Calculator: What's The Value of United Miles?

United Flights: 1.3 cents per mile.

United miles will have the best value when redeemed towards flights with United Airlines and their airline partners. This will give you an average of 1.3 cents per mile meaning that 10,000 miles is worth around $130 in flight value.

Listed below are a few popular sweet spots when it comes to booking award flights with United Miles as well as some standard examples for redeeming miles for domestic and international travel.

Fly United Polaris Business Class

If you're looking to redeem your miles directly with United, Polaris is a great option. One-way flights to Europe start at 60,000 miles. If you're trying to fly west, one-way flights to Asia starts at 70,000 United Miles.

Fly From The U.S. To Europe On Lufthansa First Class

Searching for a top-rated first class product? Lufthansa's first class sits high up on the list and you can obtain a seat yourself starting at 110,000 Untied Miles for a one-way award flight.

Do note that you can only book first-class awards for Lufthansa within 15 days of departure.

United's Excursionist Perk

If you want some great value out of your United Miles, especially international travel, you'll want to understand The Excursionist Perk.

Here's the definition from United's website:

The Excursionist Perk is a free one-way award within select multi-city itineraries. Members who book an itinerary with three or more one-way awards will be eligible to receive one of those one-way awards for free.

If used correctly, this benefit easily ups the value of United Miles. Do note that there are several restrictions to this rule which are:

• Travel must end in the same MileagePlus defined region where travel originates.
• The origin and destination of the Excursionist Perk is within a single MileagePlus defined region.
• The cabin of service and award inventory of the free one-way award is the same or lower than the one-way award preceding it.
• If two or more one-way awards qualify for this benefit, only the first occurrence will be free.

The easiest way to use the Excursionist Perk is just adding an additional city to your travel that meets the restrictions. The example that United provides is:

• Chicago (ORD) to London (LHR) - 30,000 Miles
• London (LHR) to Paris (CDG) - 0 Miles (Excursionist Perk)
• Paris (CDG) to Chicago (ORD) - 30,000 Miles

You could add in more European stop overs in the same region, but you would have to pay the additional costs.

Visit an extra city for free with United's Excursionist Perk. Image: Great Circle Mapper.

With the rules in mind, you could book open-jaw flights and get great use out of this perk which will of course add significant value to your United Miles.

For example, you could fly from the U.S. to Europe and return to the U.S. from Asia, Africa or any other region. You don't have to fly back to the U.S. from Europe. So you could book:

• New York (JFK) to London Heathrow (LHR)
• Tokyo (NRT) to Singapore (SIN) [Excursionist Perk]
• Hong Kong (HKG) to New York (JFK)

You can visit other cities between your flights by booking separate one-way airline tickets or other means of transportation.

For example, you might visit Amsterdam or France after landing in London Heathrow and book a separate one-way ticket from either city to Tokyo. That can be a separate award ticket with United or maybe you have some miles with another airline such as Emirates or Etihad and want to fly in luxury with a stop in Dubai or Doha on your way to Tokyo.

The possibilities are endless and you can easily squeeze some exceptional value using the Excursionist Perk. You can play around with United's multi-city award search to get an idea of what kind of itineraries you can create.

Fly Domestically In The U.S.

If you're looking to use your United Miles to fly domestically around the U.S., this is where you'll easily be able to get around 1.3 cents per mile (at minimum).

For example, let's look at this flight from Atlanta to Denver.

The cheapest round-trip tickets for Economy is $185 and the cheapest for First Class is $543. Looking at the same departure dates for award redemptions, a round-trip cost in Economy goes for around 12,000 miles plus 11.20 in taxes and fees. First class is going for as low as 53,000 miles plus 11.20 in taxes and fees.

The Economy redemption would give your United Miles a value of 1.4 cents each ($185 cash cost minus the $11.20 taxes/fees all divided by 12,000 United Miles). The first class redemption would only give your United Miles a value of 1 cent each ($543 cash cost minus $11.20 taxes/fees all divided by 53,000 United Miles).

In this example, I would consider the economy flight redemption to be fantastic and the first class redemption not so much.

Fly From The U.S. To Europe In Economy

You can find some solid value booking economy flights from the U.S. to Europe.

