United Award Travel Do Fligts Become Available Again

United Airlines is among the largest airlines in the U.S. and the world, with domestic hubs in Chicago, Houston, Newark, Denver, San Francisco, Washington-Dulles, Los Angeles and Guam. MileagePlus is the name of the airline's loyalty program.

The airline operates 4,500 daily flights to more than 300 cities across five continents. In addition, United has partnerships with 14 airlines and is also a member of Star Alliance, which has 26 member airlines. These relationships mean that you can earn and redeem miles on 39 airlines, and travel to so many destinations.

If your home airport is a United stronghold, you'll want to familiarize yourself with its frequent flyer program so you can start reaping the benefits of the airline's vast reach.

Follow along as we discuss different ways to earn and redeem MileagePlus miles, elite status, the best United credit cards and the airline's Star Alliance and other airline partners.

United Airlines frequent flyer sign-up

Before you can start earning miles with United Airlines, you'll need to sign up for an MileagePlus frequent flyer account. It's free to join, and you can register here .

How much are United miles worth?

Based on our most recent analysis, NerdWallet values United MileagePlus miles at 1 cent apiece. To determine the value of reward miles, we compared cash prices and reward redemptions for economy round-trip routes across several destinations and dates. We divided the cost of the cash ticket by the cost of the reward ticket to determine a "cent per mile" value for each flight, then averaged this value across several flights and dates. Read more about how we arrived at these figures .

This is therefore a baseline value for United miles, based on real-world data collected from hundreds of economy routes, not a maximized value. In other words, you should aim for award redemptions that offer 1 cent or more in value from your United miles.

To determine the value of your miles for specific flights, divide the cash value of the ticket (less any applicable taxes/fees if you redeem miles) by the number of miles required for the flight. So if the ticket would cost either $100, or 15,000 miles + $10 in taxes/fees, the math would be as follows:

($100 – $10) / 15,000 = 0.006, or 0.6 cent per mile.

United Airlines vs. competitors: How it stacks in 2022

Here's a closer look at how MileagePlus competed across categories:

How to earn United miles

You can earn miles when you fly on United or its partner airlines, by using a United Airlines credit card and by shopping and dining with partners.

MileagePlus miles can be redeemed for award flights and many other uses, though none of which are as fruitful.

Earn MileagePlus miles when you fly

The number of miles you'll earn for a flight depends on how much you spent on the ticket and your status level within the MileagePlus program. All statuses above basic membership earn mile bonuses.

For example, the basic member rewards rate is 5 miles per dollar. But at Premier Silver level, you earn a 40% bonus, which turns your rate into 7 miles per dollar. We'll have more on status levels below — or you can jump ahead to that part now .

Status level	Miles earned	Status bonus
MileagePlus member (basic)	5 miles per $1 spent.	None.
Premier Silver	7 miles per $1 spent.	40% bonus compared with basic.
Premier Gold	8 miles per $1 spent.	60% bonus compared with basic.
Premier Platinum	9 miles per $1 spent.	80% bonus compared with basic.
Premier 1K	11 miles per $1 spent.	120% bonus compared with basic.

NOTE: You earn miles only on airfare and airline fees. Government-imposed taxes and fees do not earn miles. Generally, the most you can earn on a ticket is 75,000 miles.

Earning on other airlines: When the ticket is issued by United (ticket number starting with 016), you'll earn miles based on the cost of the fare. But if your ticket is booked through one of United's partners, miles are awarded based on a calculation involving the price and class of the ticket and the flight distance.

Earn United MileagePlus miles with a credit card

United Airlines offers co-branded credit cards through Chase. Bonuses between cards vary, so if you're considering a credit card, take a look at its bonus history so that you can take advantage of a high welcome offer.

NerdWallet's favorite credit card for the MileagePlus program is the United℠ Explorer Card . It gives you 2 miles per dollar spent at restaurants, on hotel stays and on purchases from United, and 1 mile per dollar on all other purchases.

