Best United credit card? It might not say United on the card
With the merger of United Airlines and Continental Airlines we’re getting a lot of questions about which airline’s credit card to apply for.
What might surprise you – a credit card with high earning power for United Mileage Plus miles is actually the Chase Sapphire Preferred. It lets you transfer points 1:1 instantly into any United Airlines mile account, as well as Southwest Airlines, British Airways, Amtrak, Hyatt, Marriott, and more. And, it earns double points on all dining and travel purchases (even things like fast food, parking, and taxis).
The card with the very highest United mile earning power is the United Mileage Plus Club card — it carries a $395 annual fee, but earns 1.5 miles per dollar on all purchases, and includes full United Club access (up to $475 value).
So why carry a United branded card like the United Explorer? Its value comes in travel benefits, with a waiver on checked bag fees, priority boarding, and other travel benefits.
We carry both - the Sapphire Preferred as the ‘go to’ card for everyday spending, but a United Airlines branded card for the travel benefits.
You can also rack up about 80,000 bonus miles by applying for both a Sapphire Preferred and a United card.
There are three actively marketed credit cards that earn United Airlines miles:
- United Mileage Plus Explorer
- United Mileage Plus Club Card – coming soon, offering lounge access
- Chase Sapphire Preferred — offering mile transfer to other programs, and higher earning
Only Chase credit cards earn full value United Airlines miles, and we think United has one of the better programs for redeeming miles. An independent study found it had the most reward seats available among the global U.S. carriers, and it’s the favorite mileage program of the world’s most frequent flyer.
We’ll discuss the credit cards more below, but first, here’s a table comparing the three major United credit cards.
| Card | United Mileage Plus Explorer | United Mileage Plus Club Card | Chase Sapphire Preferred |
|---|---|---|---|
 |  |
||
| Earning power | |||
| Intro bonus | Up to 40,000 miles (25,000 after first use, 5,000 for adding authorized user, 10,000 each year you spend $25,000) | $95 statement credit after first purchase | 40,000 points when you spend $3,000 within first 3 months |
| Base | 1 mile per dollar | 1.5 miles per dollar -- 50% more | 1 mile per dollar |
| United / Continental purchases | 2 miles per dollar | 2 miles per dollar | 2 miles per dollar (3 miles if purchased via UltimateRewards.com) |
| All other Travel purchases | 1 mile per dollar | 1.5 miles per dollar | 2 miles per dollar (3 miles if purchased via UltimateRewards.com) |
| Dining purchases | 1 mile per dollar | 1.5 miles per dollar | 2 miles per dollar |
| Elite qualifying miles | No | No | No |
| Supplemental benefits | |||
| Bag free on United | Yes, first bag free for you and a companion. | Yes, first and second bags free for you and a companion | No |
| Foreign transaction fees waived | No | Yes | Yes |
| 1:1 mile transfer to United, British Airways, Hyatt, Marriott, Amtrak, Priority Club, Korean Airlines | No -- United/Continental miles only | No -- United/Continental miles only | Yes, instant online transfer for flexibility of points |
| Priority boarding | Yes, after elites, before general boarding -- Group 5 | Yes, with Premier Silver flyers -- Group 4 | No |
| Priority security lanes | No | Yes | No |
| Travel delay insurance | No | No | Yes, up to $300 per 18 hour+ delay (even weather) |
| Hotel upgrades via lhrcollection.com | Yes | Yes | No |
| Lounge passes | Yes, 2 United / Continental Club single visit passes per year | Yes, full United Club membership -- access all United, US Airways lounges, and 970 Star Alliance business class lounges | No |
| Elite upgrades on reward tickets | Yes | Yes | No |
| Avis President's Club membership | No | Yes, double upgrade on car rentals | No |
| Hyatt Platinum membership | No | Yes, 2pm late checkout, free internet, preferred rooms | No |
| Annual fee | $95 | $395 | $95 |
| Secure application link | Apply Now | Apply Now | Apply Now |
Chase Sapphire Preferred: Maximize United miles earning
If you’re serious about maximizing the value of the points you earn — this is the card for you as it offers unmatched flexibility and good earning power. It earns points in a neutral currency — Chase’s Ultimate Rewards — and lets you transfer them 1:1 online into United miles, as well as Southwest Airlines (as of 1/5/12), British Airways, Hyatt, Marriott, Priority Club, Amtrak, and Korean Airlines miles. That way you’re not stuck if United doesn’t have free award flights available on the dates you want to the places you want to go.
