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If you fly United Airlines with any regularity, you may be familiar with the United MileagePlus loyalty program. What you might not know is that it offers a unique feature where it reserves some flight award availability for certain customers.
Just as United sells different cash fare levels (such as economy and refundable economy), it also sells different award seat levels:
- Saver awards
- Standard awards
Saver awards are the cheapest option and generally the only awards that provide a good value for your miles. Standard awards can cost significantly more, but they are more plentiful. When there are no saver-level awards available on a flight, the remaining seats are sold as standard awards, but they are typically much more expensive and priced based on the cash cost of the ticket.
However, there's a nearly effortless way you can find lots of saver-level award seats which the vast majority of United flyers can't. This benefit is usually only available to customers with MileagePlus Premier elite status— but United Airlines credit cardholders can get it, as well.
Here's everything you need to know about this underrated United Airlines trick that can help you save a ton of miles on your next trip.
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Unlocking United's expanded award availability
United Airlines releases "secret," lower-priced economy award availability to the following customers:
- All United MileagePlus Premier elite status holders
- Anyone with an eligible United-branded credit card
This expanded availability is offered on both domestic and international United-operated flights.
If you don't satisfy at least one of the above bullets, you won't even know these extra economy seats exist. Regular United Airlines seats appear as fare code "X," while these hidden awards appear as fare code "XN." You'll only see the hidden seats when you're logged into your United Airlines account, as that's the only way the site can know if you qualify.
Let's view an example by looking at flights from Chicago to Nashville. Here's what someone without a United Airlines credit card sees: Three Saver flights with fare code "X."
Now here's what someone with an eligible United credit card sees: A fourth Saver flight that wasn't offered to the non-cardholder. You'll notice that all these flights appear as "XN" — even the ones that previously appeared as "X" — indicating that the card member is booking from the pool of exclusive seats.
Pro tip: If you're short on United miles, you can dip into your Chase Ultimate Rewards® balance and transfer points to the airline.
United credit cards that offer extra award seats
All United Airlines co-branded credit cards with an annual fee will unlock this expanded award inventory benefit:
- United℠ Explorer Card ($0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $150; see rates and fees)
- United℠ Business Card ($0 Intro annual fee for the first year, then $150 Annual Fee; see rates and fees)
- United Quest℠ Card ($350 annual fee; see rates and fees)
- United Club℠ Business Card ($695 annual fee)
- United Club℠ Card ($695 annual fee; see rates and fees)
These cards come with other great benefits as well, not to mention large sign-up bonuses. Depending on which card you've got, you could get things like preferred boarding, free checked bags, United Club lounge access, annual flight credits and much more. The top-tier United Club Card even offers an additional 10% discount on United-operated economy saver awards within the continental U.S. and Canada, which can be stacked with the expanded award availability.
The United℠ Explorer Card is worth it even if you only fly with United Airlines once or twice a year because you can take advantage of two United Club℠ passes per year when the primary cardmember or authorized user is traveling and you can receive free checked bags.
Highlights
Highlights shown here are provided by the issuer and have not been reviewed by CNBC Select's editorial staff.
- Earn up to 60,000 bonus miles
- $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $150
- NEW! 9x total miles on eligible United flights and 3x miles on all other eligible United® purchases
- 2x miles on dining and hotel stays when booked with the hotel. 1x mile on all other purchases.
- Free first checked bag - a savings of up to $200 per roundtrip. Terms Apply. Plus, priority boarding on United® flights.
- 2 United Club one-time passes per year - over a $100 value
- Over $500 in partner credits each year
- NEW! Save 10% or more when booking flights with miles. Premier members save even more.
- Member FDIC
Bottom line
Whether you're trying to book a super popular flight that books up fast or a route for which United dedicates far fewer flights (and therefore fewer award seats), having access to an exclusive pool of award seats can come in handy.
If you've already got a United Airlines credit card, this is a great reason to keep it. If this unique perk interests you, it may be reason enough to open a United card and why they are considered some of the best airline credit cards on the market.
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Information about the United℠ Business Card has been collected independently by Select and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of the card prior to publication.
