When it comes to this co-branded credit card from Chase and United Airline, most readers are probably already familiar with it. Because UA is such a big name and its miles are famously easy to use, this was also my first credit card for earning airline miles. Like most airline co-branded cards, it offers priority boarding, free checked baggage within the U.S., and a fairly generous signup bonus. But this otherwise plain-vanilla credit card actually has quite a few hidden features. Today, let’s take a closer look.

hhh

Overview of the United MileagePlus Explorer Credit Card

As one of the three major U.S. airlines, United (UA) teamed up with Chase to launch this co-branded mileage card. At first glance, the card looks fairly standard, with the following basic features:

  • Signup bonus: Earn 30,000 UA miles after spending 1,000; add one authorized user and receive an extra 5,000 miles
  • Earning and annual fee: $95 annual fee (waived the first year), 2 mile/$ on United purchases, 1 mile/$ on all other purchases, no foreign transaction fee
  • Airline benefits: Group 2 priority boarding, one free checked bag on domestic U.S. itineraries
  • Annual benefits: Two UA Club Passes each year; spend $25,000 in a year and earn an extra 10,000 miles

For travelers who fly UA frequently, the free checked bag alone makes this card worth keeping long term. After all, checking one bag in the U.S. costs $50, so just two uses already offset the annual fee. A Visa card with no foreign transaction fee is also very convenient for spending in China or Europe. I brought this card with me on a previous trip back to China, and it worked smoothly at airport duty-free shops. In addition, Visa cards sometimes receive an extra 5% off discount at certain merchants, and in China it worked at basically all major department stores. The annual perks are also decent: the two club pass passes let you relax in a lounge during a layover, and the extra 10,000 miles each year means that if you spend $1, you are effectively earning 1.4 UA miles.

When evaluating whether an airline co-branded card is good, the long-term perks are only part of the story. A big factor is whether the miles you earn are actually easy to use. If the 35,000-mile signup bonus and the miles from everyday spending cannot be redeemed effectively, then they are not very useful. The biggest reason people like this card is precisely that UA miles are simple and easy to use.

  • Easy award searches: Most award tickets, including many operated by partner airlines, can be searched directly on the UA website without calling in
  • Strong route network: On U.S.-China routes, United (UA), ANA, Asiana (OZ), and EVA Air together cover economy-class award availability for most times of the year, and if you really cannot find space, you can even route through Europe.
  • No fuel surcharges: Using UA miles for your own award tickets or partner awards does not incur fuel surcharges (YQ). By comparison, ANA award tickets with a $200 surcharge really look much less appealing.
  • [Expired] Stopovers and open jaws: If you like getting creative, UA miles used to be excellent for that as well. On a round-trip award, you could have one Stop over and two open jaw segments; stopping in Europe for a few days along the way was simply fantastic.

If you are interested in the card’s basic features or how to use UA miles, you can read the following articles for more details:

For people who already have this credit card and are familiar with UA miles, everything above is probably fairly common knowledge. Next, let’s go over some easily overlooked features and hidden benefits.

Advantages When Applying

The advantages mentioned here actually apply to all Chase airline and hotel co-branded cards.

Combined Hard Pull

This is a Chase-issued credit card, so if you apply for this card and another Chase credit card at the same time, such as the Freedom, only one Hard Pull (HP) will appear on your credit report. This is what we usually call a combined HP. In our earlier article, “What a New Credit Card Can Bring You,” we explained that an HP can negatively affect your credit score in the short term. So if you can get two cards, or even three or more Chase cards, for the cost of only one HP, that is a pretty good deal. Of course, another major reason is that Chase has many cards worth applying for, such as:

Applying for one or more of these together with the UA card can be a good move. Of course, you should also pay attention to Chase’s “five cards in two years” policy; see the following article for details:

More importantly, Chase combines the HP for multiple applications. If you submit one more application and do not get approved, at worst you simply will not be approved; as long as no additional HP appears, there is no extra impact on your credit history. As the saying goes, if you do not apply, you definitely will not get it—but maybe you will be approved. A free shot is usually worth taking. For simultaneous applications, see this article:

You Can Apply Again for Another Bonus

AMEX credit cards are great, but you can only receive the signup bonus on the same card once in a lifetime. By comparison, Chase is more generous. As long as you have not received the signup bonus on this card within the past 2 years, you can apply for the card again and earn the bonus again. Of course, one condition for reapplying is that you no longer currently have the card. So if you churn it once every two years, the signup bonus can still be quite attractive. For more on churn, see this article:

Advantages of Keeping It for 1–2 Years

For many people, airline and hotel co-branded cards are not meant for long-term holding; they are opened purely for the signup bonus and the waived first-year annual fee. In addition to a pretty solid signup bonus and no annual fee the first year, this card also has a few features that make it worth keeping for just one or two years.

Two Free UA Club Passes

If you can use these two Club Passes, then enjoying them is certainly nice. But if you are just making a domestic connection within the U.S., your layover may not be very long anyway, and going out of your way to visit a lounge can be a hassle. Still, these two Passes do expire, so it would be a shame to waste them. What many people do not know is that UA Club Passes can be sold to other people on eBay (although according to the terms, the pass is not transferable). Each Pass usually sells for around $20 on eBay, and after fees and shipping, making $15 per Pass is no problem. Of course, the farther out the expiration date, the higher the price.

