United Airlines is by far the most global of the “big three” US carriers, and understandably, a lot of people may want to accrue miles with the MileagePlus program, to jet off on adventures. In this post, I’d like to take a look at MileagePlus miles, and the best uses of them.
When it comes to the value of redeeming miles, I tend to think that United MileagePlus is somewhere between American AAdvantage and Delta SkyMiles.
I’d argue that MileagePlus miles have actually become more valuable in recent times, not because redemption rates have improved, but instead, because United has changed how it goes about releasing award space. I don’t want to bury the lede — if you want to redeem miles for long haul Polaris business class, you almost always need to book through MileagePlus, rather than through a partner program.
Let’s talk about some of the logistics of redeeming MileagePlus miles, plus what I’d consider the best uses to be.
In this post:
How to earn United MileagePlus miles
There are tons of ways to earn United MileagePlus miles. Of course the most obvious way is by flying with United and Star Alliance airlines, and crediting flights to MileagePlus. However, there are plenty of other ways to earn the miles as well:
- United is transfer partners with Chase Ultimate Rewards, so you can transfer over rewards at a 1:1 ratio; this is useful if you have a card like the Chase Sapphire Reserve® (review) or Sapphire Reserve for BusinessSM (review)
- United has a suite of co-branded Chase credit cards, so you can earn miles with big welcome bonuses, plus for ongoing spending; this includes cards ranging from the United Club℠ Card (review) to the United℠ Business Card (review)
- United MileagePlus sells miles directly, often at a discount; however, even when the program has a sale, the cost typically won’t get below 1.88 cents per mile
Basics of redeeming United MileagePlus miles
Let me go over the logistics of redeeming MileagePlus miles, from the mileage expiration policy, to change fees, and much more.
United MileagePlus miles don’t expire
United MileagePlus miles don’t expire, so that’s a nice policy. You never have to worry about keeping your miles alive, as they’ll continue to be valid, even without account activity.
United MileagePlus has no change & redeposit fees
United MileagePlus has no change or cancelation fees, so you can change or redeposit an award at no cost, and even get the taxes and fees that you paid back. This offers awesome flexibility, and is one major upside compared to the Star Alliance’s two other most lucrative frequent flyer programs, which are Air Canada Aeroplan and Avianca Lifemiles.
United MileagePlus has dynamic(ish) award pricing
United MileagePlus doesn’t publish an award chart, both for travel on United and for travel on partner airlines. So across the board, pricing can change at any time.
Award pricing for United flights is all over the place and constantly fluctuating. However, there is some consistency to partner award pricing, so while the prices aren’t published, we have a general sense of how much a partner award will cost. Note that the lowest level award costs often get marginally more expensive as the departure date approaches.
United MileagePlus offers more award space to some
The real key to maximizing MileagePlus miles is to either have Premier elite status in the program, or to have a co-branded credit card with an annual fee. That’s because those members get access to more award space and better award pricing, in particular for long haul Polaris business class awards.
United MileagePlus awards count toward elite status
If you’re going for elite status with United MileagePlus, it’s cool that award flights potentially count toward elite status. Specifically, if you redeem MileagePlus miles for travel on United or United Express, you’ll receive one Premier Qualifying Point (PQP) for every 100 miles redeemed, as well as one Premier Qualifying Flight (PQF) for every flight completed. In other words, United is valuing each MileagePlus mile at one cent for these purposes.
Note that award flights don’t count toward MileagePlus lifetime elite status, which is still based on revenue flight miles.
United MileagePlus has no carrier imposed surcharges
United MileagePlus doesn’t add carrier-imposed surcharges to award tickets, so you won’t pay airline-imposed fees that in the hundreds of dollars. Of course taxes on tickets can still add up, with things like the UK Air Passenger Duty (APD).
United MileagePlus offers mileage pooling
United MileagePlus is the only one of the “big three” US loyalty programs to offer mileage pooling. With this, a member can invite up to four family or friends to join their pool. The major catch is that pooled miles can only be used for award flights on United, and not for award flights on partner airlines. That limits the usefulness of this feature, in my opinion.
