Easy to Earn Miles, Plus More Benefits
Written: May 30 '07 (Updated May 30 '07)
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Pros: Card is a great benefit by taking full advantage of card's potential for earning miles.
Cons: $60 fee, industry standard 1% of every dollar goes towards a reward.
The Bottom Line: Use the card's full potential for the best benefits to make-up the $60 annual fee and you will easily get a free flight.
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| akit's Full Review: United Airlines Mileage Plus Visa(First USA) |
Background Story
I decided that I needed the United Mileage Plus Visa Card by Chase after I learned that the Mileage Plus program will eventually switch from a 36 month "no activity" expiration to a 18 month expiration. Sure, I was earning miles here and there when I cannot afford to fly (i.e. "grocery miles"), but all this did was give my mileage account a few more months of life.
I researched online about the United Mileage Plus Visa by Chase bank and I learned that the first benefit is that they give you 21,000 free miles just for joining with at least $250 in purchases. A day later, I received in the mail an invitation to join the Visa card program, but the benefits offer improved by giving me 21,000 free miles (without the $250 minimum in charges), plus an additional 5,000 miles after the first year.
Similarly, the online and mail offers had some of these other same offers: A $60 a year fee that is waived the first year of use, a voucher for a free upgrade on a United flight, a $25 off coupon for any flight on United, and offered all qualified people "Visa Signature" status.
Usage benefits:
For every dollar I spent on the card, I would earn one mile and your first monthly statement will include the bonus miles with United posting the miles within a few weeks into your account. By joining the Chase Visa program, you were entitled to additional card benefits through the United website, including converting your miles into a discount for any United flight (20,000 miles equals $200 in flight credit) or for a rental car or hotel with no blackout dates. Other benefits includes access to the Mileage Plus Mall, which instead of claiming miles towards a flight, you can use your miles for physical products, such as a DVD player, flat screen TV, and even a Playstation Portable. "Visa Signature" is an elite status that provides customers additional benefits through the Visa Concierge program which includes exclusive offers for vacations, major event tickets, restaurant reservations, and "above and beyond" assistance when you feel that you can't get that perfect request by doing it yourself. "Visa Signature" users can also benefit through special giveaways such as free baseball hats at certain days at the ballpark.
Not so helpful benefits:
The $60 a year fee is a little high, but you can spend 6,000 miles as credit towards your annual fee through the Visa website. In order to be allowed to use your miles for flight, hotel, or rental car credit, you must claim at least 10,000 miles (spend $10,000 on your card) that you earned ONLY through your Visa card. The card has a high APR (mine is about 24%, but it is interest free if you pay your card in full every single month). The Visa Signature Concierge program charges a fee for the service, however asking for restaurant recommendations and reservations is a free service. Lastly, the discount certificate and the free upgrade offer when first joining is useless because the discount can only be done in-person which charges a $20 service fee (meaning that you only save $5), and the upgrade certificate only works if you pay full fare for an economy seat, which costs a heck of a lot more money than just the cheapest fare.
Tips to using your card: You can easily kill two birds with one stone by:
--Purchasing your United flight directly from United's website, and you earn miles on your Visa card, bonus miles for booking online, and miles when you take your flight.
--Charging your groceries at the Safeway chain of grocery stores and registering your "Club Card" with United. Every $250 in purchases at the Safeway chain gives you 125 free miles, plus since you charged all your groceries on the Visa, that's an additional 250 miles.
--Charging your restaurant purchases on your card benefits you if you join the dining program by United. When registering any credit card to the dining program, you earn three miles for every dollar spent at selected restaurants. At big cities, there are at least 50 restaurants you can eat at and earn miles. But by using your United Visa card, you get 3 miles per dollar as the standard policy, plus an additional mile per dollar through your Visa card benefit.
--Charging purchases through the Mileage Plus Online store. By spending a minute navigating through the online store, you can shop at many of your favorite online stores and earn miles for your purchases. For example, by going through the Mileage Plus online store and clicking on the Best Buy link, you go directly to the Best Buy store and earn one mile for every three dollars purchased. By charging that purchase online with your United Visa card, you also get an additional mile for every dollar.
--Use saver miles for long haul flights. United charges for inter United States flights (excluding Hawaii and Alaska) for only 25,000 miles (equivalent of $250). Since cross-country round trip flights cost nearly $500 dollars, using your Visa "no blackout" benefit is not helpful because if a round trip flight did cost $500, you would spend 50,000 miles through your Visa benefit than just doing the saver award for just 25,000. If you are able to find a United flight that is LESS than $250 (25,000 miles), then use your Visa card benefit.
Yes... it's a credit card
The cold hard fact is that it is a credit card, and whatever you charge to it will be on your monthly statement. In order to keep track of your purchases, you can register on Chase.com and be able to see your purchases, a copy of your monthly statement, and make online payments by linking with your checking account.
Using Chase online is much easier than hassling with mailed monthly statements and postage stamps, and you also receive 500 bonus miles for joining Chase online, plus you can receive an additional 500 miles if you request for electronic statements instead of being mailed one every month.
By paying off your credit card bill online, the service is totally free to use and you only register your checking account code numbers (on the bottom of every check) just once. You can also do it through their automated telephone system for free as well. However, if you handle payments through a telephone operator, you will be charged a service fee for the process.
Overall
Overall, the card is useful if you know how to take full advantage of using the card (such as: charging to the card while using another United mileage benefit like grocery miles), to keep your miles from never disappearing, and the Visa Signature benefit gives you freebies and personalized service. If you do not take full advantage of the card, then this card is not recommended for you and you consider a fee-free card like Chase Freedom.
I think that the benefits outweigh the cons of having this card, and the 21,000 bonus miles, plus 5,000 bonus miles for your first anniversary is a great way to getting a free flight and spending your extra money on a better hotel or some extra fun.
Quick guide to miles:
$1 charged to United Mileage Plus Visa = 1 mile
1 Mileage Plus mile = 1 cent credit towards flight, car, etc.
Example:
Charge $10,000 to Visa = 10,000 miles
10,000 miles = $100 in United program credit.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
akit
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Location: San Francisco, California
Reviews written: 27
Trusted by: 0 members
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