Last night I received the following text message from my brother:
Dad and mom went to United Mileage Plus promotion at the Americana. Mother won two RCC passes. Dad won 25000 mp miles.
While I don’t believe in luck, if there was such a thing, my dad would be the luckiest man alive. It seems like he wins every contest or drawing he enters and he scored again big at the Americana at Brand in Glendale, California last night. I keep telling him to buy a lottery ticket…
Chase had a booth promoting the new Mileage Plus Explorer Credit Card and offered shoppers nearby the opportunity to select a bag. Most bags were empty and would lead to free Chase hats or water bottles, but a number of them had prizes inside ranging from 1,000 miles to one grand prize of 100,000 miles. My parents chose well.
Refreshingly, there was no catch in receiving the miles or the Red Carpet Club passes either. My folks (who already have United cards) did not have to sign-up for the new card or divulge any personal information. The 25K miles cert is similar to United’s Customer Appreciation cards (given when things go wrong onboard), where you can go online, enter the code on the card, and select your reward. The Red Carpet Club passes are good through the end of the year and ready to be used.
I have not been in the U.S. since May, so I do not know if this is an ongoing promotion Chase is running at shopping malls and airports around the country or just a special thing, but if you see something similar it will be well-worth your time to select a bag.
Here’s a very poor-quality photo of the prizes (the thing on the left is a Chase/United lapel pin) taken on my brother’s mobile phone:
Will probably go to SFO event on Wed, Aug 24.