United Mileage Plus Program Question?

[bksomody]

We are a large family that travel to disney at least once a year and always fly United so I was looking into this program.

Are there any memebers that could explain the ins &outs of this program?

Is this a credit card with yearly purchase requirements, yearly fees, do the points have to be used by the cardholder only, will all ticket purchases count towards points or only those purchased by the cardholder, are miles easy to redeem?

I know thats a lot of questions just trying to see if it's worth it for one member of our family to sign up for this.

 

[nordkin]

We are a large family that travel to disney at least once a year and always fly United so I was looking into this program.

Are there any memebers that could explain the ins &outs of this program?

Is this a credit card with yearly purchase requirements, yearly fees, do the points have to be used by the cardholder only, will all ticket purchases count towards points or only those purchased by the cardholder, are miles easy to redeem?

I know thats a lot of questions just trying to see if it's worth it for one member of our family to sign up for this.

I have this card. There is a yearly fee of $95. All transactions are miles as rewards. Purchases on United earn 2x the rewards. All the miles go into the cardholder's Mileage Plus account that can be used to book award travel for anyone. I have had the card for a few years now and it is a signature Visa with free travel insurance for all aspects of travel paid for with the card. After doing a lot of research on the travel insurance part of the card, we no longer buy travel insurance and pay for the trips using the card. It covers everything the highest policy I could buy covers.

It all depends on what you are looking for as far as rewards as I know thee are better rewards cards out there.

 

[JessM]

I don't know if I can completely explain the ins and outs but I have the card and so does my DBF. DBF travels a ton for work and I travel a ton to see him, mostly on United so it made sense for us both to get the card.

One perk I do love is the free checked bag, I believe you can do this for other people in your party as well, I'm thinking maybe 4 all on the reservation as the card member and with airfare paid for by the card.

There's no yearly purchase requirements but there is a yearly fee, $95. When I signed up it was waived for the first year.

Mileage can be redeemed by anyone, DBF has booked me a couple flights with his miles, I'm not sure how easy it was or how many points it was. I got his status which was nice (yay upgrades!) and could check my bag for free when traveling on his points.

Just an FYI i was looking into getting the card for awhile, they usually have a 30,000 bonus points offer for signing up, and low and behold one day there was a 50,000 bonus point offer in my inbox! I'm not sure if it's because i had been flying with them or because my internet history showed me looking at the card but the extra points will be fabulous to have! I had to spend $3000 on the card in 3 months to get the points.

 

[lurkernj]

I have this card too. I use it to accumulate miles for Hawaii trips.

Just to clarify, you can use miles for other people, but I believe the cardholder has to be on the reservation(edited to add that I suppose I could be wrong on this based on above poster-I thought you had to transfer miles to someone, which they charge a hefty fee for). I have booked my kids tickets while booking my own, but I don't think I could book their tickets if I wasn't getting myself a ticket on that same reservation. You do get a free bag for yourself and one companion that is booked with you. They waive the yearly fee for the first year.

For Florida, I find Southwest better (if they are near you), because I can get a flight for half the amount of miles as United, plus their cancellation policy is awesome. Depends on your location though. I'm from NJ and philly is a hub, so we do well (Just got back from a trip that cost me 11,500 miles round trip per ticket, United would have been 25,000 roundtrip). Southwest frequently offers 50,000 bonus miles for signing up (with $2000 spend in 3 months), and have two free bags per person. Though you do pay the annual fee right from the start (either $69 or $99 depending on the card).

 

[platamama]

OP, are you asking about the Mileage Plus program that is free to sign up for or the Mileage Plus credit card others are talking about?

Mileage Plus is United's frequent flyer program and is free to join, everyone should get an individual account, and any miles you fly get credited to that account (as long as you remember to link your account # to your flight, it can even be done at the gate or up to 6? months afterwards as long as you still have your ticket information) - though there's been some recent talk about how they will change how much you get credit for depending on how much you spend for a ticket - I'm not up to date on that stuff. You can also go shopping through the MP portal and earn miles that way, and earn miles on dining at participating restaurants. Eventually once you get enough miles to earn a trip, you can check to see if there is any award availability. It's not bad if you book out far enough in advance.

