Guide to United MileagePlus: How To Earn and Redeem for Best Value

United MileagePlus is one of the most generous airline loyalty programs out there, but it’s also one of the most complex. 

That’s because even though you’ll start earning miles on every flight you take with United and its partner airlines as soon as you register, you won’t necessarily earn status. For status, you need a combination of PQPs and PQFs. Or just PQPs. And you don’t earn PQPs/PQFs on every flight. 

Oh, and once you earn enough PQPs and PQFs, you'll start earning PlusPoints. 

Still with me? 

Sarcasm aside, MileagePlus really is worth joining and learning the basics of, because it can quickly lead to free flights, free bags, and other valuable goodies on all United flights. 

So, let’s cover how it all works, the best ways to earn/spend miles, and a secret “shortcut” to earning status perks right away. 

What Is United MileagePlus?

United MileagePlus is United Airlines’ loyalty program, where you can earn points towards free flights, upgrades, status, and more. 

However, unlike some other more straightforward programs, like American Airlines AAdvantage, United MileagePlus is a bit… complicated. 

To illustrate, United MileagePlus has not one or two, but four different currencies to track (Miles, PQPs, PQFs, and PlusPoints), and not every flight you take will qualify towards higher status. 

So let’s break it all down, piece by piece. 

How the United MileagePlus Program Works

Fundamentally, United MileagePlus works like most loyalty programs: Book flights with United or its partner airlines, and you’ll earn miles you can redeem for flights, upgrades, checked bag fees, or even hotels and rental cars through one of United’s partners. 

In addition, if you book enough qualifying United flights within a single calendar year, you’ll earn better status. Even the very first status tier, Premier Silver, unlocks a bevy of benefits, like free checked bags, seat upgrades for you and your travel companion, and Group 2 boarding. 

Now, here’s where things get a little complicated, because United MileagePlus has four total currencies to track. 

1. MileagePlus Miles

Miles are the foundational currency of United MileagePlus. 

To start, you’ll earn a base 5 miles per dollar spent with United and its partners. You can then cash in your miles for flights, upgrades, etc., and they tend to be worth ~1.2 cents a pop when redeemed for air travel. 

But that’s all that miles are good for: earning and redeeming. They don’t count towards status. For that, you’ll need some PQPs and PQFs. 

2. Premier Qualifying Points

Premier Qualifying Points (PQPs) are one of the two currencies you’ll need to reach a higher status with United. For example, to earn Premier Silver status, you’ll need either:

• 5,000 PQPs and 15 Premier Qualifying Flights (PQFs); or
• 6,000 PQPs.

Generally speaking, you’ll earn one PQP for every dollar spent with United and its partner airlines. 

But PQPs aren’t redeemable for anything — they’re only used to track your progress towards your next status tier. More on that in a bit. 

3. Premier Qualifying Flights

Premier Qualifying Flights (PQFs) are the other currency used to track your progress towards higher status with United. 

You’ll earn one PQF for each flight segment you take with United or one of its partner airlines. 

Unfortunately for us frugally minded flyers, Basic Economy tickets don’t earn PQFs — only Economy class and higher. 

Thankfully, you don’t actually need a single PQF to earn higher status. United lets you earn status with PQPs alone, but the bar is just a little higher. 

4. PlusPoints

Finally, PlusPoints are like special “tokens” that United gives to its Platinum and Premier 1K members. 

You can cash in your PlusPoints for TravelBank cash, bonus miles, PQPs, PQFs, or gifting Premier status to someone else.  

If you’re new to United MileagePlus, you won’t have to worry about PlusPoints for a while. So let’s circle back to miles, and how to earn them quickly!

How To Earn United MileagePlus Miles

Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s cover how to earn maximum miles ASAP so you can start going on free flights!

To start, there are six primary ways to earn United miles: 

• Flights: Flights booked on United, United Express, Star Alliance, and other partner airlines (40 total) generate at least 5 miles per dollar spent on the base fare. Your earnings rate also goes up with status (e.g., 7 miles per dollar spent with Premier Silver). 

• Car rentals: Earn up to 1,250 miles per rental booking with Avis and Budget, and 5 miles per dollar spent on rentals through Turo.

• Cruises: Earn up to 7 miles per $1 spent on cruise bookings through United Cruises. 

• Hotels and vacation rentals: United has its own hotel search engine powered by Hotels.com. Book there to earn 2 miles per dollar spent. Or you can earn by booking with United hotel partners like Vrbo, Marriott, Wyndham, IHG, and Hyatt.

• United-branded rewards cards: These all come with pretty big welcome offers, perks like free checked bags, and the ability to earn miles on everyday purchases. 

