United Airlines To Make Aggressive Changes To MileagePlus
Chicago-based carrier, United Airlines, controversially restructures its loyalty program. United has been trying to manipulate Wall Street through a Chicago turf war, and now, with these changes, it has a highly controversial strategy. To increase loyalty programs by 50% over the next four years, the carrier is reducing point accruals for non-credit card holders and offering discounts to frequent fliers and credit card holders when using miles. Cardholders will now get more miles and discounts, while those who aren’t will earn less and get a more expensive rate.
United claims the following benefits:
1 Earn more miles: United is recalibrating how MileagePlus members earn miles to better reward the airline's most loyal members. MileagePlus primary cardholders will earn more miles on standard United tickets – and get additional miles when they pay for their flight with an eligible United card.
For example, a MileagePlus Gold member buying a ticket using their United Quest℠ card will now earn 13 total miles per dollar – a more than double the miles earn compared to MileagePlus Gold members who do not hold a card. General United MileagePlus members who buy a ticket using a United℠ Explorer card will earn 9 total miles per dollar – three times as many miles compared to General non-cardholders – and if they use a United Club card, they'll earn 11 total miles per dollar – nearly four times as many miles as a non-cardholder.
MileagePlus members who don't have a United card will earn fewer miles for United flights than members who have one, and general members now must hold a United card to earn miles when traveling on a Basic Economy ticket.
Customers can go to united.com/mpnews to see details of the new mileage accrual rates and use the United mile calculator to see how many miles they can earn on their future flights based on status – and how many more miles they could earn by being a United cardholder.
Discounts on every award flight: United cardholders now save at least 10% on every United award flight they book – and Premier® members with a United card will save at least 15%. Primary cardholders can see their savings called out on United's app and website, and soon United will show the discounted prices to everyone so customers can see exactly how much having a United card could save them on their travel.
For example, an award in United Economy® priced at 15,000 miles will now cost 13,500 miles – 10% less – for primary cardholders without Premier status. A United Polaris business class seat priced at 200,000 miles will now cost 170,000 miles – 15% less – for primary cardholders with Premier status.
Expanded Saver Awards: United offers additional inventory of Saver Award seats in United Polaris business class as a special way to recognize cardholders.
Saver Awards are United's lowest priced award tickets, and currently about a third of flights that have Saver Award fares available, have exclusive inventory just for cardholders and Premier members. This includes flights to places like London, Hawaii, Florida, Cancun and Tokyo. Saver Award seats in United Polaris business class available to cardholders and Premier members currently are priced as low as 80,000 miles – with new award discounts for cardholders, these seats will now price as low as 72,000 miles (10% less) for cardholders with General status, or as low as 68,000 miles (15% less) for cardholders with Premier status.
On average, cardholders save about 30% when booking Saver Award flights under the 'Cardmembers Save' banner on united.com and the United app compared to standard award pricing. With expanded Saver Award access and the new award discount, cardholders will have the opportunity to combine these savings and will consistently need fewer miles to book the same trips, while also having access to more Saver Award fares.
In terms of financials, analysts warn that this can be very problematic, with one claiming “W]hat this does is feed the decline that we are seeing in our research about brand loyalty to airlines. We had seen in our research that we conduct every year with 5,000 or more airline passengers in the US that it had been hovering around 13% to 14% of airline passengers saying they are loyal to at least one airline or airline alliance. in our 2026 most recent survey that has now declined to just under 12%. So congratulations, airlines, you’re so focused on the credit cards that you’re killing people who might otherwise form loyalty to you. And I consider myself a free agent. I know a lot of other people who consider themselves free agents. And I think that there’s a risk some of this might unintentionally backfire on some of the airlines.” Personally, the analyst makes a great point. This will attract a lot of credit card spend from some, which is good, but it could also decrease it for others and drive away a lot of customers. This hasnt yet affected the stock significantly and should be interesting.