An Interesting Way to Accumulate Miles for One of Our Favourite Travel Hacks

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In late 2017 and early 2018, Joe ran us through a series on what he called “sweetspots” within United Airlines’ MileagePlus programme. I’d call them AN ABSOLUTELY AMAZING TRAVEL HACK! So I think it’s well worth giving these posts another push:

There’s no doubt that nesting multiple tickets can get a bit tricky, but for those of you who love regular getaways, Joe’s ideas can unlock some amazing value.

But even yours truly sometimes stops to wonder how exactly I can get my hands on some United miles. A Marriott Rewards travel package certainly comes to mind. But that requires a huge number of Marriott points. So perhaps this promotion from United Airlines and IHG Rewards Club can help.

Between now and 30 June, you can receive 50% more miles when exchanging IHG Rewards Club points for United MileagePlus miles.

In essence, you’re converting 10,000 IHG points into 3,000 United miles, thanks to the bonus.

Does This Make Sense?

Well, I try to only write about promotions that do make some sense… But here’s some maths for you.

IHG Rewards Club is running a flash sale where you can buy points for 0.5 cents apiece. Re-read this post for further details.

You don’t necessarily have to rush out and buy more IHG points, but 0.5 cents (0.375p) is a pretty reasonable valuation for any points that you pick up through the Accelerate promotion.

But taking that example above, if you buy 120,000 points for $600 (£450) and then call IHG Rewards Club to convert those into United miles, you’d end up with 36,000 miles, making your net cost 1.25p per mile.

This isn’t a bargain, but it is cheaper than buying United miles directly from the airline, except during their best promotions. (which don’t come around too often)

But more importantly, perhaps you’ve accumulated a large number of IHG points from Accelerate, but can never really manage to find a good use for them as hotel stays. (often my situation!) So rather than 2-3 nights at an overpriced Intercontinental or Crowne Plaza hotel, you can fly in Business Class across the U.S. (plus a couple more free flights within Europe…)