Mile Play has been a popular way for United Airlines customers to earn extra MileagePlus miles when traveling on the airline.
Historically, Mile Play offers have several requirements: Register, book a flight that meets your specific offer’s requirements and work toward bonus miles before your offer’s expiration.
Now, in conjunction with existing Mile Play offers set to expire Dec. 15, United has launched an entirely new type of Mile Play offer. In our 25 surveyed MileagePlus accounts (with various United status levels), our tests indicated that this new Mile Play offer is only available to targeted Premier 1K customers. To see if you’re eligible, click here.
This time, however, targeted members are being rewarded for completing certain tasks in the United app. Let’s take a closer look.
A new Mile Play style
As mentioned, United has long had Mile Play offers that require you to spend and fly after registering. Here are some of the offers that TPG staffers received when United launched its last Mile Play offers in October:
- 2,500 bonus miles after you book and take one trip with a fare of $200 or more.
- 2,500 bonus miles after you book and take one trip with a fare of $225 or more.
- 4,100 bonus miles after you book and take two trips, each with a fare of $150 or more.
- 7,000 bonus miles after you book and take three trips, each with a fare of $100 or more.
- 5,000 bonus miles after you book and take four trips, each with a fare of $100 or more.
However, United’s newest Mile Play offers consist of two components:
- Check in for your flight on the United app.
- Use the Bag Drop Shortcut or check a bag online.
My offer provides 600 bonus miles for checking in for a flight online and 1,000 bonus miles for checking a bag using Bag Drop Shortcut; the shortcut is United’s new way to drop your bag off after making your checked luggage selections in the United app or on united.com. The terms of my offer state that I must start my trip at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport (ORD), Denver International Airport (DEN) or San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and use the Bag Drop Shortcut at one of these three airports.
If I complete both activities by Dec. 7, I’ll earn 800 bonus miles, bringing in 2,400 bonus miles (worth $29.04 at TPG’s valuations).
TPG’s Zach Griff, also a Premier 1K member, received a similar offer to mine with the same Dec. 7 expiration date; however, his offer didn’t have the Bag Drop Shortcut requirement.
Zach’s offer consists of 400 bonus miles for checking in for a flight on the United app and 800 bonus miles if he checks a bag online. If he completes both components, he’ll receive 600 bonus miles, bringing the total to 1,800 bonus miles (worth $21.78 at TPG’s valuations).
Related: Quick Points: How to earn extra miles with United Mile Play promotions
Bottom line
United has an entirely new Mile Play offer currently available to targeted Premier 1K members. Rather than earning bonus miles through new reservations that meet specific spending requirements, United customers can earn miles on existing reservations through activities they likely would have done anyway.
It’s possible that Premier 1K members located in Chicagoland, the Denver area and the San Francisco Bay area may be targeted for offers like mine with the Bag Drop Shortcut. Otherwise, you might find offers that are more like Zach’s.
To see if you’re eligible for this newest iteration of United’s Mile Play, head to the registration page with your MileagePlus number.
