United Airlines MileagePlus: Guide To Earning, Redeeming and Elite Status
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Written by
Joseph Hostetler
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Edited by
Emily Gadd, CCC™
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Reviewed by
Jasmin Baron, CCC™
If you fly United Airlines frequently (or even if you don’t), enrolling in United MileagePlus is a no-brainer. United Airlines is one of the biggest carriers in the US, and with its long list of practical airline partners, you can use the rewards you earn to get just about anywhere you’d like to go for cheap.
Let’s look at how to earn and redeem United miles, achieve elite status, and maximize United MileagePlus.
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What Is the United MileagePlus Program?
The United MileagePlus program is the loyalty account that lets you earn and redeem United Airlines miles, earn United elite status, and store your travel information with United to make booking future trips easier.
Registering for the United loyalty program is free and takes only a couple of minutes. You’ll enter details like your first and last name, date of birth, email and mailing address. You can also add information such as a Known Traveler Number (KTN) and a redress number. Then, when you book with United or a qualifying partner airline, you can earn rewards for flights you planned to take anyway.
How To Earn United Miles
Earning United Airlines miles is easy thanks to the many travel and bank partnerships United has forged over the years. Here are the most popular ways to earn United miles to fund your next vacation.
Paid Airfare
When you pay for flights on United and many of its partners, you have the option to earn United Airlines miles. United advertises 5 base miles per dollar spent (e.g., a $500 flight earns 2,500 United miles). But the actual amount you earn depends on two things:
- The fare you book: Some fare classes offer up to a 100% bonus on base miles. Other flights earn between 25% and 100% of the miles you actually fly.
- Your elite status tier: With United status, you’ll earn between 2 and 6 more miles per dollar spent on United airfare.
Credit Cards
Far and away, the easiest route to amassing United Airlines miles is through credit cards. Chase issues several United-branded airline credit cards with high welcome bonuses and decent bonus spending categories. Examples include:
In addition, several other travel rewards credit cards earn flexible points that can be converted into United Airlines miles. These include:
Many of these cards have even better intro offers than United’s own credit cards — not to mention superior bonus spending categories. Opening one of the above credit cards and earning its bonus can be enough for a round-trip coach ticket to Europe.
United Shopping and Dining Programs
United operates a few proprietary platforms that let you earn bonus rewards on common purchases. As an example, United’s online shopping portal, United MileagePlus Shopping, gives you bonus points at more than 1,100 merchants. And United MileagePlus Dining lets you earn exponentially more miles per dollar when you link a credit card and use it to pay your bill.
United also offers an app called MileagePlus X, where you can earn bonus miles for online shopping, booking hotels, dining and more. You can potentially double-dip on miles earnings if, say, the item you want appears both on the MileagePlus X app and United’s MileagePlus Shopping portal. Plus, United Airlines cardholders get an extra 25% bonus in miles.
Rakuten
Popular online shopping portal Rakuten recently partnered with Bilt, allowing you to collect Bilt Rewards instead of cash back or American Express Membership Rewards® points for your purchases. Rakuten routinely drops impressive return rates at popular stores (up to 15x, in some cases). To earn United miles, opt to earn Bilt Rewards — a transfer partner of United Airlines — and then convert those points into United miles at a 1:1 ratio.
United Partners
United Airlines has inked deals with countless travel partners to help you earn United miles for virtually every level of your travel budget. Take a look:
- Avis and Budget
- Turo
- Various train companies
- A hotel booking platform
- A cruise booking agency
- Travel packages
Booking through United and/or linking your MileagePlus number to these brands will help you to rack up United miles much faster.
How To Redeem United Miles
United Airlines miles are a cinch to redeem. The difficult part is receiving maximum value per mile.
See, United Airlines miles aren’t wildly valuable in most cases; on average, a reasonable return you’ll get from United miles is 1.1 cents each. But if you know the best ways to use United miles, you can squeeze significantly more value from them.
Steps To Redeeming United Miles
To begin searching for United Airlines award flights, you’ll first need to sign in to your account (you can’t view award prices until you do). Then tick the “Book with miles” box and enter your travel details — origin, destination, travel dates, etc.
The next page gives you a list of eligible flights and prices, along with a quick view of the lowest prices for each day that week. If you find an itinerary and price that work for you, click it to go to the checkout page.
If your dates are flexible, click the 30-day calendar icon to open a page that shows prices in one-month increments.
After you choose your seat and opt in/out of any extras (upgrades, bonus miles, insurance and so on), you’ll then formally pay for your seat, and your credit card will be charged the tax portion of your award fare.
How To Get the Biggest Value From United Miles
When it comes to getting the most from your United Airlines rewards, there are a few strategies to keep in mind:
- Only use your miles for airfare: Just as you can earn bonus United miles through United channels like United Hotels and United Vacations, you can also redeem miles for those purchases. You’ll almost always receive a lower value than with award flights.
- Be flexible with your dates: As you can see from the example award calendar above, United award flight prices vary greatly by day. You may pay 15,000 miles one day and 50,000 miles the next. If you’re flexible with your dates (or even your destination), you can find excellent deals with United miles.
