For tickets purchased on or after April 2, United Airlines will give MileagePlus credit cardholders additional miles and "exclusive flight discounts," the carrier announced Thursday.
Miles earned for cardholders will depend on MileagePlus status level. A general cardmember will earn six miles per dollar spent on eligible United flights while a general member without a United card will earn three. Each level increases to Premier 1K, where cardmembers can earn 12 miles per dollar while non-cardholders earn nine.
In addition, MileagePlus members must be a United credit cardholder to earn miles on Basic Economy tickets.
Further, United cardholders will save at least 10 percent on each United award that they book, and Premier members with a United card will save at least 15 percent, according to the carrier.
In a separate announcement to corporate customers, the carrier said that "business travelers who are the primary cardholder of a United credit card will still receive the higher cardmember accrual rate even when travel is booked using a corporate card by including their MileagePlus number in their reservation."
"It was important to us to continue to provide business travelers with value alongside these changes—recognizing that some corporate travel programs have stipulations on how to book travel," a United spokesperson told BTN via email. "Business travelers who hold a United credit card will receive the cardmember accrual rate, even when travel is booked using a corporate or business card this is not a United card. However, they will earn even more miles if they use their United MileagePlus card to pay for their purchase."
The additional benefits could be tempting for business travelers. The increase in earn rate when paying with a United card varies by type of card, and United increased the rate on its Explorer, Quest and Club cards. The rate when paying with an Explorer card is now three miles per dollar, up from two. Quest card purchases earn four miles per dollar, up from three. Club card purchases earn five miles per dollar, up from four.
"We have been saying for a number of years that payments would be the next battleground for business travel," GoldSpring Consulting partner Neil Hammond told BTN in an email when asked how United's increased earning for credit cardholders might affect corporate programs.
"Any move by any airline to increase rewards for individual travelers to influence their airline choices at the time of booking, from airline selection, form of payment selection and value-add purchases, will implicitly challenge the policy compliance of corporate programs," according to Hammond. "Different airlines will adopt different levels of bedside manner and timing in pushing these initiatives, but the resulting trends will be the same."
Hammond said GoldSpring had not yet received feedback from clients on United's announcement today, "but we will be discussing this with them."