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Updated (05.08.2025)
Please note that the card bonus has changed.
| United Card (updated on 11.08.2025) | |
|---|---|
| Basic features | Cardholders have access to XN fare classes, making it relatively easy to secure seats when redeeming United miles (except for Gateway cards as of 8/1) |
| Business cards | United℠ Business Card 3 months $5,000 75,000 miles + 2,000 Premier qualifying points |
| Personal cards | United℠ Explorer Card 3 months $3000 60,000 miles |
| Personal cards | United Quest℠ Card 3 months $4,000 70,000 miles + 1,000 Premier qualifying points |
| Personal cards | United Club℠ Card 3 months $5,000 90,000 miles |
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United Airlines (UA) is making some big changes to the benefits of its partner cards.
The UA partner cards are issued by Chase and include four personal cards and two business cards.
All of these cards have been renamed with the adjective The New, and the card benefits have been updated accordingly.
In today's post, we'll briefly summarize the overall changes, and then pick a featured card to explain.
Table of Contents
Basic tiers of cards
Before we summarize the overall changes, let's explain the basic tiers of cards.
For personal cards, there are four types of cards.
- The lowest tier card with no annual fee is The New United Gateway℠ Card (the Gateway).
- The card we've been talking about as a must-have in the Magic circle is The New United℠ Explorer Card (Explorer).
- The mid-tier card is The New United Quest℠ Card (Quest)
- Finally, the card with the highest annual fee and lounge access is The New United Club℠ Card (Club Card)
There are two types of business cards.
- The card equivalent of the Personal Explorer Card is The New United℠ Business Card (hereafter referred to as the General Business Card).
- The equivalent of the Personal Club Card is The New United Club℠ Business Card (the Business Club Card).
Four personal cards and two business cards, if you remember correctly.
Let's describe the common characteristics.
Feature 1: Couponbooking
The biggest feature of this update is that offers have been couponized.
Coupon bookmarking refers to the practice of spreading out the benefits over a period of time, such as monthly or quarterly, rather than all at once.
- Prevent cardmembers from taking the card's sign-up bonus and putting it in a drawer, while also ensuring that the
- Encourage regular card use and
- It's a marketing tactic that card companies continue to employ, as it means that card use becomes second nature.
So far, Amex has been leading the way, but with this UA card revamp, Chase is starting to adopt it in earnest.
Let's take a look at the specifics.
Let's use the Explorer card as an example, which is probably the most familiar of the personal cards.
- When you register/use your Explorer card for rideshare like Uber, you get a statement credit of $5 per month up to $60 per year.
- For Instacart, you get a $10 statement credit every month, up to a maximum of $120 in a year.
- Similar to the Amex Delta card, they've introduced a hotel credit, but instead of a lump sum, it's $50 per booking, split into two payments of up to $100, and a statement credit.
The regular business card is similar.
- It says up to $100 for Rideshare, but I get $8 per month from January through November, then $12 in December, so that's up to $100.
- Instacart is the same, $10 per month up to $120 per year
- Same for hotel credit, 2 $50 increments, up to $100 statement credit
- I get $25 for each Avis or Budget rental (booking directly on cars.united.com + using my business card), up to 2 times, and $50, but it's not a statement credit like cash, it's United® TravelBank cash that I have to use at UA ;);
In my opinion, it's a waste of time and money to try to chase every benefit.
We recommend that you only take advantage of the benefits that apply directly to you.
For example, for Instacart, unless you're already a frequent user, I think it's better to just give up on it, and for Rideshare and car rentals, I think it's going to be a huge hassle to use.
My milegaming credo is "eat the big chunk, throw away the good 20%," but in this case, I'd rather just use the hotel credit.
Feature 2: Increased annual fee
At the same time that these goodies have increased, the annual fee has also increased.
- The Explorer card increased by $55, from $95 to $150 (the first year's annual fee is waived for this offer)
- Quest Cards increased by $100, from $250 to $350
- The Club Card went from $525 to $695, a $170 increase.
The good news is.
- For those of you who are magical The Explorer Card's first-year annual fee is still waivedin the file.
- And I would say that with the benefits I mentioned, like the hotel credit, the Explorer card can be worth the annual fee, so it can be a good option to keep it.
Feature 3: Benefit differentiation
The final major feature of this change is that the benefits are now tiered.
