Annual fees on the entire collection of United Airlines-Chase co-branded credit cards are rising, with new benefits added (and some reduced or eliminated). Let’s take a look at these changes.
United Airlines Overhauls Credit Card Portfolio – A Rundown On The Changes
I’m going to unpack the big changes in the portfolio of Chase’s co-branded United Airlines cards. Rather than being a deep dive into each card, I just want to highlight what’s new and then offer my thoughts on each card product.
United Gateway Card
This remains a no annual fee entry-level card and now offers:
- 2 free checked bag coupons after spending $10,000 (in one calendar year)
- 25% back on United inflight and Club premium drink purchases
United Explorer Card
The annual fees on United’s base personal premium card jumps from $95 to $150 and now offers:
- Up to $60 in rideshare credits per year ($5 per month)
- Up to $100 in statement credits on United Hotels purchases ($50 credit every six months)
- Up to $100 in statement credits on JSX flights (per cardholder) anniversary year
- Up to $120 in Instacart credits annually ($10 per month)
- Complimentary three-month Instacart+ membership also included
- $100 United Travel Bank credit after spending $10,000 on the card (in one calendar year)
- 10,000 mile award discount for a future ticket after spending $20,000 on the card (in one calendar year)
- 1 Premier Qualifying Point (PQP) per $20 spent (up to 1,000 PQPs per calendar year)
- Two United Club passes (no longer fully transferable – guest must travel with cardholder)
- One free checked bag
- Premier upgrades on award tickets on Complimentary Premier Upggrade (CPU) routes no longer available effective August 1, 2025
The last point is a big devaluation…I don’t know why United cannot just generally offer Premier upgrades on award tickets, especially as award tickets are now treated like revenue tickets in terms of PQP earning.
United Quest Card
The annual fees on United’s mid-level card jumps from $250 to $350 and now offers:
- $200 in annual United Travel Bank credit
- 10,000 mile award discount for a future ticket (each anniversary year)
- A second 10,000 mile award discount can be earned for spending $20,000 on the card (in one calendar year)
- Up to $100 in rideshare credits per year ($8 per month credit except for December which offers $12 credit)
- Up to $150 in statement credits on Renowned Hotels and Resorts purchases
- Up to $150 in statement credits on JSX flights (each anniversary year)
- Up to $180 in Instacart credits annually ($10 + $5 monthly credit, thus two transactions required)
- Complimentary three-month Instacart+ membership also included
- 1 Premier Qualifying Point (PQP) per $20 spent (up to 18,000 PQPs per calendar year)
- Head start of 1,000 PQPs per year (starting in 2026)
- Two free checked bags
- 2 global Economy Plus seat upgrades after spending $40,000 (in one calendar year)
- Premier upgrades on award tickets on Complimentary Premier Upggrade (CPU)
Of the card products, the Quest card strikes me as the sweet spot for frequent United flyers who do not need lounge access.
United Club Card
The annual fees on United’s premium personal card jumps from $525 to $695 and now offers:
- Up to $150 in rideshare credits per year ($12 monthly credit except for $18 credit in December)
- Up to $200 in statement credits on Renowned Hotels and Resorts purchases
- Up to $200 in statement credits on JSX flights (each anniversary year)
- Up to $240 in Instacart credits annually (two $10 monthly credits)
- Complimentary Instacart+ membership
- Two free checked bags
- A 10,000 mile award discount for a future ticket after spending $20,000 on the card (in one calendar year) and a second one after spending $40,000
- 1 Premier Qualifying Point (PQP) per $15 spent (up to 28,000 PQPs per calendar year)
- Head start of 1,500 PQPs per year, starting in 2026
- United Club access for one guest plus dependents 18 years and younger
- Premier upgrades on award tickets on Complimentary Premier Upggrade (CPU)
More United Club access details here, including how to gain an “All Access” membership.
