What is the best replacement for your United Airlines MileagePlus UK credit card?

MBNA has written to holders of the United Airlines MileagePlus UK credit cards this week to tell them that they are closing on 21st July.

This was always an odd card which – most of the time – had no sign-up bonus attached to it.  The earning rate was also lower than some of the other MBNA airline cards.

However, because United has no American Express relationship and an odd deal with Starwood Preferred Guest, its own card was still the easiest option.

Today I thought I would run through the options if you still want to collect United Airlines MileagePlus miles from a credit card, or want an interesting alternative from another airline.

As it happens, things have perked up substantially since Marriott (which has a generous United transfer rate) acquired Starwood (which has a UK credit card and is also an Amex partner).

Why did this happen?

You should NOT assume that these cards will return under a new issuer.

Two linked events caused this.  The core driver was the European Union cap on interchange fees.  This restricted the fee that payment processors could charge retailers for accepting credit cards to 0.3%.   It is very difficult to run a successful mileage card on this basis.

The second driver was American Express being caught up in the 0.3% cap, even though it was originally expected to be exempt.  American Express decided to pull all of its licensed cards from the market, which means that MBNA, Lloyds, TSB and Barclays had to stop issuing Amex-branded products such as the United Airlines cards.

What is your best alternative to the United Airlines UK credit card?

There are a number of ways of looking at this.  Let’s run through them.

Scenario 1:  You want a card which still lets you earn United Airlines miles at a decent rate

The good news is that there are still ways to earn United Airlines miles from a credit or charge card in the UK.

The highest miles earning option is the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express credit card.  You can get up to 1.35 miles per £1 spent which is better than the old MBNA cards!

This page shows the rates to United from the merged Starwood / Marriott programme:

3 Marriott or Starwood points gets you 1.1 United Airlines miles

You get a 5,000 mile bonus if you convert 60,000 Marriott or Starwood points in one transaction 

The annual fee on the SPG card is £75 and you get a sign-up bonus of 30,000 points.  This makes the card well worth getting for the first year at least.

United Airlines is NOT an American Express Membership Rewards partner.  This means that you cannot earn miles directly from either American Express Preferred Rewards Gold or American Express Platinum.

The only thing you can do is transfer your Amex points into Starwood / Marriott Rewards and on to United via the route above.  The rate would be:

2 Amex Membership Rewards points = 3 Marriott / Starwood points = 1.1 United miles

This means you’re getting 0.55 United miles per £1 spent on an Amex Gold or Platinum.  These cards DO come with excellent sign-up bonuses though.  Amex Gold comes with 20,000 points for signing up, whilst Amex Platinum comes with 30,000 points.  Amex Gold is free for the first year.

Even if it isn’t the best deal for day to day spending, you should consider taking out a ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold and banking over 10,000 United Airlines miles from converting the sign-up bonus to Starwood points, then to Marriott Rewards points and then to United!

Scenario 2:  You specifically want a Visa or Mastercard to collect United Airlines miles

Earning MileagePlus miles from a Mastercard or Visa now is now tricky.  You can’t get near the 0.625 miles per £1 that the free MBNA card offered.

The only slightly decent Visa / Mastercard option is via the IHG Rewards Club Mastercard (0.2 miles per £1, assuming you convert 10,000 IHG points into 2,000 airline miles) or, with the £99 IHG Rewards Club Premium Mastercard, 0.4 miles per £1.

There is a sign-up bonus on these cards.  The free IHG Mastercard comes with 10,000 IHG points, worth 2,000 United Airlines miles.  The £99 Premium card comes with 20,000 IHG points, worth 4,000 United Airlines miles.

Scenario 3:  You want a credit card which allows you to collect a different sort of Star Alliance miles

Not easy.  Since the Lufthansa and United Airlines cards were closed to new applicants in November 2017, there have been no dedicated Star Alliance UK credit cards.

Via American Express Membership Rewards:

You can collect with the following Star members via an American Express Platinum or American Express Preferred Rewards Gold or Amex Rewards card and then converting your Membership Rewards points to airline miles:

• SAS – 1 mile per £1
• Singapore Airlines – 1 mile per £1

Via Starwood Preferred Guest American Express partners:

The SPG American Express card has a sign-up bonus of 30,000 points in the combined Starwood / Marriott scheme.  This means that you would receive 10,000 miles in most of the schemes listed below which is a decent start if you are opening a fresh account.  These are the Star Alliance members which are SPG airline partners:

• Aegean – 1 mile per £1
• Air Canada – 1 mile per £1
• Air China – 1 mile per £1
• Air New Zealand – 1 point per £65
• ANA – 1 mile per £1
• Asiana Airlines – 1 mile per £1
• Miles & More – 1 mile per £1
• Singapore Airlines – 1 mile per £1
• Thai Airways – 1 mile per £1

Via the IHG credit cards:

The IHG Rewards Club credit card earns a poor 0.2 miles per £1 of credit card spend, although if you have the IHG Rewards Club Premium credit card, this is doubled to a more reasonable 0.4 miles per £1.  Star Alliance partners apart from United are: Air China, Air New Zealand (£400 spend = 1 point), ANA, Asiana Airlines, Copa (via Globalpass), Miles & More, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, TAP Air Portugal and Thai Airways.

HSBC Premier is also an option if you want Singapore Airlines miles.  It has an excellent Visa / Mastercard rate (0.5 miles per £1 on the free card, 1 mile per £1 on the paid card).  You need a HSBC Premier current account, however, which has tough income and savings criteria.

As far as I can see, the only Star Alliance members with no UK credit card earning ability are Egyptair, Ethiopian and EVA Air.  Shenzhen Airlines uses Air China’s PheonixMiles programme, which can be accessed via Starwood, IHG, Marriott and Hilton.

Scenario 4:  You want a high-earning Visa or Mastercard and are willing to move away from Star Alliance

Without a doubt, the two Virgin Atlantic Mastercards are the most generous Visa or Mastercard products available – either the Virgin Reward Mastercard (free, 5000 miles bonus) or Virgin Reward+ Mastercard (£160, 15000 miles bonus).

You get 0.75 miles per £1 on the free card and 1.5 miles per £1 on the paid card.  This is FAR better than any Avios or hotel card.  The free Virgin Atlantic card equals, at 0.75 miles per £1, is more than you were getting for non-Amex spend from your old United Airlines credit card.  You also get a 2-4-1 or upgrade redemption voucher for hitting spending targets.  The only downside is that, with no short haul routes, you are unlikely to earn enough miles purely from the credit card to get a good redemption so the cards are best suited to regular Virgin flyers.

The best long-term cards for an Avios / Asia Miles / Etihad Guest / Singapore Airlines Krisflyer collector (if you have a high income) are the HSBC Premier Mastercard or HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard. 

If you simply want a free Visa or Mastercard and collect Avios, the best option is the Tesco Clubcard Mastercard.  You get 1 Clubcard point per £8 spent which translates into 0.3 Avios per £1.  However Tesco rounds down each transaction to the nearest £8 which means your actual earning rate is lower.

You get extra value because Clubcard points have many uses – as well as Avios, you could send them to Virgin Flying Club or a totally different Clubcard partner altogether, such as Uber or Hotels.com.

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Want to earn more points from credit cards? – September 2024 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 26th September 2024, sign up for FREE Barclaycard Avios Mastercard and you will receive a sign-up bonus of 10,000 Avios. This is double the usual bonus! You only need to spend £1,000 within 90 days. Our full review is here. Click here to apply.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased to up to 80,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 80,000 Avios. You will receive 8 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased to up to 40,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 40,000 Avios. You will receive 4 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. The card is FREE for your first year. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending.