If you’re a MileagePlus member looking to make the most of your United miles, you’re in the right place. In this ultimate guide on United Award Search, we show you step-by-step how to unlock the full potential of your MileagePlus account: we walk you through everything you need to know to find the best award flights and maximize your miles. Let’s get started!

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What is United MileagePlus?

MileagePlus is United Airlines’ loyalty program. With several elite status tiers -Premier Silver, Gold, Platinum, and 1k—it remains one of our favorite options when redeeming Star Alliance and other airline partners.

Since November 2019, United MileagePlus transitioned to a dynamic pricing model for award flights (read our full post), meaning that the number of miles required for a specific itinerary varies depending on factors that include demand, route, and travel dates (check the cash prices!). This makes the award booking process more complex because it is harder to determine whether you are getting good value for your miles.

What We Love

  • Excursionist Perk: This unique feature allows members to add a free one-way award within select multi-city itineraries, providing excellent value when planning more complex trips.
  • Partner Airlines is definitely one of our favorites. United has one of the largest networks of partner airlines, which means you can get extra lucky when choosing who you fly with. However, redeeming miles on partner airlines sometimes involves different award charts, pricing, and availability rules. It’s essential to familiarize yourself with the specific requirements of each partner. But don’t worry. AwardFares does its best to show you the real-time prices across all options so you can compare them easily.
  • MileagePlus Credit Cards: There’s a large array of United co-branded credit cards that make it extremely easy to earn miles and access additional benefits, such as priority boarding and free checked bags.

What’s New With MileagePlus in 2025?

  • Increased Requirements for Premier Status: Starting in 2025, United Airlines is raising the thresholds for earning MileagePlus Premier status. Members will need to accumulate approximately 20-25% more Premier Qualifying Points (PQP) and Premier Qualifying Flights (PQF) compared to 2024. For example, achieving Premier 1K status now requires 28,000 PQP or 22,000 PQP plus 60 PQF, up from the previous 24,000 PQP or 18,000 PQP plus 54 PQF.
  • Head Start for Existing Elite Members: To assist with the increased requirements, United is providing a PQP boost to current elite members in early 2025. The PQP deposits are as follows:
    • Premier Silver: 300 PQP
    • Premier Gold: 600 PQP
    • Premier Platinum: 900 PQP
    • Premier 1K: 1,400 PQP
  • Enhanced PlusPoints Flexibility: Beginning in mid-2025, United is expanding the ways members can redeem PlusPoints. In addition to using them for seat upgrades, members can now exchange PlusPoints for:
    • Premier Qualifying Points (PQP) or Premier Qualifying Flights (PQF)
    • TravelBank cash
    • Bonus miles
    • Gifting Premier status to other MileagePlus members
  • Improved PQP Earning via Credit Card Spending: United is enhancing the PQP earning rates for its co-branded credit cards:
    • United Club Infinite Card and United Club Business Card: 1 PQP per $15 spent, with a maximum of 15,000 PQP per year (up from 10,000 PQP).
    • All other eligible cards: 1 PQP per $20 spent.
      This adjustment allows members to earn PQPs more efficiently through everyday spending.
  • Introduction of Starlink Wi-Fi: United Airlines is set to enhance in-flight connectivity by introducing SpaceX’s Starlink internet services. Testing is scheduled to begin in February 2025, with the first commercial flight equipped with Starlink expected in the spring. The airline aims to outfit its entire two-cabin regional fleet with Starlink by the end of 2025, offering free access to MileagePlus members.

Saver vs. Non-Saver Awards

Despite the dynamic pricing, MileagePlus still makes a distinction between Saver and non-Saver awards:

  • Saver Awards: The most economical option for redeeming miles. They require fewer miles compared to non-Saver awards but have limited availability, especially during peak travel seasons or on popular routes. To secure Saver awards, it’s crucial to book well in advance and be flexible with your travel dates.
  • Non-Saver Awards: These provide greater flexibility in terms of availability but come at a higher mileage cost. If you have specific travel dates in mind or are looking for last-minute bookings, non-Saver awards may be the only option.

