Bonus switcheroo: United may have changed your Mile Play offer

Well, this certainly isn't ideal. Earlier this month, United Airlines rolled out a new Mile Play promotion, giving its MileagePlus members an opportunity to earn bonus miles after completing specific travel-related tasks.

For example, I was offered an opportunity to earn 7,800 bonus United miles after booking four premium trips totaling at least $650 each. TPG values United miles at 1.3 cents, making this offer worth just over $100 — certainly not a reason to spend $2,600 on United flights on its own.

When I log in now, however, I see an entirely different offer. After booking four premium trips totaling at least $500 each, I'll walk away with 22,000 miles — a far more compelling figure.

My girlfriend's offer changed as well — in her case, not for the better. Originally, United offered a whopping 36,000 miles after taking four trips with a base fare of at least $225 each. That bonus is worth $468, based on TPG's valuations, and I started to plot out some fun travel options that would get her to the finish line.

Now, her offer has also been updated, but in this case, the total bonus amount dropped to 28,000 miles. At the same time, the amount she'll need to spend on each trip jumped from $225 to $300 — a less exciting offer, overall.

Several readers and TPG staffers have noted that their bonuses have changed as well. TPG's Zach Griff has an entirely new offer — instead of earning 2,500 bonus miles after two trips totaling just $50 each, he can earn 5,000 miles after one $300 trip.

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United confirmed that some of the original offers have been updated since the promotion first began. As a spokesperson explained, "there was an issue that impacted 1% of targeted customers, however, we resolved the issue within a matter of hours and all customers should now see correct offers."

If you haven't logged in since the latest Mile Play promotion first went live, I'd head over to this page and see if your offer has changed — your bonus will be awarded based on what is displayed there now.

Additionally, moving forward, I'd recommend taking a screenshot of any new promotion you tend to pursue regardless of whether it's an airline status challenge, hotel stay offer or a credit card welcome bonus. You might need to reference it later in the rare case that things don't exactly go to plan.