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One common complaint amongst U.S. residents is the high price of domestic flights. Any travelers who have taken short-haul flights around Europe, Asia or South America know that domestic flights in the United States can have exorbitant prices (even when they cover short distances).
However, by leveraging certain credit rewards programs and frequent-flyer programs, you can find great deals on domestic U.S. flights using points and miles. Using this strategy will keep your out-of-pocket costs low and allow you to travel across the U.S. without breaking the bank.
If you’re looking to book flights in the United States, then United Airlines is going to be an option on many domestic routes. Because United is a Star Alliance member, you can book United flights through several Star Alliance frequent-flyer programs. Air Canada, another Star Alliance carrier, also has a major footprint in the U.S.
Let’s take a look at some of the best ways to book domestic flights in the U.S. through Star Alliance frequent-flyer programs. We’ll identify the best programs through which to find domestic awards (mostly United-operated awards) as well as which credit cards allow transfers to each program.
Why Should You Book Domestic U.S. Flights Through Star Alliance Partners?
United is the primary domestic operator among Star Alliance airlines. While most travelers are aware that you can book United-operated flights with miles through United’s own MileagePlus program, many aren’t aware that you also can book United flights through Star Alliance partner frequent-flyer programs (like Avianca LifeMiles or Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer).
One advantage of booking United flights through partners is every loyalty program prices award flights differently. So, in some cases, a United-operated flight may cost significantly fewer miles through a partner program than it does through the MileagePlus program.
Another reason to book United flights through partner programs is that each program has a different set of transfer partners. For example, only Chase Ultimate Rewards points and Bilt Rewards points can be transferred to United MileagePlus. So, if you have access to Capital One Rewards and no other points, then you won’t be able to transfer to this program.
On the other hand, with your Capital One Rewards account, you can transfer your points to several Star Alliance partner programs, including Air Canada Aeroplan and Avianca LifeMiles, and then book United flights through these partner programs.
Best Star Alliance Programs to Book Domestic U.S. Award Flights
Now that you understand why booking domestic United awards through partner loyalty programs can be a good idea, let’s look at some of the best programs through which to do so.
Avianca LifeMiles
One of the best programs through which to book United domestic award flights is Avianca LifeMiles, the loyalty program of Colombia’s national airline, Avianca. While many frequent-flyer programs have moved over to dynamic pricing models (which tie award rates to cash prices), Avianca LifeMiles still uses region-based award charts to price partner award flights.
As a result of this fixed pricing, you often can find United-operated domestic award flights at great rates that offer high value per mile through the Avianca LifeMiles program. Premium-cabin awards, in particular, tend to offer higher value for your miles.
For example, here’s a round-trip United-operated first-class itinerary between San Francisco (SFO) and Philadelphia (PHL) for 60,000 Avianca miles and about $11 in taxes and fees.
If you were to book the same flight with cash through the United website, it would cost you about $1,049.
So, factoring in the taxes and fees paid for the award flight, this redemption offers a value of about 1.7 cents per mile, which is fairly high.
As you can see, by booking this United flight through Avianca LifeMiles, you can get a good deal and maximize the value of your credit card points.
Avianca LifeMiles Transfer Partners
The Avianca LifeMiles program is a 1:1 transfer partner of several of the major U.S. credit card rewards programs, including:
- American Express Membership Rewards
- Bilt Rewards
- Brex
- Capital One Rewards
- Citi ThankYou Rewards
- Wells Fargo Rewards
Because Avianca LifeMiles has so many credit card transfer partners, earning miles with this program is relatively easy for U.S. consumers.
Air Canada Aeroplan
Air Canada Aeroplan, the frequent-flyer program of Canada’s national airline, is another place where you can consistently find United domestic award flights at decent rates.
Prior to March 2025, Aeroplan priced United-operated awards using fixed award charts. Unfortunately, in March 2025, the program switched over to using a dynamic pricing model for all award flights operated by Air Canada and certain partners, including United.
However, all dynamically priced awards through Air Canada Aeroplan still fall within a fixed range. So, you can still find good value on United-operated domestic award flights through the Air Canada Aeroplan program in some cases.
