But Hold On - We Will Fill You in on the Drawbacks to Transferring Miles!
Expiration Date – October 26, 2015
United Airlines is offering a 20% discount to transfer miles to another United MileagePlus member until midnight CT on October 26, 2015. But even with a sale, transferring miles to another MileagePlus member doesn't make good financial sense!
Three cost aspects need to be considered when transferring miles - the price of each mile, the overall transaction fee and the value of the miles you intend to transfer. Because of the $30 transaction fee the overall cost varies according to the number of miles you intend to transfer.
The price to transfer a mile with a 20% discount is 1.2 cents per mile plus a transaction fee that is set at $30. So, if you transfer miles, the cost will range between 1.3 cents per mile for a big batch of 25,000 miles and a whopping 7.2 cents per mile for a smaller transfer amount of 500 miles. AND because you’re simply transferring existing miles instead of buying new ones, you have to factor in the value of the transferred miles that you’re giving up (which we value at 1.5 cents per mile). This makes it a very expensive transaction at any purchase level!
The Wrap-Up:
You may have good reasons to transfer miles to a friend or family member. Just remember, it is a very expensive transaction and you are always better off using your MileagePlus miles to book an award ticket for a friend or family member instead of transferring miles. It’s simply too expensive – even when they are on sale!
Want to look a bit deeper into the option to purchase, gift or share miles with or without a bonus offer and the opportunity to acquire miles using the United MileagePlus Award Accelerator when purchasing a flight? See our great tip: United - Pros & Cons of Buying and Gifting Miles.
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