Over the past few weeks credit card issuers have been making adjustments to their most popular rewards credit cards. These changes are, of course, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. After all, card holders aren’t getting much value from rewards cards tailored for travel and dining while sitting at home.
Because these cards aren’t offering their original value, card holders have a tougher decision to make when the annual fee posts to their account. If card holders don’t see the value coming back soon, they may not decide the card is worth keeping. As a result, card issuers have been temporarily offering expanded benefits to help offset lost benefits.
So far, American Express has added monthly statement credits for phone bills and streaming services on the Platinum Card. Instead of statement credits, Chase expanded bonus point earning categories by offering 5X points on grocery purchases. Likewise, Marriott is offering 6X points on grocery store purchases across their co-branded card lineup. Now, United has followed suit by offering 3X miles on grocery store purchases for a limited time.
United Offering 3X Miles At Grocery Stores
One of the cards that I carry in my Wallet is the United MileagePlus Explorer card from Chase. I carry this card because it offers certain benefits when traveling with United that I don’t have due to my lack of United elite status.
The MileagePlus Explorer card usually offers 2X miles on United purchases, restaurants, and hotel stays. However, many of those bonus categories are going unused at the moment. Therefore, United and Chase are now offering 3X miles on grocery store purchases for the next few months.
United and Chase delivered this update, as usual, through an email to card holders. The email also included a note of why United is offering this benefit.
As noted in the body of the email, United is offering 3X miles on grocery store purchases from May 1 through June 30, 2020. What makes this benefit especially great is that there is no activation required. This means that you should receive credit for all grocery spend incurred during the promotional period.
Should You Put Grocery Spend On The MilagePlus Explorer Card?
Over the past few years I’ve received a ton of value from United MileagePlus miles. In total, I’ve spent about 220,000 United miles on Lufthansa First Class flights. Those flights typically cost at least $8,000, so I’ve managed to squeeze about about $16,000 of value from those miles or about $0.07/each. Therefore, if I earn 3X miles on grocery store purchases, I could realize $0.21 of value from each dollar of grocery store spend. At face value, this is a great deal that I should consider taking advantage of.
However, it’s worth mentioning that United recently made redemptions on partner airlines more expensive. In fact, many have noted that certain redemptions are now 10% more expensive than they were previously. This could reduce the value you can expect to receive from your United miles.
Additionally, the Chase Sapphire Reserve and Chase Freedom cards are both offering up to 5X points on grocery store spend. In both of my Lufthansa redemptions I transferred Ultimate Rewards points to United. So, if you instead put your grocery spend on either of those cards, you can effectively earn 5X United miles which is clearly a better deal.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I’m glad to see United offering expanded points earning on grocery store purchases. It’s nice to see card issuers and loyalty programs expanding benefits during these uncertain times. However, it would have been nice to see United offer a bit more since Chase customers could potentially earn 5X United miles on a card that lacks an annual fee (Chase Freedom).