Earlier, we mentioned that the Personal Explorer card can earn $5 per month for rideshare and $10 per month for Instacart.
For the Club Card, which has the highest annual fee of any personal card, you can earn up to $100 United® TravelBank cash for rideshare every month for $12 ($18 in December), Instacart two times for $10 per month, and car rentals up to two times for $50 each.
In other words, if you pay more for an annual fee, we'll give you more goodies for paying more.
In this regard, there is one major change: XN Accessibility.
The reason we've been explaining why a UA partner card is a must-have is because it gives you access to a special fare class called XN.
Let's look at an example, say you're looking for an SFO-ICN ticket for May 28th.
For Affiliate card members, XN fare class access makes it possible to ticket an economy one-way for 55,000 miles.
However, if you're not a cardmember, you don't have access to XNs, and as a result, you can only ticket with the more expensive YNs, which means you have to spend 100,000 miles, which is 45,000 miles more, to get the same economy seat.
It's not just about being able to access XN, it's about being able to access XN.
Okay, so the question is.
The catch is that this XN access benefit will be removed from the no-annual-fee Gateway card on August 1 (I'm told you have to spend $10,000 on the card in a calendar year to keep it).
Right now, many people are using
- Get an Explorer card, use it for a year, and then enjoy the
- You downgraded to a gateway card when the annual fee came due, and have been using XN fare access ever since.
Now, the This means that Explorer cards need to be maintained annually to maintain XN functionalityin the following example.
Card recommendations based on travel patterns
So, which of the six cards should you create?
Let me ask you a few questions.
1. Are you a frequent business traveler? Do you fly UA domestic almost every month and therefore need airport lounge access?
If the answer to this question is no, then you can remove the club card, whether personal or business, from your options right away.
Since lounge access is the most important benefit of these cards, making these cards for people who don't need to fly UA every month is like buying carbon shoes for marathon runners when you're a local jogger once or twice a week.
Image Credit, Depositphotos: 121336872
2. Do you fly UA 3-4 times a year on a regular basis, but not for business?
If you answered yes to this question, then Personalized Quest Cards might be an option for you.
The Quest Card has a $350 annual fee, but the
- 200 automatically when you create a card You'll receive United® TravelBank cash, and you'll continue to receive $200 for each card membership year. That's effectively a $150 annual fee.
- Plus, starting in your second year of card issuance, you'll receive a 10,000 mile discount on UA miles redeemed annually ("10,000 mile anniversary award flight discount").
- Another perk of using this card to buy UA tickets is that there's no baggage fee for up to two bags.
- Of course, the sign-up bonus is also honored at 90,000 miles (after spending $4,000 in 3 months)
3. do you travel to Korea once every 1-2 years, if at all?
This is probably the case for most of you, in which case a private explorer is the answer.
With this card overhaul Sign-up bonus is at an all-time high of 80,000 miles(after 3 months of $3000 usage).
As I mentioned, the first year's annual fee is free, and you can offset it with perks like hotel credits and one-time lounge access.
4. Can I apply for a business card?
If you're eligible to apply for business The sign-up bonus on the regular business card is the highest ever.
125,000 miles after spending $5,000 for 3 monthsEven considering the $150 annual fee, this is a steal.
Plus, if you have a UA personal card and also have a business card, you'll get a Better-together bonus of 5,000 miles each year when you renew your business card, which is a nice perk.
| United Card (updated on 11.08.2025) | |
|---|---|
| Basic features | Cardholders have access to XN fare classes, making it relatively easy to secure seats when redeeming United miles (except for Gateway cards as of 8/1) |
| Business cards | United℠ Business Card 3 months $5,000 75,000 miles + 2,000 Premier qualifying points |
| Personal cards | United℠ Explorer Card 3 months $3000 60,000 miles |
| Personal cards | United Quest℠ Card 3 months $4,000 70,000 miles + 1,000 Premier qualifying points |
| Personal cards | United Club℠ Card 3 months $5,000 90,000 miles |
Let's wrap up today's post.
Overall, I'd have to say that the UA Affiliate card being couponbooked is a bit of an annoying change.
However, if you think of it as a big-picture, don't-pay-attention-to-everything kind of thing, I think it's fair to say that there are some positive aspects to this change.
Miles are earned by signing up, first and foremost because the sign-up bonus is better.
