Originally Posted by
skgolf91
i know the buy up is not cheap or good deal but you don't have to go through all the hassle.. i was about 2k short of hitting 50k and no plan to travel for the rest of 2017(in switzerland so not easy) so ended up paying $575 for 5k miles. when you factor in the cost of flights, time, rental car, etc, it may be not that bad to just buy up unless you have a lot of free time!
I tried testing some short flights like ORD-MKE, and the lowest offer I managed was 2K PQM for $250
The cheapest flight (on a weekend) I can get at the moment is PHL-DEN RT (6h layover). I think the total cost flight, drive to airport, parking comes out to something like $220.
I just don't like the idea of just handing money over to UA for "nothing". But you make a good point. You're right, it takes alot of time unless I've got nothing better to do.