Also, these UA Club Passes are issued based on your cardmember year. You get two passes shortly after opening the card, and another two around your card anniversary. So in some cases, you may receive the next year’s two passes before your first annual fee even posts. In the best-case scenario, you can come out ahead by 4 passes in the first year, or about $60 total. Of course, if you plan to keep the card long term, selling two club passes effectively reduces the annual fee to $95-$30=$65. If you plan to sell the passes, it’s best to list them as soon as you receive them, since a longer remaining validity period usually helps them sell for a higher price, especially in auction format.

The annual $25,000 spending bonus

As mentioned earlier, after spending $25,000 on this card, you receive an extra 10,000 UA miles. That means spending $25,000 earns you 25,000+10,000=35,000 UA miles. Add the 35,000 UA miles from the signup bonus, and you have 70,000 miles total, enough for a round-trip economy award ticket between the U.S. and China. If you can earn this 10,000-mile bonus, then every $1 spent on this card effectively earns 1.4 UA miles (35,000/$25,000=1.4mile/$). Even the premium UA club card with a $395 annual fee only earns 1.5 mile/$. One important detail: this 10,000 bonus is based on the calendar year.

  • For example, if you open the card in March this year and spend $25,000 by December, you receive the 10,000-mile bonus
  • If you spend another $25,000 before next March, you can receive another 10,000-mile bonus

That means you could complete the 10,000-mile spending requirement twice before the second annual fee hits, and then close the card when the fee posts, which is a pretty good deal. Also, if you care about UA elite status, this $25,000 spending can help waive the PQD requirement.

pqd

Retention

The reason the title mentions keeping the card for 1-2 years is that there is some chance of getting a retention offer. Based on my own experience, even though I had spent less than $5,000 in the first year, when I called to prepare to close the card, the representative generously offered me $150 to keep it open. The annual fee is $95, the club pass can net about $30, and the retention offer gave me another $150—why would I say no? For more on retention offers, see this article:

After accepting that retention offer, of course I kept the card.

Downgrade option

After holding this card for a year, you can downgrade it to the no-annual-fee version of the UA card. Downgrading lets you preserve your credit history, which helps your average age of accounts. It also does not hurt your credit score. The downgraded no-fee UA card still gets a 25% bonus when using MPX, and when your UA miles are close to expiring, making a small purchase on this card to extend them is also a nice extra benefit. See details here:

Advantage when booking award tickets

Unlike some other airlines, UA award tickets also have two types of award inventory. Taking economy as an example, regular UA members can only book award space in fare class X, while UA credit card holders can see award space in fare class XN.

  • Denver (DEN) - San Francisco (SFO) award space in August and September (the first screenshot is with a UA card; the second is without)
uaka wuka

If you click into a date with different availability, such as 8.22, you can see that an account with a UA card can view tickets in XN fare class, while a regular account cannot.

XN

Don’t underestimate this benefit. Many times, UA flights between China and the U.S. also have XN award space, and people without a UA card usually cannot grab those seats (UA elite members can also see them). In addition, for connecting itineraries to the U.S., XN space on domestic segments can be extremely useful. One economy award ticket I booked previously depended on XN inventory. So if you have a large UA mileage balance for booking China-U.S. flights but do not have elite status, it may be worth applying for and keeping this credit card to improve your odds of finding award space.

Special perks in UA-related programs

Besides earning UA miles through flying, credit card signup bonuses, and spending on a UA card, there are actually many smaller programs that can also earn UA miles. UA credit card holders get special benefits with those as well.

An extra 25% bonus on MPX

If you have a UA credit card, then when you use the MPX app to buy gift cards, you can earn an extra 25% UA mileage bonus. You do not need to pay with a UA credit card, nor do you need to add your UA credit card to the app, in order to receive this bonus.

mpp

If you are a loyal MPX user, a UA card is pretty much essential. For an introduction to the MPX app, see:

Extra rewards through the MileagePlus Shoping Portal

The MileagePlus Shoping Portal is UA’s online shopping portal. By clicking through it to other stores, you can earn UA miles, similar to a cashback portal. If you hold a UA credit card, the earning rates there can increase significantly. For example:

  • With a UA card
mppua
  • Without a UA card
NOUAMPP

As you can see, holding a UA card can earn you about 1.5-2 times as many miles as not having one, so this card is also a good option for people who like earning UA miles through online shopping.

Higher signup bonuses for various partner programs

At the link below, you can find all the additional ways to earn UA miles:

Basically, almost all of these methods offer extra rewards for UA credit card holders. For example:

  • FTD flower&Gifts (an extra 200 miles per order)
  • Opinion Miles Club (an extra 300 miles)
  • Vinesse Wines (an extra 6500 miles)
  • My Points (an extra 250 miles)

So if you do not yet have a UA card, it may make sense to wait a bit before signing up for some of these programs. If you already have a UA card, then sign up for these programs before closing the card so you can get the extra bonuses.

Summary

Overall, this card’s benefits are quite solid. Chase and UA did a good job with the details, making it feel like cardholders get perks and an edge at every turn. If you are interested in this card, you can read the basic benefits overview below: