United MileagePlus: Guide to earning and redeeming...

United MileagePlus is a good program for vacationers loyal to United Airways or primarily based close to a United hub. This system overhauled its cobranded credit card lineup in March 2025 and, this previous February, introduced some big changes that profit cardholders, making it much more interesting to vacationers able to double down on United.

Whether or not you are already a frequent United flyer otherwise you’re interested in dipping your toe into this system, this information will reply all of your questions on incomes and redeeming miles, Premier elite standing, United credit cards and extra.

Associated: You can now book United’s first Polaris Studio suites

United Airways companions

United is a member of Star Alliance, that means you’ll be able to earn and redeem miles with varied worldwide airways by means of United MileagePlus. United Premier elite members can usually take pleasure in perks like lounge access and further baggage allowance when touring with these companions.

This is a take a look at United’s present Star Alliance companions:

• Aegean Airways
• Air Canada
• Air China
• Air India
• Air New Zealand
• All Nippon Airways
• Asiana Airways
• Austrian Airways
• Avianca
• Brussels Airways
• Copa Airways
• Croatia Airways
• Egyptair
• Ethiopian Airways
• EVA Air
• Juneyao Air (a connecting companion)
• LOT Polish Airways
• Lufthansa
• Lufthansa Metropolis Airways
• Shenzhen Airways
• Singapore Airways
• South African Airways
• Swiss
• TAP Air Portugal
• Thai Airways
• Turkish Airways

United additionally companions with a number of airways outdoors of Star Alliance:

• Aer Lingus
• Air Dolomiti
• Airlink
• Azul Brazilian Airways
• Cape Air
• Uncover Airways
• Edelweiss
• Emirates
• Eurowings
• Flydubai
• Hawaiian Airways
• ITA Airways
• JetBlue
• JSX
• Olympic Air
• Virgin Australia

Some companions have their very own limitations concerning MileagePlus members — together with relevant bonuses, eligible fare courses and excluded routes — so remember to evaluation United’s airline partners page for the complete particulars on each.

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Associated: United-JetBlue Blue Sky partnership begins with earning, redeeming on either airline

United Airways Premier standing

MileagePlus has 4 ranges of elite standing: Premier Silver, Premier Gold, Premier Platinum and Premier 1K. There’s additionally an unique Global Services tier for flyers who spend a big amount of cash with the airline and who obtain a private invitation.

There are two methods to earn United Premier standing: through the use of a mixture of Premier qualifying factors and Premier qualifying flights, or by incomes PQPs alone. To earn any stage of standing, you need to additionally take not less than 4 United or United Categorical flights in a calendar yr.

You may earn PQFs and PQPs by flying United or its companions and by spending on some of United’s cobranded credit cards.

That is what it takes to qualify for United standing in 2026 (legitimate by means of Jan. 31, 2028):

All United Premier members take pleasure in perks like bonus miles on paid tickets, free checked baggage and waitlisted upgrades. Greater-tier members have entry to extra helpful perks like complimentary Financial system Plus seating, PlusPoints (which can be utilized to substantiate upgrades), Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status and Star Alliance Gold status.

How you can earn United miles

There are a lot of methods to spice up your MileagePlus steadiness. Some strategies, like flying, are apparent, whereas others do not even require setting foot on a aircraft.

Let’s dive into the nuts and bolts of how you may earn miles on various kinds of airfare, varied United bank cards, switch companions and extra.

Fly on United Airways

When flying on United-marketed and -operated tickets, you may earn MileagePlus miles (as much as 75,000 miles per ticket) decided by the bottom worth (minus taxes and charges) moderately than the space you fly.

After United’s recent earning shake-up, the variety of miles you’ll be able to earn relies upon not solely in your Premier standing stage but in addition on whether or not you maintain a United cobranded credit card. This is a breakdown of how miles are awarded on United flights (besides primary financial system fares, which we’ll cowl subsequent):

One other change coming April 2: Basic economy fares will now not be eligible to earn miles — except you’ve elite standing or a United bank card. This is what you’ll be able to count on to earn on these no-frills tickets:

On prime of those earn charges, cardholders get much more miles when paying for a United flight with their card:

As you’ll be able to see, incomes miles with United simply acquired extra difficult. Earn charges now differ extensively, from 3 miles per greenback for members with no standing or United bank cards to 17 miles per greenback for Premier 1K members paying with the top-tier United Club Card.

This new incomes construction offers United flyers yet one more reason to add a MileagePlus card to their wallets.

Associated: Complete guide to United’s revenue, award and upgrade fare classes

Fly on United companion airways

United additionally awards MileagePlus miles on partner flights, however it works slightly in a different way. Should you guide a companion flight by means of United (indicated by a 016 ticket quantity), you may earn miles primarily based in your ticket fare and elite standing per the rules above.

However when you guide by means of a companion airline, your miles will likely be awarded primarily based on the flight distance and fare class. Mileage-earning charges differ by airline, so verify your reserving class and United’s partner airline list to find out your award miles. As you may count on, premium-cabin tickets earn extra miles than financial system tickets, and Premier members are eligible for bonus miles on choose companions.

