United Mileage Plus is the frequent flier rewards program United Airlines offers its travelers. Members in the program accrue points (called "miles") from flights on United Airlines and United partners, hotel stays, rental cars and shopping. Once enough miles are accrued, you can use the miles to obtain free flights, hotel stays, upgrades to first class and more. The program is free; if you have plans to fly on United anytime soon, then it is a good idea to create a United Mileage Plus account now so you can begin collecting United Mileage Plus miles.
Create a United Mileage Plus account on the United Airlines website. Obtain your Mileage Plus account number and keep it somewhere so you can easily locate it when needed.
Book your travel arrangements. To book a flight on United Airlines, visit the United website, click on "Mileage Plus" at the top and sign in using your Mileage Plus account. Once you are signed in, you can book your flights on the site and your Mileage Plus account will be attached to your itinerary.
If you book your flight over the phone or through a travel agency, be sure to give the agent your Mileage Plus account number to attach to your itinerary.
You can also book rental cars, hotel rooms and all-inclusive vacations (flight, hotel and car) on the United website and earn miles for those items on your Mileage Plus account.
Complete your travel. A few days after you return, log into your Mileage Plus account on the United website to make sure your account was credited with the appropriate amount of miles. Generally, you earn one mile for every mile traveled on each flight. For example, if you fly round trip to a destination that is 1,000 miles away, you earn 2,000 miles total for the trip (1,000 miles each way). Sometimes, United or its partners offers special deals to Mileage Plus members, like double miles on a specific flight. If that is the case, you should have been credited twice as many miles as you flew.
When you book hotels or rental cars with your Mileage Plus account, be sure you know in advance how many miles you will be credited with, and after you return home, make sure that you were credited the correct amount of miles.
If the amount of miles credited to your account seems incorrect, contact United Mileage Plus customer service at 800-421-4655.
Redeem your miles for free flights or other travel perks like free hotel stays or upgrades to first class. To redeem your miles, log into your Mileage Plus account on the United website and click "Redeem Miles" under the "Mileage Plus" drop-down menu. The "Redeem Miles" page allows you to search for flights and book them using your miles instead of your credit card. You can also call United at 888-467-0507 to book your flight over the phone using your miles, though you may have to pay a small booking fee for booking with a live person over the phone.
As of April 2010, you can book a round trip ticket within North America for 25,000 miles (economy class). Round trip flights to Hawaii from the U.S. mainland cost 40,000 miles (economy class, as of April 2010). Flights to Europe from the U.S. mainland cost 55,000 miles (economy class, as of April 2010). The chart listing the number of miles needed to book free flights is listed on United's website.
