United MileagePlus

The Highlights

United is a solid option for international flights, especially for business class.

• United has ample cards for collecting large sums of points.
• International business class seats can be found for as low as 60,000 points to South America and 80,000 to Europe.
• They’re a partner in our favorite rewards system, making top offs from Chase Ultimate Rewards both easy and a good value.
• United is also a decent option for domestic flights and standard international fares, but we generally use Southwest, American or Delta for those.
• We save our United points for those long international flights where business class is a difference maker.

What to Know About This Point System

United Airlines MileagePlus is the most flexible rewards program for international flights, especially if you're invested in the Chase ecosystem. They tend to be more available and cost fewer points than Delta or American Airlines. (The biggest exception is Southwest to the Caribbean.)

With a little planning, you can get some fantastic redemption rates. Even if you have the Reserve Card 1.5x multiplier, we usually find better value using United's portal directly. For example, we booked first-class flights to Africa searching the "Business Saver" seats through United and got flights for 80,000 points. That would've cost 250,000 points through the Chase Portal.

Plus, being part of the Star Alliance, points have more flexibility in terms of global destinations, including smaller cities in Asia, Africa and other niche locations. So if you're focusing on international flights and/or Chase transfers, United is a great go-to for flexibility and solid value.

How to Redeem

The best way to redeem your United MileagePlus rewards is to book award flights on United or one of its partner airlines. Searching on United’s site or app is straightforward. Switch the price display from “money” to “miles” to see award rates. You can also select “flexible dates” to view a monthly calendar, and choose whether to see results from all airlines, United and United Express only, or all Star Alliance airlines.

United no longer has an award chart and instead uses dynamic pricing. You can still find many sweet spots when redeeming United miles for award flights, both on United and its partners. If you have a United credit card or hold status with the airline, you’ll have access to additional award space, so be sure you’re logged in to your MileagePlus account before searching.

Other redemption options

Like with most loyalty systems, you can use your miles for other travel-related bookings, such as hotels, rental cars, and cruises. You can also use miles to pay for bags up to 24 hours before your flight or at check-in, for seats on your flight, a United Club membership, or meals at select restaurants and bars at certain airports. These options usually give you a 1 cent per point redemption at best, so we don’t recommend them.

Visit United MileagePlus