MileagePlus® - United Airlines

Program Review

United Airlines is ranked the second biggest airliner in the United States. It boasts of a fleet that serves a huge number of passengers across hundreds of destination in the US and broad. In 2016, United Airlines and its subsidiary United Express carried 143 million passengers. This was made possible due to the numerous routes that the airline traverses. Locally, the airliner operates in New York, Denver, San Francisco, Denver, Washington D.C., and Chicago where it is headquartered. United Airlines operates a comprehensive frequent flyers reward program that can offer tons of great benefits for frequent and occasional flyers as well. This reward program is known as the MileagePlus Frequent Flyer program. Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of the MileagePlus program.

MileagePlus Program

The Mileageplus program is a loyalty mileage reward program that has consistently been voted as the best among other such programs run by other airlines. If you are a frequent flyer, this loyalty reward program has many perks such as reduced airfare, access to reduced prices on lodging and more.
Basically, you earn mileage points every time your travel depending on the class you travel. Obviously, traveling first class means more points as compared to economy class. These points can entitle you to receive some reward from the airline such as free travel or get merchandise. Merchandises that can be bought using United award miles include handbags, headphones, Bluetooth devices, and smartphones. 

Earning MileagePlus Points

The first step that you must take to start earning point is to sign up for the MileagePlus on the official United Airlines website. You will not be charged a dime for registration. Immediately you finish the signup, you will automatically earn points anytime you fly with United Airlines or their affiliate United Express. Miles can also be earned by using services such as car rentals, hotels bookings, club membership, and buying gifts using United credit cards. The minimum of $2,500 with United Airlines and earned at least 12,500 award miles to qualify to start redeeming your reward points. Miles awards in the MileagePlus Award miles are earned on both United flights and any other with a codeshare. Awards are given at 100 percent of the economy ticket but higher at 1.5 higher for premium cabins. There is a catch though; miles are not earned for bulk fares or those that are unpublished. Using cards also qualifies you to earn miles. The main cards that are used are the United MileagePlus Explorer Card and Chase United MileagePlus Club. Alternatively you can decide to accumulate your points in the Chase Ultimate Rewards converting the points to award miles at 1:1 ratio. The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card is the best credit card to use for MileagePlus due to its flexible ways for redeeming miles awarded. United Airlines has also partnered with a number of hotels in the US with a reward program and allow you to transfer points from these programs into award miles. Some of the airlines that are partnered with United Airlines include Air Canada, Air India, Brussels Airlines, Copa Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines, South African Airlines, and Lufthansa.

Redeeming Mileage Points

Once you have accumulated enough miles through frequent travel on United flights or any of its partners, you can redeem the miles to purchase an award ticket through their website. One of the best things about using the MileagePlus programs is that it provides a wide array of options for you. United Airlines has partnered with the Star Alliance airlines translating to numerous destinations in the US and abroad. Traveling first class on Lufthansa is awesome. But, wait a minute; one-way first class on Lufthansa airlines will cost you $4,000. That’s a lot of money for most people. With 110,000 award miles however, it is possible to book an award first class ticket on Lufthansa to London. Now, that’s really great! One thing that makes MileagePlus program superior to other frequent flyer reward programs is that it doesn’t surcharge you for fuel. Lufthansa airlines also have a loyalty reward program but for a first class award ticket under their reward program, you will have to cough up at least $400. MileagePlus does not require you to pay a dime. Award miles can also be redeemed for merchandise such as headphones and small electronic gadgets. Buying award tickets remains the best way to make use of award miles.
Please contact United Airlines for a full list of all the awards you can redeem using your miles.

Routing Rules

Unfortunately, United Airlines made some not so pleasing changes in their rules especially for stopovers. Initially, it was possible for travelers on award tickets to make stopovers anywhere. You could enjoy a stopover in Europe while traveling to Japan or China on round-trip booking. Now stopovers have been confined to the destination of the flight. This implies that you could make a stopover in any country in the Asian continent but not in any other continent. It’s not all that bad considering you don’t spend a anything for the ticket.

Benefits of United Airlines MileagePlus Program

Mileage plus has a number of benefits that make it the best frequent flyer program. For instance, MileagePlus provides more ways of earning rewards points. Other airlines usually confine point earning to airfare and miles travel. As a MileagePlus member, you can earn points when you use your MileagePlus credit cards to book a hotel, rent a car, and also shop at specific outlets that have partnered with United Airlines.
Most frequent flyer programs make it extremely difficult to use miles once earned. It is not uncommon to be met with restrictive conditions while trying to use your award miles to get an award ticket. MileagePlus provides an easy and flexible system for redeeming mileage points. 
For instance, since MileagePlus provides one way tickets only, it is possible to combine different class of services to reach a destination, probably using a standard award for part of the journey and a savers award for the rest.
Lastly, due to the many small ways that one can earn miles on MileagePlus, even the little travel expenditure can disappear into award points. This implies that there are no losses with MileagePlus.