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Earning MileagePlus miles with spending: The best cards to use for earning MileagePlus Miles

October 30, 2024: If you want to earn MileagePlus miles for your spending, often the best card to use isn’t a United credit card. Since Chase Ultimate Rewards® can be transferred to United, often you’ll earn more rewards using an Ultimate Rewards-earning credit card and transferring your points to United.

If you want to earn the most possible United MileagePlus miles for your credit card spending, follow our recommendations below.

Here’s our guide to earning the most MileagePlus miles with your credit card spending.

Chase Ultimate Rewards: The key to earning more MileagePlus miles

The key to earning the most United MileagePlus miles on all of your purchases is considering how many points you could earn with both United credit cards and cards that earn Chase Ultimate Rewards®.

Chase Ultimate Rewards® is the rewards program on many Chase credit cards. It is a transferrable points currency that can be redeemed for cash back, used to book travel, or transferred to an airline partner like United.

In order to transfer your Chase points to United, you’ll need a premium Ultimate Rewards® credit card. This means holding either a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, Chase Sapphire Reserve®, or Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card. Having any one of these cards will enable you to transfer your points earned on any Ultimate Rewards card to United.

If your objective is to earn United Mileage Plus miles, you’ll earn many more points if you are invested in the Chase Ultimate Rewards ecosystem.

Best cards to use to earn United Miles in every spending category

Here’s our list of the best cards to use if your objective is to earn United Miles across every bonus category.

United Airlines flights: Earn the most when booking through Chase Travel℠

You’ll earn the most points on your United Airlines tickets if you book through Chase Travel℠ using these cards for premium travel protection and 5x Ultimate Rewards:

5xChase Sapphire Reserve® card artChase Sapphire Reserve®Ultimate Rewards
5xChase Sapphire Preferred® Card card artChase Sapphire Preferred® CardUltimate Rewards
5xChase Freedom Unlimited® card artChase Freedom Unlimited®Ultimate Rewards
5xChase Freedom Flex® card artChase Freedom Flex®Ultimate Rewards

However, booking through Chase Travel℠ means you’ll need to go through them if things go wrong. If you prefer to book directly on United.com, use one of the following cards:

4xUnited Club℠ Infinite Card card artUnited Club℠ Infinite CardMileagePlus Miles
3xChase Sapphire Reserve® card artChase Sapphire Reserve®Ultimate Rewards
3xInk Business Preferred® Credit Card card artInk Business Preferred® Credit CardUltimate Rewards
3xUnited Quest℠ Card card artUnited Quest℠ CardMileagePlus Miles
2xChase Sapphire Preferred® Card card artChase Sapphire Preferred® CardUltimate Rewards
2xAny other United Airlines credit cardMileagePlus Miles

Dining: Earn 3x with personal Ultimate Rewards® cards

By far, the most lucrative rewards on dining will be with using the Chase Sapphire Reserve® and its 10x total points on Chase Dining purchases with Ultimate Rewards®. But for dining at restaurants, here’s what each card earns:

3xChase Sapphire Reserve® card artChase Sapphire Reserve®Ultimate Rewards
3xChase Sapphire Preferred® Card card artChase Sapphire Preferred® CardUltimate Rewards
3xChase Freedom Unlimited® card artChase Freedom Unlimited®Ultimate Rewards
3xChase Freedom Flex® card artChase Freedom Flex®Ultimate Rewards
2x*Ink Business Cash® Credit Card card artInk Business Cash® Credit CardUltimate Rewards

*Earn 2% cash back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at gas stations and restaurants each account anniversary year.

Hotel stays: Up to 10x if booking through Chase

Bookings through Chase Travel℠. If your objective is to earn the must Chase and United points, booking a hotel through Chase Travel℠ with the right card is the way to go. However, if you book your hotel stay this way, you’ll usually give up any points and benefits associated with the hotel’s loyalty program. If you’re booking through Chase Travel, here are the cards to use:

10xChase Sapphire Reserve® card artChase Sapphire Reserve®Ultimate Rewards
5xChase Sapphire Preferred® Card card artChase Sapphire Preferred® CardUltimate Rewards
5xChase Freedom Unlimited® card artChase Freedom Unlimited®Ultimate Rewards
5xChase Freedom Flex® card artChase Freedom Flex®Ultimate Rewards

Booking and paying at the hotel: If you’re booking a directly or through another online travel agency and paying at the hotel, here are the best cards to use to earn Ultimate Rewards and MileagePlus miles.

3xChase Sapphire Reserve® card artChase Sapphire Reserve®Ultimate Rewards
3x*Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card card artInk Business Preferred® Credit CardUltimate Rewards
2xChase Sapphire Preferred® Card card artChase Sapphire Preferred® CardUltimate Rewards
2xUnited℠ Explorer Card card artUnited℠ Explorer CardMileagePlus Miles
2xUnited Quest℠ Card card artUnited Quest℠ CardMileagePlus Miles
2xUnited Club℠ Infinite Card card artUnited Club℠ Infinite CardMileagePlus Miles

*Earn 3 points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases on shipping; advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines; internet, cable, and phone services; and travel.