The credit card is the accelerated version of this since you earn miles by how much you charge to the credit card. Make sure you are one of those people who pay off the balance in full each month in order for this to make any sense financially. The miles earned get posted to your Mileage Plus frequent flyer account.

 

[MomToOne]

The program participant can book tickets for others, no problem. I do it all the time. They do not need to be on the reservation. Transferring points to another program participant is a different thing and for that there are frees depending on how it is done.

If you fly United, you should at least sign everyone up for the program - might as well get the points if you are paying for the tickets. That's a no-brainer. With just this, you each will get 1 point for every mile you fly. If you are only flying once a year or so, it will take a while before you are able to cash them in for an award, but there is no cost for getting miles this way so you should definitely do it.

Signing up for the credit card program may or may not make sense for you - with it you get 1 mile for every dollar you charge to the card. You also get a free checked bag for the cardholder and 1 other person when you fly (if the ticket is charged to the credit card). But it's an expensive annual fee - you might actually be able to get as good or better perks for the same or less money, depending on what your travel and spending profiles are. For example, I have a Mastercard with only an $89/yr fee that gets me 2% that I can apply towards any travel expense - that's better for me than United's 1 point per mile that I can apply only towards United flights (or their partners). I still also keep the United card because I fly often enough that the free baggage perk more than covers the annual fee for me, but that may or may not be your situation.

 

[mitchwebb]

The United Credit card sign up can be up to 50,000miles for $3000 spending in three months. My DH and I both signed up plus he travels for business on United.
you get free fist checked bag and two united lounge passes. We are using points for Hawaii this summer for 4.

We did SW last couple years for 5 tickets NYE last year.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

United points expire unless you have activity on the acct at least every 12 or 18 months can't remember.

I agree with PP Southwest has better flight prices. Just looked the other day. SWA one way to MCO was $111.00 United was $280! Their point system is great. Often offer bonus point purchases. Last month I got an offer to purchase more points and received 50% point IE: bought 2000 points got an extra 1000 for $55.00 You can change your flights for free. If your fare price drops you can get a credit for the difference. 2 free checked bags for everyone.

United charges $200 per ticket to change a ticket. With united the closer to the flight date you point the more in fee's you pay to book. For example a flight booked a month out and the fee's are $5.60. A flight booked 2 weeks out is $80.00 in fee's. SWA always charges $11.20. When you cancel a flight on SWA you can get the fee's refunded to your credit card.

Booking with United the point system is a fix one for example 10,000, 25,000 or 50,000 each way! With SWA its based upon the price of the flight. I just went to MCO in Sept and spent 11,000 roundtrip. Just booked R/T to Nashville and spend 7,000 miles total. Looked at United and only one flight that day was offered for 10,000 points each way. The other 14 flights that day were at 25.000 points each way.

If you sign up for a SWA credit card when the offer the 50,000 mile bonus and apply for 2 cards and accumulate 110,000 in a calendar year you get a Companion Pass. This allows one other person to fly FREE (All you pay for the free person is the tax of $5.60 each way) when you book a flight for the remainder of the year the miles were earned as well as the following year.

NO black out dates on SWA unlike United where only certain flights are offered for certain point tiers. For example not all flights during the day will offer the 12,500 mile options on United. Your option might be the 25,000 or only the 50,000 option each way!

 

[bksomody]

I have this card. There is a yearly fee of $95. All transactions are miles as rewards. Purchases on United earn 2x the rewards. All the miles go into the cardholder's Mileage Plus account that can be used to book award travel for anyone. I have had the card for a few years now and it is a signature Visa with free travel insurance for all aspects of travel paid for with the card. After doing a lot of research on the travel insurance part of the card, we no longer buy travel insurance and pay for the trips using the card. It covers everything the highest policy I could buy covers.

It all depends on what you are looking for as far as rewards as I know thee are better rewards cards out there.

The free travel insurance is a Good perk. Thanks

 

[manning]

Be aware of mileage inflation.

The airlines have made changes.

On united you used to accumulate miles by the number of miles travel. Now it's the amount paid for ticket. For example where I live it's 4400 miles round trip to Hawaii. Ticket price around $700 dollars.

