United MileagePlus: Guide to earning and redeeming miles, elite status

United MileagePlus is a great program for travelers loyal to United Airlines or based near a United hub. The program overhauled its cobranded credit card lineup in March 2025 and, this past February, announced some big changes that benefit cardholders, making it even more appealing to travelers ready to double down on United.

Whether you’re already a frequent United flyer or you’re curious about dipping your toe into the program, this guide will answer all your questions about earning and redeeming miles, Premier elite status, United credit cards and more.

Related: You can now book United’s first Polaris Studio suites

United Airlines partners

United is a member of Star Alliance, meaning you can earn and redeem miles with various international airlines through United MileagePlus. United Premier elite members can often enjoy perks like lounge access and extra baggage allowance when traveling with these partners.

Here’s a look at United’s current Star Alliance partners:

• Aegean Airlines
• Air Canada
• Air China
• Air India
• Air New Zealand
• All Nippon Airways
• Asiana Airlines
• Austrian Airlines
• Avianca
• Brussels Airlines
• Copa Airlines
• Croatia Airlines
• Egyptair
• Ethiopian Airlines
• EVA Air
• Juneyao Air (a connecting partner)
• LOT Polish Airlines
• Lufthansa
• Lufthansa City Airlines
• Shenzhen Airlines
• Singapore Airlines
• South African Airways
• Swiss
• TAP Air Portugal
• Thai Airways
• Turkish Airlines

United also partners with several airlines outside of Star Alliance:

• Aer Lingus
• Air Dolomiti
• Airlink
• Azul Brazilian Airlines
• Cape Air
• Discover Airlines
• Edelweiss
• Emirates
• Eurowings
• Flydubai
• Hawaiian Airlines
• ITA Airways
• JetBlue
• JSX
• Olympic Air
• Virgin Australia

Some partners have their own limitations regarding MileagePlus members — including applicable bonuses, eligible fare classes and excluded routes — so be sure to review United’s airline partners page for the full details on each one.

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Related: United-JetBlue Blue Sky partnership begins with earning, redeeming on either airline

United Airlines Premier status

MileagePlus has four levels of elite status: Premier Silver, Premier Gold, Premier Platinum and Premier 1K. There’s also an exclusive Global Services tier for flyers who spend a significant amount of money with the airline and who receive a personal invitation.

There are two ways to earn United Premier status: by using a combination of Premier qualifying points and Premier qualifying flights, or by earning PQPs alone. To earn any level of status, you must also take at least four United or United Express flights in a calendar year.

You can earn PQFs and PQPs by flying United or its partners and by spending on some of United’s cobranded credit cards.

This is what it takes to qualify for United status in 2026 (valid through Jan. 31, 2028):

All United Premier members enjoy perks like bonus miles on paid tickets, free checked bags and waitlisted upgrades. Higher-tier members have access to more valuable perks like complimentary Economy Plus seating, PlusPoints (which can be used to confirm upgrades), Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status and Star Alliance Gold status.

How to earn United miles

There are many ways to boost your MileagePlus balance. Some methods, like flying, are obvious, while others don’t even require setting foot on a plane.

Let’s dive into the nuts and bolts of how you’ll earn miles on different types of airfare, various United credit cards, transfer partners and more.

Fly on United Airlines

When flying on United-marketed and -operated tickets, you’ll earn MileagePlus miles (up to 75,000 miles per ticket) determined by the base price (minus taxes and fees) rather than the distance you fly.

After United’s recent earning shake-up, the number of miles you can earn depends not only on your Premier status level but also on whether you hold a United cobranded credit card. Here’s a breakdown of how miles are awarded on United flights (except basic economy fares, which we’ll cover next):

Another change coming April 2: Basic economy fares will no longer be eligible to earn miles — unless you have elite status or a United credit card. Here’s what you can expect to earn on these no-frills tickets:

On top of these earn rates, cardholders get even more miles when paying for a United flight with their card:

As you can see, earning miles with United just got more complicated. Earn rates now vary widely, from 3 miles per dollar for members with no status or United credit cards to 17 miles per dollar for Premier 1K members paying with the top-tier United Club Card.

This new earning structure gives United flyers yet another reason to add a MileagePlus card to their wallets.

Related: Complete guide to United’s revenue, award and upgrade fare classes

Fly on United partner airlines

United also awards MileagePlus miles on partner flights, but it works a little differently. If you book a partner flight through United (indicated by a 016 ticket number), you’ll earn miles based on your ticket fare and elite status per the guidelines above.

But if you book through a partner airline, your miles will be awarded based on the flight distance and fare class. Mileage-earning rates vary by airline, so check your booking class and United’s partner airline list to determine your award miles. As you might expect, premium-cabin tickets earn more miles than economy tickets, and Premier members are eligible for bonus miles on select partners.

