United Airlines partners

As a United MileagePlus member, each time you fly you have the potential to earn miles with 25 different airlines within the Star Alliance. For even more opportunities to earn miles, United cooperates with 14 other MileagePlus partner airlines, such as Hawaiian Airlines, Cape Air and Eurowings.

If you’re angling to earn free flights, upgrades and more, it’s smart to figure out the best ways to use United MileagePlus miles to your advantage. This guide includes information on all the United Airlines partners you should know about, as well as how to make the most of them each time you book airfare with cash or airline miles.

United Airlines airline partners

Here is the full list of United Airlines’ partners, including the 25 Star Alliance members.

Also note that United MileagePlus Premier members automatically have Star Alliance Gold or Silver Status based on their elite status with United. This means that when you travel with Star Alliance partner airlines, you can enjoy recognition of your elite status as well as travel benefits.

United MileagePlus members also earn Premier qualifying miles (PQM) and Premier qualifying points (PQP) when they fly partner airlines to various destinations worldwide. Finally, Star Alliance Gold members have access to one of the largest lounge networks in the world.

In addition to redeeming United MileagePlus miles for flights, you can earn miles on paid flights with partner airlines. However, it’s important to note that you can only earn miles with one airline at a time. If you want all your miles assigned to your United MileagePlus account, you will need to enter your United loyalty number when you make your reservation.

Here’s how the benefits of Star Alliance elite status break down:

Using a credit card to earn United miles

United Airlines offers many different ways to earn miles. However, one of the best and easiest ways to get free flights with United Airline and its partners is to use a co-branded credit card.

The United Club℠ Infinite Card is a premium airline credit card that comes with United Club access, free first and second checked bag and up to $100 toward a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application. As for rewards, you’ll get 4X miles on United purchases, 2X miles on dining (including eligible delivery services) and travel, then 1X miles on everything else. Note: A $525 annual fee applies.

If you’re looking for another avenue to earn United miles and prefer to pay a smaller annual fee, you can also check out the United℠ Explorer Card. This card gives you the opportunity to earn 60,000 miles when you spend $3,000 in the first three months. You also earn 2X miles on hotels, restaurants and directly purchased United tickets, plus 1X mile on other purchases.

Cardholder perks include two one-time United Club passes, up to $100 credit toward a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application, priority boarding and more. This card also waives the $95 annual fee for the first year.

Also keep in mind that United MileagePlus is a Chase Ultimate Rewards partner, meaning you can transfer points from cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card and Chase Sapphire Reserve card to this frequent flyer program. All transfers start at 1,000 points, but with the 1:1 transfer ratio, you’ll get 1,000 miles for each 1,000 points you transfer.

To initiate a transfer from points to miles, all you have to do is log in to your Chase credit card account and head to the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal. From there, you can click on “Transfer to Travel Partners.”

After that, you’ll be directed to a page where you can select United MileagePlus and transfer Chase points in increments of 1,000.

Earning miles through United partners

While you can earn miles flying with United Airlines and its partners, there are numerous other ways to rack them up. The number of miles you’ll earn with hotels, rental car companies and other partners will depend on the promotion available, and that can vary throughout the year.

Here’s a list of some of the most popular United partners and how many miles you can expect to earn. For the full list of all United partners, visit the United MileagePlus site.

United Airlines hotel and vacation rental partners

United transportation partners

Bottom line

While the United MileagePlus program is valuable on its own, its robust selection of partners makes earning and redeeming miles an even more lucrative proposition. Plus, the fact that your elite status transfers to partner airlines can also make air travel much more comfortable and rewarding.

Before you book a flight with United Airlines, check to see whether you could be getting a better redemption rate by flying with a partner airline. Depending on where you fly, it’s possible you could spend fewer United miles for a flight with a partner while enjoying the same elite status benefits.

Also, make sure you take advantage of point-earning opportunities with United MileagePlus hotel, transportation and business partners. Depending on which United Airlines card you choose, you could gain a great number of points while going about your normal spending. Since you could earn tens of thousands of miles booking cruises, hotels and rental cars or using the services of a United partner, it’s always worth checking when you make a purchase online.