- Hold a United Airlines credit card: United Airlines credit card holders receive discounts on many United economy flights. I save oodles of miles with mine. If you regularly fly United, it’s worth holding a United Airlines credit card, anyway, thanks to the many United-specific benefits you’ll get.
- Use miles to book international business or first class seats: Premium cabins generally cost exponentially more than economy seats. If you’re willing to splurge with your miles, you’ll often get a much better value.
I’ve used United miles to book lie-flat seats across the ocean multiple times. Because these seats regularly sell for several thousand dollars, I typically get over 2 cents in value per mile. That’s notably higher than our estimated average of 1.1 cents.
United Airlines Premier Status
United Airlines offers four elite status tiers: Premier Silver, Gold, Platinum and 1K. The carrier also provides an invitation-only status level called Global Services, with the exact path to earning it a mystery.
Depending on your status level, you’ll receive perks like free checked bags, priority boarding, priority baggage handling, free access to Economy Plus seats, bonus miles on paid flights, free seat upgrade eligibility and more.
United Airlines quantifies your elite value with two loyalty currencies:
- Premier Qualifying Points (PQPs) are earned for both paid and award flights on United and its partner airlines. You’ll also earn them when spending with eligible United Airlines credit cards.
- Premier Qualifying Flights (PQFs) are earned when flying on a United or partner airline (excluding Basic Economy).
Here’s what it takes to achieve United Airlines elite status:
| Elite Tier | Premier Silver | Premier Gold | Premier Platinum | Premier 1K |
| Premier Qualifying Points + Premier Qualifying Flights | 15 PQF and 5,000 PQP | 30 PQF and 10,000 PQP | 45 PQF and 15,000 PQP | 60 PQF and 22,000 PQP |
| Only Premier Qualifying Points | 6,000 PQP | 12,000 PQP | 12,000 PQP | 28,000 PQP |
It’s also worth noting that you’ll need to take at least four flights operated by United or United Express each year to qualify for elite status.
United Airlines Partners
Again, the real power of United Airlines miles is that you can use them to book award flights on other airlines. United has a laundry list of partners, allowing you to fly inexpensively to virtually every nook and cranny of the world.
United’s Star Alliance partners include:
- Aegean Airlines
- Air Canada
- Air China
- Air India
- Air New Zealand
- ANA
- Asiana Airlines
- Austrian Airlines
- Avianca
- Brussels Airlines
- Copa Airlines
- Croatia Airlines
- EgyptAir
- Ethiopian Airlines
- EVA Airways
- LOT Polish
- Juneyao Air
- Lufthansa
- Shenzhen Airlines
- Singapore Airlines
- South African Airways
- SWISS
- TAP Air Portugal
- THAI Airways
- Turkish Airlines
United also has partners that aren’t a part of Star Alliance, including:
- Aer Lingus
- Air Dolomiti
- Airlink
- Azul
- Cape Air
- Discover Airlines
- Edelweiss
- Emirates
- Eurowings
- Flydubai
- Hawaiian Airlines
- ITA Airways
- JetBlue
- JSX
- Olympic Air
- Virgin Australia
You can use United miles to book travel on most of these airlines and earn miles on paid flights (though some may have unique rules). I recently booked an award flight in Emirates business class aboard its massive Airbus A380, which houses a bar and lounge in the back of the plane.
United Miles Pooling
To help you book award travel more quickly, United offers a pooling system for families and friends who are also MileagePlus members. Anyone 18 or older can start a pool and invite up to five members.
You can only be a part of one pool at a time — and only the pool leader can authorize the use of miles. But if you typically have a handful of miles you find challenging to redeem, this is a great way to spread the love and potentially get help from others when you need to book a flight. Transferring miles to other United members otherwise costs $7.50 per 500 miles (plus a $30 transaction fee).
The information related to the United Gateway℠ Card, United℠ Explorer Card, United Quest℠ Card, United Club℠ Card and Chase Sapphire Reserve® was collected by CardCritics™ and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of this product/card. Product details may vary. Please see issuer website for current information. CardCritics™ does not receive a commission for this product.
Frequently Asked Questions About United MileagePlus
Do United miles expire?
No, United miles don’t expire as long as your account is active and in good standing.
Is it worth it to join United MileagePlus?
It is absolutely worth it to join United MileagePlus. The program is free, and you’ll automatically earn United miles when you link your loyalty number to your paid United reservation (or to many of its partners).
How much is 50,000 United MileagePlus miles worth?
United miles are worth at least 1.1 cents each, on average. This means you shouldn’t have trouble getting $550 in travel from 50,000 United MileagePlus miles.
What is the best way to use United miles?
The best way to use United miles is for travel on United Airlines or select partners. You’ll generally get the most value from them when redeeming for premium seats on international flights.
Can I turn my United miles into cash?
You cannot literally cash out your United miles for, say, a check or direct deposit. However, it’s possible to effectively “buy” travel through United at varying rates. For example, you can book flights with United’s Money+Miles feature for up to 1 cent per mile (often with restrictions). Or you can reserve a hotel through United Hotels for (typically) 0.6+ cents per mile. These are far from the best options, but they’re good for those who don’t want to strategize to make the most of their rewards.
