United Club℠ Infinite Card Review [2024]: Lounge Access and Premium Perks

Travel credit cards come in a variety of flavors. There are travel cards with no annual fees and there are credit cards for high spenders. Each category has multiple options, and the best fit for you depends on your lifestyle and spending habits.

The United Club℠ Infinite Card is a premium travel card that falls into the high spender category, as it has a $525 annual fee. However, you can easily offset this annual cost by using the many valuable travel perks and benefits that come with this card.

This United Club Infinite Card review gives you a closer look at this luxury card and whether you should make space for it in your wallet.

A Premium Card for United Flyers

United Club℠ Infinite Card

4.8

FinanceBuzz writers and editors score cards based on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence how we rate products.

United Club℠ Infinite Card

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Current Offer

Earn 80,000 bonus miles after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening

Annual Fee

$525

Rewards Rate

4 miles per dollar on United purchases; 2 miles per dollar on all other travel and dining; plus 1 mile per dollar on all other purchases

Benefits and Drawbacks

Benefits

• Earn 80,000 bonus miles after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
• 4 miles per dollar on United purchases and 2 miles per dollar on all other travel and dining
• First and second checked bags are free (terms apply)
• United Club membership
• Up to $100 Global Entry, TSA Precheck, or NEXUS Credit

Drawbacks

• High annual fee
• Benefits focused on travel with United

Card Details

• Earn 80,000 bonus miles after qualifying purchases
• Earn 4 miles per $1 spent on United® purchases
• Earn 2 miles per $1 spent on all other travel and dining
• Earn 1 mile per $1 spent on all other purchases
• Free first and second checked bags - a savings of up to $320 per roundtrip (terms apply) - and Premier Access® travel services
• 10% United Economy Saver Award discount within the continental U.S. and Canada
• Earn up to 10,000 Premier qualifying points (25 PQP for every $500 you spend on purchases)
• Member FDIC

Who should get the United Club Infinite Card?

The United Club Infinite Card was designed with the traveler in mind. It has great travel benefits, such as travel insurance, but as a co-branded United Airlines credit card, it’s the best airline credit card for use by frequent United customers.

With this card you can earn 4 miles per dollar miles on United purchases. Plus you get unique United travel benefits, including your first and second checked bags for free and a United Club membership. For any individual who flies United often or is interested in making an airline switch, this card can provide you with a lot of value.

If you’re interested in applying for this card, you will likely need a good or excellent credit score. For individuals who travel less and/or don’t want to pay a hefty annual fee, you might consider the Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card. You can earn 5X points on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠; 3X points on dining, select streaming services, and online groceries; 2X points on all other travel purchases, and 1X points on all other purchases, plus you get valuable benefits such as travel and purchase coverages. This makes it easy to offset the lower $95 annual fee.

Card basics

United Club Infinite Card benefits and perks

Here are the best benefits and perks you can find on the United Club Infinite card:

• Generous welcome offer: Earn 80,000 bonus miles after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
• Bonus miles: Earn 4 miles per dollar on United purchases; 2 miles per dollar on all other travel and dining; plus 1 mile per dollar on all other purchases.
• United Club membership: Travel in comfort with complimentary United Club membership. United Club members can enjoy premium access to more than 45 United Club airport lounges, as well as participating Star Alliance affiliated airport clubs around the world.
• TSA PreCheck, Global Entry, or NEXUS credit: Receive up to a $100 statement credit as reimbursement for NEXUS, TSA PreCheck, or Global Entry application fees once every four years. These programs allow for expedited screening when traveling through U.S. airports.
• Free checked bags: Primary cardholders and one companion traveling on the same reservation can avoid checked bag fees with United Airlines. They’ll receive their first and second standard checked bags free of charge, which could save you up to $320 (terms apply).
• 25% back on in-flight purchases: When flying on United-operated flights, receive 25% back as a statement credit on inflight purchases of food, beverages, and Wi-Fi when you use this card.
• 10% Saver Award discount: Receive a 10% discount when you book United Economy Saver award flights within the continental U.S. or between the continental U.S. and Canada.
• Premier Access: Receive complimentary Premier Access benefits at the airport, such as priority boarding, exclusive security screening lanes, and priority baggage handling.
• IHG One Rewards Platinum Elite: Receive complimentary IHG One Rewards Platinum Elite status. This includes receiving 50% bonus points and complimentary room upgrades.
• Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection: Receive complimentary benefits through the Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection program when you book using your United Club Infinite Card. This may include daily breakfast for two, complimentary Wi-Fi, room upgrades, and early check-in and late checkout.
• DoorDash benefit: Take advantage of a one-year complimentary DashPass subscription. (Requires activation by 12/31/2024.) With DashPass, you'll pay $0 delivery fees and benefit from reduced service fees on eligible orders. After the first year, your DashPass subscription will renew at the regular monthly rate. 
  
