How To Redeem United MileagePlus Miles For Best Value: More Useful Again

United Airlines is by far the most global of the “big three” US carriers, and understandably, a lot of people may want to accrue miles with the MileagePlus program, to jet off on adventures. In this post, I’d like to take a look at MileagePlus miles, and the best uses of them.

When it comes to the value of redeeming miles, I tend to think that United MileagePlus is somewhere between American AAdvantage and Delta SkyMiles.

I’d argue that MileagePlus miles have actually become more valuable in recent times, not because redemption rates have improved, but instead, because United has changed how it goes about releasing award space. I don’t want to bury the lede — if you want to redeem miles for long haul Polaris business class, you need to book through MileagePlus, rather than through a partner program.

Let’s talk about some of the logistics of redeeming MileagePlus miles, plus what I’d consider the best uses to be.

How to earn United MileagePlus miles

There are tons of ways to earn United MileagePlus miles. Of course the most obvious way is by flying with United and Star Alliance airlines, and crediting flights to MileagePlus. However, there are plenty of other ways to earn the miles as well:

Basics of redeeming United MileagePlus miles

Let me go over the logistics of redeeming MileagePlus miles, from the mileage expiration policy, to change fees, and much more.

United MileagePlus miles don’t expire

United MileagePlus miles don’t expire, so that’s a nice policy. You never have to worry about keeping your miles alive, as they’ll continue to be valid, even without account activity.

United MileagePlus has no change & redeposit fees

United MileagePlus has no change or cancelation fees, so you can change or redeposit an award at no cost, and even get the taxes and fees that you paid back. This offers awesome flexibility, and is one major upside compared to the Star Alliance’s two other most lucrative frequent flyer programs, which are Air Canada Aeroplan and Avianca Lifemiles.

United MileagePlus has dynamic(ish) award pricing

United MileagePlus doesn’t publish an award chart, both for travel on United and for travel on partner airlines. So across the board, pricing can change at any time.

Award pricing for United flights is all over the place and constantly fluctuating. However, there is some consistency to partner award pricing, so while the prices aren’t published, we have a general sense of how much a partner award will cost. Note that the lowest level award costs often get marginally more expensive as the departure date approaches.

United MileagePlus offers more award space to some

The real key to maximizing MileagePlus miles is to either have Premier elite status in the program, or to have a co-branded credit card with an annual fee. That’s because those members get access to more award space and better award pricing, in particular for long haul Polaris business class awards.

United MileagePlus awards count toward elite status

If you’re going for elite status with United MileagePlus, it’s cool that award flights potentially count toward elite status. Specifically, if you redeem MileagePlus miles for travel on United or United Express, you’ll receive one Premier Qualifying Point (PQP) for every 100 miles redeemed, as well as one Premier Qualifying Flight (PQF) for every flight completed. In other words, United is valuing each MileagePlus mile at one cent for these purposes.

Note that award flights don’t count toward MileagePlus lifetime elite status, which is still based on revenue flight miles.

United MileagePlus has no carrier imposed surcharges

United MileagePlus doesn’t add carrier-imposed surcharges to award tickets, so you won’t pay airline-imposed fees that in the hundreds of dollars. Of course taxes on tickets can still add up, with things like the UK Air Passenger Duty (APD).

United MileagePlus offers mileage pooling

United MileagePlus is the only one of the “big three” US loyalty programs to offer mileage pooling. With this, a member can invite up to four family or friends to join their pool. The major catch is that pooled miles can only be used for award flights on United, and not for award flights on partner airlines. That limits the usefulness of this feature, in my opinion.

United MileagePlus lets you redeem on Star Alliance & more

Since United is in the Star Alliance, you can redeem your miles across all Star Alliance airlines (subject to availability). You can also redeem your MileagePlus miles on several airlines that don’t belong to the Star Alliance (in some cases due to technicalities), ranging from Aer Lingus, to Air Dolomiti, to Azul, to Cape Air, to Discover Airlines, to Edelweiss Air, to Eurowings.

All of these partners can be booked directly through united.com, or the United mobile app. Furthermore, I have to give United credit for consistently and accurately displaying award availability online, as that’s something that some other programs struggle with.

The challenge with United MileagePlus miles

Before we discuss the best uses of United MileagePlus miles, I’d like to talk about what I consider to be the biggest weakness of United MileagePlus miles. Simply put, if you’re looking to redeem for premium cabin travel on Star Alliance partner airlines, MileagePlus generally doesn’t have award pricing that’s competitive to what you’d find through Air Canada Aeroplan or Avianca Lifemiles.

