Questions and Answers

My wife and I have the CSR, CFU, and CF trio. These are working great for us. Since my SO doesn’t share the passion for the minutiae of points, the points accrue to my account and and am in charge of getting all of the revenue and award tickets for both of us.

I would like her to have a card that earns United Miles to keep her account current and good standing (since we often go a while without using it), but we really don’t want to pay much in terms of a fee given we are happy with the points generation / benefits of the Chase trio. Since we are both 1k — my SO is a companion through the 1K program — (and Priority Pass holders) we don’t care about lounges, free bags, economy plus, etc. Do you have a card to recommend? I guess she can always just make an occasional purchase with MPX, but was curious if you have another idea?

The obvious choice is the United Explorer card which is free for the first year and $95 thereafter. It has a relatively easy sign-up bonus of 40K points after $2000 in spend in the first 3 months. If you can spend $10K in the first six months that bonus increases to 60K points. OMAAT has a sign-up link under Best Credit Cards above.

But if you don’t want a credit card you can always buy stuff online through the MIleagePlus portal to extend your points another 18 months. Or sign up with BP Rewards and get points for every fill-up and use whatever card you like. Just about any points-earning activity will extend the life of your UA miles.