Rewards Rates
Current Intro Bonus
Earn 60,000 bonus miles after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open.
Key Cardholder Benefits
- When you use your United Explorer Card to pay for your flight, you and up to one companion traveling on the same reservation will receive the first checked bag free.
- As a United Explorer Card holder, you and everyone traveling with you on the same reservation will receive priority boarding on United-operated flights.
- Every year, two United Club Passes will be deposited into your United MileagePlus account.
- When you use your United Explorer Card to pay for a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee, you'll get reimbursed on up to $100.
- When you use your United Explorer Card to make purchases in-flight on United-operated flights, you'll receive a 25% discount in the form of a statement credit.
- As a United Explorer Card holder, you'll be eligible for complimentary premier upgrades on award tickets for United-operated flights.
- The United Explorer Card grants access to Visa's Luxury Hotels & Resorts. When booking hotel stays through this portal with your card, you'll receive a number of benefits including daily breakfast for two, a special benefit unique to each property, complimentary Wi-Fi, a room upgrade (if available), and early check-in and late check-out (if available).
- Be covered with trip cancellation insurance, trip interruption insurance, trip delay reimbursement, car rental collision/loss damage waiver, baggage delay insurance, and lost luggage reimbursement.
Rewards Value
The Point Calculator values United miles at 1.3 cents each when used for award flights with United and their partners. This means that 10,000 miles are worth about $130 in flight value.
Redemption option | Redemption value in cents |
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Award Flights (Research/Sweet Spots) | 2 |
Award Flights (Average) | 1.3 |
Cruises | 0.78 |
United Club Membership | 0.77 |
TSA PreCheck | 0.77 |
Car Rentals | 0.75 |
Hotels | 0.68 |
United Wi-Fi Subscription | 0.65 - 0.68 |
Gift Cards | 0.30 |
Learn More: United miles value
Transfer Partners
United Miles can be transfered to one program: Marriott Bonvoy. Every 1,000 United miles you transfer to Marriott will give you 1,000 Marriott Bonvoy points.
United Miles are worth more than double the value of Marriott Bonvoy points on average, so you'll only want to transfer points from United to Marriott when it makes sense to do so. In most instances, you'll be better off buying Marriott Bonvoy points and saving your United miles for award flights.
Learn More: Marriott Bonvoy points calculators
Annual Fees
The United Explorer Card has an annual fee of $0 for the first year, then $95.
United Miles Calculator
Calculate how many United Miles you can earn with the United Explorer Card based on spend and the cash value of those points. Results can be compared side by side any U.S. credit card featured on the site.
Any spend entered into the primary card column (the first column) will carry over to all credit card calculators on the site, so there's no need to re-enter spend when viewing other credit cards.
Other Ways To Earn
One of the best ways to earn United miles is by using United's co-branded credit cards, but you can also earn miles via United's transfer partners. Of the few partners that allow you to transfer miles to United MileagePlus, Chase Ultimate Rewards is the best option thanks to the high intro bonuses and earning rates the cards offer.
Here's the full list of programs that allow you to transfer points to United MileagePlus:
Learn More: Transfer points to United using these transfer partners
Earning Rate Comparison
There are several partner credit cards that you can use to earn United miles thanks to transfer partners. Check out the table below to see how the United Explorer Card earning rates per $1 spent stacks up against United and other partner credit cards.
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We've run the calculations for you and here are our top picks for best credit cards of 2023:
- Best premium card for unlimited miles: Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card.
- Best for flexible travel rewards: Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.
- Best for everyday spend and travel: Citi Premier® Card.
- Best cash back card for groceries: Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express.
- Best for dining and supermarkets: American Express® Gold Card
- Best for business travel rewards: Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card.
- Best cash back business card: Capital One Spark Cash Plus
Our Credit Card Rewards calculator can help you find the perfect card and offers based on your monthly and yearly spending habits. Simply enter your spend amounts into our tool and let us do the work for you!