We hope you have a great day.
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48 Comments. Leave new
Thanks for the information. I used to have the flow card and downgraded to a gateway after 2 years. When I apply for the flow card this time, will I be eligible for the 80,000 miles if I apply to upgrade from the gateway I downgraded to?
I contacted Chase and they said I only qualify if I open an account with a new card.
I know it shouldn't.
Signup bonuses are new applications unless there is a special upgrade/product change.
Up to $100 United Hotels Statement Credit: A statement credit of $50 will automatically be posted to your account for your first and second hotel stays of $50 or more when you book and pay with your card directly "through United Hotels" => United Hotels( https://us.hotels.united.com/) It looks like you have to book through the site to get credit.
According to the terms, I have to spend $10,000 to qualify for the $100 credit.
Earn a $100 United travel credit after spending $10,000 on purchases with your United℠ Explorer Card within a calendar year
The $100 United Travel credit you posted is a TravelBank credit that can be used for airline tickets and has a $10,000 spend requirement as you mentioned.
However, the credit that naegerora is referring to is a hotel booking credit, which is a separate benefit from the airline TravelBank. There is a requirement to book through the UA site, but I don't believe there is a spending requirement.
Yes. That's right. It looks the same way as delta.
You said you can apply for a business card, but is it possible to just apply for a personal card like the Chase Ink Preferred? I have the Chase personal (formerly Freedom, Sharp) and business (Inka, Inka) and I want to open more cards soon because I need to buy furniture and stuff. The Inka opened at the end of August last year and I'm going to downgrade to the Inka.
I plan to go to Korea about once every two years and where I live now does not have direct flights, so when I went two years ago, I went via San Francisco with united. So among the cards you described above, the Explorer ($150) seems to be suitable for me, is it right? $150 is from 2 years later~?
I'm thinking about getting the IHG business card as well, but can I do both within a month of each other? I'm actually a business person, so I'm thinking about getting the IHG card for hotels. .... I'm thinking of getting the IHG card because of the hotels. I've been collecting only Chase UR (about 420,000 points), but when I travel, I find that Hyatt hotels are too far away in small towns and it's inconvenient to get around. I want to travel a bit with my son and husband who are going to high school this year, and we'll be going to Florida, Korea, Cancun, etc... whenever we have time.
My husband isn't interested in making cards and just wants me to do it, so I'm only going to make mine. If any of you magical people reading this have any suggestions for better cards or ideas, I'd love to hear them.
1. Eligibility for the Business Card is the same as the Ink Card.
2. If you're not a frequent UA flier, I'd probably go with Explorer or Business.
3. there is a rule that says if the second card you apply for within 30 days is a business card, it will be declined. I think you should leave at least 30 days between them.
https://www.milemoa.com/faq-chase-524/
The New United Business card was a debut offer, what are the criteria?
What terms are you talking about? The application requirements are the same as for the regular Chase Business Card.
If you're referring to the terms of the sign-up bonus, it's 125,000 miles after 3 months of $5,000 spend.
How long will the United Bizcard offer last? I received my old Bizcard bonus on 1/3/23 and closed the card on 11/14/24. I'm applying for another Bizcard, but it's been 2 years since I received the bonus, so I'm wondering if I can still get it? Just checking.
It's 24 months after signup, so if you received the bonus in January 23, I don't think it would be a problem under the terms.
Booking Asiana tickets with United Miles is now available on
Is it working?
Seating is always an issue, and I know that from a technical standpoint, it's not a problem.
Thanks for the info. I was thinking about a UA card and the next day Saf came up in the capitalization, so I opened it first with the MileMoanim link. lol
Congratulations on the approval and thanks for the link.
If I create a business card, will the mileage accrual be separate from my personal card? I opened the CiTi AA business card last December and even though I put my personal mileage member # in the application, they assigned me a different number.
That's just the Citi AA business being an outlier, otherwise I know they all use one membership number.
I see, thank you for your kind reply ^^.
Hi! Thanks for the information, I'm a complete novice when it comes to mileage.
I think I can open a business card, but my question is, can I use the miles I get to buy Asiana tickets? I know that united airline and Asiana are both star alliance, but is this possible? Should I use the Korean Air skypass business or this business card now? I'm just trying to open the card so I can use my miles when I go to Korea...! Thanks~!