• United MileagePlus X app: Download the United MileagePlus X app or get the United MileagePlus Shopping browser extension to start earning between 0.5 and 10 bonus miles per dollar spent with one of United’s 20,000+ retail and restaurant partners.  

The fastest way to earn United MileagePlus miles

If you’re looking to score a bunch of United miles quickly, the fastest way to do it is to apply for a United-branded credit card. 

United offers four consumer cards and two business cards:

• United Gateway℠ Card
• United℠ Explorer Card
• United Quest℠ Card
• United Club℠ Card
• United℠ Business Card
• United Club^℠ Business Card

These cards all come with welcome offers, plus other ways to rapidly generate miles on everyday purchases:

Card	Details
United Gateway℠ Card Learn More	Rewards rate: 2x miles on United® purchases, at gas stations, and on local transit and commuting; 1x miles on all other purchases Welcome offer: Earn 30,000 bonus miles after you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open. Annual fee: $0
United℠ Explorer Card Learn More	Rewards rate: 2x miles on United® purchases, dining, and hotel stays; 1x miles on all other purchases Welcome offer: Earn 60,000 bonus miles after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open. Annual fee: $150 ($0 in your first year)
United Quest℠ Card Learn More	Rewards rate: 3x miles on United® purchases; 2x miles on dining, select streaming services, and all other travel; 1x miles on all other purchases Welcome offer: Earn 70,000 bonus miles and 1,000 Premier qualifying points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open. Annual fee: $350
United Club℠ Card Learn More	Rewards rate: 4x miles on United® purchases; 2x miles on all other travel and dining; 1x miles on all other purchases Welcome offer: Earn 90,000 bonus miles after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Annual fee: $695
United℠ Business Card Learn More	Rewards rate: 2x miles on United® purchases, dining, gas, office supply stores, transit/commuting; 1x miles on all other purchases Welcome offer: Earn 75,000 bonus miles and 2,000 PQP after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open. Annual fee: $0 Intro annual fee for the first year, then $150 Annual Fee
United Club℠ Business Card	Rewards rate: 7x total miles on United flights; 5x miles on hotel stays when you prepay directly through Renowned Hotels and Resorts; 2x miles on all other eligible United purchases; 1.5x miles on all other purchases Welcome offer: Earn 80,000 bonus miles + 2,000 Premier qualifying points (PQP) after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open. Annual fee: $695

RELATED: How To Earn Credit Card Points Fast for Travel

Other ways to earn United MileagePlus miles quickly: 

Aside from credit card perks and bonuses, here are some other methods I’d recommend for maximizing your intake of United miles: 

• Add your MileagePlus number to your Budget/Avis/Turo accounts. It’s easy to forget that you can earn free miles by linking your loyalty accounts, so you might want to do it now before you leave up to 1,250 miles on the table!

• Download the United MileagePlus X app. The app shows you a map of restaurants and retail locations where you can earn extra points with your purchases. See what pins appear in your favorite neighborhoods, and make a mental note to scan your app at checkout next time you visit. 

• Add an authorized user to your United card. United sometimes offers point bonuses for adding an authorized user. Plus, you can earn points on their purchases, too. For example, if your friend books a United flight using their MileagePlus account but your credit card, you’ll both score some miles on the purchase (5x for them, 2x for you). 

READ MORE: Beginner’s Guide to Earning Miles & Travel Points

How To Redeem United MileagePlus Miles

Once you’ve amassed a nice fortune of United MileagePlus Miles, how should you spend them? 

Well, you have a few different options on the table: 

• Flights: Naturally, your first option is to redeem miles for flights on United or Star Alliance partner airlines. 

• Upgrades and extras: You can redeem miles for seat upgrades, checked bag fees, TSA PreCheck® renewal fees, United Club^SM membership, inflight dining, meals in select airports (EWR and IAH at the time of writing), and wifi fees on flights. 

• Shopping with United or retail partners: You can spend miles on MileagePlus merchandise, eGift cards, Apple products, and newspaper subscriptions (though the redemption rate for all of these isn’t that great). 

• Experiences: United lets you redeem miles for Broadway show tickets or MileagePlus Exclusives, like VIP sports tickets or invite-only dining events. 

• Buy, transfer, or donate miles: When booking a flight on United.com, you can buy extra miles at a discount to use next time (a bonus called Award Accelerator). You can also transfer miles to another MileagePlus account at any time or donate them to worthy causes like Guide Dogs of America or the World Central Kitchen. 

So that’s what’s on the menu. But which option is best? 

