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How to Get 100,000 United MileagePlus Miles or More Without Flying

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The United Airlines MileagePlus frequent flyer program has dozens of business partners that can help you earn miles on the ground. You can earn miles when you rent a car, stay at a hotel, ride a train or get away from it all on a cruise. You can also earn miles when you buy a cellphone or cable service, eat at a restaurant or choose a car. Wherever there is a consumer product or service, the chances are you can earn miles for giving it a try.

One of the most lucrative ways of receiving quick and massive injection of miles is credit card sign up bonuses. Most United MileagePlus members know about the Chase cobranded United credit card, but there are more cards that can give your mileage account some serious award booking powers.

Chase United MileagePlus Explorer Card

This “staple” United card usually has a 30,000-mile bonus, but there is currently a promotional link for a special 55,000-mile offer.  You need to spend $3,000 on purchases within the first three months and add an authorized user to get the full bonus. In addition, you get two lounge passes and other benefits like free checked bags and more. The offer is valid until June 30. The annual fee is $95.

Chase United 50K Miles

Chase United MileagePlus Explorer Business Card

This card offers a 30,000-mile bonus, two lounge passes and other valuable cardholder benefits. It waives the $95 annual fee for the first year. Please note that you don’t have to have an official business, business name, or Tax ID Number in order to be eligible for a business card. As long as you are a freelancer or have any kind of side business, you might qualify.

Chase United Biz

Chase Sapphire Preferred

Chase Sapphire Preferred is not a United cobranded credit card. It’s a premium card that belongs to the Chase Ultimate Rewards family, and it allows you to transfer Ultimate Rewards points to your United MileagePlus program at 1:1. The card comes with a 55,000-point bonus after spending $4,000 in the first three months, and there are other valuable benefits, too. The $95 annual fee is waived for the first year.

Chase Sapphire Preferred Card

Chase Ink Business Plus

Chase Ink Business Plus is also an Ultimate Rewards credit card that allows you to transfer points to your Uited MileagePlus account at 1:1. It offers a whopping 60,000-point bonus after spending $5,000 in the first three months. It has another great feature, too – you will get 5X points for every dollar spent “at office supply stores and on cellular phone, landline, internet and cable TV services.” The annual fee is $95.

Chase Ink Plus Business Card

The Chase Rules

1) You will not receive the bonus if you have the same card or if you have received the bonus for the same card within 24 months. This is an official rule.
2) Chase is likely to deny your application if you have applied for five or more credit cards in the last two years. This is not an official rule, but there are multiple reports that confirm it.

Editorial Disclosure: Opinions expressed here are author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.

UGC Disclosure: The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

United Airlines MileagePlus Program Review

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United Airlines has good domestic coverage, with several hubs in the middle of the U.S. for varied domestic and international routing options, and a very wide network of international air and hotel partners through Star Alliance and individual partnerships.

No matter where you fly to or whose planes you fly on, United won’t charge a fuel surcharge on the award, making it ideal for overseas trips. With some of the lowest mileage redemptions on long-haul flights to exotic locations in the South Pacific, and flexible routing and stopover rules, it’s a no-brainer for building dream trip itineraries.

Booking awards, even complex ones, on United is quite straightforward, as partner availability and booking is largely available online so focusing on United is great for people looking to get into the mileage game easily.

PROGRAMALLIANCECURRENCY
MILEAGE PLUSSTAR ALLIANCEMILES
POINTS TRANSFER PARTNERS
CHASE ULTIMATE REWARDS;
SPG STARWOOD PREFERRED
AIRLINE PARTNERS

Aer Lingus
Germanwings
Great Lakes Airlines
Island Air
Jet Airways
Silver Airways
Adria Airways
Aegean Airlines
Air Canada
Air China
Air India
Air NewZealand
Avianca




Copa Airlines
Croatia Airlines
Egyptair
Ethiopian Airlines
Eva Air
LOT
Lufthansa
Scandinavian Airlines
Shenzhen Airlines
ANA
Asiana Airlines
Austrian
Brussels Airlines
Singapore Airlines
South African Airways
Swiss
TAP Portugal
Thai Airways
Turkish Airlines
Aeromar
Air Dolomiti
Azul
Edelweiss
Eurowings
Cape Air
Hawaiian Airlines

Hubs:

  • Denver International Airport
  • George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Houston
  • Los Angeles International Airport
  • Newark Liberty International Airport
  • Chicago O’Hare International Airport
  • Washington Dulles International Airport
  • San Francisco International Airport
  • Guam A.B. Won Pat International Airport
  • Tokyo Narita International Airport

How Can You Use United MileagePlus?