Now, if you’re directly accruing MileagePlus miles (either through flying or a United co-branded credit card), then that’s a moot point, since you can’t transfer miles to another program. However, if you’re earning Chase Ultimate Rewards points (or another Star Alliance mileage program), then I’d generally argue that there are programs much more lucrative than MileagePlus, assuming you’re looking to redeem on Star Alliance partners. For that matter, other programs sell miles at much more attractive costs, all while having lower redemption rates.

For example, want to redeem miles for Lufthansa first class one-way from Frankfurt (FRA) to Los Angeles (LAX)? Air Canada Aeroplan charges 100,000 points, while United MileagePlus charges 165,000 miles. I think it’s pretty obvious which program offers better value.

My point is simply to say that even if you’re a United loyalist, don’t necessarily assume that you’re best off transferring your Ultimate Rewards points to MileagePlus compared to another partner, assuming you want to redeem on Star Alliance partners.

It’s absolutely worth doing your research and exploring other programs for redemptions as well. I’ve shared what I consider to be the most useful programs for award redemptions.

The best uses of United MileagePlus miles

Generally speaking, you’re going to get the most outsized value for your miles if you’re redeeming internationally in first and business class. I’d like to talk about this briefly when it comes to travel on United, and also when it comes to travel on partner airlines.

MileagePlus miles recently became significantly more valuable (on a relative basis) for the simple reason that United no longer makes Polaris business class award seats available through partner frequent flyer programs. So if you want to redeem miles for Polaris business class, your only option is to book through MileagePlus.

Further, the best award pricing is reserved for MileagePlus elite members and those with co-branded credit cards. This clearly represents a major strategy shift, intended to increase engagement in MileagePlus.

United Polaris business class might not be the world’s best business class product, but there’s no denying that the airline has a huge network, and gets people to where they want to go. So there’s value in having access to those awards.

Whether you want to fly from Newark (EWR) to Marrakech (RAK) in business class for 80,000 MileagePlus miles…

…or from Newark to Johannesburg (JNB) in business class for 80,000 MileagePlus miles…

…or from Los Angeles (LAX) to Hong Kong (HKG) in business class for 100,000 MileagePlus miles…

…MileagePlus is worth engaging in, especially if you have a credit card or status.

What about partner redemptions? If you’re looking for the absolute best value and are originating in the United States, there’s one partner award where I find United MileagePlus to be the best. Specifically, flying from the United States to Africa in business class, you’ll pay just 88,000 miles one-way. That’s a great price, given the distance of travel, and it’s better pricing than you’ll find with most other programs.

As a matter of fact, you’ll find that business class to Africa often costs the same as business class to Europe, despite the itinerary being double the distance. So if you want to visit Africa, MileagePlus miles are awesome.

Other than that, I’d say most MileagePlus premium cabin awards go into the “meh” category, where they’re a good option if there’s saver availability and you have MileagePlus miles, while they’re rarely the best pricing you’ll find with any program, so therefore aren’t worth transferring points over.

While it’s not necessarily the greatest value, I know that a lot of elite MileagePlus loyalists just end up redeeming their miles for flights on United domestically. Even though the value isn’t necessarily great, it allows them to stay on the “hamster wheel,” by awarding elite credit for those flights.

I think United MileagePlus miles are also useful for speculative bookings, if you’re not sure if you’ll actually take a flight, but you want a placeholder. Air Canada Aeroplan and Avianca Lifemiles do have change and cancelation fees, so that flexibility offered by United is great.

Bottom line

United MileagePlus isn’t the most lucrative Star Alliance program when it comes to award pricing. If you have United miles, you can still get good value, though if you’re transferring miles to United, I’d think twice about doing that, and would instead consider another program with better redemption rates.

If you ask me, the single most useful thing about MileagePlus is that it offers access to Polaris business class awards. Generally you need elite status or a co-branded credit card in order to unlock the most space and best pricing. That’s super useful, given United’s huge global network, plus the space being blocked through partner programs.

If you ask me, the only market where MileagePlus excels when it comes to partner redemptions originating in the United States is for flights to Africa, where you’ll pay at most 88,000 miles for a one-way partner award. You won’t go wrong with other redemptions, necessarily, but you also won’t get outsized value compared to other programs.

What’s your take on the best uses of MileagePlus miles?