Note: simply buying a gift card in the APP does not complete this offer. You need to click the merchant from the offer list, go to the merchant’s website, and make the purchase with your linked UA card via that link (you can also go directly through the website link without going through MPX, but you still need to use the linked UA card); or make a purchase in-store with the linked card. You can check the specific offers in the offer list. The bottom of the list will tell you how many you have completed. (Note: the list may change, so go by what you see.)

So how can you trigger this at low cost with minimal effort? A reader from our WeChat group shared the following methods. Also, it is now said that spending $1 may no longer activate the offer, so it is safer to spend a little over $1 or just use $2.

  • Barnes & Noble e-book for around $1
  • Donate $1 at hsn.com
  • cheddar's cookie for $2 + tax, no pick up required
  • jersey cookie for 1.29 + tax, no pick up required
  • $2 donation at sears.com

What Is Mileage Plus X (MPX)

United Airlines (UA) launched an APP called Mileage Plus X (MPX for short). Its core idea is that you can earn UA miles while shopping or dining. In this APP, you can buy gift cards for various stores and restaurants and earn 1-4/$ in UA miles, then use those gift cards at the store or restaurant. In other words, you earn two layers of rewards on the same spending: your credit card’s own cashback/points, plus the UA miles provided by the APP. Official info:

Why Use MPX

Many websites sell discounted gift cards, so why choose this APP to buy gift cards?

Lots of participating merchants (partial list; full list is in the APP)

  • Clothing and shoes: GAP, Foot Locker, Forever 21, Nike
  • Department stores: Kmart, Kohl's,JCPenney, Sears
  • Dining: Papa John's, Buffalo Wild Wings, Domino's Pizza, IHOP
  • Beauty: Sephora

The APP is easy to use:

    • Gift cards are generated quickly: after you click purchase, they can be generated within 10 seconds. Very convenient. That means you do not need to buy gift cards in advance at home and then force yourself to use them later.
    • Gift card amounts can be customized: many websites only sell gift cards in whole amounts like $50 or $100, but MPX can generate gift cards with cents, such as $21.78, so you do not end up with a leftover balance every time.
    • Gift cards are easy to use: they can be used both in-store and online.
    • Easy search: when shopping at the mall, you can use the APP to search for nearby merchants that participate in mileage earning.

High security

      • The gift cards are purchased directly from UA, so they are safe and reliable.
      • Gift cards bought from secondary gift card websites (which may come from individual sellers) can carry risks of theft or fraud.

Strong rewards

Can extend UA mile expiration

  • After buying a gift card, you earn UA miles, so the expiration date of your miles is automatically extended. Also, the miles post to your account immediately, which can help even in urgent situations.

Can use up small leftover UA mileage balances in family members’ accounts

  • Both the Android and iPhone versions of MPX support redeeming gift cards with UA miles. If a family member has a small UA mileage balance that is not enough for even the cheapest one-way award ticket, you can log in to MPX using that family member’s UA account, redeem the gift card you need, and choose to pay with UA miles.

Quick way to earn UA miles

  • If you are short 100 miles for a round-trip US-China award ticket, what should you do? No need to buy miles from UA. Just buy a 100Amazon gift card in the APP and instantly earn the miles you need. Of course, you should only buy gift cards you will actually use later, so you still come out ahead.

How to Use MPX

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  • In My Account, add the credit card you want to use under the Credit Card option.
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  • Select the merchant where you want to shop (Amazon).
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  • Click Pay Now.
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  • Enter the amount you need. If you check the option to pay with miles, the APP will show how many miles are required (typically around 16,000 miles for about $100). If you do not use miles, you can choose the corresponding credit card for payment. Below the amount, the APP will show how many miles this purchase earns and how many extra miles you get (the extra 25% comes from your UA card). Amazon is no longer available now!
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  • Click purchase.

Drawbacks of MPX

  • No phone customer service support: if there is a payment problem, calling UA will not get you a solution. The only option is to go in the APP to Menu—About—Feedback/Support Request and describe the issue. You should receive a reply after a few days.
  • Since the model is to buy a gift card first and then spend it, if you return something to the merchant, the refund usually comes back only as a new gift card or store credit. It cannot be returned to your credit card.
  • Paying tips can be awkward when using restaurant gift cards, so it is often better for fast food places.
  • Redeeming miles for gift cards gives relatively poor value, about 0.645 cent per mile. If you redeem for US-China flights, economy tickets can often get around 1.6 cent per mile in value, so gift card redemption is generally not recommended. The exception is when you really cannot use the miles otherwise, or when family members have small leftover balances that cannot easily be used up (because the name and date of birth are different, their miles cannot be combined with your account).

Currently the Best Way to Use It

Requirements:

  • Use Citi Access More for payment to earn 3X TYP.
  • Chase United Mileage Plus Explorer credit card: simply holding the card gets you an extra 25% miles in MPX (no need to add it in the APP as a payment method; the system identifies it automatically from your UA frequent flyer number). Note that if you just got the UA card, your accounts may not be linked yet, and you may need to wait a while before the extra points appear. Whether you will receive the extra miles can be seen below the payment amount.

Examples:

  • Buy a $100 gift card (1 mile/$), and you get 100UA mile (APP) +25 UA mile (for holding a UA credit card) +300TYP. Valuing the points as cash (1 UA mile=1.6c, 1TYP=1.6c), the total return is $8. In effect, you paid only $92 for a $100 gift card.
  • Buy a $100 AMC gift card (4 mile/$), and you get 400UA mile (APP) +100 UA mile (for holding a UA credit card) +300TYP. Valuing the points as cash, the total return is $14. In effect, you paid only $86 for a $100 AMC gift card.

Visa Rewards Feature (Card linked offer)

The MPX app was redesigned and added quite a few new features, although they still look somewhat underwhelming for now. Hopefully they become useful offers in the future. If you have a UA co-branded credit card, linking it to the new Visa rewards can earn you extra mileage rewards. The new features include:

  • Visa rewards feature: similar to a card link offer. Use an enroll-ed credit card at designated merchants and you can earn extra miles.
  • Link a UA co-branded credit card to this Visa rewards and get 1000 points.
  • mpx now integrates UA’s dinning rewards program.

Summary

Based on the analysis above, MPX is still an APP worth using, especially when paired with the Chase Unite Mileage Plus credit card (currently with a 35,000 welcome bonus) and Citi Access More (3X TYP). Even if you are not interested in shopping, it can at least help you quickly extend the expiration date of your UA miles and quickly earn a small number of miles when needed. It can also help you use up small leftover UA mileage balances in family members’ accounts. If you find merchants in the app where you already spend a lot on dining or shopping, or if you do reselling/buying service, you may want to consider the two cards mentioned above to improve your overall return.