United MileagePlus lets you redeem on Star Alliance & more
Since United is in the Star Alliance, you can redeem your miles across all Star Alliance airlines (subject to availability). You can also redeem your MileagePlus miles on several airlines that don’t belong to the Star Alliance (in some cases due to technicalities), ranging from Aer Lingus, to Air Dolomiti, to Azul, to Cape Air, to Discover Airlines, to Edelweiss Air, to Eurowings.
All of these partners can be booked directly through united.com, or the United mobile app. Furthermore, I have to give United credit for consistently and accurately displaying award availability online, as that’s something that some other programs struggle with.
The challenge with United MileagePlus miles
Before we discuss the best uses of United MileagePlus miles, I’d like to talk about what I consider to be the biggest weakness of United MileagePlus miles. Simply put, if you’re looking to redeem for premium cabin travel on Star Alliance partner airlines, MileagePlus generally doesn’t have award pricing that’s competitive to what you’d find through Air Canada Aeroplan or Avianca Lifemiles.
Now, if you’re directly accruing MileagePlus miles (either through flying or a United co-branded credit card), then that’s a moot point, since you can’t transfer miles to another program. However, if you’re earning Chase Ultimate Rewards points (or another Star Alliance mileage program), then I’d generally argue that there are programs much more lucrative than MileagePlus, assuming you’re looking to redeem on Star Alliance partners. For that matter, other programs sell miles at much more attractive costs, all while having lower redemption rates.
For example, want to redeem miles for Lufthansa first class one-way from Frankfurt (FRA) to Los Angeles (LAX)? Air Canada Aeroplan charges 100,000 points, while United MileagePlus charges 165,000 miles. I think it’s pretty obvious which program offers better value.
My point is simply to say that even if you’re a United loyalist, don’t necessarily assume that you’re best off transferring your Ultimate Rewards points to MileagePlus compared to another partner, assuming you want to redeem on Star Alliance partners.
It’s absolutely worth doing your research and exploring other programs for redemptions as well. I’ve shared what I consider to be the most useful programs for award redemptions.
The best uses of United MileagePlus miles
Generally speaking, you’re going to get the most outsized value for your miles if you’re redeeming internationally in first and business class. I’d like to talk about this briefly when it comes to travel on United, and also when it comes to travel on partner airlines.
MileagePlus miles recently became significantly more valuable (on a relative basis) for the simple reason that United very rarely makes Polaris business class award seats available through partner frequent flyer programs. So if you want to redeem miles for Polaris business class, your best option is to book through MileagePlus, since a vast majority of space is restricted to that program.
Further, the best award pricing is reserved for MileagePlus elite members and those with co-branded credit cards. This clearly represents a major strategy shift, intended to increase engagement in MileagePlus.
United Polaris business class might not be the world’s best business class product, but there’s no denying that the airline has a huge network, and gets people to where they want to go. So there’s value in having access to those awards.
Whether you want to fly from Newark (EWR) to Marrakech (RAK) in business class for 80,000 MileagePlus miles…
…or from Newark to Johannesburg (JNB) in business class for 80,000 MileagePlus miles…
…or from Los Angeles (LAX) to Hong Kong (HKG) in business class for 100,000 MileagePlus miles…
…MileagePlus is worth engaging in, especially if you have a credit card or status.
What about partner redemptions? If you’re looking for the absolute best value and are originating in the United States, there’s one partner award where I find United MileagePlus to be the best. Specifically, flying from the United States to Africa in business class, you’ll pay just 88,000 miles one-way. That’s a great price, given the distance of travel, and it’s better pricing than you’ll find with most other programs.
As a matter of fact, you’ll find that business class to Africa often costs the same as business class to Europe, despite the itinerary being double the distance. So if you want to visit Africa, MileagePlus miles are awesome.
Other than that, I’d say most MileagePlus premium cabin awards go into the “meh” category, where they’re a good option if there’s saver availability and you have MileagePlus miles, while they’re rarely the best pricing you’ll find with any program, so therefore aren’t worth transferring points over.
While it’s not necessarily the greatest value, I know that a lot of elite MileagePlus loyalists just end up redeeming their miles for flights on United domestically. Even though the value isn’t necessarily great, it allows them to stay on the “hamster wheel,” by awarding elite credit for those flights.