You get a great sign-up bonus to start: Earn up to 70,000 bonus miles. Earn 60,000 bonus miles after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open. Plus, earn an additional 10,000 miles after you spend $6,000 total on purchases in the first 6 months your account is open. The annual fee is $0 intro for the first year, then $95 — but the checked bag benefit on this card can make up for it quickly. The first checked bag is free for you and a companion traveling on your reservation.

Here are some more resources for shopping United credit cards:

» JUMP AHEAD to other credit cards that earn MileagePlus miles

Earn United MileagePlus miles through partners

Hotels. You can earn additional MileagePlus miles at most major hotel chains. In some cases, you earn 1 or 2 miles per dollar spent; in others, you earn a flat number of miles per stay. See partner hotels and the earning rules here .
Dining. Register a credit card with MileagePlus Dining , and every time you use that card at a participating restaurant, club or bar, you'll earn up to 5 miles per dollar spent. There are more than 11,000 participating locations.
Auto rentals and other transportation. Hertz-owned rental agencies, including Dollar and Thrifty, offer the option to earn MileagePlus miles. See the rules here . Amtrak rail service and select shuttles and car services are also partners.
Shopping. When you shop online through the MileagePlus Shopping mall, you earn miles for every dollar you spend at more than 850 retailers.
Financial partners. Earn miles when doing business with lending and insurance partners, among others. Details here .

Buy United miles

If you want to buy United miles, you can do so on the MileagePlus website, but this is generally not a good idea. You'll pay far more than the 1 cent per mile at which NerdWallet values MileagePlus miles. However, if you need a few thousand miles to top up your account for a valuable award, it could make sense.

How to redeem United miles

MileagePlus miles are redeemable for flights on United Airlines, on Star Alliance airlines and on United's independent airline partners. Star Alliance has 26 member airlines and United has partnerships with 14 airlines. All of this means that you can use United miles to fly on 39 airlines, creating so many opportunities for traveling the world.

Nerdy tip: MileagePlus members have the option to pay for domestic United flights using a combination of miles and cash, called Money + Miles. You'll earn miles on the cash portion of the payment, excluding taxes and fees.

United has a user friendly search engine, which means that In most cases, you can redeem miles directly on United's website. Choose a flight, and you'll see what the price is in cash as well as miles.

United award tickets

United offers several levels of award seats, requiring more miles for more desirable seats and cabins. Flights can be booked as one-way tickets or round trips, and there is no benefit of booking a round-trip ticket.

Generally, there are two kinds of award redemptions:

Saver Awards seats are cheaper in terms of miles required to book them — ranging from 5,000 to 12,500 miles for domestic economy, for example. But they are scarcer and might not be available for the flight you want.
Everyday Awards seats are more available than Saver Awards seats but require more miles. Flyers with elite status, which United calls Premier, and eligible holders of MileagePlus credit cards have unrestricted access to book seats — even the last seat on the plane — at the Everyday Awards level.

United discontinued its published award chart for flights on Nov. 15, 2019, and does not have a set amount of miles required for each flight anymore. You can generally expect that prices that are cheaper with cash will also be cheaper with miles. It's always best to compare the cost of each before booking.

Note that if you pay for a flight with miles, you don't earn frequent-flyer miles for that flight.

Good redemption options

Free flights. Because we value MileagePlus miles at an average of 1 cent each, redemptions that give you at least that much value are a decent option. For example, break-even would be a flight that costs $400 or 40,000 miles (40,000 miles * .01 per mile). If you can book a $400 flight for 25,000 miles, that's a better use of miles (1.6 cents per mile). United has many opportunities for sweet spot redemptions .
Upgrades. Upgrading your seat to a premium class can be another good use of miles because doing so can return value greater than 1 cent per mile. Some upgrades to business or first class require payment in the form of a cash co-pay as well as miles. As with award seats, upgrades are based on one-way flights. The price of an upgrade depends on the fare class of your current ticket — upgrading from a cheaper fare will generally cost more.

Bad redemption options

As a general rule, redemptions at a value lower than 1 cent per mile aren't good. Other redemption options include United Club membership fees, hotel stays, car rentals, cruises and gift cards. These options tend to offer a lower value than 1 cent per mile, so we recommend avoiding them.

