A Free Trip to Asia (Almost) – United Mileage Plus Visa – 30,000 Bonus Miles
On the train from NYC -> Lancaster, PA I overheard a peculiar conversation. “I only used my debit card twice, but they got my number and wiped out my account.”
Up to that point, I ONLY used a debit card. Although I had credit cards, the concept of borrowing money really scared me. I don’t like owing anyone, anything.
What if my checking account got hijacked and wiped out? I started to rethink my use of debit.
For my credit cards, I never wanted miles. Miles are a scam: a subtle but insanely effective method of getting people to spend more. As my friend T said, “There were times I would end up buying someone lunch basically just to get the miles.”
Since a debit card could lead to my checking account getting stolen and since I love to travel, I should concentrate my firepower and get a travel credit card and ditch my American Express Blue.
I asked my brother and I asked my friend Stu who are both experienced travelers. They both recommended the United Mileage Plus Visa. With a sign-on bonus of 30,000 miles, that’s almost half a ticket to Thailand, which normally costs at least $1000. Just for signing up they were giving me $500.
United miles can be used on any Star Alliance airline, which is hands down the best global airline alliance. I could visit Asia on Singapore Airways or jet set to Europe on Lufthansa. So far the card works great. I get 1 mile for each dollar spent and the annual fee is a reasonable $60.
As a bonus, they gave my brother 15,000 miles for the referral. I called 1-877-858-5188, mentioned offer code C7G4, and gave my brother’s United frequent flier #, and effectively got him $250 worth of miles for free.
All in all, I’m very happy. If you’re interested in signing up, let me know and I can give you my frequent flier #. I would definitely take and appreciate a referral bonus. Sign up, get 30,000 miles, and you’re already half way to Venice for free.
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Get the Schwab card. You get 2% back on all purchases, no questions asked. You get the money in your account 1 month after paying the bill. That’s hand down the best deal around. Also, they charge no fee for currency transactions. You need to sign up soon because they are losing a lot of money and going to stop new sign ups soon. Here is a link http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/nn/customer_service/gaoservice.html?cmsid=P-3093846&lvl1=nn&lvl2=customer_service&&application_type=CC&SRC=WWW
Kleinman- cash is great, but I stick with the United card. Gives the 30k miles upfront and they have lots of big promotions. I just signed up for netflix for a month and got a 2,000 mile bonus for spending $8.99. Bring your Schwab visa with us to Costa Rica, so if you pay for everything, your cash back bonus for this month will be huge.
I also got the same deal, 30000 miles for signing up with the United Card. Too bad now I am trying to actually book a flight using these miles and United keeps saying that the seats are not open yet, there are plenty of seats available but sure if you want to pay full price! If you want to book with miles you get screwed, you can’t upgrade and you keep getting sent back to the end of the line.
So all in all I think this is a scam. Miles in general are a total scam.
BEWARE!!