The cheapest you could buy united miles on a sale would be 2.2 cents a mile so the 1340 dollars would get you 60k (40k short of what spending on the club card) miles plus there is no guarantee there will be a sale when you need it. for high spenders the mantra is earn and burn.
Trust me I have gone through this scenario in detail..
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credi...purchases.html
I have a 100 to 150k/month business spend that does not have any category bonuses (5x etc ) and the best value I can get is with the United Club card. It gives me an additional 50% bonus. Only card that gives 1.5 miles per $ spent and I would argue than united miles are more valuable than any mile currency other than starwood points.
The OP is going to be buying medical supplies so very unlikely there is any kind of 2x or 5x bonus since it is neither related to travel expenses(saphire card) or any kind of office expenses(chase ink bold 5x)
The highest value they will get is by using the chase united club card followed by the starwood amex card
Originally Posted by
BrianFellows
Yeah, but at the same time you can get cash back and wait for there to be a sale on miles with whatever carrier's miles you want, then buy them with the cash back.
You have to be more patient with that method obviously, but at the same time if something comes up that you really want to buy but otherwise wouldn't have cash for, hey, you've got $1340 on hand.
A very good middle ground between pure cash and lots of miles is Ultimate Rewards or Membership Rewards points that can transfer to airline/hotel partners OR come out as cashback if you want them to. So I'd go with Chase Sapphire Preferred + Chase Freedom's 5% categories (that card's free so why not have both) if you are looking for one points structure and a maximum amount of bonuses. You'll run into stuff that's not currently a bonus category, but 2x on travel and 2x on dining on one card + 5% rotating categories on the other will cover an awful lot.