United Business Card
The annual fees on United’s base business card jumps from $95 to $150 and now offers:
- Up to $100 in rideshare credits per year ($8 monthly credit with $12 credit in December)
- Up to $100 in statement credits on United Hotels purchases ($50 credit every six months)
- 5 miles per dollar on hotels booked through United
- Up to $100 in statement credits on JSX flights (each anniversary year)
- Up to $120 in Instacart credits annually ($10 monthly credit)
- Complimentary three-month Instacart+ membership
- $125 United Travel Bank credit (after spending $100 or more on five purchases with United in one calendar year)
- $25 in statement credits when you buy United FareLock
- One free checked bag
- Two United Club passes (no longer fully transferable – guest must travel with cardholder)
- 1 Premier Qualifying Point (PQP) per $20 spent, up to 4,000 PQPs per calendar year
- 2 Continental US Economy Plus upgrades (after spending $25,000 in one calendar year)
- Premier upgrades on award tickets on Complimentary Premier Upggrade (CPU)
The Travel bank credit essentially erases the annual fee on this card.
United Club Business Card
The annual fees on United’s premium business card jumps from $450 to $695 and now offers:
- Up to $150 in rideshare credits per year ($12 monthly credit plus $18 credit in December)
- Up to $200 in statement credits on Renowned Hotels and Resorts purchases
- Up to $200 in statement credits on JSX flights (each anniversary year)
- Up to $240 in Instacart credits annually (two $10 monthly credits)
- Complimentary Instacart+ membership
- 1 Premier Qualifying Point (PQP) per $15 spent (up to 28,000 PQPs per calendar year)
- Two free checked bags
- United Club access for one guest plus dependents 18 years and younger
- Premier upgrades on award tickets on Complimentary Premier Upggrade (CPU)
More United Club access details here, including how to gain an “All Access” membership.
Is It Worthwhile To Keep Cards?
Whether you should keep cards or not is a personal question…I generally prefer lower annual fees with lower “coupon book” savings because it takes time and effort to use credits like Uber and Instacart. I may not have flown JSX, but having that $100-200 credit would likely make me give it a try…that’s the point of these rebates.
Richard Nunn, The CEO of MileagePlus, defended the annual fee increases (of course he did…):
“Yes, there are fee increases but we were very, very cognizant of ensuring that the value increments and the benefits that are delivered outweigh any increase in the cost of those cards.”
Here’s the genius move here: I don’t think anyone is going to cut up their United cards on account of these changes. In fact, these changes smartly create more “sticky” customers (to borrow the words of CEO Scott Kirby) and will have the intended effect of driving more purchases on these cards.
I still don’t recommend putting much spending on it: I think using a cash-back card or a flexible currency card still makes more sense. But for any frequent United flyer, having at least one of these cards in your wallet makes a lot of sense.
You can review United’s card products here and I thank you in advance for supporting Live And Let’s Fly by signing up for your card via my affiliate link.
CONCLUSION
United’s cards now come with more benefits but higher annual fees. I’d call this an evolution, not a revolution, and note that these changes make perfect sense in terms of United serving its top customer: Chase.
Will these changes influence the way in which you use your United co-branded credit cards?
@ Mathhew — We will keep one United card in the household as long as it gives us great award redemption discounts. When are miles are exhausted (probably fairly soon), I see zero reason to carry one of these cards. How are they sticky? They are garbage.
That was actually the biggest downgrade. While the gateway card remains no-fee, the e-mail I got today said that as of August 2025 you needed to put $10k of spend on the card in order to receive the award redemption discount.
I have a different card, but that is an interesting development. This cancer will spread.
Note that many of these “credits” come in the form of TravelBank credits that expire after one year and can only be used for UA flights and can’t be combined with certificates etc. I certainly don’t value travelbank credits at full value. My renewal comes up before 8/1 so I will keep the card another year and see what I make use of but will probably cancel thereafter.
These changes and benefits make me an unsticky customer.
For many years, United has been either my #1 or #2 choice. Then the pandemic hit and I became zero status on all airlines. (Luckily I did not die like possibly 10 milion people). Now, awards require hundreds of thousands of miles, lounges are crowded and expensive.
I am going ghetto…. no chasing miles, just accumulating them if they exist, burning miles when possible, not using lounges, burning my airline credit cards in favor of cards, like Citi Double Cash (2% back, no annual fee). Burned 6 figure balances in 2 airlines, 2 more to go.
I received an email that my United Mileage Plus Awards card was going up from $60 to $95, and for that I would get a free checked bag for me and one companion. This is worthless for me as I already get free bags with my Lifetime Platinum status.
I guess compared to the cards you listed in the article, this is still not too expensive, but not sure it is worth $95/year. My wife has the same card. I will look into some other cards. The only benefit I really want is to get miles for purchases.
