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United Airlines is the airline that I have flown the least, historically. But I expect that to change soon. One of my new home airports is a major United hub. Because of this, I expect to do a fair amount of travel domestically with the airline and its partners. That led me to dive into the United MileagePlus sweet spots.
Despite removing all award chart information from the web, United still has a rough award chart for award flights. And through this unadvertised award chart, United MileagePlus still offers plenty of value. I have highlighted some of the routes that stand out for United Airlines MileagePlus flight redemptions below.
Page Contents
- Earning United MileagePlus Miles
- Domestic U.S. Flights From 5,000 Miles
- United Excursionist Perk
- Intra-Africa From 8,000 Miles
- Contiguous U.S./Canada to Oceania (45K/85K Economy/Business)
- United States to the Caribbean (20K/35K Economy/Business)
- Intra-Japan From 5,500 Miles
- Close-In North America to Europe First Class (121K First)
- Final Thoughts
Earning United MileagePlus Miles
Anyone looking to take advantage of United sweet spots will want plenty of United MileagePlus miles.
Earning United miles through United credit cards
Thankfully, earning United miles is almost too easy, courtesy of several co-branded United credit cards. Sign-up bonuses for United credit cards currently reach as high as 90,000 bonus miles, letting travelers with absolutely no miles build up a balance quickly. Better yet, almost every United card offers MileagePlus members expanded United award availability.
Transferring points from other programs
In addition to United co-branded credit card bonuses, Chase Ultimate Rewards points transfer directly to United at a 1:1 rate. That means a hefty stash of Ultimate Rewards points could become a hefty stash of United miles with one immediate transfer.
Pair one of the five Chase cards allowing access to transfer partners with the Chase Freedom Unlimited® (Rates & Fees) — which earns 1.5x points or more on all purchases — to expedite earnings of points to transfer to United.
In the case that a MileagePlus redemption is just out of reach, remember that Marriott Bonvoy points transfer to United at a ratio of up to 2:1. Converting at least 60,000 Bonvoy points at once triggers a 10,000-mile bonus. That means a transfer of 60,000 Bonvoy points turns into a total of 30,000 United miles.
Bilt Rewards transfer 1:1 to United MileagePlus as well. However, opportunities to earn large amounts of Bilt points at once remain limited.
In addition to these top transfer options, United MileagePlus members can transfer points from several other programs:
Other ways to earn United miles
Take advantage of the mile-earning potential of the shopping portal, dining programs, and other opportunities to earn United miles. You can also buy United miles. With these, diligent MileagePlus members will rack up miles in no time.
Related: Do United MileagePlus miles expire?
Domestic U.S. Flights From 5,000 Miles
Short, inexpensive flights within the United States can be cheap and easy to book through United.
You can book short United flights for just 6,500 LifeMiles. Meanwhile, Aeroplan charges as low as 6,000 points for short-haul flights. However, both add a flat award fee that drives down the value of those points.
Meanwhile, United hits a sweet spot of both low mileage cost and minimal taxes and fees — charging as few as 5,000 miles plus the government-mandated $5.60 taxes and fees.
For flights such as these, make sure to check the cash rate as well. Even if the miles cost is very low, the cash price might be such that it makes sense to pay out of pocket. For this example, flying basic economy instead of economy reduces the price to just $39, too.
United Excursionist Perk
The United Airlines Excursionist Perk remains one of the most fascinating perks of any frequent flyer program. Put simply, the Excursionist Perk allows travelers a flight in the middle of a larger trip (round-trip, open-jaw, or multi-city award itinerary) for no additional mileage cost.
Just note that this perk comes with a number of limitations, too:
- The entire trip must begin and end in the same award region.
- The “free” Excursionist segment must be contained to a single region.
- That single region must be different than the start/end region.
- The “free” Excursionist segment must be in the same or lower cabin of travel as the rest of the trip.
South America includes many different places worthy of a visit, letting the Excursionist Perk shine. Using the “multi-city” award search option to find flights from Houston to Sao Paulo, then from Sao Paulo to Buenos Aires, and finally from Buenos Aires back to Houston.
United's award search tool automatically recognizes where the Excursionist Perk applies. For a proper award search, that middle flight within South America shows up with a cost of 0 miles. Even better, this is the only regular opportunity to redeem United miles for a first class experience on SWISS:
The example above shows just one very specific sweet spot courtesy of the United Excursionist Perk. More discerning travelers can likely use the Excursionist Perk to get a bit more creative with trips.
Intra-Africa From 8,000 Miles
Just like with North America, specific flights within Africa cost a surprisingly low number of United miles. In several instances, some of the shorter, less expensive flights that include Star Alliance partner hub airports (think Johannesburg or Addis Ababa) start at just 8,000 miles! Taxes and fees on these routes are minimal as well.
However, the real sweet spot comes from longer intra-Africa journeys, which still price at very reasonable mileage costs. For instance, Casablanca to Mauritius spans 5,673 miles, and flying between the two airports requires traversing a distance much longer than that. And, despite a cash cost of over $1,000 for such a route, United charges only 22,000 miles plus accompanying taxes and fees.
The icing on the cake? United allows travelers to fly entirely on European airlines if award space exists. The itinerary above routes through Istanbul on Turkish Airlines, transporting passengers the entire way on widebody aircraft.
Contiguous U.S./Canada to Oceania (45K/85K Economy/Business)
Finding business class award space on flights to Oceania from the United States happens very rarely.
When it does, it might only be for one traveler. Economy class travel remains a more realistic option for such a journey, and United operates a flight from San Francisco directly to Tahiti. Economy class award space comes up reasonably often, with a reasonable award price to match.
If you’re lucky, like in the above, business class space is bookable for 85,000 United miles.
United States to the Caribbean (20K/35K Economy/Business)
The islands of the Caribbean offer vacationers countless opportunities for relaxing or thrill-seeking in the sun. Luckily for award travelers, United flies to a wide array of Caribbean destinations. What makes this sweet spot extra sweet is that despite a “standard” saver price of 20,000 United miles for flights between North America and the Caribbean, United's dynamic award prices often result in much lower economy award prices.
For instance, flying between Newark and Nassau, Bahamas costs as low as 6,700 United miles + $6.60 for certain days this winter:
Intra-Japan From 5,500 Miles
Visitors to Japan might instantly think of a ride on the bullet train for any travel between big cities in the country. However, the domestic flying experience in Japan is just as seamless and efficient.
United miles allow travelers to fly within Japan as low as 5,500 miles. Even just flying from Tokyo to Fukuoka — a two-hour flight — costs just 5,500 miles + $3.10.
Flights to and from spots like Sapporo and Okinawa will cost slightly more, at 8,800 miles.
Close-In North America to Europe First Class (121K First)
How can 121,000 miles be a sweet spot for a program? Easily — it’s actually possible to book!
Sure, other, cheaper redemptions exist for Lufthansa first class (think 87,000 Lifemiles for the same award). However, dealing with United customer service and technology is typically a much smoother experience than the same with LifeMiles. LifeMiles and other partner programs also do not always match the same Lufthansa first-class award space as United.
Final Thoughts
My personal experience with United Airlines MileagePlus is limited (for now). In spite of that, the wide array of award sweet spots entices me to change that as soon as possible.
Whether domestic or international, United miles help travelers see more places using fewer miles. These sweet spots are not limited to a single cabin of travel, either. With economy, business class, and first-class sweet spots, United miles have a use however you like to fly.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Chase Freedom Unlimited® (Rates & Fees)
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