Last-Minute Hotel Reservations

Earning airline miles from hotel stays isn’t novel, but the MileagePlus X app adds another path toward doing so. In the app, you’ll find a section to find “Last-Minute Hotel Deals” which earn United miles on every reservation.

Searching for and making reservations is quick and easy. Rewards on sample searches can reach up to 4,000 miles for a single-night stay. To earn those miles, you’ll simply need to make the reservation and pay on the app.

Several New York City hotel offerings available through United MileagePlus X

Unfortunately, there’s a potential drawback to booking hotels through MileagePlus X. This is considered a third-party booking, meaning your stay won’t qualify for any hotel loyalty points, elite qualification or status benefits you may have been eligible for when booking directly. In some cases, the miles you earn through the United MileagePlus X app may outweigh the lack of hotel perks.

Although you’ll forego potential hotel points from being an overnight guest, you can still earn points or other rewards on the cost of your room. You’ll want to use a credit card for travel rewards to make the most of it.

MileagePlus Dining

MileagePlus Dining is a dining rewards program that allows you to earn up to 5 United miles per dollar spent by paying with a linked card at participating restaurants.

• Basic members. Earn 0.5 miles per dollar spent (a $20 charge earns 10 United miles).
• Select members. Earn 3 miles per dollar (requires a subscription to marketing emails).
• VIP members. Earn 5 miles per dollar (requires 11 or more transactions per calendar year).

Transactions are tracked by the credit card you pay with, so you’ll need to provide and link your full credit card number if you wish to earn miles. You are able to register multiple cards so we recommend linking any cards you regularly use for restaurant purchases. Since there’s no requirement or bonus for linking a United Airlines card, you can continue to pay for your meals with any of the best credit cards for restaurants and dining.

After you’ve linked cards, it’s a passive way to earn miles. Just pay for your meal with the linked card: There are no receipts to scan, no expense reports to fill out and no coupons to bring. Miles will be automatically awarded to your account one or two weeks after the meal.

Using the app does not increase the number of miles you’ll earn per dollar spent compared to registering and linking your cards online. However, the app provides a convenient way to browse participating restaurants nearby. You can also link (or unlink) cards to your dining account with the MileagePlus X app.

MileagePlus Shopping

The MileagePlus X app allows you to earn miles by shopping online. This is just one of many online shopping portals that track your purchases and transactions and award you for making purchases.

To earn miles through MileagePlus Shopping, you’ll need to go to the tab on your MileagePlus X app, navigate to the shopping portal in your web browser or install a browser extension on your desktop. Then, when you navigate to your preferred online retailer via the MileagePlus Shopping page, it will track your transaction and reward you at the rate displayed for that store. Like with MileagePlus Dining, miles are automatically deposited into your United account.

You’ll have the option to pay any way you wish at checkout, even if you begin your purchase through United’s shopping portal. That means you may prefer to use credit cards for online shopping or cash-back credit cards rather than a United card.