You also get double points on all travel and dining purchases– and triple points on travel purchases if you use the UltimateRewards.com search engine to book flights, hotels, or rental cars.
No foreign transaction fee is another benefit.
What you sacrifice is the baggage fee waiver, priority boarding, and elite upgrade eligibility on mile tickets of the United Explorer credit card. You also don’t get the primary auto collision insurance protection of the United Explorer – it’s secondary coverage, as with most credit cards. To see how the card stacks up by the numbers, try our Mile Credit Card Value Calculator – it lets you input your spending habits and will factor in earning bonuses to give a sense of which card has the highest earning power for you.
Right now, the 40,000 point intro bonus may be enough on its own to try the card — it’s almost enough for 2 domestic round trip reward tickets. You can read our full review of the card here.
Click here for the secure link to Chase to read details and apply.
United Mileage Plus Explorer
This card is good for people who are not quite elite member flyers with United but plan to fly them a couple times per year or more while checking baggage. The biggest benefit for this group is the free checked first bag for you and a companion — which can save each of you $50 round trip. So in one trip for two that involves a checked bag, you’ve saved the annual fee of $95. This benefit doesn’t matter much to elite member flyers (people who fly 25,000 or more miles per year on United), as they already receive a baggage fee waiver.
The other benefit for the non-elite flyer is priority boarding. Again, elite flyers already enjoy this benefit, but if you travel several times per year this can give you a chance to get your bag in the overhead bin before general travelers board.
United is trying to entice elite flyers to the card with one key benefit — the ability to get free upgrades on miles tickets when holding this card. Normally, elites who book with miles aren’t eligible for the free upgrades they receive on paid tickets. Note — if you are not an elite flyer, having this card will not make you eligible for free upgrades.
There are also other benefits to consider:
- Primary car rental insurance – if you have damage you don’t need to file with your insurance first, this is a feature once reserved for only very high end credit cards
- Hotel upgrades and benefits. If you book a hotel via www.lhrcollection.com you receive 1) daily breakfast for two, 2) a room upgrade, 3) early/late check-in and check-out, and 4) a special amenity like spa credit. This is similar to a program offered on the $450 per year American Express Platinum Card.
- Lounge club passes. You receive two United / Continental club lounge passes with the card, letting you use the lounge while on a future trip.
You can read our full review of the card here, or see how it stacks up against other cards for your personal spending habits using the Mile Credit Card Value Calculator.
Click here for a secure link to Chase for more details or to apply.
United Mileage Plus Club Card: If you want lounge access
[NOTE: This card hasn't formally launched yet, but you can read our sneak preview here.]
The biggest reason you’ll carry this card — you want full unlimited access to United and US Airways lounges. The $395 per year is cheaper than buying the lounge access on its own, which can be as high as $475 per year. Top level 1K flyers get a $60 annual rebate on this card. We think this card is good for regular business travelers who may or may not have elite status with United — basically someone flying 10,000 up to 50,000 miles per year. If you’re not yet elite, you’ll value the ‘PremierAccess’ early boarding and security lanes (things elites already enjoy).
It also earns 1.5 miles per dollar spent on the card – a 50% bonus – in all categories with no limits. That makes it the most powerful credit card now available for earning United miles.
The United Mileage Plus Club Card also carries these fringe benefits:
- Hotel upgrades and benefits. If you book a hotel via www.lhrcollection.com you receive 1) daily breakfast for two, 2) a room upgrade, 3) early/late check-in and check-out, and 4) a special amenity like spa credit. This is similar to a program offered on the $450 per year American Express Platinum Card.
