A Complete Guide to United Airlines MileagePlus Award Travel Rules

United MileagePlus is one of the most useful frequent-flyer programs for U.S.-based travelers. As a member of Star Alliance, United offers access to nearly 160 countries and 1,170 award-travel destinations. Earning United miles is relatively easy, and there are plenty of good ways to spend them.

Over the years, we've seen some significant changes to the United MileagePlus program — most notably in 2019, when the program jettisoned published award charts in favor of dynamic pricing. While that change made it harder to predict the cost to book flights operated by United, pricing for redemptions on partner airlines and the rules for redeeming your miles have remained relatively stable.

In this post, we'll cover the key rules for United award travel so that you have the necessary tools to book your next trip.

Overview of Booking, Change and Cancellation, and Itinerary Rules

• Booking rules are broad policies about how you can use miles. This includes how far in advance you can confirm flights, whether you can use your miles to book travel for family and friends and the fees you can expect to pay out-of-pocket when you book an award.
• Change and cancellation rules apply when a trip can no longer be made as originally planned. Understanding these from the get-go can help you determine how flexible your plans can be without incurring too much extra cost.
• Itinerary rules determine what types of trips you can structure with your miles. How many stops can you make? How many partners can you include on a ticket? Do you get a discount if part of your flight is in the economy cabin?

Credit: Chris Leipelt/Unsplash

United Award Travel Costs and Partner Airlines

Before we discuss the rules, you should familiarize yourself with two additional topics to make the most of your United miles.

United award chart

MileagePlus no longer publishes its award pricing, but AwardWallet has compiled an unofficial United award chart to help you plan for upcoming trips. The miles you'll spend is key in deciding whether to book with United or another frequent-flyer program, but it won't always be the only consideration. Sometimes, United's rules and policies confer advantages that make it worth spending more miles to get the itinerary or flexibility you want.

Additionally, our post on the best uses of United miles highlights awards where United outshines the competition.

Related: How and Why You Should Use the United Airlines Expert Mode Feature

United Airlines partners

United miles can be redeemed for flights with over 20 Star Alliance partners and more than a dozen non-alliance partners. Here are the United partner airlines:

Star Alliance member airlines

• Aegean Airlines
• Air Canada
• Air China
• Air India
• Air New Zealand
• All Nippon Airways (ANA)
• Asiana Airlines
• Austrian Airlines
• Avianca
• Brussels Airlines
• Copa Airlines
• Croatia Airlines [effective December 2024]
• Egyptair
• Ethiopian Airlines
• EVA Airways
• Juneyao Air — Star Alliance connecting partner
• LOT Polish Airlines
• Lufthansa
• Shenzhen Airlines
• Singapore Airlines
• South African Airways
• SWISS
• TAP Air Portugal
• Thai Airways
• Turkish Airlines

Non-alliance partner airlines

• Aer Lingus
• Air Dolomiti
• Airlink
• Azul Brazilian Airlines
• Cape Air
• Discover Airlines
• Edelweiss Air
• Emirates
• Eurowings
• Flydubai
• Hawaiian Airlines
• JSX
• Lufthansa City Airlines
• Olympic Air
• Silver Airways
• Virgin Australia

Related: How To Find Airline Partner Award Flight Availability

United Airlines Award Booking Rules and Fees

Can I use my miles to book for another person?

Absolutely, you can redeem your United MileagePlus miles to book an award for anyone.

However, be aware that selling miles is explicitly prohibited in the terms and conditions of the United MileagePlus program. From a practical standpoint, the most significant risk is selling your miles to a stranger. MileagePlus isn't likely to find out that your friend gave you some money or bought you dinner in exchange for booking their flight, but United might ask a passenger to identify the owner of the loyalty account used to book their trip.

Credit: United Airlines

How far in advance can I book my ticket?

United opens its schedule 337 days out from departure for revenue and award flights. Some partners of United, like ANA, make awards available further out than this, but you'll need to wait until United releases its schedule if using United miles to book your award.

Can I put a United award travel reservation on hold?

Unfortunately, you cannot place most United award reservations on hold. The exception is that United does offer a paid add-on called FareLock, which allows you to hold some award itineraries where the flights are operated exclusively by United Airlines. FareLock generally costs $10-30, depending on how long the hold is put on the ticket.

