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We've seen several devaluations to the United Airlines MileagePlus program in recent years, so you may be excited to learn about a consistent way to get competitive value from your hard-earned rewards: Using miles to cover your credit card's annual fee. Depending on what's in your wallet, you can unlock up to 1.75¢ per mile on this non-flight redemption, which is pretty good.
Here's how you can redeem United miles toward your credit card's annual fee, the value it provides, and whether it's a good deal.
Use United Miles To Cover Your Card’s Annual Fee
Starting back in May 2020, United added the ability to redeem United miles to cover the annual fee on United Airlines co-branded credit cards. At first, the redemption rate was an even 1.5¢ per mile across all cards. However, United has inflated the value of this redemption method for several cards over time. Now, you can unlock up to 1.75¢ per mile when making these redemptions.
Currently, you can make the following redemptions:
| Card Name | Annual Fee | Miles Required to Cover the Full Fee | Value Cents Per Mile) |
|---|---|---|---|
| The New United Club℠ Card | $695 | 45724 | 1.75¢ |
| The New United Quest℠ Card | $350 | 23,027 | 1.6¢ |
| The New United℠ Explorer Card | $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $150 | 9,868 | 1.52¢ |
| The New United℠ Business Card | $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $150 | 9,868 | 1.5¢ |
| United Club℠ Business Card | $695 | 30,000 | 1.5¢ |
| United MileagePlus® Awards Card (not open to new applicants) | $60 | 4,000 | 1.5¢ |
| United MileagePlus® Select Card (not open to new applicants) | $95 | 6,333 | 1.5¢ |
| United℠ Presidential Plus℠ Card (not open to new applicants) | $450 | 30,000 | 1.5¢ |
| United℠ Presidential Plus℠ Business Card (not open to new applicants) | $450 | 30,000 | 1.5¢ |
For comparison, AwardWallet users have redeemed United miles at the following rates:
- Overall average: 1.94¢
- Short-haul economy/premium economy awards: 1.3¢
- Short-haul business/first class awards: 1.77¢
- Long-haul economy/premium economy awards: 1.88¢
- Long-haul business/first class awards: 3.18¢
In other words, you can get competitive — but not outsized — value for your United miles by redeeming them towards your card's annual fee.
How to redeem United miles for your credit card's annual fee
To redeem United miles for your credit card's annual fee, follow these steps:
- Log into your account at chase.com.
- On your account page, click on “More” on the top right corner.
- Select “Rewards dashboard” from the menu.
- Click on “Use MileagePlus miles with Pay Yourself Back” on the top navigation bar.
Key terms
- You can use miles to offset a United credit card's annual fee that posted in the past 90 days.
- There is no end date listed for this redemption option.
- You can redeem miles for a partial payment of your card's annual fee. This can provide additional options for your redemption strategy.
- Redemption values may chang at any time.
Other Non-Flight Redemptions for United Miles
With MileagePlus miles, you have a few redemption options for things other than standard award bookings or putting your miles towards your card's annual fee.
For example, you can use United miles to pay for a United Club Membership or use miles to offset cash airfare paid with a United co-branded credit card. But neither of these presents a particularly compelling value.
For example, United Club membership redemptions only offer a value of 0.73¢–0.76¢ per mile:
That's why it is a pretty big deal that United MileagePlus members have a non-travel redemption worth 1.5¢ per mile (or more).
Our Take
Redeeming United miles for United credit card fees offers a consistent value between 1.5¢ and 1.75¢ per mile. This redemption method is simple; it requires little effort to take advantage of and can lighten the burden on your wallet every year.
However, it's possible to obtain better value for your miles by booking United sweet spots. So maybe you have no interest in redeeming them to offset your United credit card's annual fee. Clearly, other redemption methods require knowing where to look and patience to find saver awards in a program that uses dynamic award pricing with no fixed award chart.
In the end, the value you assign to this feature will depend on how you value United miles and how much work you're willing to put in to obtain that value.
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Are those speculative rates? I haven’t seen any DP on the mile rates yet.
Same. We saw the rates, but we’d love to see confirmation on the mileage rates.
Nope. There is no “rewards dashboard” anywhere to be found.
Hi Chris, did you see the screenshot in the post showing where to click? Do you not have those same menu options? If you want to use miles for your annual fee and don’t see those same options, you could call the number on the back of your card.
It was a more compelling option when the miles used to expire.
Most frequent flyer sites value United’s mile as low as 1.0 cents per mile. I may be worth alot more if you choose well so I would say at 1.5 cents, is middle of the road. Just my 2 cents 🙂
I will just cancel my card if there is no offer to waive the fee… I can’t travel right now and this card does not make sense for the next year or more…
I am worried about the future of the lovers of travel.
I think that this is a good idea and may boost retention rates on their credit cards.
What’s the point of paying the annual fee with miles when you are a very frequent United flyer and often redeem flight awards?
It’s a great option for those who have United miles, are short on cash right now, and are hoping to keep open an account (for future travel perks, to maintain the credit line, avoid a credit score drop, etc.)
It all boils down to CPP and 1.5 cpp is actually on the high end for United. I’d ABSOLUTELY pay the fee with miles. Think of it this way too, you’re not earning miles when you pay your fee. You may as well burn miles when there is literally no opportunity cost.
Good point. Using miles for flights doesn’t count toward status whereas cash does. May as well put the cash toward airfare rather than your credit card bill.
could be a sign of devaluation to come as there are too many miles floating out there.
Interesting idea, UAL is looking at ways to burn off its miles liability?
I instantly came to the conclusion of United trying to clean up their books as soon as I read the headline.
Where does the money typically go though? The $95 goes to Chase so how does paying these miles to Chase work?
That’s a really good question. Are we paying the miles to Chase? If so do they go into the pot of miles that that isers receive when they transfer URs to United?
It is very tempting. We mostly do one international trip each year and one smaller trip closer, so not a lot of travel. I have a United card and have found that so far it really hasn’t done much for me because of having enough points, availability etc. I was thinking MAYBE I would keep it one more year, but with Covid and other things changing our plans it is really on the chopping block. If I am able to pay points for fees it might just save it. But then, our card isn’t eligible since it hasn’t been billed yet so it is a moot point for me now.
I just redeemed miles to cover my card’s annual fee. 1.5 cents/mile is pretty good value for United miles (higher than what I’d value them at, especially right now).
I’m blown away that redemption rate is so high, particularly in light of the current climate. Is that targeted? Will everyone get the same offer?
It seems everyone is getting the same offer right now.
Do you think this is permanent?
It’s unclear how long it’s going to be available. I’d take advantage of it as soon as you can if you’re interested and able.
I have been looking for another airline to use as my #1. United might be the one thanks to this post. And If I can pay off annual fee by miles, that works for me
I had the United Club card and had also put about 28k spend on it last year. I called in april when my fee was due and didn’t get any offer. I just downgraded to the no-fee United Explorer card.
At 1.5 cents, I think this is a reasonable redemption. I would consider it.