Let's say you wanted to fly to Rome in July from Atlanta and that dates did not matter. Searching the month of July, round-trip tickets in economy start at $1,513 and business class cost $3,473.

Searching through July for award redemption, economy is 60,000 round-trip and business is 310,000 round-trip. The taxes and fees going to Rome is $5.60 while the taxes and fees coming back are significantly higher at $66.95 for a total of $72.55 in fees round-trip.

With this example, redeeming United Miles for the economy flight to Rome would be a value of 2.4 cents per mile which is fantastic. With the business Class redemption, it would be a little less than 1.1 cents per mile which is not the best.

Cruises: 0.78 cents per mile.

United miles can be used to book cruises through the United Cruises portal which will give you a value of around 0.78 cents per mile. It's possible to get slightly higher value when booking high-end rooms such as suites.

United Club Membership: 0.76 cents per mile.

United miles can be used to pay for United Club membership which gives you access to 45+ United Club locations worldwide as well as access to visit select partner lounges around the world. Both the individual member and couple membership will give you the same value of 0.76 cents per mile.

If you're really looking for lounge access, the better route to take is the United Club℠ Infinite Card which offers complimentary United Club Membership as it's primary perk (hence Club in the card's name).

The card has a $525 annual fee, but the fee is lower than the $650 you'll have to dish out if you were to buy membership directly from United. The card also allows you to bring one adult and depend children, or up to two adults guests.

And on top of that, the card offers a range of additional benefits including a free checked bag for you and one companion traveling with you, 25% discount on in-flight purchases, top-notch travel insurance, and more.

Learn More: United Club℠ Infinite Card

Car Rentals: 0.75 cents per mile.

You can rent cars with Hertz, Dollar, and Thrifty using United miles. This will give you an average value of about 0.75 cents per mile.

The higher redemption values for car rentals will come from booking the smaller vehicles with Hertz. You'll also receive additional benefits booking with Hertz as they are partnered with United.

TSA PreCheck: 0.70 cents per mile.

If you want to get through security slightly faster, you can redeem 11,000 United miles to pay for a TSA PreCheck application. New enrollment for TSA PreCheck will cost you $78, so you're looking at about 0.7 cents per mile in value.

Hotels: 0.68 cents per mile.

Hotels can be booked using United miles via the United portal. This will give your miles an average of about 0.68 cents per mile which is pretty low when compared to airfare redemptions.

If you're looking to obtain free nights at hotels, your best bet would be to consider earning hotel rewards points. If you have a favorite chain, check to see if they have a rewards credit card as hotel credit cards can generally give you returns of 10% to 20% depending on the chain. Most cards also offer complimentary free nights annually which can help shave some of the cost off your travel.

Learn More: Best Hotel Credit Cards + Rewards Calculator

United Wi-Fi: 0.65 to 0.68 cents per mile.

United Miles can be used to pay for a Wi-Fi subscription that you can use towards United flights. Depending on the subscription, this will give your miles an average of 0.65 to 0.68 cents per mile.

Gift Cards: 0.30 cents per mile.

United miles can be redeemed for gift cards which starts at 3,333 United miles for a $10 denomination. This is the worst redemption option for United miles.

Merchandise and Apple: Varies.

United Miles can be used to redeem electronics, housewares, jewelery, and more through the MileagePlus Awards Shop. The value of these redemptions will vary, but you can search by how many miles you're willing to spend. If you have a low amount of United Miles sitting in the dark corners of your account, awards look to start at 3,000 United Miles.

United Miles can also be used to purchase Apple products such as a Macbook, iPad, iPhone, or iWatch.

Convert United Miles To Dollars

Use the United Miles Value Calculator to determine the cash value of United miles for flights, gift cards, car rentals, and more. With this helpful tool, you'll be able to have a better understanding of the monetary value of your United miles!

Use United Miles or Pay Cash?

Is your United Miles redemption giving you the best bang for your buck? Use this calculator to figure out the value of a particular United Airlines redemption by inputting the cost in cash and in United Miles (plus taxes). With this calculator, you'll know if the redemption is the best option.

Credit cards that earn United miles

United offers five credit cards that you can use to earn United miles via intro bonuses and everyday spending. If you fly United often, you'll want to consider picking up one of their co-branded credit cards as they offer great benefits ranging from free checked bags to United Club membership.

