The Deal United offers three different levels of the program: Premier for $5,000; Premier Executive for $10,000; and 1K for $20,000. In effect, you'll have travel debit account with United and draw down the balance each time a ticket is purchased. Buying the prepaid debit card also gets you elite status benefits—including class-of-service or elite status bonuses, various upgrades, and other perks—corresponding to the various elite levels; unlike last year, the airline is not offering a 5% discount. Cards expire on Feb. 28, 2007.Tickets must be purchased from the airline directly, but you can also use the account to buy a ticket on one of United’s Star Alliance partners. More information:www.united.com/prepaid travel.

[aside headline="You May Have Mail" alignment="alignright" width="half" headline_size="default"]Don’t be so quick to delete e-mail offers from airlines. True, most of them are junk, but in March I got two good offers back-to-back. The first one was a fast-track to elite with United: If I fly15,000 EQM miles before May 31, they'll bump me up to Premier Executive, a nice offer. The second was an outright $300 offer by Continent alto purchase its Silver card: unusual, but to the right person also a nice offer. I don’t need the Silver Card, but I am going for the United offer.[/aside]

My Take The card offers instant gratification to those who don’t enjoy elite status on United now. (If you plan on spending $5,000+ this year with the airline anyway, why not get the elite benefits immediately?)And for those of you flying on many Business and First Class fares, the 1K card's upgrades could save lots of money because signing up for it nets six one-way,"system-wide" upgrades. Example: You could use two upgrades to fly round-trip Business Class on a New York-Sydney economy fare (as low as $2,000), a ticket that normally goes for about $9,000.Do the math: Three such round-trips would save you $21,000, and still leave you with $14,000 on the card.

Restrictions and Loopholes You can’t use the card to buy travel for a companion, but here's the way around it: Use the (transferable) 1K system-wide upgrades for companion travel, and credit on the card for you. The card is not accepted at travel agencies or other non-United merchants—so the program won't fly with business travelers required to book through a specific travel agency.

Other Elite Upgrade Benefits Every 10,000 paid miles flown on United, Ted, and United Express in a calendar year nets four 500-mile e-upgrades. Purchase a full fare economy electronic ticket (Y or B class) for traveling the US (including Hawaii), Canada, the Caribbean, and Central America and you’re entitled to free upgrades, subject to availability.

Other 1K Upgrade Benefits In addition to the 500-mile upgrades, two confirmed Regional Upgrades each quartering which you fly at least 10,000 miles. Upgrades are valid for travel within North America, the Caribbean and Central America.

New Twist on Unused Balances

Last year’s deal: On remaining balances greater than$250 you got a travel voucher for half the amount (less a $25 processing fee) good for travel on United, United Express, or Ted. This year’s sweet deal: You get a travel voucher on the first $250, and receive a refund of 50%of the remainder less a $100 processing fee.

Final Analysis I say this is an upgrade! Let's say you bought the 1K card but only spent $10,000 of it. That means you got the six 1K upgrades for only $5,100. How? You'll get a $5,000 refund (50% of the balance) refunded in cash. Including the $100 processing fee, your net cost per upgrade can be just $833 each. In other words, you don't even have to come close to spending the full $20,000 to get much more than that in value.