Looking for the best credit card to help you earn United Miles? Look no further! United has partnered with Chase to offer an array of co-branded credit cards that can help you rack up miles on all your everyday purchases. Additionally, take advantage of cards offered through partners like Chase Ultimate Rewards to unlock even more ways of efficiently earning plenty of miles.
- Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card: Best overall for flexibility.
- Unitedâ„ Explorer Card: Best for occasional United travelers.
- Chase Sapphire Reserve®: Best for high value.
- United Questâ„ Card: Best for benefits and frequent United travelers.
- Chase Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card: Best overall business card for flexibility.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
- Earning Rate: Earn 5X Ultimate Rewards points on travel purchases through Chase Ultimate Rewards, 3X on dining, online grocery purchases, and select streaming services, 2X on other travel purchases, and 1X on everything else.
- Annual Credits: $50 credit towards hotels booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards portal.
- Main Highlights: 10% bonus points annually based on how much you spent the prior cardmember year and a 25% boost to point value when redeemed for travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards.
- Transfer Ratio: 1,000 Ultimate Rewards Points = 1,000 United Miles.
- Intro Bonus: Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $750 when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®.
- Annual Fee: $95.
- Summary: The Chase Sapphire Preferred is one of the best flexible travel rewards credit cards available. Not only can you transfer points to United and other programs, but you can also redeem points for 1.25 cents each through the Chase Travel portal. This provides an alternative way to get solid value out of your points if you can't find good redemption value booking with United or their partners.
Chase Sapphire Preferred points and card value calculator
Learn more about the Chase Sapphire Preferred
Unitedâ„ Explorer Card
- Earning Rate: Earn 2X points on United purchases and hotel stays, and at restaurants. Earn 1X on all other purchases.
- Main Highlights: Free checked bag, priority boarding, annual United Club passes, in-flight discounts and up to $100 towards a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit.
- Intro Bonus: Earn 60,000 bonus miles after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open.
- Annual Fee: $0 for the first year, then $95.
- Summary: The Explorer Card is a great entry level card if you fly United a few times per year. While it features a handful of great benefits, the most notable benefits for this card is the free checked bag benefit. If you normally pay for bags, this will save you and one other person traveling with you a lot of money over the course of the year.
United Explorer miles and card value calculator
Learn more about the United Explorer Card
Chase Sapphire Reserve®
- Earning Rate: Earn 10X points on Chase Dining and both hotel and car rental purchases through Chase Ultimate Rewards, 5X on airfare through Chase Ultimate Rewards, 3X on dining and other travel purchases, and 1X on everything else.
- Annual Credits: $300 travel credit.
- Main Highlights: Priority Pass Select membership, up to $100 towards a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application, top-notch travel insurance, and a 50% boost to point value on travel redemptions made through Chase Ultimate Rewards.
- Transfer Ratio: 1,000 Ultimate Rewards Points = 1,000 United Miles.
- Intro Bonus: Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $900 toward travel when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®.
- Annual Fee: $550.
- Summary: High annual fee, but offers excellent value and solid benefits. If you can't find solid redemption value with United, you can redeem points through Chase Travel for a very nice 1.5 cents each. Great option if you still want access to lounges before and between your United flights.
Chase Sapphire Reserve points and card value calculator
Learn More about the Chase Sapphire Reserve
United Questâ„ Card
- Earning Rate: Earn 3X miles on United purchases, 2X miles on dining including eligible delivery services, select streaming services, and all other travel, and 1X miles on everything else.
- Annual Credits: $125 United Credit.
- Main Highlights: Earn 500 Premier Qualifying Points (PQPs) for every $12,000 you spend on the card (up to 2X per year), free first and second checked bag when you use the card to pay for your flight, get 5,000 miles back when you book award travel (up to 2X per year), and top-notch travel insurance.
- Intro Bonus: Earn 60,000 bonus miles and 500 Premier qualifying points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open.
- Annual Fee: $250.
- Summary: If you fly United often and you're looking for maximum benefits, this will be the card you're looking for. It has a hefty annual fee, but you'll easily make up for it between the $125 credit, free checked bags, and reimbursements.
United Quest miles and card value calculator
Learn More about the United Quest Card
Chase Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
- Earning Rate: Earn 3X points on up to $150,000 on travel, shipping, internet, cable services, phone services, and advertising purchases each account anniversary year. All other purchases earn 1X.
- Main Highlights: 25% point value boost towards travel booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards.
- Transfer Ratio: 1,000 Ultimate Rewards Points = 1,000 United Miles.
- Intro Bonus: New Cardmember Offer! Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- Annual Fee: $95.
- Summary: The Ink Business Preferred is the best business credit card for earning points on business purchases and travel. Points earned with the card can be transferred to United and other partners as well as be redeemed for 1.25 cents each towards travel booked through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal.
Best Credit Card Offers For United
Need to boost your United miles balance? Here are the best credit card offers currently available for United Airlines from our partners. This table is updated automatically whenever our partner offers change, so you will always find the most up-to-date bonuses listed.
United Miles Calculator
Use the United Miles Calculator to find out which credit cards will earn you the most miles based on the spend amounts you enter.
Results will be sorted by net return which is the average value of the rewards earned, plus annual credits, and minus annual fees. You'll want to take into consideration the benefits a card offers as well on top of the estimated value calculated.
Results will consist of top-rated credit cards that either earn United Miles directly or earn rewards that can be transferred directly to the United MileagePlus program.
Find out which credit cards will earn you the most rewards and best value based on the spend amounts you entered
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Results
These estimates are to help guide you towards making the best decision when it comes to picking up a rewards credit card. They should be used for illustrative purposes only.
You can click on the estimated earnings to see the calculations or click on the card to learn more and apply for the card through our partners.
Do note that all spend amounts entered into the tool above will carry over to every credit card rewards calculator on the site, so there's no need to re-enter spend if you choose to dive deeper into calculating rewards for credit cards on the site.
**Amount of rewards when transferred to program.
