Generous new £250 United Airlines cashback offer on American Express cards

An impressively generous new cashback offer has appeared on American Express cards thanks to United Airlines. It is a re-run of an offer that ran twice last year.

You will get £250 back when you spend £500 with United Airlines – a 50% rebate if you find a ticket priced at exactly £500.

The rules say that you need to book a flight by 24th May which is departing from the UK. I am guessing that non-UK departures may divert you a different version of the United website which is why this rule is in place. It appears there is no ‘travel by’ deadline so you can book right into next March.

Remember that you can earn Avios on United Airlines flights when you credit them to an Aer Lingus AerClub account. You can then use the ‘Combine My Avios’ functionality online to move them to your British Airways Executive Club account. You will not earn any tier points, however.

Alternatively, as a Star Alliance member, you can credit your flight to any of their frequent flyer schemes. Whilst United MileagePlus or Lufthansa Miles & More are obvious options, SAS EuroBonus and Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer have the benefit of being American Express Membership Rewards transfer partners if you need to top up your account.

(The HfP article looks at the best way to earn Star Alliance miles from UK credit cards. This article looks specifically at how to earn United Airlines miles from UK credit cards.)

£500 should be enough to get you an economy flight to the US – albeit in ‘Basic Economy’ which is frill-free – and £250 would represent a chunky saving.

If you are booking for two of you, see if you have the offer on another Amex cards, or on the supplementary card to your main card. You can then book both tickets separately.

As usual, you need to check the ‘Offers’ section on the Amex website or in the app for each American Express card you own, and then click ‘Save To Card’ to register if you can see the deal.

Only 20,000 registrations will be allowed, so if you think you may be able to make use of this offer I would register now.

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Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 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.

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 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and 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.