Credit Card	Benefits
United Club℠ Infinite Card Best For United Club Access Learn More Card Value & Miles Calculator	Earn 80,000 bonus miles after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Earn 4 United miles per $1 spent with United Airlines Earn 2 United miles per $1 spent on dining and travel Earn 1 United mile per $1 spent on all other purchases Receive complimentary access to United Club locations and participating Star Alliance affiliated lounges around the world Receive the first checked bag free for yourself and up to one companion traveling on the same reservation when you use your card to pay for the flight $525 annual fee
United Quest℠ Card Learn More Card Value & Miles Calculator	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. Earn 3X United miles on United® purchases Earn 2X United miles on dining including eligible delivery services, select streaming services, and all other travel Earn 1X United miles on all other purchases Receive $125 in statement credits annually as reimbursements towards United purchases charged to your card Automatically get 5,000 miles back in your MileagePlus account after you take a United or United Express-operated award flight booked with your miles $250 annual fee
United℠ Explorer Card Learn More Card Value & Miles Calculator	Earn 60,000 bonus miles after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open. Earn 2 United miles per $1 spent on hotel stays and United® purchases Earn 2 United miles per $1 spent on dining including eligible delivery services Earn 1 United mile per $1 spent on all other purchases Receive the first checked bag free for yourself and up to one companion traveling on the same reservation when you use your card to pay for the flight Every year, two United Club Passes will be deposited into your United MileagePlus account $0 the first year, then $95
United Gateway℠ Card Learn More Card Value & Miles Calculator	Earn 20,000 bonus miles after you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open. Plus, 0% intro APR for 12 months from account opening on purchases. Earn 2 United miles per $1 spent on United® purchases, at gas stations and on local transit and commuting Earn 1 United mile per $1 spent on all other purchases Receive a 25% discount in the form of a statement credit when you use your card to make purchases in-flight on United-operated flights $0 annual fee
United Business Card Learn More Card Value & Miles Calculator	Earn up to 50,000 bonus miles after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open. Earn 2 United miles per $1 spent on United purchases Earn 2 United miles per $1 spent on restaurant, gas station, office supply store, and transit/commuting purchases Receive the first checked bag free for yourself and up to one companion traveling on the same reservation when you use your card to pay for the flight Every year, two United Club Passes will be deposited into your United MileagePlus account Every year that you use your card to make seven (7) United Flight purchases totaling $100 or more, you'll receive a $100 travel credit Receive 5,000 anniversary points if you also hold a personal/consumer United credit card $99 annual fee

Chase Ultimate Rewards is the only major credit card transfer partner of United. Points earned in the program can be transferred directly to your United MileagePlus account at a rate of 1,000 Chase points for 1,000 United miles.

You can transfer points to United using these Ultimate Rewards credit cards:

Credit Card	Highlights
Chase Sapphire Reserve® Best For High Value & Travel Benefits Learn More Card Value & Points Calculator	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®. Earn 10X points on hotels and car rentals booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards Earn 5X points on flights booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards Earn 3X points on travel worldwide and dining at restaurants Earn 1X points on all other purchases $300 statement credit for travel purchases charged to the card each anniversary year Complimentary Priority Pass Select membership Up to $100 towards a Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or NEXUS application fee 50% boost to point value on travel booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards $550 annual fee
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card Best For Flexible Travel Rewards Learn More Card Value & Points Calculator	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®. Earn 5X points on travel booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards Earn 3X points on dining, online grocery purchases, and on select streaming services Earn 2X points on other travel purchases Earn 1X points on all other purchases 25% boost to point value on travel booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards $50 credit every cardmember anniversary good towards hotel stays booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards 10% bonus points based on how much you spend the prior cardmember year $95 annual fee
Chase Ink Business Preferred® Best For Flexible Business Travel Rewards Learn More View Referral Offer Card Value & Points Calculator	New Cardmember Offer! Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Earn 3X points on the first $150,000 spent on travel and select business categories each account anniversary year Earn 1X points on all other purchases 25% boost to point value on travel booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards $95 annual fee