7 best ways to use your United MileagePlus miles

If you’ve been dreaming of a vacation, racking up travel rewards can make a lot of sense to help get you there while spending less.

If you’re flying, you can use airline miles to pay for domestic or international airfare. In turn, this frees up your vacation funds for other aspects of your trip. United MileagePlus miles are especially useful here — and as one of the largest airline loyalty programs in the US, it’s worth knowing.

Here, we’ll give you a look at seven of the best ways to redeem your United miles, from domestic flights to long-haul business class flights to Europe.

What is United MileagePlus?

MileagePlus is United’s loyalty program that allows members to earn and redeem miles for flights and other rewards. The program offers multiple elite status tiers with valuable perks like free checked bags, free Economy Plus seats and even upgrades to first class.

Better yet, MileagePlus miles don’t expire. You can earn MileagePlus miles by flying United and its partner airlines, spending on United credit cards and by leveraging its dining rewards portal and other earning opportunities.

Earlier this year, United also became the first major U.S. airline to allow members to pool their miles with family and friends into a joint account, making it easier for families to share and use miles together.

How to earn United miles

The current credit card bonus offers with United Airlines are a good place to start earning miles. There are six United-branded credit cards available — four consumer cards and two business credit cards.

These cards can earn you up to 80,000 United miles within a few months of account opening provided you can meet a minimum spending requirement. Plus, each has varying benefits like free checked bags and even United Club lounge access.

United Airlines personal card offers

United Airlines business card offers

Another perk? When you have a United credit card in your wallet (excluding the United Gateway Card), you have access to more award flights. This could make the difference between booking your dream trip on miles or having to pay cash.

It’s also worth mentioning that United MileagePlus is a Chase Ultimate Rewards® and Bilt Rewards transfer partner. Points transfer at a 1:1 ratio and transfers usually process same-day, giving you immediate access to booking awards.

Best ways to use your United MileagePlus miles

There are many ways to redeem United miles, but not all are a good value.

Non-flight redemptions like gift cards, magazines and other non-flight options almost always provide subpar value — often less than 0.5 cents per mile. By comparison, travel website The Points Guy values United miles at 1.3 cents apiece.

Further, transferring miles to hotel loyalty programs like Marriott Bonvoy or redeeming for car rentals and hotel stays is also not recommended since you’ll almost always get less value than redeeming for flights.

With that out of the way, let’s look at the best ways to use your United miles.

Inexpensive economy flights from the US to Europe

Like many other airline loyalty programs in the US, the United MileagePlus program uses dynamic pricing for its awards. This means flights vary in price based on demand and other factors.

However, this means you can get a better deal for your miles if you’re flexible on where you travel and when. Ultimately, you’ll get the best deals with your miles if you’re flexible with your travel plans.

One great way to redeem your United miles is for flights to Europe. It’s not difficult to find these tickets for 35,000 miles one-way or 70,000 miles round-trip, plus taxes and fees, or less.

For example, you can travel from Chicago-O’Hare (ORD) to Rome, Italy (FCO) for 34,000 miles, plus $5.60 in taxes and fees for a one-way flight this November.

Looking to spend some time in the City of Light? You can fly from New York-LaGuardia (LGA) to Paris, France (CDG) for 32,300 miles, plus $5.60 in taxes and fees one way in October.

That said, if you’re looking to travel in periods of high demand — think summer travel and around the December holiday season — you’ll have a harder time finding award flights for this rate.

United Polaris business class to many destinations

United Airlines offers a premium business-class product known as Polaris. In Polaris, travelers get lie-flat seats, Saks Fifth Avenue bedding, elevated food and beverage service and access to the United Polaris airport lounges when available.

You can redeem miles for a United Polaris business-class ticket on a range of long-haul itineraries within the United States, between the mainland US and Hawaii and on international transpacific flights, transatlantic flights and long-haul flights to South America.

