Gilt Me Into 1,500 United Miles for $13.95 Spend

Update 1/15/12: The “Gilt” that keeps on giving. Today I noticed we received a third round of bonus miles (1,500) in each of our Continental accounts. Therefore, my wife and I have each pulled in a total of 4,540 Continental miles and 1,540 United miles. Pretty good investment for a $14 spend.

I did notice though that in our United accounts, after giving us the 1,500 miles, they then took them away and then credited us 1,540 miles (1,500 bonus miles + 40 miles from purchase). While our United accounts are now balanced, we moved all of our miles out of our Continental accounts, so there is nothing for them to “take” away. I recommend running, not walking, to do the same.

Update 1/11/12: The United miles credited to both my wife and my accounts a while back; however it took awhile, and today the Continental miles posted to each of our accounts. The problem, or good thing, is that the Continental miles have posted twice to each of our accounts (3,000 vs 1,500 miles). Rather than wait around for them to be possibly swept away, you might want to consider moving your Continental miles over to United for free using their transfer option upon logging into your account!

Sometimes I debate whether it is worth spending money that I normally would not have just for the sake of getting miles. However, The Points Guy turned me onto a pretty hefty offer from the Gilt Group to earn 1,500 miles plus 5 miles per dollar spent. I looked through the offerings slightly when he first posted it, but really did not get to go through the website in more detail until last night.

The most enticing part of the offer is by-far the 1,500 bonus miles for any purchase, and if you can keep the cost low, it becomes a very viable offer.

I initially placed a small order for myself with only $13.95 out-of-pocket expense (including shipping). I am not saying what I purchased because I eventually turned around and made the same purchase with an account for my wife, and the items will be used as gifts for some people I know who read our site. Then we followed it up with a new account for both my wife and I using our Continental OnePass accounts. So we will have 4 packages on their way that will be as presents at some point.

So total out of pocket expense was $13.95 x 4 = $55.88.

The beautiful part is that for the four orders, we should earn (1,500 miles * 4) + 4(5 miles * $8) = 6,160 miles
I did not include the cost of shipping towards the miles multiplier, but if they give them to us, that would be better.

Meaning we bought miles at $0.0091 or over 110 miles per dollar spent. That is an incredible return on the dollar, and in my opinion worth the outlay of spending money for the sake of earning miles (and gifts for people).