United Airlines MileagePlus program offers some great redemption options on United and partner airlines. United’s Star Alliance membership allows you to earn and redeem miles on Air Canada, Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines and more.
Not only is the airline loyalty program free to join, but United miles never expire. Even if you don’t regularly earn or redeem miles, you don’t have to worry about losing your account balance due to inactivity.
Earning United miles is just one part of the puzzle, but knowing which redemptions to target and understanding the program’s perks can ensure you get the most value from your United miles.
Here are some of the best ways to maximize the MileagePlus program.
Save with United MileagePlus award sales
There has been plenty of doom and gloom news about devaluations, decreased award availability and the stripping of benefits from award tickets. However, one positive trend over the last few years has been the launch of limited-time, discounted award sales — and MileagePlus has joined the party.
For example, in 2024, the MileagePlus program offered the following flash sales:
- Fly to Hong Kong from the U.S. starting at 40,000 miles (plus taxes and fees) each way for United cardholders or 45,000 miles for non-cardholders.
- Fly to the Caribbean and Hawaii from the mainland U.S., starting at 12,000 and 13,000 miles, respectively, each way (plus taxes and fees) for United Chase cardholders.
Book United Lie-flat premium cabin redemptions
United has invested heavily in its international premium experience by expanding Polaris lounges, adding new planes with sleek Polaris cabins and retrofitting its long-haul fleet. Business-class passengers flying United Polaris can enjoy direct aisle access, lie-flat seats and multicourse meals with Champagne, spirits and fine wines.
MileagePlus prices redemptions dynamically, so rates rise in line with cash fare demand. However, on lower-demand dates, you can fly business class to Europe or South America for just 80,000 miles and to Australia for 100,000 miles each way. You might want to use an award search app like Seats.aero to help you find the lowest MileagePlus prices.
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Related: Is United Polaris business class worth it to Singapore?
Book United domestic flights with miles
While some programs have repeatedly increased the prices of domestic award flights within the U.S., it is still possible to book short-haul flights with United miles for as few as 4,500 miles each way, plus only $6 in taxes and fees.
You can try searching the featured awards page on the MileagePlus website to find the lowest domestic fares from your preferred airport.
No fuel surcharges on United flights
The excitement of snagging a “free” trip using your miles can be dampened by a three- or even four-figure cash payment required as a result of pesky fuel surcharges. Other Star Alliance programs, like Lufthansa’s Miles & More program, can tack on hundreds of dollars in fuel surcharges to its award tickets. Luckily, when booking through MileagePlus, you can save on additional fees since it’s one of the few programs that doesn’t add fuel surcharges.
Related: Dynamic pricing vs. fuel surcharges — which is the lesser of two evils for your next redemption?
United Excursionist Perk
United MileagePlus doesn’t offer an unrestricted stopover like some other frequent flyer programs, but it does offer the Excursionist Perk. This perk allows you to add a qualifying, one-way flight to a round-trip award ticket without additional miles. Here are the rules United lists on its website:
- The Excursionist Perk cannot be in the MileagePlus-defined region where your travel originates. For example, if your journey begins in North America, you will only receive the Excursionist Perk if travel is within a region outside of North America.
- Travel must end in the same MileagePlus-defined region where travel originates.
- The origin and destination of the Excursionist Perk are within a single MileagePlus-defined region.
- The cabin of service and the free one-way award type are the same or lower than the preceding one-way award.
- Only the first occurrence will be free if two or more one-way awards qualify for this benefit.
This perk’s simplest and most obvious use would be for a round-trip award from the U.S. to Europe or Asia. You could fly from Dulles International Airport (IAD) to Frankfurt Airport (FRA), use the Excursionist Perk for a free flight from FRA to Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) and then complete your round-trip award booking with a flight back to IAD.
In this case, you’d pay the normal award rate for a round-trip flight from the U.S. to Europe, while the leg from FRA to CDG would be “free.”
Of course, you could get much more creative than this. Maybe you add an open jaw and fly back to O’Hare International Airport (ORD) instead of IAD.
You can be even more creative with this perk. To learn about routing possibilities like “the independent Excursionist,” check out TPG’s complete guide to the Excursionist Perk.
Save cash with last-minute United award redemptions
It might be worth keeping a healthy “just in case” sum of miles in your MileagePlus account for last-minute situations. A few years back, a former TPG staffer traveled to Belgium and had to return immediately to the U.S. due to a family emergency. The urgent nature of the situation meant that they needed to be on the first flight home to San Francisco.
They found a United flight in Polaris business class for just 62,800 miles, connecting through Chicago. Miraculously, this flight was scheduled to depart Brussels in two hours and had the soonest arrival in San Francisco. The cash price was over $8,000, so they avoided paying for an expensive last-minute fare and could immediately return home.
Though an itinerary like this would now likely cost at least 80,000 miles, you can still save thousands of dollars on last-minute bookings by redeeming United miles.
Related: Is United Airlines premium economy worth it to Europe?
How to earn United miles
United is a 1:1 transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards and Bilt Rewards. That means you can transfer points to your United MileagePlus account — a process that should be completed within minutes.
Marriott Bonvoy points transfer to United at a 3:1 ratio thanks to United and Marriott’s RewardsPlus partnership. You’ll get 10,000 bonus miles for every 60,000 points transferred to United MileagePlus. Transfers from Marriott Bonvoy to United MileagePlus can take up to three days.
If you’re starting from scratch or looking to save up, consider adding a United credit card to your wallet. You’ll have your choice among entry-level and premium cards, as well as personal and business options:
- United Club℠ Card (see rates and fees): Earn 95,000 miles after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.
- United Quest℠ Card (see rates and fees): Earn 90,000 bonus miles and 500 Premier qualifying points after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening.
- United℠ Explorer Card (see rates and fees): Earn 80,000 bonus miles after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening.
- United Gateway℠ Card (see rates and fees): Earn 30,000 bonus miles after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening
- United℠ Business Card (see rates and fees): Earn 125,000 bonus miles after spending $5,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening.
United’s cobranded cards are issued by Chase, meaning they’re subject to the 5/24 rule for new applicants.
Bottom line
Despite some negative changes to the United MileagePlus program over the years, plenty of high-value options remain for redeeming your miles.
Knowing which award types, cabins and routing rules to utilize can help you boost your redemption values every time. Finally, review the Excursionist Perk to add a free second destination to your next vacation booked with United MileagePlus miles.