When it comes to award travel, so many of our domestic (and international!) travels start with one of our favorite airlines. United Airlines is a U.S.-based airline that is part of the biggest airline alliance, Star Alliance. United’s MileagePlus loyalty program is generous, offering frequent flyers and award travelers plenty of options for earning and redeeming miles for steeply discounted travel.

Let’s go over everything you need to know about United.

United MileagePlus

United’s loyalty program is called MileagePlus. Like all other hotel and airline programs, it’s free to set up an account, which can be done here. My entire family, including my children, has MileagePlus accounts. That way, if we ever fly United cash flights, they get miles credited to their account. Once they’re adults, they’ll already have a little stash!

You need a MileagePlus account to search for and book award flights, so it’s a good idea to set one up if you don’t already have one. Miles earned from United cash flights, from co-branded United cards, or transferred from Chase will live here. Those miles can be used to book award flights.

How to Book Award Flights on United Airlines

To search for award flights, you will need to log in to your United account.

Your search will be very similar to cash flights. Input your origin, destination, date, class (like economy or business), but then make sure you have checked the “Book with miles” box.

Tip: I almost always search for one-way award flights since the points rates don’t fluctuate as they do with cash fares, and it gives you so much more flexibility with your search!

Rates will pop up for all fare classes, and you’ll see a calendar at the top of seven days worth of flight options. Another super helpful tool is the 30-day calendar that you can click on to see all the lowest award rates for a 30-day time frame.

This is especially useful if you’re flexible and you can potentially save tens of thousands of points this way! The calendar below shows business class options for as low as 80,000 points and just $5.60 in taxes one-way on select dates from Newark to Frankfurt!

When you click on your chosen date, you can select your fare class below and continue through to pay and book.

You’ll notice that this last picture includes a cardmember discount. United cardmembers save at least 10% on all award flights, which makes holding a United card very valuable.

Finding United Airlines Flights on Partner Airlines

United Airlines is a member of the Star Alliance, which means you can potentially book United flights through one of its alliance partners. When doing this, there is potentially a lower points price and/or lower taxes.

It can also be helpful because you may only have a certain type of points. For example, only Chase points transfer directly to United. But points from American Express, Chase, Capital One, and Bilt all transfer to Air Canada, one of United’s alliance partners. This opens up your option for having enough points to book a trip.

To find availability through alliance partners, you will first want to find Saver Award fares on United’s website. These are the flights that are potentially available through an alliance partner.

After you’ve found that, you can visit the partner website to check for availability for that same flight (or others). Some of the best options for finding United partner deals are Air Canada Aeroplan and Singapore Airlines.

Credit Card Options

United Airlines offers six co-branded cards through Chase with annual fees ranging from $0 up to $695. These cards have a variety of welcome offers and benefits. There’s truly something for everyone. There are four personal cards and two business cards. Unlike other airline card families, you can hold more than one personal United card at a time.

Here are your card options.

<<All information about the United Gateway℠ Card, United℠ Explorer Card, United Quest℠ Card, United Club℠ Card, and United℠ Business Card, and United Club℠ Business Card has been collected independently by The Traveling Hansens. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.>>

Miles Pooling

Miles Pooling is one of the most convenient features that United offers. This allows two or more United MileagePlus members to share miles that can be used to book flights.

One person (at least 18 years old) can create the pool and then invite selected members to join it. Anyone in the pool can add miles, and any member can use them to book flights. The pool can have up to five members.

My husband and three of my four kids are part of my family pool. This is especially helpful when I do not have enough miles in my own account to book a flight. The family pool allows us to access each other’s points to book flights.

United TravelBank

United TravelBank is another way to set aside funds for future travels. The TravelBank is a fund with a dollar amount, not points in your account. You can also add funds to other people’s TravelBank accounts, and those funds can then be used to book travel in those accounts.

TravelBank funds also have an expiration date, so keep that in mind. However, you have 4 years to use them, so that should give you plenty of time to find a great flight option.

Two important notes:

• TravelBank funds can be used only for United flights.
• You cannot combine TravelBank funds with award bookings.

Other Ways to Earn United Airlines Miles

United makes it SO easy to earn miles from a variety of ways, not just through their credit cards. If you’re short on United miles, here are a few ways to keep racking up points for your travel plans.

Transfer from Chase

As I mentioned earlier, Ultimate Rewards® points can be transferred from Chase to United. Points transfer at a 1:1 ratio.

United Dining

United Airlines has their own dining program and it functions similarly to other airline dining programs.

You can register for a free account, link your chosen credit card, and dine at any of the participating restaurants, and you’ll earn miles when you pay with your linked card. You can link any card you choose; it doesn’t have to be a co-branded United card.

And keep an eye out for bonuses that they might offer for new members!

United Shopping

United also has a shopping portal where you can shop at your favorite online retailers and earn additional miles on your purchases! While this is not my typical go-to shopping portal, this is a really good option if you specifically want more United miles.

MileagePlus X

MileagePlus X is an app that has all of these miles-earning options (and more) in one place.

You can earn miles for shopping, dining, and even eGift card purchases!

Bottom Line

Whether you’re a frequent flyer on United or you’re just looking to earn miles for a specific points destination, there are plenty of opportunities to build up your stash of United miles! Or maybe you have plenty of flexible points, and you’re ready to take advantage of one of those partner award flight deals.

Whatever your goal might be, United can play a key role in getting you there!

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