I think United MileagePlus miles are also useful for speculative bookings, if you’re not sure if you’ll actually take a flight, but you want a placeholder. Air Canada Aeroplan and Avianca Lifemiles do have change and cancelation fees, so that flexibility offered by United is great.
Bottom line
United MileagePlus isn’t the most lucrative Star Alliance program when it comes to award pricing. If you have United miles, you can still get good value, though if you’re transferring miles to United, I’d think twice about doing that, and would instead consider another program with better redemption rates.
The single most useful thing about MileagePlus is that it offers access to Polaris business class awards. Generally you need elite status or a co-branded credit card in order to unlock the most space and best pricing. That’s super useful, given United’s huge global network, plus the space being blocked through partner programs.
If you ask me, the only market where MileagePlus excels when it comes to partner redemptions originating in the United States is for flights to Africa, where you’ll pay at most 88,000 miles for a one-way partner award. You won’t go wrong with other redemptions, necessarily, but you also won’t get outsized value compared to other programs.
What’s your take on the best uses of MileagePlus miles?
This is helpful Ben. I’ve had status with united for years and between the cramped polaris seats and rough FA service I have really tried to never fly polaris internationally. maybe i’ll have to start including them back in my options… reluctantly.
btw, when is United going to finally make a change to their polaris seats? With AA bringing on a new business seat, and Deltas phantom “One” suites, I can’t help but hope...
This is helpful Ben. I’ve had status with united for years and between the cramped polaris seats and rough FA service I have really tried to never fly polaris internationally. maybe i’ll have to start including them back in my options… reluctantly.
btw, when is United going to finally make a change to their polaris seats? With AA bringing on a new business seat, and Deltas phantom “One” suites, I can’t help but hope united gets pushed into an upgrade on the polaris hard product. It’s just so cramped as is, and Im 5’7” !
This year seeing more of these and cardmember reductions for award space. Is the result the normal award availability has all vanished except for T minus 3 before departure.
I see plenty of award space available. I've managed to book two AF seats to Brazil in February, an overnight flight with Aerolíneas Argentinas to PUJ, another AF award to Vietnam in June and I haven't booked the return from there only because there's a huge amount of availability across both *A and Skyteam and I don't feel any kind of urgency to decide on an itinerary. All of the above is in business class using partner miles at standard redemption rates.
These are flights from the US?
@Points Adventure, taking Air France from the US to Brazil would be a rather unusual routing!
The AF flights are from Europe, the Aerolíneas one is from EZE and the return from Vietnam (or thereabouts) is back to Europe.
Married segments and regional definitions for redemptions are also important - it might be easier to find availability flying DUS-CDG-SGN rather than the direct service from Paris.
Did we just completely forget about Bilt being transferrable to United?
We probably should since BILT may not be around much after February’s 2.0 transition from sugar-daddy Wells Fargo to Cardless… ‘prove me wrong’ *cough*
If I'm not mistaken, MileagePlus still charges change and redeposit fees for accounts that are registered with addresses outside of the US/Canada?
WRONG!
... based and registered in Germany, got UA Premium Silver, NO UA CC, just an old CO member, and i regularly book, redeem and sometimes cancel UA and STAR awards from UA miles, since years, NEVER paid any fees for refund!
All taxes get fully refunded if cancelled!
on ANY reward ticket!
One upside of Aeroplan are the transfer bonuses they get from Chase. United never gets transfer bonuses. Plus, I gave up on Business Class flights. I'd rather fly more in economy than travel in a higher class...
Air Canada redemptions usually have an optional (higher) pricing that allows free cancellation. In my experience it generally brings the price to about the same as UA.
Would you say that 100,000 points for a trip from HND to STL through ORD in J is a good deal?
@ Patrick -- Yes, I'd say that's a solid deal!
Thanks for the insight.
I really want to do EWR—JNB or IAD—CPT. I don’t have status or a cc so I’m looking at 285k per person one way best case. Can I get it down to 80k with just a cc or do I need Premier status too? A little help on deciding whether a cc is worth it for my goal would be appreciated
@ Mjolnir22 -- Any co-branded card with an annual fee would make you eligible, as I understand it. Or the easiest workaround could be to join a mileage pool with someone who is eligible for this award space, as then you don't need a credit card or elite status.
