MP Choice Points Q&A [Consolidated] (Moved to Chase.com, renamed Pay Yourself Back)
 

I was searching around and saw the MileagePlus Choices program info, and it looks like it would be cheaper (miles-wise) to redeem through there than with straight award miles. I couldn't see anything recent. Does it still exist for non-elite MP Explorer card holders?

You can see your Choices balance @ http:www.united.com/Choices

Not sure why you're saying it would be "cheaper" as the redemption there is 1 cpm

Say the Award mileage is 50K ( say a Standard Domestic) but the ticket is $400. Via the Choices program it would be 40K miles -- hence cheaper is terms of mileage needed. Not a great cpm but for the mileage-rich it might be the best option.

That's exactly my situation. Reward would be 37,500. Ticket is about 275. So its a savings in comparing the two. And while not huge, it is my understanding that you get the miles off the flight whereas if it is reward flight, you don't.

MP Choices still exist?
 

Yes, not the best CPM but that isn't necessarily the best metric to use for everyone all the time. Getting good value looks different to everyone.

Also, choices basically allows you to get a miles + money award. Can't do that anymore any other way.

Wow! Never knew of this Program, just used the link up thread and see that I have in excess of 125K Points(Miles) for this Program. Just cant find out about what it offers.. Any suggestions? Its also stated upthread that you earn mileage when you travel with this offier? (are upgrades possible too, I assume so since it MP Explorer related) Where can I find out all the Details? Thanks and Safe Travels

You buy a regular ticket on your M+ Visa (which earns PQM and PQD), then after it posts to your M+ card, you enter the transaction number into the Choices website and M+ credits you for the cost of the ticket and deduct comparative mileage from your RDM balance ($200 ticket costs 20K miles). It works well when your ticket price is less than the available mileage award comparison, and is even OK if at par as you earn PQM/PQD where you don't on a mileage award ticket. Yes, CPU/RPU/GPU are available as the ticket is a normal fare for all other purposes. Redemption instructions are on the Choices page after you login (see hyperlinks there for more details).

If Im following your Math correctly: Whatever the total Charge is for your UA ticket (and when that value posts to your UA Explorer Credit Card), say.. ($310.00) Multiply that Figure by (100) and thats how many Choices Miles will be deducted? I see that Chioces are a subset of your Total MP Balance.. However, I was excited for a Moment! as I read up thread that the Conversion is (1cpm) not the Multplier of (100) therefore, I thought a ($310.00) Ticket would be (310)Choice Miles :) Am I correct with my math? Thanks and Safe Travels

UPDATE: Just Found this very detailed explanation via Google:
http://www.milespointsandmaitais.com...eplus-choices/

(Mods are we allowed to post a link like this, if so great, if not please delete)

The Choices program is a Chase benefit on all Chase MP branded cards that allow miles (RDMs) earned via credit card activity (but not flying or MP mile bonuses) to be used for reimbursing credit card purchases including flights and annual fee .... T&Cs and balance

Some older threads on Choices program: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...es-primer.html

The one major change from the initial program is http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...-annually.html

Chase has also dropped the hotel and rental car redemption option.

correct a $310 ticket would take 31,000 Choice Points / RDMs and the ticket is considered a $$$ purchased ticket not an award ticket.

We canceled our old Select cards last year, and got Explorer cards a few months later. I figured our old Choices would have gone away, but it appears they're still there for us.

Reading the Mileage Plus terms and conditions on the United Site I see:

"To redeem for a statement credit, purchase any airline ticket on united.com with your MileagePlus credit card. ..." then ... "When the purchase posts to your credit card account, login at www.united.com/chase to redeem award miles earned with your MileagePlus credit card for a statement credit against that charge.

I'm not getting much clarity about the operation of this by calling United however, or my credit card support phone number. They want to refer me back to United reservations who I've found to be clueless. So ... let's say I want to book a flight (round trip) to Europe that "costs" 150k miles (points) each way. I have 180k miles in my account. Cost of the round trip is 3k. Can I purchase the tickets on my Mileage PLus credit card through united, then the 3k shows up on my credit card balance, then use miles to reduce some of the balance? How do I determine how much the 180k miles will be worth ... in other words how much of a reduction in my balance will I get?

Or am I misunderstanding the terms and conditions? If this redemption process "works" it appears I could just search by price rather than awards, book the flight and get my costs reduced by using miles, more or less freely rather than wasting hours looking for awards flights.

UPDATE:
To follow up on my post from 10:24 a.m. after an hour on the phone with various "experts" from United. You can go to united.com/choices and redeem your miles. It's buried in their menu system on ways to use miles ... there is a screen to redeem miles. It appears they charge 100k miles for 1k in ticket price. There is a concept I never heard of before called "choices program balance". In my case I have 182k award miles but only 112k in my "choices program balance". That (112k) is apparently the amount that I'll be able to use to reduce my credit card balance. The first expert I talked to said that partial charges would not work ... in other words that I had to have enough miles to pay the full charge. However, rereading their terms and conditions, it says that partial credits will be allowed. I called back and someone named Chelsea in their Mileage Plus Service center confirmed that. We'll see. Anyone have any experience with this "choices program balance" or other insights on maximizing the benefits of this redemption approach.

Do You Still Earn PQM's and PQD's If Get UA/Chase Credit Card Statement Credit
 

For some reason, my OCD has prevented me from redeeming any miles as they approach a pretty high level. With the recent speculation about changes on the horizon for the MileagePlus program, I figured I better start using some of these benefits before the rules of the game change. In the past, any benefit I thought was the best-- always went away (for example, before they introduced the co-pay PLUS miles upgrade, you could almost always upgrade in advance on the PS flights to and from LAX-JFK when seats to and from LAX-EWR were, from my experience, never available in advance). The benefit for Presidential Plus and other UA/Chase cardmembers to get a statement credit seems too good to last. Therefore, I think I am going to cash in a business class ticket somewhere. My question is whether I still earn PQD's and PQM's on my original purchase if I get a statement credit for the entire airfare? If yes, is there a way I can ask someone (who?) officially to confirm this and document it somewhere before I make the large purchase (thinking I have then made 1K for next year in the PQD and PQM categories) and then seek the statement credit? Thanks!

You're overthinking this. UA will award PQD/PQM based on your spend with them on the ticket. The credit provided is between you and Chase, which can be applied any purchases, UA or not.

The OP is talking about choices, which are a subset of miles that can be applied for an offset of the cost of a ticket purchase (at $0.01/mile) for tickets purchases on a Chase-branded card, using miles earned from Chase-branded activity.

Given the mileage earning is 1-2 miles per $, this turns miles into an effective 1%-2% "cash-back" card for these particular transactions. You can find many many cards which give you this for all purchases, so I do not find this particular benefit out of line with the rest of the CC industry.

To answer the OP question, yes you still earn PQM and PQD for these flights. What's more, you still also earn bonus miles from Chase for these transactions.

Note, the choices program has been really reduced.. it used to offer 5k eqm for 50000 choices. A good offer which I have used in the past to just creep over the 1k threshold. It was silently discontinues.