How to book a United Airlines flight using American Express Membership Rewards points

American Express Membership Rewards points can be easier to earn than Chase Ultimate Rewards points, and American Express has plenty of airline transfer partners, but unfortunately, United Airlines is not one of them.

So, you might’ve been wondering if American Express Membership Rewards points can be transferred to United Airlines to book a flight somehow?

Even though you can’t transfer your Membership Rewards points to United Airlines directly, there’s still a way to book a United Airlines flight using your Membership Rewards points, and in this post, we are going to show you how. Let’s dive into it!

United Airlines is one of the ten major domestic airline carriers in the United States, it has a mileage program called MileagePlus that allows you to book flights with miles, and there are several ways to earn the miles. Obviously, flying with United Airlines is one of them, alternatively, you can sign up for one of their co-branded Chase United Airlines credit cards, shop through the United Airlines MileagePlus Shopping portal, dine with United Airlines MileagePlus Dining, or answer a survey on the Opinion Miles Club portal.

💡 Good To Know

You can learn more about various ways of earning United Airlines miles in our post about domestic airlines and how to keep their miles from expiring.

You can also transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to United Airlines but in our opinion, United Airlines miles are worth only 1.1-1.3 cents per point, so it might be not the best idea to spend your hard-earned Ultimate Rewards points on such a low-value redemption (you’ll be a better off transferring your points to Hyatt which can provide an outstanding value, so make sure to check out our post about everything you need to know about booking Hyatt hotels with points).

As we previously mentioned, you can’t transfer your American Express Membership Rewards points directly to United Airlines, but there’s actually a way of booking a United Airlines flight using your Membership Rewards points at a whopping 1.54 cents per point! How you say?! Using Amex Business Platinum Pay With Points!

Amex Business Platinum Pay With Points

If you have an American Express Business Platinum Card you can redeem your points using the 35% rebate via Pay With Points, up to 1,000,000 points back per calendar year. American Express owns an Online Travel Agent (OTA) portal that can be used to book flights and hotels, including booking them with points. Normally, the redemption rate wouldn’t be so great but using the 35% rebate you can get more than the average value out of your American Express Membership Rewards Points on United Airlines flights.

How does it work?

It’s pretty straightforward, you book your flight using the American Express Travel portal, and “pay” with points using your American Express Business Platinum card at 1 cent per point, then 6 to 8 weeks later you will magically receive your 35% rebate in form of Membership Rewards points back in your account. This way your points are worth 1.54 cents each.

However, keep in mind that you will receive the 35% rebate only in the following circumstances:

• You’re booking first- and business-class flights on any airline
• If you’re booking an economy flight, you need to enroll in the $200 annual airline fee credit and select an airline. You’ll receive your 35% rebate only if you book a flight for the selected airline. So, if you’re planning to book a United Airlines flight using points, make sure to select the airline beforehand.

Your Membership Rewards account balance needs to have a sufficient amount of points to cover the entire purchase at 1 cent per point.

A step-by-step guide to booking a United Airlines flight using Membership Rewards to receive the 35% rebate

The prerequisite is that you need to have an American Express Business Platinum card. If you don’t have one you can apply here and receive 120,000 American Express Membership Rewards points after spending $15,000 within the first 3 months of Card Membership.

So, now you have the card? Great! Continue to Step 1.

Step 1 — Sign in to American Express Travel Portal

Sign in to your American Express account and in the sidebar, click Travel → Book a Trip.

Step 2 — Search flights

Once you enter your flight details and perform a search, you’ll be presented with a list of flights. If you’re planning on booking an economy ticket, make sure that you choose the same airline as the one that you selected on your card benefits page.

Step 3 — Proceed to payment

Now that you selected your flight, select a payment option (you would want either Use Only Points or Use Points + Card), then click “Apply” to apply your points. Keep in mind that your Membership Rewards points balance needs to have a sufficient amount of points to make the booking.

Step 4 — Book your flight with points

In the final step, you’ll be asked to select a card that you’ll be using for booking. Here’s a peculiar part of booking with Amex points: the points will be immediately deducted from your account upon booking and you will see dollar charges on your statement.

No need to worry, you’ll receive full credit for these charges from Amex a few days later. Note that you will not be earning additional points on the charges.

Now just sit tight and wait, in about 6 to 8 weeks you’ll receive an email from American Express saying that you got the 35% rebate and a hefty amount of points was deposited back into your account!

Bottom line

You can’t directly transfer Amex Membership Rewards points into United Airlines MileagePlus program, but using the 35% Amex Business Platinum Pay With Points rebate you can easily book a United Airlines flight at 1.54 cents per point.