The best way to redeem United MileagePlus miles

Barring the occasional promo on eGift cards, the best way to redeem United MileagePlus miles is for flights or flight upgrades. 

These options give you around 1.2 cents per mile in redemption value, whereas the others listed above tend to cap out around 1.0 cents. 

RELATED: When To Use Points vs. Cash for Booking Travel

How To Get Status with United

To preface, United MileagePlus isn’t one of those programs with a pointless, token Silver tier that’s little more than a high-five and a pack of Biscoff. 

Quite the contrary, United’s very first status tier (Premier Silver) unlocks valuable perks that make flying with United much cheaper and greatly accelerate your mile-earnings rate. 

United MileagePlus status tiers

United offers four status tiers:

Status tier	Points needed	Benefits
Premier Silver	15 PQFs + 5,000 PQPs  or  6,000 PQPs	1 free checked bag in Economy Free access to Economy Plus at check-in for you and a travel companion Group 2 boarding Free upgrades day of departure Earn 7x miles on all United and Star Alliance flights
Premier Gold	30 PQFs + 10,000 PQPs  or  2,000 PQPs	2 free checked bags in Economy Free access to Economy Plus at booking for you and a travel companion Group 1 boarding Free upgrades 48 hours before flight Earn 8x miles on all United and Star Alliance flights
Premier Platinum	45 PQFs + 15,000 PQPs  or  18,000 PQPs	3 free checked bags in Economy Free access to Economy Plus at booking for you and 8 travel companions Group 1 boarding Free upgrades 72 hours before flight Earn 9x miles on all United and Star Alliance flights 40 PlusPoints
Premier 1K	60 PQFs + 22,000 PQPs  or  28,000 PQPs	3 free checked bags in Economy Free access to Economy Plus at booking for you and 8 travel companions Priority pre-boarding Free upgrades 96 hours before flight Earn 11x miles on all United and Star Alliance flights 280 PlusPoints Free drink and snack in Economy

So if you check a bag (worth $40 each way) on, say, five round-trip United flights per year, reaching Silver Premier status can save you $400 on bag fees alone. 

But to get there (and beyond), you’ll need a fair amount of PQPs and PQFs. What the heck are those, again? 

How to earn PQPs and PQFs

To reach status with United, you’ll need to earn two currencies with the airline: 

• Premier Qualifying Points (PQP): You’ll earn:
  • 1 PQP for every $1 spent on base fares for United flights
  • 1 PQP for every 5 miles earned with a preferred partner airline
  • 1 PQP for every 6 miles earned with MileagePlus partner airlines
  • 1 PQP for every $1 spent on Economy Plus® and preferred seating on United flights
  • 1 PQP for every 100 MileagePlus miles redeemed on United flights and seat upgrades
  • PQPs on purchases made with an eligible United credit card (amount depends on the card)

• Premier Qualifying Flights (PQF): You’ll earn 1 PQF for every one-way flight you take on United, United Express, or a partner airline. Unfortunately, Basic Economy tickets don’t earn PQFs — but thankfully, you can earn elevated status through PQPs alone. 

READ MORE: How To Earn Airline Elite Status — and Is It Worth It?

The fastest way to earn status with United

To earn Premier Silver status, you’ll need 15 PQFs and 5,000 PQPs or 6,000 total PQPs. That translates to 15 flights and $5,000 spent or $6,000 spent within a calendar year with United. 

That’s a pretty high bar, but there is one minor shortcut you can take. 

United credit cards, such as the United Quest℠ Card or the United℠ Business Card, come with welcome offers that sometimes include not only a lot of miles, but also PQPs towards your next status tier. 

These offers can get you much closer to Premier Silver status faster than relying on flights alone.

That being said, some United fans would say that status isn’t really necessary at that point since many of the cards give you the same perks that Silver status does, including free checked bags, free upgrades, and an elevated earnings rate. 

So yes, a United credit card gets you much closer to status, but it also makes having status kinda redundant. 

As a result, your “shortcut” to earning status with United might be as simple as getting the right United credit card with the same (or better) benefits attached. 

FAQs About United MileagePlus

TL;DR: How United MileagePlus Works

As a loyalty program, United MileagePlus is as complex as it is rewarding. At the higher tiers, you’ll need to track four total currencies (miles, PQPs, PQFs, and PlusPoints), and for better or worse, there’s a huge array of ways to both earn and spend miles. 

You can start rapidly earning United miles by simply signing up for a MileagePlus account and adding your account number in the right places (e.g., your United and partner airline accounts). 

But since status is somewhat unattainable without spending $5,000+, your best way to earn valuable benefits like free bags and upgrades is to get the right United credit card. 

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Disclosure: Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.