For example, here’s a round-trip United-operated economy-class itinerary between Los Angeles (LAX) and Washington (IAD) for 30,000 Aeroplan points plus 54 Canadian dollars (about $39).
If you were to book the same flights with cash directly with United, they would cost you about $760.
Thus, accounting for the taxes and fees you’d have to pay in addition to the points, this redemption would give you a value of about 2.4 cents per point, which is excellent for an economy-class award.
So, despite the fact that Aeroplan prices United awards dynamically, it’s definitely still possible to get good value through this program.
Air Canada Aeroplan Transfer Partners
The Air Canada Aeroplan allows 1:1 transfers from several major U.S. credit card rewards programs, including:
- American Express Membership Rewards
- Bilt Rewards
- Capital One Rewards
- Chase Ultimate Rewards
So, if you have a credit card from any of the aforementioned programs, you can easily transfer rewards to Air Canada Aeroplan and boost your points balance.
United MileagePlus
United Airlines’ own MileagePlus frequent-flyer program is another good place to look for domestic awards. This program has far more United-operated domestic award availability than any other program. So, if you can’t find a domestic award on your desired date through any other program, it’s definitely worth checking through MileagePlus.
Unfortunately, the United MileagePlus program uses a dynamic pricing model to price most of its own award flights. However, there are still some domestic awards available at Saver rates, which tend to offer decent value per point.
For example, we found a round-trip economy-class Saver-level United award itinerary between Los Angeles (LAX) and Boston (BOS) for 25,600 United miles and about $11 in taxes and fees.
If you were to purchase this ticket with cash instead of miles, it would cost you about $310.
So, factoring in the taxes and fees you’d have to pay for the award flight, this redemption would give you a value of about 1.2 cents per mile, which is the value that you can expect to get from most Saver awards booked through the MileagePlus program.
As mentioned above, while the United MileagePlus program typically offers lower value per point than either the LifeMiles or Aeroplan programs, there is far more domestic award flight availability through MileagePlus than any other program.
United MileagePlus Transfer Partners
While many U.S.-based travelers may earn United MileagePlus miles by taking flights with United (or spending on United co-branded credit cards), you also can transfer points from two major U.S. credit card rewards programs to United MileagePlus at a 1:1 ratio:
- Bilt Rewards
- Chase Ultimate Rewards
So, if you use either of these two credit card rewards programs, you can transfer points at a 1:1 ratio to help boost your MileagePlus miles balance.
ANA Mileage Club
For those who hold an American Express credit card, it may also be worth checking for United-operated domestic award flights through ANA Mileage Club, the frequent-flyer program of Japanese airline and Star Alliance member All Nippon Airways (ANA). This program uses a fixed zone-based award chart to price all partner flights.
Here are the rates for round-trip partner-operated flights within North America by cabin class:
- Economy class: 30,000 miles
- Business class: 55,000 miles
- First class: 90,000 miles
The rates above apply to all United-operated domestic flights. So, if you can find a flight through the ANA Mileage Club program that has a particularly high cash price, you should be able to find decent value per mile.
We found a round-trip economy-class United flight itinerary between Los Angeles (LAX) and Newark, New Jersey (EWR), for 30,000 miles and about $11 in taxes and fees.
If you were to book the same flights through the United website with cash, it would cost you about $417.
So, by booking this flight itinerary with ANA miles instead of cash, factoring in the taxes and fees for the award flights, this redemption would give you a value of about 1.4 cents per point. That’s fairly high for an economy-class flight.
It should be noted that using the ANA website can be slightly confusing. However, if you’re willing to navigate this website, it might help you get good value for your credit card points.
ANA Mileage Club Transfer Partners
There’s only one major U.S. credit card rewards program that allows 1:1 transfers to the ANA Mileage Club program:
- American Express Membership Rewards
If you have an Amex credit card, then you can transfer your points to the ANA Mileage Club program and possibly find United-operated domestic awards at favorable rates. Unfortunately, if you use any other credit card rewards program, you won’t be able to transfer points to this frequent-flyer program.
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
Another Star Alliance loyalty program through which you can book affordable U.S. domestic awards is Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer. This program offers two different types of awards: Advantage and Saver. While both types of awards are priced according to fixed award charts, Advantage awards require more miles and are available in larger quantities.
