My company has just said that it is OK for us to book our business travel with a personal card instead of the corporate AMEX. This is good news for me, I think, since the AMEX was not giving me any points. They were all being piled into one account that I had no access to.

So now I will be able to charge tens of thousands of dollars of airfare and hotels and rental cars to my personal card and have my company pay the bill promptly.

So my question is, is there any great advantage in booking UA flights on my MP visa? Will I get bonus miles? Or does it make more sense to put all of these charges on a "cash back" card which might give me a thousand dollars or more at the end of the year?

Opinions please!

First of all, I do highly encourage you to sign up for the MP Visa, if for no other reason than to get 21,000 bonus miles after making your first $250 in purchases. The first year is free, just be sure to cancel before the year is up if you don't want to pay $60 annual fee after that.

In addition, you would earn 1 mile for every dollar spent (including UA tickets). In other words, no "extra" bonus in using the card to buy UA flights vs. any other purchases. For this reason, it really doesn't make any sense to use the card for UA flights if you have other cards that give you benefits you value more than additonal miles. And if you fly a lot, the extra miles from CC purchases may pale in comparison to miles you get by flying.

How about your hotel stays? Can you use your own card for those? If so, I suggest looking into the card(s) connected with Hilton HHonors, Marriott, and/or Starwood, if you frequently stay at any of those hotels.

No need to close (not "cancel") the account before the first year is up to avoid the annual fee: just call Chase and request that they switch the account to a Gold MP card which has no annual fee and they will happily comply.

P.S. "cancelling" is what the creditors do to accounts in bad standing; "closing" is what customers do to accounts they no longer wish to keep open.

But if you sign up for the UA MP Visa Business Card, you get double miles for united purchases. Just use your social as your tax ID number, sole proprietorship, and 'tockeyhockey consulting' sounds like a good biz name.(well, maybe not, but make something up using 'consulting' or 'and associates')

Here's a link: http://www.firstusa.com/cgi-bin/webc...izcard_25k_afw

Also, you can sign up for both the personal card and business card for both bonuses.

Thanks for the tips, kaukau and Ripper!

A former co-worker once mentioned that he had a card that got him EQM for UA purchases (this was a couple of years ago).

Did I misunderstand, has this gone - or is this card still out there some place ?

It's still there I think, but has a $140 annual fee, if I recall correctly. Let me go have a look.

United Mileage Plus Platinum Class:
You can earn up to 15,000 Elite Qualifying Miles in your first year (like the ones you earn by flying), plus up to 10,000 each year after that. Here's how:
5,000 Elite Qualifying miles after your first purchase
5,000 Elite Qualifying miles when you spend $35,000 each year with your card
Up to 5,000 Elite Qualifying miles for ticket purchases at united.com (1 mile per $1) each year

Annual fee of $60. Some argue that you can get that waived.

Platinum Plus gives you 20,000 miles with first purchase, up to 15,000 EQM with spending, annual fee is $140.

Cut and Paste from the Web Site.

The thing that you have to ask yourself is if the $140 fee is worth the EQM's earned with the card (10K after the first year, only 5 of that earned through ticket purchases). There are many that argue that you can get the fee waived. Others say they were not as successful.

Miles and Rewards*
Thousands of bonus miles...for getting started and staying with us
20,000 bonus miles after your first purchase
Double redeemable miles for every dollar charged on United and Star Alliance ticket purchases1
Double redeemable miles for every dollar charged on everyday purchases including groceries, dining, gas at the pump, and home improvement2
No limit to number of redeemable miles you can earn
1 redeemable mile for every $1 spent on all other purchases


You can earn up to 15,000 Elite Qualifying Miles in your first year (like the ones you earn by flying), plus up to 10,000 each year after that. Here's how:
5,000 Elite Qualifying miles after your first purchase
5,000 Elite Qualifying miles when you spend $35,000 each year with your card
Up to 5,000 Elite Qualifying miles for ticket purchases at united.com (1 mile per $1) each year

Special bonuses, too...*
Receive a free Roundtrip Companion Ticket upon the Anniversary Date of your account4
Free One-way, 1,000 mile, One-class Upgrade Certificate
$25 United Discount Travel Certificate


Visa Signature benefits
Purchasing power and protection year-round
No Pre-Set Spending Limit3
Zero Liability on Unauthorized Purchases
24�hour Personal Concierge Service

Heck Yes !

$140 for 5k EQMs would be regarded as a good MR on the MR forum !

I will be paying $600+ to keep my AA Plat status for 2008 for lack of ~10k EQMs.

In fact, it's really only $80, as the regualr Visa costs $60/yr.

In fact, this is the only feasible way of my getting to 1k without lots of MRs - which my wife won't let me do. My only question now is whether to desert AA or CO ?

anyone know how to cash that in?

These threads discuss the EQMs for buying on united.com:

1. Benefits buying through .bomb?
   
2. Do EQMs for Chase MP Visa post later than RDMS? [Merged]
   
3. United Visa EQM Question

There are so many threads on these credit cards, in both UA and Other Credit Card forums, that it's bewildering. (I suppose -- anyone else in IA/taxonomy? -- it's due to so many equivalent keywords for the same terms. [United/UA/UAL. Mileage Plus/MP. Credit Card/CC/Chase/Visa.])

The annual fee for the Platinum card is $140, not $60, and what is waived is $60 or $140 of that $140 annual fee for 1Ks. Those who have been 1Ks for more than a couple of years now have been getting the full $140 waived; those who became 1Ks more recently, have gotten $60 of the $140 waived.

Cash what in? EQM only bring status and the benefits that go along with it at different levels. Its RDM that bring award tickets and upgrades.