Spend on United credit cards

Another way to rack up miles is by spending on United’s cobranded credit cards, issued by Chase. These cards earn bonus miles on United purchases, as described above, but they also earn miles any other time you swipe (or tap) them. Some of them earn PQPs as well to get you closer to elite status.

Here are some of the best United cards and their current welcome bonuses:

• United Quest Card: Earn 80,000 bonus miles and 3,000 PQP after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.
• United Explorer Card: Earn 70,000 bonus miles after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.
• United℠ Business Card (see rates and fees): Earn 100,000 bonus miles and 2,000 PQPs after spending $5,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.
• United Club Card: Earn 90,000 bonus miles after spending $5,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.

Transfer credit card points

Beyond earning a credit card welcome bonus, you can also easily boost your MileagePlus balance by transferring points from one of the program’s transfer partners: Chase Ultimate Rewards and Bilt.

You can transfer points from either program to your MileagePlus account at a 1:1 ratio, or get an even better ratio if you find a transfer bonus. Transfers usually happen instantly, making this an easy way to get the miles you need for an upcoming United redemption.

Related: How to transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to United

More ways to earn United miles

To earn more miles on everyday spending, you can leverage United’s shopping portal and the MileagePlus X app for online and in-store purchases. Or, sign up for MileagePlus Dining to earn up to 5 miles per dollar spent when you dine at participating restaurants and use a linked credit card.

If you’re going to make these purchases anyway, you may as well maximize your rewards on them, right?

You can also earn miles by booking hotels and cruises through United’s portals, or by booking travel with United’s hotel and rental car partners. Other ways to earn more include buying miles and transferring Marriott Bonvoy points, though these rarely present the best value proposition.

United miles pooling

One handy feature of MileagePlus is that members of all ages can share and redeem miles in one account. This is especially useful for families, since kids and their parents can team up to book a larger redemption.

However, keep in mind that you can only redeem pooled miles on United-operated flights, not on partner flight redemptions or seat upgrades.

This story walks you through how to set up a United miles pool.

How to redeem United miles

Although United has retired its award charts in favor of dynamic pricing, there are still ways to maximize your miles.

Generally, you’ll get the most value out of your miles when you redeem them for flights, which is easy to do on United’s website or app. You can use the advanced search feature to open a fare calendar and pinpoint the best deals, or start your search with a tool like Seats.aero to narrow down your dates.

United credit card holders and Premier members have long had access to better award rates; as of April 2, the carrier plans to offer discounts of at least 10% on every award flight to cardholders and 15% or more to elite members. So, be sure to log into your MileagePlus account before searching for award flights if you fall into these categories.

United also offers a payment option called Money + Miles on all fares, though we don’t recommend this because it gives you a fixed rate of 1 cent per mile — well below our March 2026 valuation of 1.5 cents for United miles.

The same goes for most other ways to redeem United miles, such as United Club memberships, TSA PreCheck fees, car rentals, hotel stays, retail products and gift cards. The value you’ll get from these redemptions will typically fall far short of what you could get on an award ticket.

Related: How to exchange your unwanted gift cards for United miles

Best uses of United miles

One way to spend your United miles — even if you haven’t amassed many yet — is on short-haul flights, where you can find award rates starting around 5,000 miles each way. These flights usually cost less than $100, so you may not get spectacular value from your miles, but booking them with miles can give you more flexibility. That’s because, while United doesn’t charge cancellation fees on most fare classes (except basic economy), you’ll generally get a refund in the form of a future flight credit. With award flights, on the other hand, you’ll get your miles redeposited and your taxes and fees returned to your original form of payment.

You can also find low rates for transcontinental flights when there’s saver award space. I’ve personally booked partner business-class flights to Africa for 88,000 miles each way — a stellar price for 15-plus hours in a lie-flat seat and lounge access during my layovers. And with United’s recent shakeup, Premier members and credit card holders may be able to unlock even better deals.

If you want to fly to Europe, United offers one-way, saver-level flights for just 20,000 miles in economy, 50,000 in Premium Plus premium economy or 80,000 in Polaris business class. All of these are great ways to travel across the pond.

Lastly, you might consider using United miles to book top partner products such as ANA’s “The Room” or EVA Airways’ business class. These award flights don’t come cheap, but they make up for it with luxurious amenities you may not find anywhere else.

Related: 13 travelers each did 15 United MileagePlus award searches: Here’s how pricing differed across accounts

Bottom line

United’s MileagePlus loyalty program makes a lot of sense for travelers who live near a United hub or fly United often enough to earn status. But even if you rarely fly United or don’t care about elite status, you may still want to transfer miles from Bilt or Chase when you spot a great redemption. Since United has a wide route network — and frequently adds new routes — it’s easy to earn and redeem MileagePlus miles on a variety of flights.

In light of United’s new guidelines favoring cardholders, if you fly the airline at all, you may want to consider adding a cobranded card to your wallet to maximize the program’s perks.