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Have you flown with United Airlines in the last month, or have you earned United miles through a co-branded United credit card? If so, you're in luck. With United's miles multiplier promotion, you can multiply the miles you've earned in the past month by up to 6X and receive a special discount.
Here's everything you need to know about the offer to multiply your United MileagePlus miles, including how much it'll cost.
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United MileagePlus “Multiply Your Miles” Details
To be eligible for the promotion, you need to have earned MileagePlus miles in the previous month. Your specific offers will refresh each month based on your earnings. Head to the United's miles multiplier promotion page if you want to take a look at your personalized options.
Multiplying your miles earned isn't a new concept. We've seen several iterations of this type of promotion over the years, from Flying Blue to Avianca LifeMiles. However, these promotions offered higher multipliers and far better rates than what United is currently offering.
Related: The Ultimate Guide to United MileagePlus
How much does it cost to multiply United MileagePlus miles?
Your options to multiply your MileagePlus miles include 2X, 4X, and 6X. As is typical with these kinds of offers, the more miles you multiply, the cheaper it is per mile. You will have to pay a tax recovery fee, so factor that in to your calculations.
Multiplying at 2X would cost roughly 3.39¢ per mile after factoring in the 10% discount and tax recovery fee. This is only slightly less than the standard price for buying United miles. However, you can cut the price to 2.63¢ per mile by choosing the 6X multiplier.
In this scenario, we had 2,000 miles that could be multiplied. Here's how much it would cost to multiply these miles, including the tax recovery fee:
- 4,000 miles (2X): $135.45 (3.39¢ per mile)
- 8,000 miles (4X): $240.80 (3.01¢ per mile)
- 12,000 miles (6X): $316.05 (2.63¢ per mile)
Key terms
- Options to multiply your miles are 2X, 4X, and 6X.
- Only miles earned in the previous month count towards the promotion.
- The more miles you earn, the better your offers will be.
- You can purchase one offer each month.
- Click here to check your offer and multiply your miles.
Is This a Good Deal on United Miles?
In general, we don't recommend buying miles speculatively, and that includes multiplying your miles. No matter the price per mile, it's not a great idea to buy miles without a concrete plan for how you'll use them.
Also consider that in recent AwardWallet redemptions, users have gotten an average of 1.97¢ cents from United MileagePlus miles. That means that paying anywhere from 2.63¢ to 3.39¢ per mile is not a good deal.
Here's what this looks like in practice. A nonstop flight from New York (EWR) to Chicago (ORD) might cost 10,500 miles, plus $5.60 in taxes and fees, for a saver award in United Economy.
That same flight would cost just $94 in basic economy or up to $164 for a fully-refundable economy ticket.
Even with the 30% discount to multiply my miles by 6X, I would need to pay $316.05 to have enough miles in my account to complete the redemption. That means I'd pay twice the ticket's value just to complete the redemption. That's not remotely worth it.
Other Ways to Get United MileagePlus Miles
Fortunately, both Chase Ultimate Rewards and Bilt Rewards transfer to United MileagePlus at a 1:1 ratio. So, if you are a cardholder of cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (Rates & Fees) or The Bilt Mastercard® (no longer open to new applicants), you might have enough points and miles sitting in your account to top off your next United redemption.
- Earn 75,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- Enjoy benefits such as 5x on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3x on dining, select streaming services and online groceries, 2x on all other travel purchases, 1x on all other purchases
- Earn up to $50 in statement credits each account anniversary year for hotel stays through Chase Travel℠
- 10% anniversary points boost - each account anniversary you'll earn bonus points equal to 10% of your total purchases made the previous year.
- Count on Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance, Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver, Lost Luggage Insurance and more.
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders.
- Member FDIC
- 5X points on Lyft rides through September 2027
- 5X points on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3X points on dining at restaurants worldwide
- 3X points on eligible streaming services
- 3X points on online grocery purchases (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs)
- 2X points on all other travel
- 1X point per dollar spent on all other purchases
Chase also issues a suite of co-branded United credit cards, ranging from the no-annual-fee United Gateway℠ Card (Rates & Fees) to the premium United Club℠ Card (Rates & Fees). If you're eager to earn United miles, spending on one of these cards could make a lot more sense than paying hundreds of dollars for just a few thousand miles.
- 2 miles per $1 spent on United® purchases
- 2 miles per $1 spent at gas stations, on local transit and commuting
- 1 mile per $1 spent on all other purchases
- Earn 4 miles per $1 spent on United® purchases
- Earn 2 miles per $1 spent on all other travel
- Earn 2 miles per $1 spent on dining
- Earn 1 mile per $1 spent on all other purchases
- 2x on United® purchases
- 2x on local transit and commuting — including train tickets, taxicabs, mass transit, tolls and ride share services
- 2x at gas stations, restaurants and office supply stores
- 1x on all other purchases
Our Take
It's always nice to have additional options to earn airline miles, but this promotion isn't a great deal for most people. The math just doesn't check out to make it a compelling option.
That said, if you only need a couple thousand miles before an excellent award redemption, multiplying your miles could be cheaper than buying United miles outright, especially if there isn't an active promotion.
In theory, if you've earned a substantial number of miles in the previous month, you might get an offer that allows you to multiply your miles at a much lower price per mile than the offer seen in this article. If that's the case, it could absolutely be worth considering, as long as you have a plan for how to use those miles.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (Rates & Fees), United Gateway℠ Card (Rates & Fees), United Club℠ Card (Rates & Fees), and United℠ Business Card (Rates & Fees)
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