Yes. You can use UA miles for Asiana tickets since they are in the same airline alliance. However, you need to be aware that you can't ticket during Asiana's peak season, so you need to be careful about that. The mileage deduction is also higher than Asiana's own miles, so you need to be aware of that as well.
I followed your link today and got approved for explorer.
Thank you.
Congratulations on the approval and thanks for the link.
Do United Business MileagePlus cardholders have access to the XN fare class, because if they do, it seems like the best option would be to keep this bizcard since it has the lowest annual fee at $99.
1. The annual fee for this card has gone up to $150 as of March 2025. If you already have the card, I believe you will be charged the increased annual fee at your next renewal.
2. I understand that UA Affinity cards with an annual fee have XN access.
I haven't applied it in a long time... Panding... ㅠㅠ
Chase Biz just got harder? Looking forward to the defense!!!
Thank you for your always helpful articles.
Good luck.
I currently have the United Business Card and Explorer Card. If I apply for the new cards, will I be considered new and get the sign-up bonus?
The card has New in the name, but according to the terms and conditions, the official name hasn't changed, so I think it's only applicable if it's been 24 months since you received the sign-up bonus and you don't currently have the same card.
I'm a complete beginner, so please advise...
You can download the Chase app on your phone, and if you go into the app and look at your card details, at the bottom it says "New Account Bonus" and it says signup bonus, so you might want to take a look at that.
I spoke with Chase today and they said I'm not in the eligible category and that I'm only getting 25k bonus miles. I explained that I saw the ad for the 80k bonus and applied that route, but they said I'm not eligible and didn't really explain why. I feel like I'm being scammed. If anyone has a similar story to mine, please comment.
Oh my gosh, what's going on, this is a rare situation, Chase doesn't mess around with signup bonuses and stuff like that, so I'm sure you're very upset.
Can I ask you to confirm a few things?
1. Are you sure the exact name of the card you were issued is a United Explorer card? Or maybe you were issued a United Gateway card?
2. it's very odd to see 25k as a signup bonus when there were no 25k offers at all for the United card, even if for some reason the application went through to another card. The only Chase offer around the same time that had 25k was the Freedom Unlimited card, so maybe the card you got wasn't the Freedom Unlimited card?
3. as I mentioned in a previous comment, I'd appreciate it if you could get the Chase app, log in, and see exactly what it says under "New Account Bonus".
I'll keep thinking about what the possibilities are, and I'd appreciate your response.
1. the card you were issued is a United MileagePlus Explorer card.
2. it's an airline card, not a freedom card, and my new account bonus says $300 back and 2.5k bonus points after the first payment.
3. I called and asked them to find out what the hell happened to the offer, but they said they don't know exactly why, but they can't give me the 80k offer or the 60k offer because I don't qualify. I met the 3 month $3000 spending threshold and I don't know where I got disqualified.
In this case, can I call back and complain to the new agent about the misleading information and ask if the offer can be changed to 60,000 to match the current promotion? (Of course, I'm willing to spit out the $300 first payment again.) I'm not sure if I'll be penalized in the future because I keep complaining.
Thank you for the additional explanation. I think I can make a more accurate guess about the overall situation now.
1. when you said you got 2.5k for the signup offer, I double checked to make sure it was the MileagePlus Explorer card because there has never been a 2.5k offer for the MileagePlus Explorer card (if I remember correctly).
But the fact that you confirmed that you also received $300 is a very important clue.
The $300 + 25,000 offer is an offer that often pops up when searching/booking tickets on the United Airlines homepage.
2. Here's where we need to explain something. Credit card companies in the U.S. recruit cardmembers through many different channels (similar to how insurance companies in Korea have multiple channels for selling insurance products: individual agents, online, bank tellers, etc.) And sometimes the offers in these different channels are the same, but sometimes they're different - for example, if you're looking to pay cash for a ticket on the United Airlines website, the $300 cash + 25,000 miles offer might seem much more attractive to you right now than the 60,000 miles you'll receive in a few months.
Importantly, this $300 + 25,000 offer (if my information is correct) has never existed on a link on a blogger's site such as the mileage site, and is only accessible by purchasing a ticket on the United airline site.
There are actually threads on reddit discussing this particular offer (This articleand This article) A common thread in these articles is that they were looking to buy a ticket on United's site and a $300 + 25,000 offer popped up on the website.