Instead of getting 4400 miles you get 700 miles. That's a big change.

I know they all are going to this method but it a big change.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Be aware of mileage inflation.

The airlines have made changes.

On united you used to accumulate miles by the number of miles travel. Now it's the amount paid for ticket. For example where I live it's 4400 miles round trip to Hawaii. Ticket price around $700 dollars.

Instead of getting 4400 miles you get 700 miles. That's a big change.

I know they all are going to this method but it a big change.

This information is wrong. The change in UA's program will not take place until March 2015.

http://mileageplusupdates.com

Also, the miles you are credited will depend on your status.

OP, your question is confusing, but it appears that you are asking about the Chase branded UA credit card. You can get the information about the card here:

https://creditcards.chase.com/credit-cards/united-airlines-credit-card.aspx

If you always fly UA, I think it would be worth it to have this card, especially if you apply when they are offering the 50,000 mile bonus.

 

[mitchwebb]

Be aware of mileage inflation.

The airlines have made changes.

On united you used to accumulate miles by the number of miles travel. Now it's the amount paid for ticket. For example where I live it's 4400 miles round trip to Hawaii. Ticket price around $700 dollars.

Instead of getting 4400 miles you get 700 miles. That's a big change.

I know they all are going to this method but it a big change.

Lowest level you get dollars spend x5 .
50,000 miles is 50,000 miles and with the credit card you keep miles as long as you use every once in a while
I still agreee it is not a good change unless you spend on United buisness or First. We use it mainly still because of DH travel to Asia and compnay buying UA tickets gets us a lot of miles.

 

[FireflyTrance]

Personally I would say that the UA Chase card is worth opening to get the bonus (50K points are probably worth at least $500 in flight redemptions, possibly twice that). Then after a year of use you can decide if it is worth keeping. UA miles have been getting devalued though. I personally prefer the SW card over the UA card, because for us SW seems to be a better value for short – medium length domestic flights. Another card you could consider is the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, I think the bonus to sign up is 40K, but miles can be transferred to UA, SW, as well as some other airlines and hotels. However if UA works best for you, I think the UA card is worth getting.

 

[bksomody]

OP, are you asking about the Mileage Plus program that is free to sign up for or the Mileage Plus credit card others are talking about?

Mileage Plus is United's frequent flyer program and is free to join, everyone should get an individual account, and any miles you fly get credited to that account (as long as you remember to link your account # to your flight, it can even be done at the gate or up to 6? months afterwards as long as you still have your ticket information) - though there's been some recent talk about how they will change how much you get credit for depending on how much you spend for a ticket - I'm not up to date on that stuff. You can also go shopping through the MP portal and earn miles that way, and earn miles on dining at participating restaurants. Eventually once you get enough miles to earn a trip, you can check to see if there is any award availability. It's not bad if you book out far enough in advance.

The credit card is the accelerated version of this since you earn miles by how much you charge to the credit card. Make sure you are one of those people who pay off the balance in full each month in order for this to make any sense financially. The miles earned get posted to your Mileage Plus frequent flyer account.

Thanks, that is what I was confused about.

 

[bksomody]

The program participant can book tickets for others, no problem. I do it all the time. They do not need to be on the reservation. Transferring points to another program participant is a different thing and for that there are frees depending on how it is done.

If you fly United, you should at least sign everyone up for the program - might as well get the points if you are paying for the tickets. That's a no-brainer. With just this, you each will get 1 point for every mile you fly. If you are only flying once a year or so, it will take a while before you are able to cash them in for an award, but there is no cost for getting miles this way so you should definitely do it.

Signing up for the credit card program may or may not make sense for you - with it you get 1 mile for every dollar you charge to the card. You also get a free checked bag for the cardholder and 1 other person when you fly (if the ticket is charged to the credit card). But it's an expensive annual fee - you might actually be able to get as good or better perks for the same or less money, depending on what your travel and spending profiles are. For example, I have a Mastercard with only an $89/yr fee that gets me 2% that I can apply towards any travel expense - that's better for me than United's 1 point per mile that I can apply only towards United flights (or their partners). I still also keep the United card because I fly often enough that the free baggage perk more than covers the annual fee for me, but that may or may not be your situation.

