haul weapon in Europe, so it's good if I can use it.
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