United Airlines has announced a major overhaul of its MileagePlus loyalty programme, introducing higher mile earnings, automatic discounts on award flights and expanded access to its lowest-priced reward seats for credit and debit cardholders, with changes applying to tickets purchased from April 2.
The airline says primary MileagePlus cardholders will now earn up to twice as many miles per dollar on United flights compared with non-cardholders, receive at least 10% off every award ticket, and gain access to special Saver Award inventory, including discounted business class seats previously limited to elite members.
The changes are designed to reward frequent flyers who hold United-branded cards by allowing them to build miles faster while using fewer miles for flights across United’s global network.
MileagePlus cardholders will earn additional miles on standard fares, with higher totals depending on loyalty status and the card used. United said MileagePlus 1K members purchasing eligible flights with a United Club card will now earn 17 miles per dollar, among the highest rates offered by airline reward programmes.
Gold members using a United Quest card will earn 13 miles per dollar, more than double what non-cardholding Gold members receive. General MileagePlus members who buy tickets with a United Explorer card will earn 9 miles per dollar, while those using a United Club card will earn 11 miles per dollar.
United is also changing how miles are earned on its lowest fares. General members will now need to hold a United card to earn miles when travelling on Basic Economy tickets, a move that further ties benefits to card ownership.
Alongside higher earning rates, United has introduced permanent discounts on all award flights booked by cardholders. Members without elite status will save at least 10% on award tickets, while Premier members with a United card will receive at least 15% off.
For example, an economy award flight priced at 15,000 miles will now cost 13,500 miles for cardholders, while a business class seat in United Polaris priced at 200,000 miles will drop to 170,000 miles for Premier cardholders.
United is also expanding access to Saver Award inventory in its Polaris business class cabin, opening these lowest-priced reward seats to general MileagePlus members who hold a United credit or debit card. Previously, this inventory was largely restricted to Platinum and 1K elite members.
Saver Award seats in Polaris are now available from as low as 72,000 miles for cardholders without Premier status and from 68,000 miles for Premier members, reflecting the new automatic discounts.
About one-third of flights that offer Saver Awards include inventory reserved exclusively for cardholders and elite members, covering routes to destinations including London, Hawaii, Florida, Cancun and Tokyo.
United said cardholders currently save an average of around 30% when booking Saver Award flights under its ‘Cardmembers Save’ pricing compared with standard award fares, and that the expanded access combined with new discounts will allow members to consistently book flights for fewer miles.
“The most rewarding way to fly United is as a MileagePlus member, and the best way to get the most value from the MileagePlus program is to have one of our credit or debit cards,” said Andrew Nocella, Chief Commercial Officer.
“MileagePlus is designed to reward loyalty to United, and our best customers deserve the best benefits in the industry,” he added.
The new benefits apply across United’s portfolio of cards, including Explorer, Quest, Club, Business and Gateway products, as well as the MileagePlus Debit Rewards Card. United also offers eligible cards in multiple international markets and plans to launch new cards in Brazil, Canada and the United Kingdom later this year.
MileagePlus remains free to join and continues to offer features such as miles that never expire, no blackout dates on award travel, flexible payments using miles and cash, free changes on award tickets and the ability to pool miles with family members.
United operates flights to more than 380 destinations worldwide, with the airline positioning the latest MileagePlus update as a way to make reward travel faster to earn and cheaper to redeem for its growing base of loyalty members.