Other travel: Up to 3x on most other travel purchases

Chase’s travel category includes a wide range of sub-categories including airlines, accommodations, travel agencies, transit and more. Here are the best cards to earn Ultimate Rewards® and MileagePlus miles on general travel purchases:

3xChase Sapphire Reserve® card artChase Sapphire Reserve®Ultimate Rewards
3x*Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card card artInk Business Preferred® Credit CardUltimate Rewards
2xChase Sapphire Preferred® Card card artChase Sapphire Preferred® CardUltimate Rewards
2xUnited Quest℠ Card card artUnited Quest℠ CardMileagePlus Miles
2xUnited Club℠ Infinite Card card artUnited Club℠ Infinite CardMileagePlus Miles

*Earn 3 points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases on shipping; advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines; internet, cable, and phone services; and travel.

Gas stations: Use the Ink Business Cash® for 2x Ultimate Rewards

The most you’ll earn on gas is 2x, so it might be worth choosing a better card for gas, but if you want points that can become MileagePlus miles, here are the best options:

2x*Ink Business Cash® Credit Card card artInk Business Cash® Credit CardUltimate Rewards
2xUnited℠ Business Card card artUnited℠ Business CardMileagePlus Miles
2xUnited Gateway℠ Card card artUnited Gateway℠ CardMileagePlus Miles

*On the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at gas stations and restaurants each account anniversary year.

Office supply stores: Up to 5x with the Ink Business Cash® Credit Card

If you are purchasing from office supply stores, the Ink Business Cash® Credit Card will earn you the most of your purchases. No other card comes close.

5x*Ink Business Cash® Credit Card card artInk Business Cash® Credit CardUltimate Rewards
2xUnited℠ Business Card card artUnited℠ Business CardMileagePlus Miles

*On the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at office supply stores and on internet, cable and phone services each account anniversary year

Local transit and commuting: A subset of travel with 3x rewards

Chase’s local transit and commuting category is a subset of its travel category, but it adds rideshare. We’ve included both cards that offer rewards specifically on local transit and commuting and general travel below.

3x*Chase Sapphire Reserve® card artChase Sapphire Reserve®Ultimate Rewards
3x*Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card card artInk Business Preferred® Credit CardUltimate Rewards
2x*Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card card artChase Sapphire Preferred® CardUltimate Rewards
2xUnited Gateway℠ Card card artUnited Gateway℠ CardMileagePlus Miles
2xUnited℠ Business Card card artUnited℠ Business CardMileagePlus Miles
2x*United Club℠ Infinite Card card artUnited Club℠ Infinite CardMileagePlus Miles
2x*United Quest℠ Card card artUnited Quest℠ CardMileagePlus Miles

*Does not include general rideshare purchases in this category

Select streaming services: Earn up to 3x miles or points

Chase’s list of select streaming services includes the most popular streaming services in the U.S. Two cards earn better than base rewards for streaming. We’d recommend the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card because of its flexibility.

3xChase Sapphire Preferred® Card card artChase Sapphire Preferred® CardUltimate Rewards
3xUnited Quest℠ Card card artUnited Quest℠ CardMileagePlus Miles

Online grocery: 3x with Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

If you shop for groceries online, you can earn 3x points with the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. No other Ultimate Rewards® or United MileagePlus card offers this category.

3xChase Sapphire Preferred® Card card artChase Sapphire Preferred® CardUltimate Rewards

Other purchases: Earn 1.5x Ultimate Rewards® points with Unlimited cards

For all of your other purchases, you’ll want to earn Ultimate Rewards and transfer them to United MileagePlus.

1.5xChase Freedom Unlimited® card artChase Freedom Unlimited®Ultimate Rewards
1.5xInk Business Unlimited® Credit Card card artInk Business Unlimited® Credit CardUltimate Rewards

Bottom line: Ultimate Rewards® cards can often get you more miles

Airline credit cards are rarely the best credit cards to use for general spending—other cards earn more, even if your objective is to earn airline miles. If you want to earn MileagePlus miles, your best bet is to also have several cards in the Ultimate Rewards® ecosystem and learn how to transfer your Ultimate Rewards points to United.

About the author

  • Photo of Aaron Hurd, credit card and travel rewards expert.

    Aaron Hurd is a credit card, travel rewards, and loyalty program expert. Over the past 15 years, he has authored over a thousand expert contributions published by leading outlets including WSJ, TIME, Newsweek, Forbes, NerdWallet, The Points Guy, Bankrate, CNET, and many others. He has also served in consulting roles for many of these same outlets, designing content strategy, hiring teams of teams of editors and contributors, developing thought-leadership pieces, and ghost-editing for senior editors. Aaron is well-known in the miles and points community and regularly presents about travel rewards at conferences like the Chicago Seminars and Minnebar. Aaron has enjoyed the game of optimizing credit card rewards since getting his first credit card shortly after he turned 18. He started learning about credit cards and travel rewards from the (now defunct) FatWallet Finance forums and FlyerTalk. He holds more than 40 open credit cards and has first-hand experience with almost every major credit card product.

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