Frequent flyers love United because it has some of the most flexible awards out there, which can easily be molded into free one-ways, European city tours or round-the-world adventures. Sweetening the deal is a huge partner network that always books in the lowest award category.

Program Perks:

  • Most partner flights can be easily booked online
  • Partner flights always fall into the lowest award category
  • One-way awards
  • Multi-city awards
  • Two open jaws and one extended stopover on each round-trip ticket
  • Unlimited less-than-24-hour stopovers

Booking Quirks:

  • Itinerary holds aren’t free
  • $100 fee for bookings less than 21 days before departure
  • $75 for making a change 21 or more days prior to the date of travel (no change to origin/destination)
  • $200 cancellation fee, lower for elite status holders

Best-Value Awards:

Redemption for North Asia, Japan and Oceania (one of the most expensive places in the world to fly to on a revenue ticket) start at 35,000 miles one way, just a bit more than a flight to Europe and less than the Middle East.

But while United is one of the best options for getting to Southeast Asia, it recently changed its routing rules making it more difficult to route creatively and visit Europe en route, slightly diminishing the value of these awards.

Worst-Value Awards:

Awards to Hawaii are quite overpriced in comparison to other airlines and the rest of the United award chart. You’ll pay significantly less miles from Seattle to Belize than from Seattle to Hawaii.

Standard awards are pricy on any airline, but disproportionately so on United. It’s common for standard awards to be twice the saver award redemption, but on United, they’re more than twice the saver fare across the board, so on United, it particularly pays to keep checking until you find a saver fare or be flexible in your dates.

The Good Stuff: Upgrades and Elite Status

Upgrades on United are complicated affairs, tied into the booking class on your ticket starting. This is the order of the upgrades: J, C, D, Z, P, Y, B, M, E, U, H, Q, W, S, T, K, L, G, or N.

If you purchased an expensive ticket the miles required to upgrade can be quite low and there’s no co-pay required. Cheaper tickets can require hefty co-pays of up to $600 along with 30,000 miles on long-haul flights.

Unless you’re flying domestically, the complex system and high co-pays make upgrading United flights with miles an inefficient use of miles.

United MileagePlus Elite Levels and Perks

Each level includes the perks of the previous category.

  • Premier Silver: Complimentary economy plus upgrade at check-in; complimentary upgrades and companion upgrades; 25 percent bonus miles; Star Alliance silver status; priority boarding, check-in, security screening and baggage handling
  • Premier Gold: Complimentary economy plus upgrade at booking; 50 percent bonus miles; international lounge access; no same-day change fees; three complimentary checked bags; Star Alliance Gold status
  • Premier Platinum: 75 percent bonus miles; reimbursed Global Entry fee; no award ticket fees; no phone service fees
  • Premier 1K© : 100 percent bonus miles; dedicated service line

Associated Credit Cards

From Chase, two main cards offer perks on United: the United MileagePlus Club Visa and the United MileagePlus Explorer Visa, which are also both available in business versions.

  • The United MileagePlus Club Card allows two free checked bags, and the United MileagePlus Explorer offers one free bag for you and one companion.
  • Both offer early boarding, with the former in group two, after the upper classes and elites, and the latter in group one.
  • The United MileagePlus Explorer Card comes with two one-time use lounge passes per year, but its sister card, the Chase MileagePlus United Club Visa, comes with unlimited club access (and a $450 fee). Cardholders have no blackout dates on award bookings.
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