So, if you’re able to find United-operated domestic awards at Saver rates (which are rarer and require fewer miles than Advantage awards), then you can often find good value per mile on these types of awards.
For example, we found a round-trip economy-class United award itinerary between Austin, Texas (AUS), and Newark (EWR) for 28,000 KrisFlyer miles and about $11 in taxes and fees. Both legs of this itinerary were Saver awards.
If you were to book the same flights with cash through the United website, it would cost you about $369.
Thus, including the taxes and fees that you’d have to pay for the KrisFlyer award flight, this redemption would give you a value of about 1.3 cents per mile, which is decent for an economy-class award.
Additionally, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles are fairly easy to earn because this program is a 1:1 transfer partner of several major U.S. credit card rewards programs.
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Transfer Partners
Points can be transferred from many major U.S. credit card rewards programs to the Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer program, making it easy to earn miles with this program even if you never take a single flight on Singapore Airlines.
Here are all of the KrisFlyer program’s credit card transfer partners:
- American Express Membership Rewards
- Brex
- Capital One Rewards
- Chase Ultimate Rewards
- Citi ThankYou Rewards
So, if you hold a credit card with any of the aforementioned issuers, you can easily transfer points to the KrisFlyer program at a 1:1 ratio and then redeem them for a United-operated domestic flight.
Star Alliance Transfer Partner Cheat Sheet
The following chart is a reference that you can use to quickly check which credit cards allow transfers to each of the Star Alliance frequent-flyer programs listed above:
| Credit card rewards program | Air Canada Aeroplan | Avianca LifeMiles | ANA Mileage Club | Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | United Airlines MileagePlus |
| American Express Membership Rewards | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Bilt Rewards | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Brex | No | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Capital One Rewards | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Chase Ultimate Rewards | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Citi ThankYou Rewards | No | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Wells Fargo Rewards | No | Yes | No | No | No |
If you’re planning on using credit card points to book a United-operated domestic award flight, you can use this chart to see which frequent-flyer programs can be leveraged.
When to Use Credit Card Booking Portals (or Cash)
All of the award examples included in this article offer outsized value, meaning that the redemption value is greater than 1 cent per point. However, this isn’t always the case. In some cases, a United-operated award redemption through a partner program may actually provide less than 1 cent per point in value.
In this case, you’re better off booking your United domestic flight through your credit card’s travel booking portal (or simply booking with cash) than transferring points to any partner. That’s because these credit card travel booking portals typically offer a fixed value of 1 cent per point on all award flight redemptions, and you earn redeemable miles on portal bookings.
For example, let’s say there was a United-operated domestic flight that cost $280 and that you wanted to book it using Amex points. However, the only transfer partner through which you could find award availability on that flight was Air Canada Aeroplan for 30,000 points. This redemption would give you a value of less than 1 cent per point.
So, in the example above, you’d be better off booking that flight through American Express Travel®, which always offers a value of 1 cent per point on flights. If you prefer to save your points for outsized-value redemptions in the future, you could simply book this flight with cash. Plus, booking this flight with cash would allow you to earn points, which should also be considered.
In every scenario, it’s important to identify the redemption you’re interested in making through a transfer partner and then calculate the value of that redemption before actually making the transfer. Points transfers are irreversible, and you don’t want to discover that you could’ve gotten more value elsewhere after you’ve already made a transfer.
The Bottom Line
With the consistently high prices of domestic flights, using points and miles can help travelers move around the U.S. while keeping their out-of-pocket costs relatively low. So, since United is one of the largest airlines in the U.S., understanding how to book United-operated domestic flights through Star Alliance frequent-flyer programs can save you points and cash.
Some of the best Star Alliance frequent-flyer programs for booking United domestic awards include Air Canada Aeroplan, Avianca LifeMiles, ANA Mileage Club, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer and United’s own MileagePlus program. Among these programs, Avianca, ANA and Singapore tend to offer the best rates because they use fixed award charts to price United-operated awards.
Of course, in some cases, the best place to book a specific domestic award flight is through your credit card’s online travel portal. Each of these travel portals offers a baseline of 1 cent per point in value. So, if you can’t find more value than that elsewhere, then your credit card travel booking portal is your best option.