How To Find United Saver Awards: The Easy Way (Step-by-step)

1. Go to AwardFares

Creating an account is optional, but it’s also free, and it gives you access to more features. Make sure to sign up for one here.

2. Select the Frequent Flyer Program

In the Frequent Flyer Program picker, select United MileagePlus.

Select United MileagePlus in AwardFares to find the best United awards.

3. Add a Route(s)

In the From and To fields, enter your departure and arrival airports. In the example below, we search for flights between San Francisco (SFO) and London (LHR).

Select the origin and destination city to search for United award flights.

4. Explore Travel Dates

Tap on Calendar to add a particular date in mind.

Select the desired date to find United Award Flights.

AwardFares will start searching for available seats on flights that day, and show the results in a list below.

Search results for award flights on AwardFares (List View).

Alternatively, you can use the Timeline View feature to check availability across multiple days at the same time. The bars show different classes in different colors.

Search results for award flights on AwardFares (Timeline View).

5. Sort by Price

A great advantage of AwardFares is that it lets you easily sort and filter results intuitively and with just a few clicks. It’s the simplest way to explore the cheapest options and find the best awards.

On the result list, tap on the different header columns to sort the results by price. Use the Eco, Prem, Biz, and First class tags to find cheap awards across multiple dates, itineraries, and airlines.

Sort United Awards by price to find the cheapest first.

Plus, use the Max Price pill to set a maximum number of miles for the reward flights you are searching.

Filter United award flights by price.

6. Saver vs. Non-saver Filter

AwardFares has a quick toggle to exclude awards that are non-saver. This way you can make sure you are only seeing the most economical options (although you lose a bit of flexibility).

How to find the best United MileagePlus saver awards.

7. Mixed Cabins (optional)

Another key feature is the ability to exclude mixed-cabin itineraries from the list. Often times, some of the options involve multiple connecting flights in different cabins. You can easily exclude them by tapping on Exclude Mixed: No Mixed Cabins.

Exclude mixed cabins when searchin for United.

Using these filters in combination can be extremely powerful. Following our previous example, now we sort by price (Business Class), excluding mixed cabins, and only searching for saver awards:

Exclude mixed cabins when searchin for United.

8. Add more filters (optional)

Try filtering out by cabin class (e.g., Business Class, First Class), number of stops (e.g., nonstop), number of passengers, aircraft type, or even flight number!

9. Book on United’s website

Once you find your desired flight, click the Book button.

AwardFares redirects you to United's website to book MileagePlus award flights.

AwardFares will redirect you to United’s website to finish the booking process, without the need to re-enter your search criteria, as it will be pre-populated.

AwardFares redirects you to United's website to book MileagePlus award flights.

Why use AwardFares instead of United’s website?

AwardFares is the easiest search engine for award flights, and it works across different frequent flyer programs, routes, and dates at once. It makes it incredibly easy to find award flights in seconds, without having to do manual searches on United’s website.

  1. Save time! Instead of searching day by day on United’s site, AwardFares lets you view multiple dates and routes at once, saving time and ensuring you don’t miss out on better options.
  2. Dynamic Pricing Insights. With United’s dynamic pricing, mileage costs vary. AwardFares helps you spot trends and clearly find better deals that might not be obvious on United’s site.
  3. Advanced Filters and Alerts. AwardFares offers powerful filters and notifications, allowing you to customize searches and get alerts when availability or prices change.
  4. Compare with other programs! (Broader Search Across Airlines). United’s website limits you to its flights and Star Alliance partners. AwardFares, on the other hand, lets you search multiple airlines and programs, offering a wider range of options.
  5. User-Friendly Interface. AwardFares offers a more intuitive and visually appealing platform, making it easier to navigate and find the best award options.

Maximize Your United Miles

With AwardFares, finding the best MileagePlus award flights takes just seconds, plus you can get 3x-12x the value from your miles compared to standard redemptions. Try it for free and see how easy it is! For access to even more powerful features like unlimited daily searches, alerts, seat maps, and flight schedules, explore our Gold and Diamond membership tiers.

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