For comparison, American Airlines offers a complimentary 5-day hold on any award ticket booked more than 7 days before departure. If you don't want to pay for United's FareLock or the option isn't available for your trip, you can book an award ticket using the miles in your account and cancel within 24 hours for free. You can buy United miles if you need to top up your balance to book your award.

Does United charge a close-in booking fee?

MileagePlus eliminated its cash fee for close-in bookings in 2019 but compensated by increasing the number of miles required for awards booked within 30 days of travel. Don't be deceived by the sleight of hand. The extra miles required can be significant, so avoid booking within 30 days if at all possible.

Does United charge a phone booking fee?

Yes, United does charge a $25 phone booking fee, $10 at a city ticket office, and $50 at the airport. However, if you have United Premier Platinum or Premier 1K status, the $25 phone booking fee is waived.

It's worth noting that most reservations agents will waive the phone booking fee if it isn't possible to book your award online. If booking by phone is the only option because United's website can't handle your request, ask (nicely) for a fee waiver and escalate to a supervisor if necessary.

How much does it cost to include a lap infant?

Lap infants are children under two traveling with an adult who booked with points or cash. If flying domestically within the United States, there's no cost to add a lap infant to your United award. For flights between the U.S. and Canada, Mexico, or the U.S. Virgin Islands, parents traveling with a lap infant will need to pay the applicable taxes and fees.

For other international flights, United charges 10% of cost to buy an adult ticket to add a lap infant. Fortunately, the 10% fee is now capped at $250 plus taxes. Under the previous policy, the 10% was uncapped, making adding a lap infant to premium cabin awards quite expensive.

Credit: Paul Hanaoka/Unsplash

Related: Airline Award Sweet Spots for Families

United Airlines Award Travel Change and Cancellation Rules

One great thing about United Airlines is that, like its competition, it has eliminated change and cancellation fees in recent years.

How much does United Airlines charge to change or cancel an award ticket?

It's completely free of charge to change or cancel a United award ticket. If canceling an award, miles are redeposited into your account, and taxes are refunded to the card used to make the transaction. If making an award-ticket change, there's no cash “fee” involved per se, but remember that you'll be responsible for the difference in miles and taxes when you rebook. Or, if the price of the new flight is lower than your original award, you'll receive a refund in miles to your account.

Does United Airlines allow free changes within 24 hours?

Yes, United allows free changes up until your flight departs. However, if you “no-show” for a flight, it will cost you $125 to redeposit miles from your award into your account. That's not cheap, but United is still relatively generous here; most frequent-flyer programs won't refund awards cancelled after departure.

How can I track award flight changes?

AwardWallet automatically tracks all your travel plans (and alerts you to any changes) by importing reservations from your email or connected accounts. I recommend linking the email you use for reservations to your AwardWallet account to make this service nice and seamless.

Don't have an AwardWallet account yet? Sign up for free and track unlimited rewards programs and travel plans!

United Airlines Award Travel Itinerary Rules

Can I book a stopover with United miles?

United MileagePlus offers one of the most unique award booking benefits out there — the Excursionist Perk. It's a very convoluted perk with lots of rules and caveats, but essentially, the United Excursionist Perk is designed to let you visit two different destinations on the same award ticket with no additional mileage cost between them. You'll need to be flying on a round trip or “open jaw” itinerary to utilize this perk.

Credit: Uğurcan Özmen/Pexels

Related: What Is the Difference Between a Layover and a Stopover?

Can I book one-way travel with United miles?

You absolutely can! United awards can be booked one-way, round trip, or as two separate one-ways. United prices one-ways as half the price of the round-trip award. Keep in mind that United uses dynamic pricing for most of its awards, so your award will price according to the flights you select.

Can I book an open jaw with United miles?

Yes, open-jaw awards are allowed under the United MileagePlus rules. To learn more, check out our guide to stopovers and open jaws!

Can I fly with multiple partner airlines on the same trip?

Yes, United MileagePlus allows you to book an award with multiple partners on the same reservation.

Can I book an itinerary with multiple classes of service?

United allows you to book itineraries that combine two or more classes of service, but this generally means you'll be overpaying in miles. This is because MileagePlus sets the award price based on the highest class of service on your itinerary. In other words, if you book an award with a short flight in business- or first class that connects to a long-haul flight in economy, you'll spend the same number of miles as an itinerary with all flights in the higher class of service.