What is a good alternative?
Couple corrections on the credits according to the terms and conditions-
The United Hotels $100 credit is a $50 credit on your “first and second hotel stays” per anniversary year. There’s no 6 month break down. Also, there’s a United Cars Avis/Budget credit that appears to be missing here entirely – $50, split into $25 on your first and second reservation; though this one is unfortunately TravelBank cash.
Thanks, Alex. I will update.
Travel is too stressful as it is, and getting worse all the time for all sorts of reasons ( can’t blame it all on the airlines ).
Stepping off the hamster wheel and ‘going ghetto’ ( luv that comment ) is one way to mitigate at least a scintilla of stress and coping with this crap ! Burn your balances before they become virtually completely worthless !
There’s one other pesky change for the no-fee Gateway card: no more access to XN/IN inventory unless you spend $10,000 on the card. That was probably the biggest benefit to me as an infrequent UA flyer but occasional MileagePlus redeemer.
“Beginning August 1, 2025, Cardmember pricing on award travel redemption will only be available after spending $10,000 in purchases each calendar year.
If you have not yet met the $10,000 spend goal in 2025, your 2024 spend could also earn the benefit for 2025. Once you reach the yearly spend goal, you will receive the benefit for both the current year and the following year.”
All of these “amazing” credits are the equivalent of p’ing on my leg and telling me it’s raining. I hate that I have to remember to use it every month or spend my money on this card or another card, blah blah… in other words it’s all useless, so the only change for me is an increased annual fee.
I like that we are now using “sticky” when talking about United, makes it easier to agree with others…I’m becoming less “sticky” since this will not convince me to fly United.
Can I assume if I were to hypothetically have the Quest card and the Club card, that the PQP “head starts” would stack?
I’ll find out – good question.
I just canceled my Gateway card and transferred my credit limit to my Chase Sapphire Reserve. Not interested in the card if it doesn’t come with expanded award availability. The Chase rep was very nice and mentioned that they received the information about the changes at the same time as consumers and hadn’t been trained yet. She tried half heartedly (with a sigh) to retain me by reading benefits but did not offer any retention benefit.
Thus ends my love affair with United. From 1K with multiple United credit cards (business and personal) for a decade to a regular Mileage Plus member with no United cards.
I’m definitely one who apparently is not sticky and will cancel my club card. I use it more at star alliance lounges than I do United lounges. So it is no longer useful. In light of this, I am thinking of crediting all *A to TK instead of UA?
For me, these all seem to be positive moves, to include the recent changes to MM benefits. Just crossed over the 2MM threshold, Global Services, only purchase first class tickets, have the United Club and Quest cards, and drop about $100K in spending per year between the two of them, mostly on UA airfare. The annual fees are in the noise.
All my benefits, PlusPoints, gifted status, and FF mile redemptions are for my friends and family. Not clutching my pearls about another lost opportunity to game the system. Looking forward to less crowded clubs and fewer mileage- and mattress-running fake-elites swelling the ranks. Just wish that the All Access threshold was more like $100K+ in spending or Premier 1K. Allowing Cardmembers with Gold Status to have All Access is a pretty low bar.
UA Silver (via Marriott Titanium), UA Explorer Card Holder. Canceling the card. I never really fly UA, but keep the card since it has primary rental car insurance, mileage redemptions overseas I have used, etc. Moving to Sapphire, which I planned eventually. I am EP with AA, and they fly everywhere I need to be. Not a perfect airline by ANY stretch, but UA makes it so complicated. Which fare to buy for this discount or who holds a card to get that upgrade. OH MY LANTA! Just let me buy a freaking ticket. I am too busy for all the spreadsheets required to do Sticky Math.
We are going to cancel our Explorer card and keep the Club card. I used to maintain about 500k United Miles when I was traveling a lot for work. Now retired, we make two trips to Italy in business each year, quickly exhausting earned miles for one of the tickets. To add insult to injury, United partner Lufthansa now refuses to fly dogs into Denver and 14 other airports that they once served, blaming it on CDC rules. My adhesion factor for Star Alliance is already low. Since we almost always travel together, our complimentary Club passes we’re going to our daughter. That’s dead. I think I am moving toward disconnection.