You are correct. I have no status whatsoever, just a co-branded CC. Like one of the flights I mentioned was reduced from 210K to 80K due to that.
So the no fee United Gateway card does not count ?
I can see regular I class availability on UA EWR-FRA next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, so it may be that they're just tinkering with the availability algorithms as opposed to applying a blanket ban on partner redemptions. I'm definitely not in a rush to fly with them again though.
@ Throwawayname -- Good catch, that's the first Polaris business class award space I've heard of through a partner program in a very long time. I'll update the post to clarify that this isn't the case 100% of the time, but is a vast majority of the time.
True Ben - I was able to book a Polaris award for next month from LHR to ORD using ANA miles.
Yes Aeroplan is cheaper
But. There are so many blocked partners (esp in J), ET, TG, CA, EY being best examples of a total block with others having partial blocks
So that ORDJNB on ET you can buy for 88k, won't even show up with Aeroplan
There are also horror stories about Aeroplan's poor customer service (hours-long waits on hold, then get disconnected). I don't know if that's improved, but that's the main reason I avoid Aeroplan in favor of UA even if Aeroplan awards are slightly cheaper. LifeMiles also has a pretty bad reputation. I think there's a *reason* why their awards tend to be less expensive than UA's for the same routes, and that's that their cost of providing...
There are also horror stories about Aeroplan's poor customer service (hours-long waits on hold, then get disconnected). I don't know if that's improved, but that's the main reason I avoid Aeroplan in favor of UA even if Aeroplan awards are slightly cheaper. LifeMiles also has a pretty bad reputation. I think there's a *reason* why their awards tend to be less expensive than UA's for the same routes, and that's that their cost of providing award tickets is lower due to having fewer agents and not training them as well.
There is also a market for international economy class. You can travel to another country for the lowest possible miles. So 3 or 4 trips may be more interesting than fewer number of Polaris class trips.
Those 67% savings are outliers. Like 240K down to 80K for EWR-JNB hardly ever happens. Ben, you really should provide the full content on how you found that. For instance, was it a last-minute, off-season, random Tuesday itinerary one-way? Ok… or is it like, regularly available (nope, it isn’t). Otherwise it’s setting expectations wrong. And that’s what upsets folks with bloggers. Please don’t become like TPG promoting absurd valuations, pretending award redemptions like that are...
Those 67% savings are outliers. Like 240K down to 80K for EWR-JNB hardly ever happens. Ben, you really should provide the full content on how you found that. For instance, was it a last-minute, off-season, random Tuesday itinerary one-way? Ok… or is it like, regularly available (nope, it isn’t). Otherwise it’s setting expectations wrong. And that’s what upsets folks with bloggers. Please don’t become like TPG promoting absurd valuations, pretending award redemptions like that are practical, or shilling for these major corporations with less-than-public-best offers like they do...
Well, in the last years I only booked 'outliers', which is possible by being extremely flexible date and routing wise. But then I also have 5 other alliances available to book, so I just pick the raisins wherever they present themselves. Like round the world in 'J' on very decent airlines for 220K and $ 800.
I agree. You are lucky to get those 80,000 mile redemptions, but they are not easily available and the blogs should always make that clear.
@ 1990 -- I think I write more than just about anyone about how much harder it has become to find award space, and all the new hurdles programs have added to redeeming miles. So I'm by no means trying to hide that.
Of course we're talking about saver level award pricing, but that's always the case when discussing good uses of miles & points. Saver level premium cabin awards on long haul flights is...
@ 1990 -- I think I write more than just about anyone about how much harder it has become to find award space, and all the new hurdles programs have added to redeeming miles. So I'm by no means trying to hide that.
Of course we're talking about saver level award pricing, but that's always the case when discussing good uses of miles & points. Saver level premium cabin awards on long haul flights is what we're all after, even if they're hard to find.
