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Chase and United recently introduced a brand new business card and it launched with a limited-time sign-up bonus of 100,000 miles! In addition to the 100K welcome offer, the new card features a stack of quality perks and benefits—even for those who only fly United a few times a year. The United℠ Business Card is considered a new credit card product and replaces the United℠ Explorer Business Card, which has closed to new applications.
Limited-Time 100,000-Mile Signup Bonus
The United℠ Business Card launched with a limited-time welcome bonus of 100,000 miles after you spend $10,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open. A conservative valuation of United miles would be 1.5¢ per mile, which would mean roughly ~$1,500 in expected savings. However, those with aspirations to use their miles for premium-cabin international travel would likely see significantly higher savings.
Points Earning Potential and Category Bonuses
The United Business Card features an easy to understand bonus structure, earning 2 miles per $1 spent on United, local transit and commuting and at gas stations, office supply stores and restaurants. Plus, earn 1 mile per $1 spent on all other purchases.
While the earning structure is easy to understand, the United Business Card is not a card we recommend putting a lot of spend on, outside of paying for United tickets (to take advantage of the Free First Checked Bag benefit).
We regularly review the best rewards cards for each spending category, and each of the bonus categories assigned to the United Business Card contains cards with higher earn rates, including when paying for United revenue flights.
- Best Rewards Cards for Dining & Restaurants
- Best Credit Cards for Gas & Fuel
- Best Credit Cards for Office Supplies
- Best Rewards Cards for Travel Purchases
Instead, the United Business Card is a card you hold for the perks and benefits, which we cover in detail below.
United Business Card Feature Benefits
Unlock Hidden Award Space
We've covered this unique benefit of United co-brand cards in depth. Holding the United Business Card allows you to book award tickets with your miles that otherwise wouldn’t be available unless you hold United elite status. The benefit is marketed as “no blackout dates,” meaning you can use miles to grab the last seat available on a flight. The caveat being that these tickets are Everyday Awards and cost a lot more than Saver Awards. However, what isn’t mentioned directly in the marketing material for this perk is that cardholders also get access to additional saver-level award space—typically reserved for United Premier Platinum or 1K members.
Free First Checked Bag
If you fly just one round-trip flight per year with a companion, you can recoup the cost of the annual fee, as the first checked bag will set you back $35 per person each way, up to $140 in value for each round-trip flight. The only catch is that you need to pay for the flight using your United Business Card, foregoing the additional points you can earn on other cards. In this case, we think the ~$140 value provided by the checked bags almost always outweighs the extra points you could earn swiping another card.
2x United Club One-Time Passes Per Year
Another great perk is the two, one-time United Club passes cardholders receive after opening their account and on account anniversary each year. These passes used to be issued as paper vouchers, that were easy to lose and never seemed to be with you when you needed them. Fortunately, United Club passes are now digital, so you can easily access them from your account or the mobile app as soon as they are credited.
25% Back on Food, Beverage and WI-Fi Purchases
Get 25% back as a statement credit on food, beverages, and Wi-Fi purchases made with your United Business Card on United- and United Express-operated flights.
5,000 Bonus Miles If You Also Hold a Personal United Card
United Business Card holders will receive 5,000 bonus miles every account anniversary year if you also hold a personal United co-brand card. The personal card must be in your name for you to receive the bonus 5,000 miles.
$100 United Travel Credit
Each account anniversary year that you make seven or more United travel-related purchases of $100 or more with your United Business Card, you'll receive a $100 statement credit. United travel-related purchases include seat upgrades; Economy Plus; inflight food, beverages, and Wi-Fi; baggage service charges and other United fees.
Priority Boarding
The primary cardholder and any travel companions on the same reservation can board United-operated flights before general boarding is called.
Premier Upgrades on Award Tickets
If you are traveling on an award ticket as a MileagePlus Premier member, and you also hold the United Business Card card, you can take advantage of complimentary Premier upgrades on United-operated flights if there are seats available.
