Given that United Airlines is one of the largest United States-based carriers, many travelers will have opportunities to fly on United and its partners and participate in the MileagePlus program. 

To get the most from the program, it’s important to understand how it works. Whether you’re new to points and miles entirely or just haven’t used the MileagePlus program, this guide should help you understand some program basics.

Earning points and miles is relatively straightforward, but the redemption side can be more challenging and complicated.

Most of us share the desire to obtain good value for our points and miles, but it’s hard to know what that means given constant changes in the points and miles environment.

Similar to Disney’s “Big Hero 6” film, Turkish Miles&Smiles is easily one of the most underrated loyalty programs out there.

In years past, hotel or airline elite status was something unattainable for me. It was also something I didn’t particularly desire. For someone who prefers to stay at a cheap hostel rather than a five-star hotel, it just wasn’t a priority.

However, everything changed in 2020 when the thought of staying in a multi-person dorm while traveling made me want to sanitize every door knob I’d touched that day.

In 2020, I earned Marriott Platinum Elite status without much effort, and in 2021, I became Marriott Titanium Elite (to my own surprise).

Many people, myself included, are finding themselves with a number of top-tier status with different hotel loyalty programs. Given the pandemic, most major hotels groups reduced the requirements for earning status.

Edit November 18, 2017: Three more positive reports in the last two weeks. This trick may never die. :)

In Don’t Pay the $75 Close In Fee on United (Trick!), Scott wrote about an easy way anyone can avoid the fee United charges non-elites for booking an award within 21 days of departure.

It only costs 40,000 United miles to fly Thai Airways First Class between South Asia and Australia/New Zealand. A flight between Bangkok and Sydney is nine hours long. 40k is an incredible price for the travel time and quality of the product.

Sadly on November 1 of this year, the price will increase to 65,000 miles. That is not an unreasonable price, but the award will certainly lose its sweetspot status. The devaluation of this international award is not the only change we'll see to MileagePlus this fall.

Through June 2, 2017 at 11:59 CT (today and tomorrow), United is offering up to a 67% bonus on purchased miles.

This post is part one of a series about how to maximize value when transferring your Chase Ultimate Rewards to loyalty program partners. 
Maximizing Your Ultimate Rewards Series Index

Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: United MileagePlus (this post)
Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: Singapore Krisflyer #1
Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: Singapore Krisflyer #2 
Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: Korean SkyPass #1
Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: Korean Skypass #2
Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: Korean Skypass #3
Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: British Airways Avios 
Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: Flying Blue
Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: Virgin Atlantic Flying Club #1
Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: Virgin Atlantic Flying Club #2
Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: Southwest Rapid Rewards
Maximizing