- Hyatt Platinum status. Offers you late checkout and select room upgrades.
- Avis President’s Club status. For lucrative upgrades when renting cars.
Click here to read our sneak preview of the Mileage Plus Club Card.
So what do we use?
We personally use the Chase Sapphire Preferred most often because we value maximizing mile opportunities — and we’re elite flyers who already get free bags and priority boarding. But we also carry the United Mileage Plus Club Card for the lounge access.
If you want to dig deeper, we’ve created a calculator that lets you see whether carrying both the Chase Sapphire Preferred and a United branded card is worthwhile every year. It factors in the number of times you fly and the kind of purchases you make each month.
Also, remember you can apply for both the Sapphire Preferred and United Explorer, and receive up to 70,000+ bonus miles. Just space the applications about a month apart.
For the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card do miles expire? Is there a limit to the number of miles I can earn?
@David – The points don’t expire and there are no limits on earning.
The recently announced Club card. Will this card carry Primary Car rental coverage like the Explore card?
@Dan – Haven’t been able to get a straight answer from Chase on this. In fact, for even the Explorer have noticed they stopped listing primary car rental insurance coverage in their marketing materials. When you call agents to ask they say “it’s up to Visa” so we’ll have to wait for someone to get the card and look through their full benefits guide.
For the Mileage Plus Explorer Card, do I need to use the card to purchase the ticket in order to take advantage of the Priority Boarding and Free Checked bag. Usually, my business flights need to be booked through my employer’s travel agent, so I would not be able to purchase the actual plane ticket with my Explorer Card — can I still get priority boarding and my first checked bag free or is that only the case for tickets bought with the card itself? Thanks!
@Billy- For the checked bag benefit you officially have to use the card to purchase the ticket. The thought is, most folks who are travelling on business get reimbursed for fees by their employer.
For the priority boarding, it is tied to your Mileage Plus number so should show up regardless of how you purchase the ticket.
If I have a Continental Presidential Pass, can I use the United club access when I am either flying a different airline (non-Star Alliance) or if I purchased my ticket with a different credit card?
@Ella – Yes, if you have the Presidential Plus card you receive a full United Club membership card separately. That lets you access the club as if you paid for it on its own, and allows you to access regardless of the airline you are flying or how you purchased your ticket.
How does this benefit work? Having used United Miles to “buy” a ticket, how would I take advantage of this benefit:
United is trying to entice elite flyers to the card with one key benefit — the ability to get free upgrades on miles tickets when holding this card. Normally, elites who book with miles aren’t eligible for the free upgrades they receive on paid tickets.
@Ian – If you are a Silver, Gold, or Platinum Elite with Continental, or Premier, Premier Executive, or 1K / Global Services with United you will be eligible for the same complimentary upgrade opportunity you would receive when traveling on a normal cash ticket. By holding the credit card, their system allows you to be added to the upgrade list when flying on a mile ticket, so your upgrade is eligible to clear at the same advance windows as if you had paid for the ticket with cash. Just note that right now the feature is only activated on flights flown by Continental. This will change early next year to include fights flown by United.
When is Chase expected to offer a card that provides all the Continental Presidential Plus MasterCard benefits but for United? I primarily fly United and would like the priority boarding, priortity security line, lounge passes, etc. My understanding is that the Pres Plus card benefits (with the excpetion of lounge access) only apply to Continental operated flights.
Matt-
The Presidential Plus already has the access benefits on United operated flights. They will probably rename it early next year. Here’s the fine print from Chase:
PREMIER ACCESS: All Premier Access terms and conditions apply. Benefits apply to the primary Cardmember on the Continental Airlines Presidential PlusSM Card account and anyone traveling on the same reservation. Benefits are available as long as the credit card account is open and not in default. Upon cancellation of the credit card account, all benefits will be cancelled. Benefits include Premier Access check-in, Premier Access security screening (where available), Premier Access priority boarding, and Premier Access baggage handling when traveling on Continental- or United-operated and -marketed flights.