What beats getting something you weren’t expecting for free? I’d argue nothing. Well, United is once again following American in offering “year end” Elite Choice Rewards, which are based on your status as of December 31, 2009. All the details can be found here, but basically there are some pretty nice rewards which can be earned in addition to the normal elite choice options. If you cross 125,000 elite qualifying miles you get either two extra systemwide upgrades, a fee waiver of the fee for the Chase card which gets you Red Carpet Club access, or 25,000 bonus redeemable miles.
While this isn’t as generous as American’s offer (which allows you to choose two of those options), it’s pretty darn good! Now if only they’d offer special rewards for 200,000 EQM’s, 300,000 EQM’s, etc., I’d be an even happier camper. 😉
Just so I am sure, we won't have these choices until after the new year, right?
I surpassed 125K long before this promotion was announced and never received an e-mail from UA. I'd hate to fall victim to the 30-day rule!
Still struggling to decide whether to go with 2 SWU (since I will already have 12) or the 25k RDM... hmm...
@ Sam -- Yes you do. This is in addition to the old elite choice options.
so what happened to the old elite choice. Do i still get 25,000 miles at 175,000 eqms?
@ MatthewLAX -- Yeah, quite tempting. I already got 25,000 RDM's from the 175K elite choice, so 50,000 miles for free would be pretty awesome!
@ Hunter -- Good strategy in general, although be sure you don't leave us at United! I actually think you'll be more tempted to fly Continental instead of flying United and crediting to Continental, given that you'd get upgrades on Continental a good portion of the time, while on United...
@ MatthewLAX -- Yeah, quite tempting. I already got 25,000 RDM's from the 175K elite choice, so 50,000 miles for free would be pretty awesome!
@ Hunter -- Good strategy in general, although be sure you don't leave us at United! I actually think you'll be more tempted to fly Continental instead of flying United and crediting to Continental, given that you'd get upgrades on Continental a good portion of the time, while on United you wouldn't be earning lifetime miles, 500'ers, etc., from your flights credited to Continental. The Continental program is definitely more tempting now that they have international first class redemption options, in my opinion.
@ whakojacko -- Indeed, 15,000 free RDM is nice, although you know you really should go for 1K. ;)
@ Absolut1377 -- Let me keep that a surprise for now. Let's just say it's a race between my 21st birthday and million miler.
@ Pat -- Yeah, seriously. It is kind of interesting that they have crazy awesome awards for going a quarter over the status level, but those of us going two, three, or even four times further get nothing special. I guess it's a function of American not offering anything....
@Lucky - I'm with you, where is the love for the 2Ks and 3Ks?
speaking of rewards, after all the craziness this year, how close to MM are you?
Since it looks like im going to hit 75k but not 100k, I definitely like this..
15kRDMs here I come
Hi Lucky- I'm a little torn over this. I cashed in most of my vouchers and have enough travel booked on United to go over 250,000 EQM this year. I don't do much international travel so most of the SWUs will prolly get used as CR1s for me and that seems like a waste.
On the other hand there seems to be a lot of redeemable miles to be had with the CO Mileathon...
Hi Lucky- I'm a little torn over this. I cashed in most of my vouchers and have enough travel booked on United to go over 250,000 EQM this year. I don't do much international travel so most of the SWUs will prolly get used as CR1s for me and that seems like a waste.
On the other hand there seems to be a lot of redeemable miles to be had with the CO Mileathon promotion. I'm thinking of using the few free days I have left during Q4 to fly CO and earn more RDMs there to supplement the ones I got through the chase checking promotion. I just applied for a status match so that I can do this "with status". I might even credit my United flights in November / December to CO depending if they let us have elite bonus miles.
Any thoughts on this strategy for Q4?
Long term for now I'm thinking of maintaining both 1K and CO Plat from here on out so I have "choices" for when i need to get around starnet blocking. Flown miles will mainly be on United metal credited to UA minus whatever I need to maintain status with CO. Credit Card spend, car rental, hotel etc will mostly go to CO (minus the tickets i buy from United on the Chase UA MP Visa.)
Tough choice. I like all three options. Leaning toward the RDMs since I will already have RCC access with BD Gold.
@ Blake -- Well, they're not totally left out, they still get the normal elite choice options. In this case it makes sense for United, no? They want to reward those going beyond elite requirement thresholds when they could go for status on other airlines instead.
What happens if you are premier exec with only 50,000 - 74,999 EQM? Are they leaving us totally out??
Wow! Thanks, United!
What now, Delta?