There’s an oft-repeated joke in travel circles that goes something like this: “Want to know what United is planning for next year? Look at what Delta did last year.”
Today, United MileagePlus announced significant changes to how its members would earn and redeem miles, starting April 2nd (studiously avoiding April Fools Day). Essentially, it is following Delta’s lead in using award discounts to encourage customers to hold a United credit card, then going a step further by also giving improved earning rates on paid travel to cardholders.
Come Summer, if you want to engage with United MileagePlus in any significant way, you’ll need a credit card.
Changes Coming to United MileagePlus
Cardholders will earn more miles; everyone else earns much less
The biggest change to the United MileagePlus program will be how miles are earned on paid flights. Starting April 2nd, all United elite members who are not cardholders will see their earnings slashed by 2 miles per dollar. Cardholders, on the other hand, will see their earnings increased by 1 mile per dollar.
Here is a summary of the changes:
| Elite level | Current | Post-April 2, non-cardholder | Post-April 2, cardholder |
|---|---|---|---|
| Member | 5 miles/dollar | 3 miles/dollar | 6 miles/dollar |
| Silver | 7 miles/dollar | 5 miles/dollar | 8 miles/dollar |
| Gold | 8 miles/dollar | 6 miles/dollar | 9 miles/dollar |
| Platinum | 9 miles/dollar | 7 miles/dollar | 10 miles/dollar |
| Premier 1K |
11 miles/dollar | 9 miles/dollar | 12 miles/dollar |
Non-cardholders are really taking a hit here, and it’s not just the absolute numbers, but also the difference between the two: across the board, cardholders will earn 3 more miles per dollar on paid flights than non-cardholders.
Note that this makes a much bigger difference the lower someone’s status is. A Premier 1K member will see a 33% increase in earnings by getting a United card; a run-of-the-mill regular member will have their earnings doubled. This is undoubtedly intentional, as United and Chase know that most elite members (especially high-level ones) probably already have a United credit card. The ones who need the most encouragement are the masses on the bottom rungs of the ladder.
This change will make United by far the least-rewarding major domestic airline for non-cardholders, as both Delta and American have nearly identical earning rates to United’s current rates.
Non-cardholders will earn nothing when flying basic economy
Exacerbating the earning rates themselves, United will also require you to hold a credit card to earn miles when flying basic economy. Elite members and cardholders will earn reduced rates, with both categories taking a 3-mile per dollar hit from non-basic tickets, as shown in the table below:
Cardholders will get discounts on awards and better availability
United will also give cardholders at least 10% off all award flights, similar to the 15% discount Delta offers its cardholders now. United cardholders who are also elite members will get a 15% discount. United will also be following Delta’s lead by showing its discounted prices to everyone, regardless of whether or not they’re a cardholder, as a means to juice credit card customer acquisition.
Not only will there be an award discount, but United will also increase the proportion of Polaris business-class saver awards it reserves for elite members and cardholders. From what I understand, that’s currently at ~33% of all saver awards. I wasn’t able to find anything specifying what that will increase to. Regardless, it means that non-cardholders will be fighting over fewer seats.
Quick Thoughts
This is about as surprising as a sunrise. Just six weeks ago, in our points and miles forecasts for 2026, I predicted that at least one more domestic carrier would “Delta-rize” its credit card portfolio by giving award discounts to cardholders. United didn’t make me wait long, and I’ll be interested to see if American follows suit once the transition of Barclays cardholders to Citi is settled.
These days, the major domestic carriers are essentially rewards programs that happen to fly airplanes, and their credit cards are a massive revenue driver; the yearly dollars spent on Delta’s portfolio of credit cards are staggering. It only makes sense that United would try to wrangle every last customer and dollar of spend into its suite of cards.
What I find really interesting here is that United has become the first airline that I can think of to take two additional steps. First, it’s taking Delta’s card-acquisition strategy and going a step further by using cardholder status as the single biggest factor in setting earning rates on paid flights. Starting in April, a non-elite cardholder will earn more miles per dollar on United flights than someone with Silver status and no credit card, and that same pattern holds as you go up the elite ladder.
Second, instead of simply adding incentives to get a credit card, it’s actually punishing those who don’t by cutting their earning rates. It’s not just that cardholders will earn more from April on; non-cardholders will also earn less. I’m a little surprised by that from a PR standpoint, but it creates a wider gap in benefits between those with a United credit card and those without one than what any other carrier has had the hutzpah to implement. If it works, the other carriers will undoubtedly follow suit.
With today’s announcement, United is making clear that it cares far more about whether you have one of its credit cards than it does about whether you fly its airline. That’s a pretty dramatic statement.
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Do we know if we get the old earning rates if we booked before April 2nd but travel is after April 2nd? Chatted with United and the rep contradicted themselves in the very same chat!!!