Fortunately, United clearly labels these itineraries as “mixed-cabin” awards in the online search results.

Avianca LifeMiles is a good alternative to United when booking a mixed-cabin award because LifeMiles charges a pro-rated price based on the distance flown in each cabin. It's a member of Star Alliance, so you might be able to book the same mixed-cabin itinerary at a much lower price.

Can I book a round-the-world ticket with United miles?

Unfortunately, there's no “round-the-world” ticket option with United miles. If you're looking to book a round-the-world ticket with Star Alliance airlines, consider a program like ANA Mileage Club, or Lufthansa Miles & More, which specifically offer those types of tickets.

The United Excursionist Perk is a nice way to see an extra destination, but it's far more restrictive than other types of round-the-world tickets since the “free” one-way award in the itinerary must be within one “region” as defined by the MileagePlus program.

United Excursionist Perk regions

• United States and Canada
• Hawaii
• Mexico
• Central America
• Caribbean
• South America #1 (Ecuador to French Guiana)
• South America #2 (Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay)
• Europe (Including Russia)
• North Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya)
• Rest of Africa
• Middle East (including Egypt)
• Central Asia
• North Asia (China, Mongolia, South Korea)
• Japan
• South Asia
• Australia and New Zealand
• Oceania

The Excursionist Perk will clearly state the one-way flight as “0 miles.” Credit: United

Itinerary Rules for Complex United Award Bookings

The final rules detailed below might not apply to every booking, but are helpful to know for more complex trips. When you can't get an award to price as expected online, the most likely reason is that you've run afoul of one of these rules.

Published route requirement

A published route requirement requires award tickets to follow routes that are available for sale. Unlike American Airlines, United has no published routing rules. However, some basic “common-sense” restrictions still apply to United awards.

For example, an itinerary from the western United States to Australia won't be valid with a connection in Europe or Africa since it requires traveling much further than a direct flight. However, predicting what United considers a “common-sense” routing is not always easy. For example, United does allow awards from the U.S. to Asia via Europe or Africa, which comes in handy if you aren't keen on a 17-hour nonstop from New York to Hong Kong.

Maximum Permitted Mileage (MPM)

Maximum Permitted Mileage (MPM) is a more precise way to define a common-sense routing. Loyalty programs that use this type of rule define how far you can deviate from the most direct routing in terms of extra miles traveled. United doesn't enforce a MPM rule, so there isn't a mathematical way to check if a routing is allowed.

United Airlines award segment limits

While not a published rule, there's a four-segment limit for each direction of travel on a round-trip award with United miles. There are some other reports that 9 segments are possible on a round trip, but that might be considering the Excursionist Perk as one of those legs. In practice, it may require several phone calls with a United agent to get a particular routing ticketed for these situations.

Credit: Chris Leipelt/Unsplash

Married segment logic

Many airlines have switched to “married segments” when pricing awards for travelers. In simple terms, married-segment logic means that the award availability and pricing are based on the entire itinerary. For example, you might be able to book a very cheap award ticket from Chicago to Boston with a stop in New York, but the price is much higher if you want to take the same flight from Chicago to New York without continuing on to Boston.

Married segment logic isn't a good thing from the traveler's perspective, but knowing it exists can help you find options you might have otherwise overlooked. Generally, the more popular and convenient a route, the more likely it is to be overpriced. Unfortunately, United MileagePlus has fully embraced this practice as a way to squeeze more miles out of its frequent flyers.

If your destination is flexible, try searching for awards to second-tier cities. For example, you might save tens of thousands of miles by flying to Brussels instead of Paris or Amsterdam. The infuriating part about married-segment logic is that you might still connect in Paris or Amsterdam despite the fact that United won't sell you that ticket at the same price.

Final Thoughts

While that's a lot of intricate points and miles talk for one post, we hope this clarifies United Airlines' award rules for your next trip. The elimination of change and cancellation fees and a reduction in lap infant fees on awards are welcome in my household. And United still offers one of the most fun and unique perks in points and miles with the Excursionist perk, allowing “free” multi-destination trips under one award.

AwardWallet Tip of The Day

Did you know that we scour the internet for promotions? If we find anything worthwhile, we share those with you via the Promos section as well as via the Promotions tab within the details of any loyalty account.
Show me how

Hide image