You may be loyal to United, but the airline really wants you to show your loyalty by carrying around a United MileagePlus credit card or debit card.
Chicago-based United Airlines announced a major overhaul to its frequent-flier program on Thursday, with better benefits arriving soon for its cardholders. While the airline cheerily billed the changes as giving travelers “new reasons” to have one of its credit or debit cards, the changes mean that non-cardholders will soon accrue fewer rewards than they currently do.
The biggest change is that starting on April 2, United MileagePlus cardholders can earn up to four times more miles on travel booked with the airline than non-cardholders—even if the flight wasn’t booked with that card. That provision ensures that cardholders, which United deems its “most loyal members,” still reap more rewards for travel, even if they have to book with a different credit card.
As the airline lays out in detail, the changes mean that different tiers of membership status and different cardholders will accrue different rewards for travel. But other changes are also designed to benefit cardholders, including a discount of 10% or 15% on airfare and access to a benefit once reserved to the highest-status members: “Saver Award” seats for fewer miles in United Polaris business class.
The changes are designed to showcase the value of being a cardholder and to reward these MileagePlus members, Jill Doyle, managing director of the MileagePlus program, tells Fast Company. “It’s just a way to double down on the members that are willing to go a little deeper with us.”
“STRAIGHT-UP INSULT”
United claims the forthcoming changes to its frequent-flier program will offer cardholders “some of the richest rewards among airline or travel credit card programs.” But United frequent fliers who don’t have a card will likely view the changes as a considerable downgrade—because they’ll soon earn fewer miles on a ticket than they do today.
A standard MileagePlus member without status or a credit card currently earns 5 miles per dollar on travel, which will be cut to 3 miles per dollar starting April 2. Cardholders, meanwhile, will earn 6 miles per dollar. Another significant blow to non-cardholders who don’t have elite status is that they’ll no longer earn miles by booking the airline’s basic economy fares.
Not only is the scaling back of benefits frustrating to some United fliers, but also disappointing is how much the airline is pushing its line of co-branded credit cards with JPMorgan Chase.
Several Redditors on the r/unitedairlines subreddit lamented that the changes will hurt United frequent fliers who aren’t U.S. citizens and can’t—or don’t want to—get a credit card, with one calling it a “straight-up insult.” Several people also noted that the changes seem to indicate that United cares more about its banking relationship with Chase than about flying, with one person saying the airline has “essentially” become a subsidiary of the bank.
Finally, one Redditor who said they’ve achieved both “gold” and “platinum” status levels with the airline purely based on “butt-in-seat miles” and flights, declared: “There goes the last of my United loyalty.”
UNITED RESPONDS
Doyle says she can “totally understand” some of the sentiment expressed by people critical of changes in the program, but reiterates that people who see the value in the program will benefit.
United is growing its international credit card card base, and the rewards will be available to all cardholders in eligible markets. Canada, the United Kingdom, and Brazil will soon be added to its international markets. What’s more, Doyle says that United wants to be sure corporate travelers who must book business travel on a non-United card get rewarded for having one of its cards in their wallets.
Finally, she says that United sees its credit card business as part of its overall value proposition—which also includes onboard products “that are some of the best in the business,” along with investments in customer service, equipment, and the in-flight experience.
“We certainly want to make sure you see the value in flying United,” Doyle says.
CHANGES TO AIRLINE PROGRAMS
The travel rewards space has become big business in recent years as credit card companies and airlines—individually and collectively—try to up the ante to lure customers. But these companies must balance the perks they offer in pursuit of the biggest spenders versus those they dole out to the hoi polloi.
Since airlines started teaming up with banks to offer co-branded credit cards, they’ve reserved their best rewards for cardholders. United’s latest move goes beyond the changes that other airlines have made to their frequent-flier programs in recent months—and could test the limits on loyalty.
United follows competitors Delta Air Lines and American Airlines in stripping the reward benefits for basic economy travel, after those airlines announced the same change in December. Delta also announced increased rewards for people who have one of its credit cards that are co-branded with American Express.
Last year, United raised the spending requirements to achieve its premier frequent-flier status. There’s been a broader evolution in the travel rewards space, Doyle notes, as airlines moved away from rewarding frequent fliers based on the miles they flew. The latest changes to the MileagePlus program have been in the works for about 18 months and are in response to a changing landscape for travel credit cards, United’s chief commercial officer Andrew Nocella told CNBC.
“In the credit card space in general, a lot’s changed over the last five to 10 years in terms of the number of travel credit cards that are out there,” Nocella said. “What I’m thinking about, as we make these changes for United, is to make sure that if you hold the credit card, you put it top of wallet. And then if you don’t hold the credit card, there’s a reason to get the credit card that seems incredibly compelling if you’d like to fly United Airlines and if you’d like to have that . . . trip to Tahiti or to Rome or wherever we may be able to take you.”
WILL TRAVELERS BE ON BOARD FOR CHANGES?
The rewards space has been a bonanza for savvy customers in recent decades, but those freebies come with more and more strings attached. While many companies have opted for the subscription model, leading to subscription fatigue, United may find that there’s some pushback in so aggressively tying its sense of loyalty to what credit cards that fliers carry in their wallets.
It’s also happening at a time when Americans are increasingly stretched thin financially.
Americans had $1.28 trillion outstanding in credit card balances in the fourth quarter of 2025, up 5.5% from the same period in 2024, according to figures from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Meanwhile, 29% of Americans have more credit card debt than emergency savings, and less than half (47%) of Americans have sufficient liquidity to cover a $1,000 emergency expense, according to an annual survey conducted by Bankrate.
And the changes to the MileagePlus program weren’t embraced by investors in the stock market. As of late Thursday, United shares fell nearly 6%.
