United Airlines partners

As a United MileagePlus member, you have the potential to earn miles each time you fly with 26 different airlines within the Star Alliance. To offer even more opportunities to earn miles, United Airlines also cooperates with 12 worldwide partners, such as Hawaiian Airlines, Cape Air and Eurowings.

See related: 12 ways to earn more United Airlines miles

If you’re angling to earn free flights, upgrades and more, it’s smart to figure out the best ways to use United MileagePlus miles to your advantage. This guide includes information on all the United Airlines partners you should know about, as well as how to make the most of them each time you book airfare with cash or airline miles.

United Airlines airline partners

Also note that United MileagePlus Premier members automatically have Star Alliance Gold or Silver Status based on their elite status with United. This means that when you travel with Star Alliance partner airlines, you can enjoy recognition of your elite status as well as travel benefits.

United MileagePlus members also earn Premier qualifying miles (PQM) and Premier qualifying segments (PQS) when they fly partner airlines to various destinations worldwide. Finally, Star Alliance Gold members have access to one of the largest lounge networks in the world.

In addition to redeeming United MileagePlus miles for flights, you can also earn miles on paid flights with partner airlines. However, it’s important to note that you can only earn miles with one airline at a time. If you want all your miles assigned to your United MileagePlus account, you will need to enter your United loyalty number when you make your reservation.

Here’s how the benefits of Star Alliance elite status break down:

Using a credit card to earn United miles

If you’re hoping to earn United miles you can use toward free flights with United Airlines and its partners, you should know that several co-branded credit cards can help in this respect. The United Club Infinite Card is a premium airline credit card that comes with United Club access, a free first and second checked bag and up to $100 toward a Global Entry or TSA Precheck application. You’ll earn 4 miles per dollar on United purchases, 2 miles per dollar on dining and other travel and 1 mile per dollar on everything else, although a $525 annual fee applies.

See related: Which United Airlines credit card should you choose?

If you’re looking for another avenue to earn United miles and prefer to pay a smaller annual fee, you can also check out the United Explorer Card. This card gives you 60,000 bonus miles when you spend $3,000 on your card within three months of account opening, plus an additional 10,000 bonus miles when you spend $6,000 within six months. You also earn 2 miles per dollar on United purchases, dining and hotels booked directly and 1 mile per dollar on other purchases.

Cardholder perks include two one-time United Club passes, up to $100 credit toward a Global Entry or TSA Precheck application, priority boarding and more. This card also waives the $95 annual fee for the first year.

Also keep in mind that United MileagePlus is a Chase Ultimate Rewards partner, meaning you can transfer points from cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card and Chase Sapphire Reserve to this frequent flyer program. All transfers start at 1,000 points, but with the 1:1 transfer ratio, you’ll get 1,000 miles for each 1,000 points you transfer.

See related: Best airline credit cards

To initiate a transfer from points to miles, all you have to do is log into your Chase credit card account and head to Chase Ultimate Rewards. From there, you can click on “Transfer to Travel Partners.”

Once you complete that step, you’ll be directed to a page where you can select United MileagePlus and transfer Chase points in increments of 1,000.

Earning miles through United partners

While you can earn miles flying with United Airlines and its partners, there are numerous other ways to rack up miles for free flights. The number of miles you’ll earn with hotels, rental car companies and other partners will depend on the promotion and can vary throughout the year.

Here’s a list of the most popular United partners and how many miles you can expect to earn:

United Airlines hotel partners

United transportation partners

Other United partners

Bottom line

While the United MileagePlus program is valuable on its own, its robust selection of partners makes earning and redeeming miles an even more lucrative proposition. The fact that your elite status transfers to partner airlines can also make air travel much more comfortable and rewarding.

Before you book a flight with United Airlines, check to see whether you could be securing a better redemption rate by flying with a partner airline. Depending on where you’re flying, it’s possible you could spend fewer United miles for a flight with a partner while enjoying the same elite status benefits.

Also, make sure you’re taking advantage of point-earning opportunities with United MileagePlus hotel, transportation and business partners. Since you could earn tens of thousands of miles booking cruises, hotels and rental cars or using the services of one of their partners, it’s always worth checking when you make a purchase online.