3. so my guess is that the application was entered through the $300 + 25,000 miles offer link on the United Airlines website, not the 80,000 miles link on the mileage affiliate site.
Of course, there are times when this happens accidentally and not intentionally. There are some very rare cases where you may have multiple tabs open in your browser and different offers are open at the same time, or you may have left information from a previous visit (this is called a cookie), so you may be mistakenly offered a 300 + 25,000 mile offer when you clearly meant to apply for an 80,000 mile offer.
4. then in the part about what to do, you can try to request an offer match, but since there is a cash part, I don't think it's a good idea to expect much because there is a cash part ㅠㅠ I applied with an offer of 60,000 miles and now it's an offer of 80,000, so putting in an additional 20,000 miles may be relatively easy because it's a frequent matching request, but if a cash offer is included, it seems to be difficult to charge that money back ;);
5. One last tip to prevent this from happening in the future: when applying for a card, we recommend opening your browser in private mode / incognito mode. Private mode means that there are no cookies from previously visited sites, which means that there is no possibility that the information in the card offer link can be twisted.
If there's anything I can do to help, please reach out to me in the comments or by email and I'll get back to you.
Thank you so much for your detailed answer. I understood it better after hearing your explanation. In the future, when I need to open a new card, I will refer to your method and be careful about clicking on links and browser options. I learned a lot thanks to you!
I'm glad you found my answer helpful. I understand your disappointment that this wasn't the offer you were looking for, and if there's anything else I can do to help, please feel free to leave a comment.
I got my SSN issued in February as a F1 student, and then I got my Discover issued in March, and then I tried Amex and got banned twice in a row.
Then I found out about this card, and it seemed to be quite good, so I put it on my wish list, saying that I should issue it after a year, but last night I applied for Explorer, saying that I don't know, and 5000 came out... I struggled every time because I didn't raise the limit from Discover 500... Hehe I don't know what's what when I see something like this.
I'm learning a lot thanks to you!!!
Congratulations on your approval. Your card offer has been changed to May 8th, so you shouldn't have any issues with that.
If I open and use the united Explorer card in September 2023, will it automatically change to the New united Explorer and I will have to pay the $150 annual fee after September?
Also, I tried to enter the lounge on the San Fran->Atlanta route last May for about 10 days (lounge access pass), but they said no, so I couldn't get in. Does this mean that the lounges will disappear for this card in the future, or as you said, only the Club card will have lounge access now?
Then, when September 2025 rolls around, I'll cancel this card now (the annual fee went out last October).
I'll get bonus points if I reapply for a New Explorer or Quest that works for me in October, right?
1. Yes. I understand that the increased annual fee will take effect at my next renewal.
2. I understand that sometimes, when the lounge is busy, we restrict access to single-use pass users. Perhaps this is the case for you.
3. receiving two lounge passes when you renew your card each year is the same.
4. If you want to issue the same Explorer card, you'll need to stagger it a bit more. It's not 24 months from the date the card is opened, it's 24 months from the date the bonus is earned, so you'll need to stagger the invoice date of the bonus by at least 24 months. If you opened in September 2023, October would be a little early (unless you maxed out your spending in the first month and earned the bonus).
For quests, this is still possible. However, you may want to wait for a good bonus.
How are you?
What a great deal.
I got and use the Business Ink Cash card, so I think I can apply for the United Business card, but the current bonus miles are 75,000 instead of 125,000 ㅠㅠ....
Do you expect that if you wait, there will be a good time again?
While I'm at it, I have one more question.
I have about 200,000 Alaska Airlines miles, but according to the Alaska website, there are no non-stop flights from LAX -> ICN until next May. Is there any other way to buy a non-stop flight with my Alaska miles?
Thank you.
1. yes. Offers go around and around, so I'm sure there will be another opportunity.
2. LA-ICN nonstop would be Korean Air Economy, so keep searching, and I'd suggest keeping the option of going through Japan in your options at the same time.
Thank you for your response.
We'll keep an eye on it.
Good luck with your ticketing on your preferred date.
Hi, it looks like the United Quest card has gone up to 100K bonus for the same terms, can you confirm? I'd love to apply if it's a great deal.
We apologize for the delay in responding.
Yeah. It's gone up to 100,000, which I think is a very good offer with the bonus.