FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Earn UA miles when you exchange currency -via Travelex
Old Mar 7, 2019 | 1:05 pm
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WineCountryUA
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Originally Posted by elg26
....
Have others received this? Is it worth it? I am planning to go to HK next month and was going to just use local HK ATM to get cash..... Is the fees with Travelex not worth it even with the UA Miles earned? I would exchange for about $2000-3000 if worth it.
Received this today also.

The offer for Euro / USD is " 1 USD U.S. Dollar = 0.8039 EUR" from Travelex with free shipping
Today's googled bank exchange rate is " 1 United States Dollar equals 0.89456 Euro"
A bit over 10% exchange commission!!!

A 1 mile for $2 mileage offer is worth something the equivalent of under 1% equivlent rebate

With my Schwab card I get no forex and no atm fees with bank rate exchange rates (the google result), so 0% commission but no miles
With a poor credit card you with get up to 3% forex and maybe a 5€ fee (so about 8% on 100€ or 5.5% on 200€)
Depending on your card you would be somewhat in between those two extremes
With ATM machines the rate will fluctuate, but a 0.1% change in a day or two would be highly unusual.

But the Travelex is the worst of all options

Plus of any the spending (instead of cash) could be done on Chase MP credit card with no forex, you lose out and a even higher mileage earning rate.

The one limitation to the ATM approach is you will have withdraw caps and daily limits ( likely between 250€ to 500€)

Last edited by WineCountryUA; Mar 7, 2019 at 1:33 pm Reason: made specific when the bank rate was googled
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