United elite status

Anyone can sign up for the MileagePlus program. It's free to join. With basic membership, though, pretty much all you get is a frequent-flyer number and an account where your points accumulate. The real goodies come when you earn elite status. First, we'll look at what you get at the four elite levels of MileagePlus. Then we'll look at what it takes to get there.

MileagePlus elite levels and benefits

On United, elite statuses are called Premier levels. From lowest to highest, they are Silver, Gold, Platinum and 1K.

With Premier statuses, you'll qualify for mileage bonuses, seat upgrades, priority check-in, complimentary checked baggage, better award-seat availability, discounted and waived fees and other benefits. And if you get Gold status or better, you'll also have lounge access when traveling internationally. Here's a full list of all the perks you'll receive at each level.

Note that a few of the most valuable perks of elite status are available through some of the airline's co-branded credit cards. They include free checked bags, priority boarding, better access to award seats and even United Club airport lounge access.

How to get elite status on United

To earn MileagePlus Premier elite status, you need to do things the airline cares about as a business: fly often, fly far and spend money. This will earn you a combination of Premier qualifying points (PQPs) and Premier qualifying flights (PQFs).

PQPs are earned on the base fare, carrier surcharges, economy plus seats or subscriptions, preferred seat purchases, upgrade award co-pays, paid upgrades and flights ticketed and operated by Star Alliance partners.
A PQF is one flight. Each segment flown (except basic economy) will count as one PQF. Flights taken in basic economy will not earn any PQFs.

You don't need to track all this math yourself; United does that and displays it in your online MileagePlus account. But the chart below shows how it works. United, like other airlines, labels fare classes with letter codes. For example, F is first class, Y is full-fare economy and N is basic economy. Your fare class for each flight segment is displayed during booking and when viewing a ticketed itinerary on united.com.

PQPs and PQFs are all credited to the person flying, not the person paying for the tickets. And if you used frequent flyer miles to pay for a flight, you won't earn any PQPs or PQFs.

Elite-Level Requirements

Due to COVID, United has made it easier to earn status through 2023. To become an elite member, you need a specific number of PQFs and PQPs or PQPs only:

Since United can't determine how much money you spent on flights with Star Alliance partners, if you chose to earn United miles on those flights, PQPs will be earned based on an airline's designation as a "Preferred" or "MileagePlus" partner :

Earning Premier status is based on flying and spending during the previous calendar year. Once you qualify for a Premier status, it is valid from the date you qualified through the end of the following program year. So, it could last more than 12 months. For example, if you qualify for Premier Silver status in June 2022, you'll keep your status through Jan. 31, 2024.

United airline partners

The United Airlines website identifies these as its partner airlines.

Star Alliance members

In general, you can earn MileagePlus miles on flights with Star Alliance partners and redeem your miles for flights on Star Alliance airlines.

Aegean Airlines.
Air Canada.
Air China.
Air India.
Air New Zealand.
All Nippon Airways (ANA).
Asiana Airlines.
Austrian Airlines.
Avianca.
Brussels Airlines.
Copa Airlines.
Croatia Airlines.
EgyptAir.
Ethiopian Airlines.
EVA Air.
LOT Polish Airlines.
Lufthansa.
SAS.
Shenzhen Airlines.
Singapore Airlines.
South African Airways.
Swiss International Airlines.
TAP Air Portugal.
Thai Airways International.
Turkish Airlines.

Other partner airlines

On airlines outside the Star Alliance, your ability to earn and/or redeem miles is more limited. For example, you may be able to earn miles but not redeem them, or you may be able to redeem only for certain flights. Other partner airlines include:

Aer Lingus.
Aeromar.
Air Dolomiti.
Airlink.
Azul Brazilian Airlines.
Boutique Air.
Cape Air.
Edelweiss.
Eurowings.
Hawaiian Airlines.
Olympic Air.
Silver Airways.
Vistara.

