Tag Archives: United Airlines

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United Airlines Buy Miles Mystery Offer: Up to 100% Bonus Miles (Ends Today – May 24)

Updated at 10pm PT on 5/10: It looks like some readers are getting up to 100% bonus offers from United Airlines.


Good afternoon everyone.  United Airlines has a great buy miles promo currently running through May 24.  It is a mystery offer, so depending on your account, you may see an offer for up to 75% bonus, or you might see a higher or lower offer.  I checked my family’s United Airlines account and 75% bonus was the highest offer I saw, but it is possible that there are higher bonuses too.  If you are a few hundred / thousand United Airlines miles away from redeeming for an award ticket, it might be a great idea to buy the remaining United Airlines miles.  This promo runs for 2 more weeks and ends on May 24, so you have 2 weeks to decide.  If you want to see other buy miles and hotel points promos, click here.

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Review: American Airlines Economy (A321T) from San Francisco (SFO) to New York (JFK)

Hi everyone, I am happy to introduce my friend, Vincent, the newest writer on TWG.  We met through the SF Travel Hackers Meetup Group (now dormant) and we have stayed in touch over the years.  Here is his first post.  I hope you enjoy! –Grant


What’s it like taking American’s transcontinental A321T service in economy? It’s pretty good for domestic economy, there’s a responsive IFE, and they serve a complimentary cold meal.

A few weeks ago, I had the need to get back to the East Coast. Instead of flying my usual Southwest, I decided to work in American’s “premium” transcontinental service from SFO to JFK. I purchased the flight using my Chase Ink Business Preferred Card to further progress on my minimum spend requirement for its useful travel benefits. (If you’re interested in this card, I very much appreciate you using my referral links!)

I’m generally not a fan of red eyes as I get terrible sleep on them, but I can’t deny their utility. To my friends which travel frequently for work – or even leisure travelers with a specific schedule in mind – I can imagine them to be a godsend as they “save” an entire day. That is, you’re flying at night and not “wasting” the day.

Note: Since American calls “economy” and “economy-with-more-legroom,” “Main Cabin” and “Main Cabin Extra” respectively, I’ll be utilizing their naming convention for this post. But you’ll know it’s coach/economy.

Flight: AA 18
Route: San Francisco (SFO) to New York City (JFK)
Time: 11:30pm (Pacific) to 8:20am (Eastern) + 1
Duration: 5hr 50m
Aircraft: Airbus A321
Seat: 17F (Main Cabin)
Capacity: 70% Full

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Buy United Miles with 70% Bonus (Ends May 2)

My friend Rich is a long-time United flyer. He does monthly commutes from Hawaii to California so he can never have enough United miles. When I saw this sale I let him know about it, and then I took a look at it for myself. I don’t fly United metal very often, though last year I did have a great trip home from Europe in First Class in their now retired plane. I do book a lot of flights through United using Star Alliance partners, though. I’m partial to Star Alliance airlines when I go to Europe or Asia. Continue reading

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United Airlines Saga: Flight Cancelled, then Rebooked, then New Flight Cancelled

Good afternoon everyone.  My friend Jim sent me the following story about his recent United Airlines cancelled, then rebooked, then cancelled flight.  He has a few questions about his experience, so if you know the answers, please leave a comment below.

The Story

  • Flight was delayed due to late inbound flight.
  • Flight was delayed again because no crew was available.
  • After boarding the flight, the pilot told us we had too much fuel, and it would take 30 minutes to burn the additional fuel.
  • It took over 90 minutes to burn the additional fuel.
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Image source: https://travelsort.com/united-compensation-for-flight-delays-and-delayed-baggage/

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Case Study: My Trip to Australia with Miles

My boyfriend and I wanted to book a trip to Australia this year because we have a friend who is living there for work. We are somewhat flexible in our travel dates, but knew that we needed to visit in November and/or December due to other commitments, but also that we wanted to be home with our families for Christmas. Here’s how I went about planning our trip to Australia and what it is costing us for our flights.

As I already mentioned, we are pretty flexible with our dates (we both work online, so that helps). Our main two constraints are a friend’s wedding in New York at the end of October and Christmas. Since we have flexibility from working online, we wanted to travel as much of November and December as possible and spend a good chunk of that time in Australia.

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Image source: https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-illustration-sleeping-face-koala-continent-australia-cute-snout-peek-up-australian-image78520349

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