My brother knows that I am always on the lookout for miles. He called me about a sticker in a McDonalds drive through window that was advertising miles by using Speedpass linked to the Mileage Plus Card.

I've looked at the 3 respective (McD's, UAL & MP) sites but cant find anything on this promotion. I'm planning to stop by that McDonalds later this week but has anyone heard of this offer?

By the way, it is in the Chicagoland Area.

On Long Island they are experimenting with using your EZ Pass toll road transponder in the McDonald's drive through lane for payment by your EZ Pass account. You have the option of tieing the EZ Pass account to a credit card which in turn could be one that gets miles like Citibank MC/VS for AAdvantage

Speedpass is that little wand-thingy that some people use to pay for gas. I forget who issues them - either Exxon or British Petroleum, I think. You link your wand to a credit card.

If McD's now takes Speedpass as payment, you would wave the little wand-thing at the drive-thru and effectively be paying for your cheeseburger with a credit card, thereby earning miles.

McDonald's also now takes credit cards through a swipe machine, so you can just get your miles that way if you don't have Speedpass.

Unless there is a mention of sign-up or promotional bonuses, the use of Speedpass isn't really a bigger deal than the use of credit cards.

Speedpass was developed by Mobil and now is issued (for free) by ExxonMobil. Pinniped is correct that it's a small device that you attach to your keychain and waive at a special reader to pay for gas at ExxonMobil gas stations; the cost of the gas is then billed to whichever credit card you choose to link to the speedpass. So if you frequent Exxon or Mobil gas stations, you can earn 25-30 or so miles for every fill up.

ExxonMobil is trying to partner with other retailers to accept the speedpass. In the Boston area, a handful of Stop & Shop supermarkets accept them. But pinniped is exactly correct that using the speedpass is no different than using a credit card, so the mile-earning potential is no greater than it already is by using your credit card.

A few years ago SpeedPass offered promotions had promotions with AMEX and Diners where you earned bonus points for getting the SpeedPass and using it, a nice deal for something that's free anyway!

McDonalds in Chicago have had SpeedPass readers for years, but that appers to have been abondoned as a strategy in general and instead they are now rolling out standard card readers at the restaurants.

Why can't I just link my thumbprint to my mileage-earning credit card? :-D

You can now get a Speedpass-enabled Timex.

Sometimes there are some extra promotions. They inform you of those by postcards. I find 2 advantages at the gas station. I just wave the speedpass and it is faster that when you swipe the credit card plus it gives me the receipt automatically.

I noticed that when I tried to use my speedpass in California, it didn't work.
Maybe it only works in your state.

I vaguely recall a recent letter describing a Speedpass promotion tied into use of the Bank One ATM card ("ONE Card") that somehow implicated United miles (or was it McDonald's gift certifciates...?) This was obviously for Chicago-market accounts (I have an old First Chicago checking account I never closed out), and since I'm now in DC I threw it out. Bank One, of course, issues the Mileage Plus credit cards

Bottom line - check with Bank One. They might know something.

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[This message has been edited by Mr. July (edited Jan 20, 2004).]

I've used mine all over the U.S. without difficulty.

Me, too. But there are a few stations that have some system problems with it occasionally -- one is down the block from my house. Also, I find if I try to set the transaction up too quickly, it sometimes fails and I have to start over.

Thank you Blumie and Going Away. I'll try the speedpass in other states again.

There was a Chicagoland promotion a bit over a year ago. I can't tell if your brother saw a renewal of this promotion, or something old (which I thought had expired).
We got some miles for first using these things last winter, but none since then.

http://www.flyertalk.com/pasttalk/ft...ML/016471.html

The same thing with FasTrak in California. Several McDonald's were accepting in Orange County payment through the drive-up from those with a FasTrak transponder/tag. I think the program ended last year, probably because of lack of use. Still, though, more McDonald's are starting to accept credit cards. But you sure would have to eat a lot of Big Macs for miles you earn at McDonald's to make much of a difference. No McDonald's, I know of, participate in iDine.