Primary Auto Rental Insurance and Roadside Assistance
While these perks don’t typically fall under the feature benefits umbrella, the United Business Card stands out from similar business cards because it offers primary auto rental insurance when renting a vehicle for business purposes. You can also receive roadside assistance up to the value of $50 when driving a car you own or lease (no rentals). You can only claim one service event for the same cause during any consecutive 7-day period.
Best Uses of United MileagePlus Miles
One of the best aspects of the MileagePlus program is the lack of carrier-imposed surcharges on award tickets. While United often charges more miles than its Star Alliance counterparts for the same itinerary, your out-of-pocket costs are likely to be far less. For example, many Star Alliance tickets cost as much as $250-300 in taxes and fees on a one-way ticket, while MileagePlus redemptions tend to fall in the $5.60-50 range.
Many other frequent flyer programs have let these taxes and fees creep higher year after year. United has held its ground and become an industry standout for reasonable out-of-pocket costs. For business owners who can generate plenty of miles through everyday spending, that feature alone makes MileagePlus a great program.
Domestic United redemptions start at just 12,500 miles in coach, with plenty of options for travel within the U.S., particularly if you live near a United hub. That said, the best return for your United miles will likely be premium cabin international awards, which typically provide a much higher cent-per-mile value than domestic or economy tickets. Some of our favorite United award redemptions include:
- United Excursionist Perk – Only available on a round-trip itinerary, the excursionist perk allows you to make a stopover in the same region as your destination. Essentially, you get a free one-way segment within the destination region. The rules have a little flexibility which can make for some creative routings if you study the rules and region definitions of United’s award chart.
- Australia or New Zealand starting at 40K – United charges 40K in economy and 80K in Business for flights to Australia and New Zealand from the U.S. While there are plenty of ways you can get to the South Pacific for fewer miles, United typically has good availability if you book months in advance, and you can mix and match Star Alliance carriers and routes to build your itinerary.
- Lufthansa first-class to Europe from 110K – One of the most aspirational hard products flying from the U.S., you can bag a transatlantic flight in first class on Lufthansa for 110K United miles and tick off a bucket-list experience in the process.
Application Restrictions
The United Business Card is a business card, so you need to be able to prove you have legitimate business expenses to apply. It's also subject to Chase’s 5/24 policy, so if you’ve opened 5 or more consumer (personal) credit cards within the last 24 months, you won’t be approved for this card.
As with all of Chase’s co-brand cards, if you currently hold the United Business Card, or you’ve received a signup bonus for it in the previous 24 months, you will not be eligible to receive a new cardmember bonus. However, if you currently hold another United co-brand card, you are still eligible to receive the bonus on the United Business Card, including if you hold this card's predecessor, the United℠ Explorer Business Card, as these are considered separate products.
“This new Cardmember bonus offer is not available to either (i) current Cardmembers of this business credit card, or (ii) previous Cardmembers of this business credit card who received a new Cardmember bonus for this business credit card within the last 24 months.”
It’s a great card to apply for if you’re holding off on personal card applications to get back under 5/24. The United Business Card card won’t add to your 5/24 count, which only factors in consumer cards.
United Business Card Application Strategy
Where does the United Business Card fit into your overall application strategy?
A lot depends on your 5/24 status. If you are well over 5/24, it likely won’t fit into your application strategy at all. The opportunity cost of trying to get back under 5/24 is too high when there are plenty of great offers out there from other card issuers.
If you are just starting in your points and miles journey, you’ve recently dropped back under 5/24, or you and a partner plan your application strategy in two-player mode, the United Business Card is a top card to factor into your plans. Here’s why:
- While the United Business Card is subject to 5/24, as a business card it won’t count towards your 5/24 total, allowing you to apply for valuable consumer cards that fall under Chase’s restrictive application restrictions.
- Affordable annual fee. When building out your rewards-card portfolio, keeping yearly costs to a minimum is essential if you want to maximize the value of your points and miles. With an annual fee of just $99, you can hang onto this card for the long haul without the overheads of a premium rewards card.
Final Thoughts
The current limited-time offer on the United Business Card of 100,000 miles offers plenty of value for United fans, and with an annual fee of just $99, the card is affordable to hold in your wallet for the long term.