Thanks, I am definately going to sign up for the free program.

 

[bksomody]

United points expire unless you have activity on the acct at least every 12 or 18 months can't remember.

I agree with PP Southwest has better flight prices. Just looked the other day. SWA one way to MCO was $111.00 United was $280! Their point system is great. Often offer bonus point purchases. Last month I got an offer to purchase more points and received 50% point IE: bought 2000 points got an extra 1000 for $55.00 You can change your flights for free. If your fare price drops you can get a credit for the difference. 2 free checked bags for everyone.

United charges $200 per ticket to change a ticket. With united the closer to the flight date you point the more in fee's you pay to book. For example a flight booked a month out and the fee's are $5.60. A flight booked 2 weeks out is $80.00 in fee's. SWA always charges $11.20. When you cancel a flight on SWA you can get the fee's refunded to your credit card.

Booking with United the point system is a fix one for example 10,000, 25,000 or 50,000 each way! With SWA its based upon the price of the flight. I just went to MCO in Sept and spent 11,000 roundtrip. Just booked R/T to Nashville and spend 7,000 miles total. Looked at United and only one flight that day was offered for 10,000 points each way. The other 14 flights that day were at 25.000 points each way.

If you sign up for a SWA credit card when the offer the 50,000 mile bonus and apply for 2 cards and accumulate 110,000 in a calendar year you get a Companion Pass. This allows one other person to fly FREE (All you pay for the free person is the tax of $5.60 each way) when you book a flight for the remainder of the year the miles were earned as well as the following year.

NO black out dates on SWA unlike United where only certain flights are offered for certain point tiers. For example not all flights during the day will offer the 12,500 mile options on United. Your option might be the 25,000 or only the 50,000 option each way!

Thanks from a fello Ohioan- (Go Browns!). We usually don't fly SW because DS likes to select seats so we can sit together but it might be worth it when comparing prices. The credit card is definately a better deal since no black out dates. We often travel during holidays

 

[bksomody]

Be aware of mileage inflation.

The airlines have made changes.

On united you used to accumulate miles by the number of miles travel. Now it's the amount paid for ticket. For example where I live it's 4400 miles round trip to Hawaii. Ticket price around $700 dollars.

Instead of getting 4400 miles you get 700 miles. That's a big change.

I know they all are going to this method but it a big change.

Ooh that's a big dfference.

 

[bksomody]

This information is wrong. The change in UA's program will not take place until March 2015.

http://mileageplusupdates.com

Also, the miles you are credited will depend on your status.

OP, your question is confusing, but it appears that you are asking about the Chase branded UA credit card. You can get the information about the card here:

https://creditcards.chase.com/credit-cards/united-airlines-credit-card.aspx

If you always fly UA, I think it would be worth it to have this card, especially if you apply when they are offering the 50,000 mile bonus.

Thanks, I'm going to keep my eye out for that offer.

 

[platamama]

Thanks from a fello Ohioan- (Go Browns!). We usually don't fly SW because DS likes to select seats so we can sit together but it might be worth it when comparing prices. The credit card is definately a better deal since no black out dates. We often travel during holidays

I think you're missing some information. The credit card in no way assures you that there is award availability. Having enough miles for an award is one thing, being able to redeem those miles for a free flight is a whole 'nother ball game.

Go to the United website, and search for flights, making sure you pick "Award Travel" to see what shows up for your dates. That will give you an idea of availability. Holidays - good luck with that; it helps if you have flexible schedules and can plan far in advance.

 

[bksomody]

I think you're missing some information. The credit card in no way assures you that there is award availability. Having enough miles for an award is one thing, being able to redeem those miles for a free flight is a whole 'nother ball game.

Go to the United website, and search for flights, making sure you pick "Award Travel" to see what shows up for your dates. That will give you an idea of availability. Holidays - good luck with that; it helps if you have flexible schedules and can plan far in advance.

Flights were avaiable for the dates I checked although some were standard reward, not saver, which required more miles. Good to know how to check flights.