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Some United MileagePlus members didn't reach the Premier elite status tier they hoped for in 2022. To give them one last shot at getting this status, United has sent out its annual emails offering a buy-up to the next status.
However, you'll need to act quickly if you want to take advantage of your personalized offer. The price of these United buy-up elite status offers will increase on February 5, 2023.
United Elite Status Buy-Up Offers
Each year, United sends out offers to MileagePlus members offering the opportunity to buy up to their next elite status. Presumably, this is only for members relatively close to the higher status, as not everyone is eligible for the offer.
The problem is that most United elite status buy-up offers require hundreds of thousands of miles — and some offers are over a million miles. To ease the blow a bit, United is offering a discount of up to 10% off until February 4.
Some examples from the Award Travel 101 Facebook Group of offers received are as follows
Upgrade to United Premier 1K for $9,628 (or 926,800 miles)
After February 4, this member's price to upgrade to 1K for 2023 jumps by $500 (or 50,000 miles) to $10,128 or (1,012,800 miles).
Upgrade to United Gold for $3,233 (or 359,200 miles)
United gave this United MileagePlus member the chance to upgrade from Premier Silver to Premier Gold for the cost of $3,233 (or 323,280 miles). That's a $359 (10%) discount off of the price after February 4 of $3,592 or 359,200 miles.
Upgrade to United Premier Silver for $1,695 (or 188,300 miles)
The limited-time discount offers a mere $188 (or 20,922 miles) off the targeted price of $1,833 or 209,222 needed to upgrade to Premium Silver for 2023.
At a quick glance, it seems that the buy-up for Premier Silver and Gold has a 10% discount until February 4 — up to a maximum discount of $500 or 50,000 miles.
If you want to use your United MileagePlus miles to upgrade to your next status with these offers, you'll get a fixed value of 0.75 or 1 cent per mile. That's far below the average AwardWallet user average redemption rate of 1.78¢ per United mile.
There's a chance you only need to pay a bit more to reach your next tier of elite status. If so, that 10% discount might be nice. But generally, these United elite status buy-up offers really aren't worth taking advantage of, even with the discounts running through February 4, 2023.
Our Take
There are certainly better ways to earn United MileagePlus PQPs and move up to your next status. One way to earn significantly more United PQPs is by booking and flying with preferred partner airlines. You can also spend on eligible United credit cards to earn bonus PQPs, and United recently increased how many PQPs some cardholders can earn.
Forking out the cash for a United buy-up will give you elite status until January 31, 2024. But, if you use that same cash to book trips throughout 2023 and earn the status normally, you'll get elite status until January 31, 2025.
Did you get a United buy-up offer? If so, post it in the comments below.
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