United Airlines ($UAL)

Major American airline and Star Alliance member.

  • Industry: Airline
  • Public Status: NASDAQ: UAL
  • Official Site: www.united.com
Technical Note: United Airlines transactions usually report as MCC 4511 (Air Carriers, Airlines). Standard airline code for direct purchases.

Ranked Card Rewards at United Airlines

CardRateCash / $100 ? Liquidation floor for this currency (Statement credit/Bank deposit).Credits/moNetwork PerkWhy it Wins
Chase Sapphire Preferred5x
Chase Points
$5.00Chase Travel Category
Citi Prestige Card5x
Thankyou Points
$5.00Air Travel Category
Robinhood Gold Card3x
Cash
$3.00Base Rate
Chase Ink Business Premier2x
Cash
$2.00Base Rate
Chase Ink Business Unlimited2x
Cash
$1.50Base Rate
The World of Hyatt Credit Card1x
Hyatt Points
$1.00Base Rate
Gold Rewards Card1x
Amex Points
$0.60Base Rate

Value of Transferring to United MileagePlus

Standardized value of transferring 1,000 points. Often, transferring to partners provides a "Value Boost" compared to fixed-rate redemptions.

CardRatio1k Pts Value (Source)1k Pts Value (United Airlines)Value ChangeSpeedProcess
Chase Sapphire Preferred1:1$10.00$13.00+30.0% Value

How we calculate this

We join merchant transaction data (MCCs) with card reward structures to find the highest effective yield. For points programs, we assume a live valuation (e.g., 1 cent per Chase point) to provide a comparable “Cash Value” metric.


Suggested Merchant Category Codes (MCC)

The following categories are typically used by payment networks (Visa, Mastercard, Amex) to classify this merchant. These codes determine the reward yield for specific credit cards.

MCC-4511 ISO 18245
Airlines and Air Carriers (Not Elsewhere Classified)
air carriers that do not have their own specific MCC. MCC