United MileagePlus® Credit Cards: Welcome offers have increased. Now earn between 30,000 to 90,000 points depending on the card.

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• Link: United Gateway℠ Card : Earn 30,000 United MileagePlus® Miles after you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first 3-months of opening your account. This card has NO ANNUAL FEE.

• Link: United℠ Explorer Card : Earn 60,000 United MileagePlus® Miles after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3-months of opening your account. This card waives the annual fee for the first year, then $95 for each following year.

• Link: United Quest℠ Card : Earn 70,000 United MileagePlus® Miles and 500 premium qualifying points after you spend $4000 on purchases in the first 3-months of opening your account. This card has an annual fee of $250.

• Link: United Club℠ Infinite Card : Earn 90,000 United MileagePlus® Miles after you spend $5000 on purchases in the first 3-months of opening your account. This card has an annual fee of $525.

These new offers are 10,000 more than what they were previously last month. Of these offerings, we think that the United Explorer Card has the best perk to annual fee ratio because we find a lot of value in being able to use it to book on United Basic Economy and get the free first bag perk with priority boarding. Those two perks alone negate a lot of the downside to basic economy.

Our personal opinions about this offer:

• If United is your main airline then there are several perks on the Explorer, Quest, and Club Infinite cards that are worth mentioning: The main one being the free first-checked-bag perk. The reason why it’s worthwhile, is that it basically allows you to book Basic Economy fares without having to worry about additional bag fees. 

• However, if you want more flexibility with point redemptions, then keep in mind that United allows for point transfers from several Chase cards (Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, Chase Sapphire Reserve®, and Ink Business Preferred). This means that you can transfer your Chase points to not just United, but also to Southwest, or Hyatt (among others). In contrast, when you earn United MileagePlus Miles your redemption options are basically limited to United and their travel portal.

• The United Gateway Card may not be worth getting even though it has no annual fee. The reason is that you don’t get any worthwhile perks from that card. For example, you don’t get the free first bag perk or priority boarding perk.

There are a few things to point out about this deal:

• These cards had a similar offering to this one in June-2024. Same bonus-point values.

• Historically, this is not the highest welcome offer we’ve ever seen for the card, it is about -10,000 points lower than the previous high (December-2022).

• However, this current deal is about +10,000 higher than what it was last month. So this means that this offering is in between the previous high and low values, and we haven’t seen anything higher in quite a while.

• With Chase, you are likely to be denied if you have opened 5 or more cards with ANY bank within the past 24 months. Chase business cards don’t count towards the 5 card rule, but if you try to apply for one after you have opened 5 or more cards, you will likely be denied. If you are planning to apply for multiple cards, you should consider opening Chase business cards first, then Chase personal cards, and finally any other cards with any other bank.

• Avoid applying for two or more Chase cards per month. Doing so increases your risk of being denied.

• If you get denied and you have good credit, call their reconsideration hotline: 1-888-270-2127. Calling may not change the outcome, but there is a chance it will. You’ll also be able to get better insight in why your application was denied.

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