United Airlines Earning

Note: Read the primer on Earning Miles if you have not already.

Credit Cards
“All of the cards below are excellent for earning miles with MileagePlus. I prefer the two MileagePlus Explorer cards due to churnability and the lower spending requirement. You can view the current best offers for all of these cards at Credit Cards.”

Credit Card Minimum Signup Bonus / Spend / Time
Chase United MileagePlus Explorer Card
50,000 miles / $2,000 / 3 months
Chase United MileagePlus Explorer Business Card
50,000 miles / $2,000 / 3 months
Chase Sapphire Preferred Card
40,000 UR / $4,000 / 3 months
Chase Ink Plus Business Card
50,000 UR / $5,000 / 3 months

“Chase Ultimate Rewards can be transferred to United Airlines MileagePlus at a 1:1 ratio.”

Credit Card Churning
“The Chase United MileagePlus Explorer cards can be churned. The other two Chase cards (Sapphire and Ink) can be churned as well, but this may be difficult to do in practice. For more information, see How To Earn A Signup Bonus Multiple Times.”

Bonus Category Spending
Chase United MileagePlus Explorer Business: 2x points on Restaurants, Gas, and Office Supplies
Chase Sapphire Preferred: 2x points on Travel and Dining
Chase Ink Plus: 5x points on Office Supplies, Phone, and Cable; 2x points on Gas and Hotels

Manufactured Spend
“The Chase Ink Plus can be very useful for manufactured spending. For more information, see How To Manufacture Spend.”

Dining Rewards
United MileagePlus Dining.

Shopping Portal
United MileagePlus X. United MileagePlus Shopping. Shop Through Chase (Ultimate Rewards).

Miles Expiration
“MileagePlus miles expire after 18 months of inactivity. Any mileage activity at all (e.g. earning and/or redeeming) will extend your expiration for another 18 months.”