Very generous new £350 United Airlines cashback offer on American Express cards

An impressively generous new cashback offer has appeared on American Express cards (except British Airways ones!) from United Airlines.

You will get £350 back when you spend £700 with United Airlines – a 50% rebate if you find a ticket priced at exactly £700.

You can fly direct from London Heathrow or Edinburgh. Other gateways may be available if you can get the United Airlines website to price them up with a connection. Cumulative spend is ok.

The rules say that you need to book a flight by 23rd October which is departing from the UK. I am guessing that non-UK departures may divert you to 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 to early next year.

Package holidays, cruises, lifestyle and clothing purchases from the United Shop site and purchases of miles will not trigger the bonus.

Where can you fly with United Airlines from the UK?

Here is the current direct schedule for Summer 2024, albeit there isn’t much of the season left. Other destinations in the US, Canada etc are available with connections on United or partner carriers.

London Heathrow

• New York/Newark – 6x daily
• Washington/Dulles – 2x daily
• Chicago O’Hare – 3x daily
• San Francisco – 3x daily
• Houston – 2x daily
• Denver – 2x daily
• Los Angeles – 2x daily

Edinburgh

• New York/Newark – 2x daily
• Chicago O’Hare – daily
• Washington/Dulles – daily

For the Winter 2024 season, starting at the end of October, you have:

London Heathrow

• New York/Newark – 7x daily
• Washington/Dulles – 2x daily
• Chicago O’Hare – 2x daily
• San Francisco – 2x daily
• Houston – 2x daily
• Denver – 1x daily
• Los Angeles – 1x daily

Edinburgh

• New York/Newark – 1x daily

What is United Airlines like?

We did a review series with United last year. Here is what we published:

• the United Club lounge in Heathrow Terminal 2

• review of United Airlines Premium Plus (premium economy) to San Francisco

• the United Polaris lounge in San Francisco

• review of United Airlines Polaris business class to London Heathrow

• the United and Air Canada Arrivals Lounge in Heathrow Terminal 2

Where can you credit your miles?

Weirdly, 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, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer has 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.)

£700 should be enough to get you an economy flight to the US in peak season – possible premium economy out of season – and £350 would represent a chunky saving.

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

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.

40,000 registrations will be allowed for this offer, which is a sharp increase on the 25,000 when it ran earlier in the year.

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How to earn Star Alliance miles from UK credit cards (October 2024)

None of the Star Alliance airlines currently have a UK credit card.

There is, however, still a way to earn Star Alliance miles from a UK credit card. 

The route is via Marriott Bonvoy. Marriott Bonvoy hotel loyalty points convert to over 40 airlines at the rate of 3:1.

The best way to earn Marriott Bonvoy points is via the official Marriott Bonvoy American Express card. It comes with 20,000 points for signing up and 2 points for every £1 you spend. At 2 Bonvoy points per £1, you are earning (at 3:1) 0.66 airline miles per £1 spent on the card.

There is a preferential conversion rate to United Airlines – which is a Star Alliance member – of 2 : 1 if you convert 60,000 Bonvoy points at once.

The Star Alliance members which are Marriott Bonvoy transfer partners are: Aegean, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Avianca, Copa Airlines, Singapore Airlines, TAP Air Portugal, Thai Airways, Turkish Airlines and United Airlines.

You can apply here.