Credit cards that earn United MileagePlus miles

United Airlines co-branded credit cards are issued by Chase. Cards that earn MileagePlus miles include:

2 miles per dollar on eligible United Airlines purchases, gas, local transit and commuting.
1 mile per dollar spent on other purchases.
Annual fee: $0 .

2 miles per dollar on eligible United Airlines purchases, hotel stays and at restaurants.
1 mile per dollar spent on other purchases.
Annual fee: $0 intro for the first year, then $95 .

3 miles per dollar on eligible United Airlines purchases.
2 miles per dollar on restaurants, select streaming services and all other travel.
1 mile per dollar spent on other purchases.
$125 annual United credit.
Annual fee: $250 .

4 miles per dollar spent on United purchases.
2 miles per dollar spent on dining and all other travel.
1 mile per dollar on all other purchases.
United Club membership.
Annual fee: $525 .

Earn 2 miles per dollar spent on restaurants, gas stations, office supplies stores, transit and United purchases.
Earn 1 mile per dollar spent on all other purchases.
Annual fee: $0 intro for the first year, then $99 .

2 miles per dollar on United ticket purchases.
1.5 miles per dollar on every purchase.
Annual fee: $450 .

Another United co-branded card for consumers, the United℠ TravelBank Card , does not earn MileagePlus miles.

Frequently asked questions

How do I redeem my United miles?

The simplest way to redeem United miles is to use them for award flights on United and its partner airlines. You will need to log in to your United MileagePlus account to search for available flights. Other ways to use United miles include: flight upgrades, hotel bookings, shopping and gift cards.

Can United miles be transferred to partner airlines?

No, you cannot transfer your United miles to other airlines. However, you can use your United miles to book flights on partner and Star Alliance airlines.

How many miles does it take for a free flight on United?

United no longer has an award chart and instead uses dynamic pricing, so the price of an award ticket fluctuates based on the date of travel and the airline. To see a list of the lowest award fares, check out United's flight award deals to various destinations for as low as 5,000 miles.

Can you use United miles to pay for part of a flight?

Yes, in November 2021, United launched a Money + Miles payment option, giving flyers the ability to pay for domestic United flights using a combination of miles and cash. If you're short on miles when paying for an award ticket, choose the Money + Miles option when submitting your payment info and designate the amount of miles you want to use. The remaining amount can be paid for in cash, which will also earn miles.

When should you use miles instead of paying?

NerdWallet values United miles at 1 cent each, which means that 10,000 United miles are worth $100. Although there is no hard and fast rule that applies in every instance, generally it makes sense to use your miles when you can extract a value greater than 1 cent from each mile. So, if a flight costs 10,000 miles or $50, you'd be better off paying cash. However, if that same 10,000-mile flight costs $200, it would be preferable to use your miles.

How do I redeem my United miles?

Can United miles be transferred to partner airlines?

No, you cannot transfer your United miles to other airlines. However, you can use your United miles to book flights on partner and Star Alliance airlines.

How many miles does it take for a free flight on United?

flight award deals

to various destinations for as low as 5,000 miles.

Can you use United miles to pay for part of a flight?

When should you use miles instead of paying?

NerdWallet values United miles at

1 cent

each, which means that 10,000 United miles are worth $100. Although there is no hard and fast rule that applies in every instance, generally it makes sense to use your miles when you can extract a value greater than

1 cent

from each mile. So, if a flight costs 10,000 miles or $50, you'd be better off paying cash. However, if that same 10,000-mile flight costs $200, it would be preferable to use your miles.

Need more help deciding?

We've covered all the basic details of the United Airlines MileagePlus program. But if you still aren't sure whether a frequent flyer program is worth the effort, see our absolute beginner's guide to frequent flyer programs .

The information related to the United℠ TravelBank Card has been collected by NerdWallet and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of this card.

How to maximize your rewards

You want a travel credit card that prioritizes what's important to you. Here are our picks for the best travel credit cards of 2022 , including those best for:

scammellchapted.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/travel/united-airlines-mileageplus-program-the-complete-guide