Using Credit Cards and Mileage Programs is a great way to save extra money to fund your travel.  I have tried two of the Airline Credit Cards (United and American) and am in the process of applying for a Chase Sapphire Rewards card, but there are a ton of options and their benefits are constantly changing.  Which card is the best for you depends on how much you want to spend, and which Airline has flights and portals you would use most frequently.  There are plenty of websites that will compare the cards for you (I recommend The Points Guy), so I’m going to give you an example of how the United Explorer Plus Credit Card combined with the United Mileage Plus program works for me.

I currently have the United Explorer Chase Mastercard.  It has a $95 Annual Fee (it was waived the first year) and as a signing bonus it required me to spend $3000 in the first three months to earn 60,000 flyer miles.  To put that in perspective, currently a one-way economy ticket within the United States costs 12,500 miles, a round trip is 25,000.   A one-way trip to Europe costs 30,000 miles while a round trip is 60,000.  With this bonus alone, I could get 2 round trip tickets within the US, or one round trip to Europe.

$3000 might sound like a lot, but I rarely carry cash and put EVERYTHING on my Mastercard strictly to get the miles.  My bills, my kids medicine, groceries, volleyball, whatever I can put on the card, I do.  I should add a caveat here; I also pay my credit card off every month and don’t carry a balance – you should NEVER borrow money for leisure travel.  Think about a time when you might have a major expense coming up that you are already saving money for (car insurance, new appliance medical bill, etc) and sign up then so you know you’ll make the $3000 spend. 

Note that the bonus offers change from time to time, currently United is offering 40,000 for a $2,000 spend in 3 months.

Once you have the card in hand – here are the benefits you’ll receive from United as of July 2019:

• Free first checked bag on United Flights for the primary card member and one other person on the reservation. (With bag charges of $30 each way domestically and $60 each way for international flights you could make up the $95 annual fee in one trip to Europe).  This is also an amazing benefit because cardholders can purchase a Basic Economy fare, and still take a carryon and checked bag.  I will frequently buy a BE fare ticket, pay $15 extra to pick my seat and still get all the benefits that Main Cabin tickets do for a significantly cheaper price.
• Priority Boarding. United Explorer Card holders get to board after first class and premium members, but prior to general boarding.  This is great in a world where there is limited space for carryon bags, and you want to make sure your carryon bag is not automatically gate checked.
• 2 United Club one time passes each year on your anniversary. Each airport and airline has their own priority lounges for first class and premium customers.  United’s have big comfy chairs, charging ports, and free snacks and drinks – even a mini-buffet.  Even though we only get two a year, we save them for the times when we have a long layover and it makes it much more bearable.
• Up to a $100 credit for Global Entry or TSA Pre-Check. This speaks for itself as Global Entry costs $100 so you’re basically getting it for free.  (see the benefits of Global Entry here LINK)
• 25% back on United inflight purchases. If you use your United Card to purchase alcohol, wi-fi, or snacks, you will receive a 25% discount.
• No foreign transaction fees. If you’re traveling overseas it’s imperative to have a credit card that doesn’t charge you foreign transactions fees to use it abroad.
• For every dollar you spend on the card, you automatically earn 1 mile. You earn 2 miles per dollar at restaurants, hotels and on United purchases.  As long as your credit card is active, your miles never expire.
• If you use the card to purchase your airline tickets, you are covered for Trip Cancellation/Trip Interruption/Trip Delay, Baggage Delay, and Lost Luggage insurance.
• If you use the card to rent a car you receive auto rental and collision damage waiver insurance.

See the value yet?  The other thing I like about this card is the ability to earn extra miles.  United/Mileage Plus has several different ways to earn miles other than simply using the card.

• The Mileage Plus X app: This is an app where you can buy gift cards and earn anywhere from 2-10 extra miles per dollar on purchases from participating stores.  You can either choose from a list of all stores, or the app will tell you what stores near you are earning extra miles.  Places that are frequently on the app are Panera, Chipotle, Regal, Dominos, Petco and Jiffy Lube just to name a few.

The way it works is when you’re at a Mileage Plus X store like Panera, pull up the app and click on the store in question.  When the cashier gives you the total (let’s say it was $45.34), you enter $45.34 into the amount field, choose your form of payment (a credit card you have pre-loaded in the app) and click, “pay now.”  The app will then generate an e-gift card for $45.34, and the gift card number and/or barcode appears on your screen.  The cashier then enters that gift card number into the register, and you have just paid for your meal with your credit card earning 90 miles for the initial purchase (because restaurants are 2 miles per $), and an extra 225 miles for using the app (because Panera is at 5 miles per $).  The Mileage Plus X app is not just for Mileage Plus Explorer Card users – it is really the portal for the United Mileage Plus airline program and you could technically use any credit card with it.  However, if you use the Mileage Plus Explorer credit card, you also get an additional 25%  bonus on the miles earned through the app.   So, my mileage total for a $45.34 dinners is:  90 (2 miles per $ for restaurants) + 225 (5 miles per $ for Panera) + 55 (25% bonus for using the Chase Card) = 370 miles for dinner.  You can see how quickly this will add up, and all these extra miles are just for buying the same dinner you would have anyway.