For example, you can fly nonstop from Chicago-O’Hare (ORD) to London-Heathrow (LHR) in United Polaris for 80,000 miles, plus $5.60 in taxes and fees. So if you earn the 75,000 bonus miles from the sign-up bonus on the United Business Card, you’ll have nearly enough miles in your account to fly to Europe in style.

Another great option for using your United miles for a flight in United Polaris is flying from San Francisco (SFO) to Brisbane (BNE). You can fly one way on this route for 100,000 miles and $5.60 in taxes and fees — a great deal for a lie-flat seat on a 13 hour flight.

Low-cost short-haul domestic flights

You can also use United miles to find sweet flight deals within the US — as few as 5,000 miles one way — but you might need to do some digging to find the best deals.

After all, the cost of an award can vary by location and the date of travel. Fortunately, the United MileagePlus program offers a handy search calendar that allows you to easily compare the cheapest award price across every date of the month at once.

For example, you could fly from San Francisco (SFO) to Los Angeles (LAX) for as few as 5,600 miles one way, plus $5.60 in taxes and fees on many days this spring.

Alternatively, you could plan a warm-weather escape from Newark (EWR) to Fort Lauderdale (FLL) from 8,700 miles, plus $5.60 in taxes and fees one way. With 60,000 miles in your United account from the United Quest Card, you’d have enough miles to fly a family of three between New York and For Launderdale for just the cost of the taxes and fees out of pocket.

Lufthansa first class

Because Lufthansa is a Star Alliance partner, you can use your United miles to book a first class award in the airline’s most celebrated cabin. Lufthansa offers one of the best first-class products in the world, and it’s obtainable to book for a fraction of the price, thanks to travel rewards.

If you’re interested in using your United MileagePlus miles for a seat in Lufthansa’s first-class cabin, note that award space can be extremely limited. Lufthansa does not release first-class award space to United until around 15 days prior to departure. If you’re flexible with your travel plans and willing to book a relatively last-minute trip, this could be a great option.

You can find Lufthansa US first-class awards on United for as few as 154,000 miles, plus taxes and fees.

Short haul tickets in Asia and Europe

Especially true on non-US routes, you can book short-haul economy flights on United partner airlines for very low prices, like 6,000 United miles plus $38.40 in taxes and fees from Zurich (ZRH) to Rome (FCO) on Swiss.

Other non-US short-haul sweet spots include Hong Kong (HKG) to Singapore (SIN) for 27,500 in Singapore Airlines business class plus $42.70 in taxes and fees.

Book a dream trip to French Polynesia

If you’ve been dreaming of a bucket list getaway to South Pacific islands like Bora Bora, the first step of your journey will likely involve a flight to Tahiti. From there, you can board a plane (or a ferry, in some cases) to a range of destinations like Bora Bora, Raiatea, Tūpai or Teti’aroa, among others.

If you have United miles, you’ll be happy to know you can use them to pay for your initial far-flung journey — and you can even fly direct from the US. That’s because United Airlines flies nonstop on the nearly nine-hour flight from San Francisco (SFO) to Papeete, Tahiti (PPT).

Award prices on this route varies widely, so you’ll want to shop around for availability and costs by date. However, you can find award flights from 43,800 miles one way in economy, plus $5.60 in airline taxes and fees on southbound flights.

Last-minute flights

It’s a good idea to keep a reserve of United miles for last-minute flights, which can be very expensive in cash but not necessarily in miles. For example, at the time of writing, a flight tomorrow from San Francisco (SFO) to Washington, D.C. (IAD) is 15,000 miles.

Meanwhile, the same ticket on cash is $550 one-way in economy class for this last-minute flight.

From French Polynesia to Europe, there are plenty of ways to book valuable redemptions with United MileagePlus miles. And thanks to the United credit cards on offer, there are plenty of ways to earn United miles quickly.

Looking for a travel credit card? Find out which cards CNN Underscored Money chose as the best travel credit cards currently available.