If I am looking at buying 3 united tickets with cash in the high 4 to low five figure range, should I wait till April 2nd to open an explorer card to get the higher 3 points per dollar spent? I’m confused on if the earning rate is changing for flights flown after April 2nd or if they are also changing for the earnings rate for the spend on the cards on united flights as well.
I guess now i should even fly United since i can never get the credit card due to lifetime ban from Chase
How did you get a lifetime ban?
“I guess now i should even fly United since i can never get the credit card…” Huh?? Why is it that you “should” fly them?
Curious why would they do this to business travelers who don’t have a choice but to make bookings with their business credit card (often provided by employer)
UA doesn’t require you to use the Chase UA card for paying for the ticket, you just need to have it.
Does this change make me more likely to get the United credit card or less likely to fly United? My first thought is that it makes me less likely to fly United.
Can one product change another chase card to the no AF United card? I might consider that. I’m sure not paying an extra $100 year in AF to earn double miles …
It says in the fine print holders of the no annual fee Gateway card have to spend $10K on the card before the cardholder benefits apply. Not worth it.
Would be nice if the cards offered alternative benefits for elites who already get free checked bags and priority boarding.
I poked around some domestic itineraries this week and found quite a few 30k roundtrips in first. If that’s an ongoing repeatable thing and I haven’t just gotten lucky, that’s a real alternative to AA on spoke to spoke value routes. They hadn’t been that low before, and they’re showing cheaper than coach when they do.
Gold for life with Gateway card. We’ll see if Saver awards become more restricted. I’m not spending 10 grand on that card. I might have to product change.
As a lifetime gold member, my concern isn’t the change in earning rates. It is the difference in saver award ability if I have to actually use the card to pay the award taxes and fees in order to get the access. I prefer to pay award fees with my Sapphire Reserve to benefit from the travel protections.
Wouldn’t having the card just enable you to get access to the saver award ability (I think that info would be attached to your profile) and then you could still pay the award fees with the reserve?
As an elite member, you should see the same availability regardless of which card you use to pay with.
Tim, if I have a United card but my spouse does not have a separate card but is also a lifetime gold, will the lower award pricing be available for both award tickets or only apply to one ticket?
Big question is if what was a 80K redemption today becomes 72K or if all UA metal award prices go up by 10% on Apr 2
If you are talking about Polaris over to Europe, I think the 80k redemption rate was already a 10% discount since non card holders saw it priced at 88k
I have an 800+ credit score, pay my bills in full every month, yet I still can’t get a UNITED credit card because of the 5/24 rule. I even get UNITED credit card solicitations in my email and snail mail, yet when I apply I get rejected. I call the reconsideration line each time and each time I’m told that the 5/24 rule is the only reason I can’t get approved. I’ve even asked to speak with managers and they reiterate the issue. What can I do?
Wait until you are under 5/24
Dang. Came here to say this but you beat me to it.
The text on the announcement page says: “UnitedSM Business Cardmembers, UnitedSM Club Business Cardmembers, UnitedSM Presidential PlusSM Cardmembers, UnitedSM Presidential PlusSM Business Cardmembers, UnitedSM Awards Cardmembers, UnitedSM Select Cardmembers will continue to earn additional miles at the same rate when they use their card.”
I would have read that to mean that the earning rates on those cards are not changing on April 02. But in my email, it says “starting April 2, 2026, as a MileagePlus® member with a United℠ Business Card, you’ll earn 6 miles per dollar (previously 5) on the fares of your eligible United® flights† just for being the primary Cardmember.”
Do not get me wrong, the difference for me earning 5x or 6x miles/$ on paid UA flights is probably worth less per year than the 4 quarters I found on the floor of the Las Vegas airport in January, so it makes no practical difference to me. But I am not even sure what that language on the web page is trying to say if the email is correct.
United needs to convince Chase to loosen the 5/24 rule to get more people to sign up
So this will hurt Travellers who have their company do rhe bookings..animating the backlash on that.
What about people with the new chase debit card ??
cardmember is a new status, regardless of using the card:
“Do I have to purchase my ticket with my United card to receive the additional miles?”
Eligible primary Cardmembers can earn at the Cardmember rate just for having a United card. If you are the primary Cardmember, you will earn even more miles when using your United card to purchase the flight.
Seems like it takes away from those who don’t care/don’t travel much, and gives to those who care enough to get a card. Pretty easy to get a card. the cards have PYB feature on AF, so the extra accrued points can offset at 1.5 cpp
Matthew, I am one of those. My employer requires that we use an OTA (Navan) for booking travel. I’m also a UA Platinum this year and a co-brand card holder. If I am reading the terms correctly, I’ll still get the higher points earning rate even though the travel was booked via an OTA because of my holding the co-brand card.
Shocking absolutely no one this is bad news. Ironically the one time United shows leadership it’s in the absolutely wrong direction.
My guess is that United is saving April 1 for a doozie: They’ll say that they’re revaluing MileagePlus. People would laugh so hard they’d puke.