Spend on United bank cards

One other method to rack up miles is by spending on United’s cobranded bank cards, issued by Chase. These playing cards earn bonus miles on United purchases, as described above, however additionally they earn miles some other time you swipe (or faucet) them. A few of them earn PQPs as effectively to get you nearer to elite standing.

Listed below are a number of the best United cards and their present welcome bonuses:

• United Quest Card: Earn 80,000 bonus miles and three,000 PQP after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening.
• United Explorer Card: Earn 70,000 bonus miles after spending $3,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening.
• United℠ Business Card (see rates and fees): Earn 100,000 bonus miles and a pair of,000 PQPs after spending $5,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening.
• United Club Card: Earn 90,000 bonus miles after spending $5,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening.

Switch bank card factors

Past incomes a bank card welcome bonus, you can even simply enhance your MileagePlus steadiness by transferring factors from one of many program’s transfer partners: Chase Ultimate Rewards and Bilt.

You may switch factors from both program to your MileagePlus account at a 1:1 ratio, or get a fair higher ratio when you discover a transfer bonus. Transfers often occur immediately, making this a simple method to get the miles you want for an upcoming United redemption.

Associated: How to transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to United

Extra methods to earn United miles

To earn extra miles on on a regular basis spending, you’ll be able to leverage United’s shopping portal and the MileagePlus X app for on-line and in-store purchases. Or, join MileagePlus Dining to earn as much as 5 miles per greenback spent whenever you dine at taking part eating places and use a linked bank card.

If you are going to make these purchases anyway, you might as effectively maximize your rewards on them, proper?

You may also earn miles by reserving hotels and cruises by means of United’s portals, or by reserving journey with United’s lodge and rental automotive partners. Different methods to earn extra embrace buying miles and transferring Marriott Bonvoy points, although these not often current the perfect worth proposition.

United miles pooling

One helpful characteristic of MileagePlus is that members of all ages can share and redeem miles in a single account. That is particularly helpful for households, since youngsters and their mother and father can group as much as guide a bigger redemption.

Nevertheless, take into account that you’ll be able to solely redeem pooled miles on United-operated flights, not on companion flight redemptions or seat upgrades.

This story walks you thru find out how to arrange a United miles pool.

How you can redeem United miles

Though United has retired its award charts in favor of dynamic pricing, there are nonetheless methods to maximize your miles.

Typically, you may get probably the most worth out of your miles whenever you redeem them for flights, which is straightforward to do on United’s web site or app. You should utilize the superior search characteristic to open a fare calendar and pinpoint the perfect offers, or begin your search with a software like Seats.aero to slim down your dates.

United bank card holders and Premier members have lengthy had entry to better award rates; as of April 2, the provider plans to supply reductions of not less than 10% on each award flight to cardholders and 15% or extra to elite members. So, remember to log into your MileagePlus account earlier than trying to find award flights when you fall into these classes.

United additionally provides a cost choice referred to as Cash + Miles on all fares, although we do not advocate this as a result of it offers you a set charge of 1 cent per mile — effectively under our March 2026 valuation of 1.5 cents for United miles.

The identical goes for many different methods to redeem United miles, reminiscent of United Membership memberships, TSA PreCheck fees, automotive leases, lodge stays, retail merchandise and reward playing cards. The worth you may get from these redemptions will usually fall far in need of what you would get on an award ticket.

Associated: How to exchange your unwanted gift cards for United miles

Greatest makes use of of United miles

One method to spend your United miles — even when you have not amassed many but — is on short-haul flights, the place you will discover award charges beginning round 5,000 miles every method. These flights often value lower than $100, so you might not get spectacular worth out of your miles, however reserving them with miles may give you extra flexibility. That is as a result of, whereas United does not cost cancellation charges on most fare courses (besides primary financial system), you may typically get a refund within the type of a future flight credit score. With award flights, then again, you may get your miles redeposited and your taxes and charges returned to your unique type of cost.

You may also discover low charges for transcontinental flights when there’s saver award area. I’ve personally booked companion business-class flights to Africa for 88,000 miles every method — a stellar worth for 15-plus hours in a lie-flat seat and lounge entry throughout my layovers. And with United’s latest shakeup, Premier members and bank card holders might be able to unlock even higher offers.

If you wish to fly to Europe, United provides one-way, saver-level flights for simply 20,000 miles in financial system, 50,000 in Premium Plus premium economy or 80,000 in Polaris business class. All of those are nice methods to journey throughout the pond.

Lastly, you may think about using United miles to guide prime companion merchandise reminiscent of ANA’s “The Room” or EVA Airways’ business class. These award flights do not come low cost, however they make up for it with luxurious facilities you might not discover anyplace else.

Associated: 13 travelers each did 15 United MileagePlus award searches: Here’s how pricing differed across accounts

Backside line

United’s MileagePlus loyalty program makes numerous sense for vacationers who stay close to a United hub or fly United usually sufficient to earn standing. However even when you not often fly United or don’t care about elite status, you should still wish to switch miles from Bilt or Chase whenever you spot an amazing redemption. Since United has a large route community — and continuously provides new routes — it is easy to earn and redeem MileagePlus miles on a wide range of flights.

In mild of United’s new tips favoring cardholders, when you fly the airline in any respect, you might wish to contemplate including a cobranded card to your pockets to maximise this system’s perks.