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| Same flight. 223,000 fewer miles. |
| by Summer Hull, Senior Director of Content |
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This might sound too good to be true, but believe it or not, the exact same business-class seat on the exact same flight can cost either 72,000 United miles or 295,000 United miles.
That's a difference of 223,000 miles for the same seat.
And the difference in who pays which price can come down to something surprisingly simple: Which card you have in your wallet.
In fact, that’s one of the biggest reasons I think almost everyone who wants to travel using miles should consider getting a United credit card, such as the United℠ Explorer Card, which recently brought back its best-ever welcome offer.
Simply having an eligible United card can save you at least 10% on United-operated award flights, but sometimes the savings are dramatically bigger — we're talking literally hundreds of thousands of miles.
If you need to see it to believe it, I don't blame you.
Here are a few real examples of just how much you can save.
One of them is the 72,000-mile business-class flight from Europe to the U.S. I mentioned above. The savings were so dramatic that a friend of mine actually opened a United credit card to unlock the lower award price.
And believe it or not, 223,000 miles isn't even the biggest savings I've seen.
There are plenty of more complicated ways to save miles on award travel, but this one is refreshingly simple: Have an eligible United credit card and unlock lower award prices than you'd otherwise see.
And with United's updated MileagePlus program, having a United credit card can also help you earn more miles when you fly United.
Here's where the timing gets interesting.
Right now, several United credit cards have increased welcome offers, with some matching or exceeding their highest-ever bonuses.- United Explorer Card: Earn up to 80,000 bonus miles — 70,000 after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening, plus another 10,000 after adding an authorized user in that same period.
- United Quest℠ Card: Earn up to 90,000 bonus miles plus 500 PQPs toward elite status — 500 PQPs after your first purchase, 80,000 miles after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first three months, and another 10,000 miles after adding an authorized user in that period.
- United Club℠ Card: Earn up to 100,000 bonus miles — 90,000 after spending $5,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening, plus another 10,000 after adding an authorized user in that period.
Even the no-annual-fee United Gateway℠ Card can unlock these award savings once you've spent $10,000 on the card in a calendar year. And it currently has its highest-ever welcome bonus, too.
If you don’t have an eligible United credit card, you could be using far more miles than necessary every time you book a United award flight.
With increased welcome offers available right now, you have an opportunity to earn a bigger-than-normal stash of miles upfront and unlock lower award prices that can keep paying off long after you've earned the bonus.
Ready to learn more? Check out these additional stories:
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| Photo Credit: SEAN CUDAHY/THE POINTS GUY. |
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