Regarding my examples, though, they were by no means isolated. For example, looking at next month (January), I see nine days where EWR-JNB has that award pricing. In the EWR-RAK market, I see that 80K price more days than not.
Respectable response, Ben. I agree that you’ve been outspoken, possibly more so than any other blog about the devolution of these programs over the years. Yet, there are still sweet spots; so, thank you for pointing them out to us, even if they are harder and harder to find. As to EWR-RAK, I recently took advantage of that routing and redemption (it was nice, 763 Polaris, relatively full up-front, less-so in back, enjoyed the new...
Respectable response, Ben. I agree that you’ve been outspoken, possibly more so than any other blog about the devolution of these programs over the years. Yet, there are still sweet spots; so, thank you for pointing them out to us, even if they are harder and harder to find. As to EWR-RAK, I recently took advantage of that routing and redemption (it was nice, 763 Polaris, relatively full up-front, less-so in back, enjoyed the new Dining area at EWR’s Polaris lounge, didn’t get diverted to Casablanca, thankfully.) Maybe United is struggling to fill that route over winter. Maybe a prelude to them cutting it.
I don't think there's any mainstream program left where desirable awards are "regularly available".
We like to also cruise. We use UnitedCruises to book our cruises. We can often get 10x points for $ spent. A $4000 dollar cruise might net us 40,000 points. In a prior year we could book via our reserve card and earn 3x points by charging to that card. 52,000 points is a decent haul from floating around Alaska for a week.
Do you earn any PQDs for cruises?
I had actually given up on UA miles with their 400K one way transatlantic redemptions in 'J'. But then, to my surprise, I found MUC-DEN-HNL next summer for 80K miles, first leg in 'J' on LH, second in Premium Eco. To my luck I had searched right at a time when LH had decided to use the 380 to DEN for 2026. And recently I found SFO to MUC on Swiss for 80K in 'J'.,...
I had actually given up on UA miles with their 400K one way transatlantic redemptions in 'J'. But then, to my surprise, I found MUC-DEN-HNL next summer for 80K miles, first leg in 'J' on LH, second in Premium Eco. To my luck I had searched right at a time when LH had decided to use the 380 to DEN for 2026. And recently I found SFO to MUC on Swiss for 80K in 'J'., for next spring. Good thing is, I can cancel anytime for free, versus Aeroplan, where I can get some flights, certainly not those, for fewer miles, but it's $ 150 or something like that to cancel.
Saw GUM-NRT bookable on Lifemiles today in Polaris. Not sure if any other Asian routes are available for a partner booking.
GUM to NRT is considered United Business instead of Polaris. They are using 737s on those routes with domestic first class seats as opposed to the Polaris seats.
I booked IAH LHR in J with Lifemiles a few months ago on UA. They do t come often but when they do I book them.
@Andrew I stand corrected. Appreciate the insight.
Update on Polaris availability. Just saw ORD-MUC for Dec 29th in Polaris.
After 20 years of earning UA miles and achieving some loyalty benefits, I'm burning down my balances gradually and not distorting my travel behavior to favor them without some benefit to me. The devaluation of the miles is egregious now, and my behavior will be governed by that.
“ MileagePlus miles recently became significantly more valuable (on a relative basis) for the simple reason that United no longer makes Polaris business class award seats available through partner frequent flyer programs. So if you want to redeem miles for Polaris business class, your only option is to book through MileagePlus.”
Did this make MP miles more valuable? It didn’t really change the value of those points relative to United redemptions, only relative to partner...
“ MileagePlus miles recently became significantly more valuable (on a relative basis) for the simple reason that United no longer makes Polaris business class award seats available through partner frequent flyer programs. So if you want to redeem miles for Polaris business class, your only option is to book through MileagePlus.”
Did this make MP miles more valuable? It didn’t really change the value of those points relative to United redemptions, only relative to partner airline points used for United.
It made partner airline miles/ points *less* valuable.
@ Never In Doubt -- Correct, we're on the same page. :-) That's why I said "on a relative basis."
Short-haul intra-Europe partner tickets can cost +$120 in summer months. UA charges only 6k for these awards (compared to 15k AC miles), which provides decent value without needing a UA branded credit card.
You do realise what 'on a relative basis' means?