• Mileage Plus Shopping: There is also a portal for online stores like Groupon or Macy’s where if I click on the Mileage Plus portal and click their links to the store in question prior to buying the items, I earn additional miles. The miles on the portal usually range from 2 – 10 miles per $ but can also be much higher for certain purchases.  For example, adding a line to your AT&T account will net you 2900 miles right now, or purchasing from ProFlowers will earn you 20 miles per $.
• Mileage Plus Dining:  Simply register your credit card and earn 3 miles per dollar at selected restaurants. 
• Featured Apps:  Access the apps through the Mileage Plus X app and receive extra miles.   For example, if I access the Groupon app through Mileage Plus X I receive an extra 11 miles per dollar spent on my order.  

Here’s an example of some of my recent purchases.  My middle daughter goes to the School of the Arts for Digital Design and needed an $1800 Macbook for school.  It already hurt my wallet to buy it, but it was something I had to purchase anyway.  I waited until Apple was 10 miles per dollar on the shopping portal, and then ordered the Macbook online.  I received 1800 miles (1 mile per dollar) for using my Explorer card to purchase the Macbook, but I also received an additional 18,000 miles (10 miles per dollar) for using the portal.  So, for one purchase I had to make anyway, I received 19,800 miles which was equivalent to one, one-way ticket and half-way to a round trip flight.  Granted this is the biggest instant reward I’ve received but I use the portal all the time.  I typically buy makeup from Macy’s, so instead of waiting until I run out, I wait until Macy’s is at 10 miles per dollar on the shopping portal and buy it then.  I never run out and get some easy miles.  I am also a big Groupon fan and they will go to 10 miles per dollar quite frequently – so I get a great deal on something AND earn miles for it?  It’s kind of a no-brainer.

ProTip: Macy’s is on both the Mileage Plus X app AND the shopping portal, so you can double dip.  I will log on to the shopping portal, click through to my purchase, get the total – then go to the Mileage Plus X app and purchase a gift card in that amount earning 3 miles per $ for the card purchase.  Then I’ll go back to the shopping portal and use that gift card to pay for my purchase, earning me 10 miles per $ for THAT.

Since I got my card in 2013, I have used miles to buy 3 tickets to Italy, 5 tickets to California, 2 tickets to Ireland, and 3 tickets to Hawaii.  My partner also got a card in 2016 and she has earned plenty of tickets as well.  

I haven’t even mentioned my favorite benefit of the United Explorer Card/Mileage Program – the Excursionist Perk.  United separates the world into different zones.  The mainland USA is 1 zone, Hawaii is another, the Caribbean a third, Mexico a fourth and on and on.  When you purchase a ticket from United with miles and fly round trip from one zone to another, you can book another flight within your destination zone, and it will be completely free.  Sounds confusing but it’s not – here’s an example

I wanted to take my kids to Hawaii and visit at least two different islands.  I did a search from West Palm Beach to Oahu, added a flight from Oahu to Maui, and then a return flight from Maui back to West Palm Beach.  We paid 45,000 miles and $5.60 in taxes for each round-trip ticket (including PBI to Oahu for 22500 miles and Maui back to PBI for 22500 miles) and the flights from Oahu to Maui which would have cost 7,000 miles each and $12 in taxes were free.

We plan on using this the next time we go to Europe – theoretically we could fly PBI to London for 30,000 miles, London to Paris for free, and then Paris back to PBI for 30,000 miles for a total of 60,000.  The possibilities are endless!  It’s kind of exciting to think you can just hop on a plane and visit another country on your vacation for free!   For a more detailed description of the Excursionist Perk click here. 

United has pretty good availability compared to some of the other airlines for their reward tickets.  The downside is if you are purchasing flights out-right they are usually higher than other airlines, so if we’re purchasing tickets, we’ll will go with whatever carrier is cheapest.  Each carrier has its own rewards program and portals, so you just have to see what they offer and what works best for you.  The Delta rewards program seems to have a number of “mileage sales” where they will reduce the number of miles needed for certain areas.  The downside is you usually have to be able to travel within a month or two of the sale.  American also offers reduced fare cities every month for some Advantage Card holders.  Again, this is just an example for United but check out all the cards and see what works best for you.

If you’re interested in signing up for a United Explorer Card, use my referral link to see the current promotions!