With the added award availability, free United Club passes, free first checked bag benefit, and all the other perks offered with the card, we see this card as a long-term keeper whose benefits more than account for the annual fee.
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Well, very simple math – for 100 K miles I can book 4 nights in my preferred hotel in London, each worth 169 pounds
For just 99 $ fee I can get more than 800 $ in hotel stay
You can book a hotel with United miles? I’m very confused. Booking with United would give at least $1,500 in value. How is only getting $800 from a hotel a good thing?
I do not think that booking hotel nights with miles is a good strategy.
That’s a really, really poor way to use the mailes goldena.
Thanks for posting, this is interesting! Although spend is a bit steep. Is 100k miles the all time best bonus offer?
Don’t see a lot of 100,000 points offers these days, though $10,000 in spend is pretty hefty. Too bad I’ve had this card before and I’m way above 5/24. I just used up almost all my UA miles, so I’d otherwise go for it. Thanks for the heads up.
$10k in spend could easily be three signup bonuses worth way more than 100,000 miles.
Exactly. Yes, 100k miles is understandably eyeopening at first. However, the large spend should have you pause and do a little math. How many miles are you getting per $1 of spend? Here, I agree that spreading your spend over several offers would very likely yield a better return.
not sure if I qualify as a business?
@Ron Do you sell things online at any of the popular marketplace websites or apps? Do you plan to? If so, you legitimately qualify as a sole-proprietorship. Remember, your business does not have to turn a profit as you start it up or operate it. In either instance, a biz cc is a good way to keep expenses separate so you can better track your business’ profitability.
I’ve looked this deal over, and it seems to be a very workable option. I find the $99 fee doable. It is not always necessary to incur a large cash expenditure to realize good point acquisition. 100k points is a good value..
$10,000 is not a large cash expenditure? Maybe compared to the recent Cap One Biz card offers, but this one is definitely not peanuts.
The Premier Upgrades on award tickets is interesting though I’m not sure how often you would get to use them as those seats are usually all filled. I also have a question about the 100 dollar United Travel credit: is is required to use the card 7 times with purchases of 100 each time (So at least 700 dollars in purchases) or is 7 uses that make at least 100 dollars total for the 100 credit to be triggered?
The credit requires 7 “United” purchases of $100 or more, so the total spending would be at least $700. For most this would be flight purchases, so you’d probably find it hard to hit exactly $100 on each one.
Would 7 x $100 gift certificates be sufficient?
That is the $100 question! The Card Benefits summary says:
If anyone has experimented with this, please share your experience.
Seven uses of at least $100, but you can shoot for two one way tickets rather than a single round trip.
Good bonus, but a high minimum spend requirement.
…ever bigger welcome bonuses for an ever smaller pool of qualified applicants.
Good to know that only higher level elites and cardholders get access to more award tickets. I thought it was anyone with elite status.
Well, they have come up with more “exclusive” member benefits over the years 🙂
Oh boy, $10k spend is too much, esp that a lot of avenues for MS spending are probably no good.
I feel like $10,000 minimum spend is more achievable for a small business as opposed to a mile-and-points gamer who claims they have a business to get the card.
Agreed, it’s do-able, but the 3 month window for the $10k spend really puts the crunch on, unless one has a large purchase or purchases already planned.
Can you get this if you recently cancelled a Sapphire Reserve?
Yes, there shouldn’t be any reason cancelling a CSR card would impact a new United Biz card application as long as you meet the 5/24 eligibility criteria.
The Sapphire is a whole different product line so as long as you didn’t do anything to get blacklisted from Chase, absolutely.
The free leg you get on international flights with United really makes this bonus huge. I did Louisville to Naples, Venice to Oslo, and London to DC for 3 people for 180,000(60,000/person) miles last year. What a trip!
That’s really good. How much did you pay in taxes and fees?
Hmmm. Might be time to pull the trigger on this one. Do you also earn additional miles by having this card and using the MPX app? (25% bonus)
Ít hard to find 100K deals and while the threshold is high I believe it is doable. Thanks for sharing!
Trying to find biz seats for travel in Feb. with ability to use Excursionist is ridiculous. Miles required have certainly increased!