• Unique events: Eligible cardholders can enjoy unique access to exclusive Chase and United MileagePlus events. This may include celebrity meet-and-greets, private culinary events, sporting events, private winemaker dinners, and more.
• Mileage flexibility: Cardmembers can use their MileagePlus miles to book award travel with United, Star Alliance, and other partner airlines. There are no blackout dates for award travel on any United-operated flight.
• Travel insurance: Receive essential travel insurance, including trip cancellation/trip interruption insurance, baggage delay insurance, lost luggage reimbursement, trip delay reimbursement, and auto rental collision damage waiver.
• Protections and warranties: Receive vital protections and coverages, including Chase purchase protection, return protection, and extended warranty protection.
• Premier Qualifying Points (PQP): If you want to achieve a higher MileagePlus loyalty status, this card is a good way to get there. You’ll earn 25 PQP on every $500 spent on this credit card, with a limit of 10,000 PQP per calendar year. That’s a higher limit than most other United credit cards offer.

Drawbacks to this card

• High annual fee: If you aren’t a regular traveler, this card may not be worth the cost.
• Co-branded limitations: As a co-branded United Airlines credit card, the United Club Infinite doesn’t make for a great general-purpose travel card. Its high-value benefits and bonus points are most closely tied to United, so it wouldn’t make sense to use this card for travel purchases with other airlines or hospitality companies.
  

Earning and redeeming United miles

Potential earnings in year one

Here's a look at how your miles can add up with the United Club Infinite Card To calculate these values, we used a point valuation of 1 cent per mile.

Remember, this is an estimation. The actual value will be determined by how much you spend and in which categories you spend.

Year one earnings: $1,751

Year two earnings: $831

These values are based on the FinanceBuzz Credit Card Rewards Valuation Model, which looks at points or miles earned via spending, any welcome offer, and the annual fee.

For this particular card, the assumption is that the travel spending did not include any purchases from United Airlines. Of course, with this card you are likely to book United flights and enjoy the higher rewards earning rate associated with those purchases. Therefore your earnings would potentially be much higher.

Additionally, if you take advantage of this card's many perks — free checked bags, the TSA PreCheck, Global Entry, or NEXUS application fee credit, and United Club membership — then your earnings will likely be hundreds of dollars more than the valuation above.

Best ways to earn

The best way to earn miles with the United Club Infinite is by making United purchases and all other travel and dining purchases. You can earn 4 miles per dollar miles on United purchases and 2 miles per dollar miles on all other travel and dining. All other purchases earn 1 mile per dollar miles.

Overall your best way to earn MileagePlus miles is by making purchases directly with United.

Maximizing your redemptions

The best way to redeem your miles is by flying United with points. Award redemptions on flights will typically offer you the best value for your miles, which makes complete sense for an airline credit card.

You can redeem your miles for flights with United and take advantage of its frequent flight sales and the United Excursionist Perk (this is a free one-way award flight), or you can find a good deal through one of United’s Star Alliance partner airlines.

One of the top ways to stay updated on award sales from different airlines is to follow their social media accounts and/or subscribe to their email newsletters. Then you can see deals and sales as they’re posted, which gives you the opportunity to score discounted flights.

You can also redeem MileagePlus miles for hotel stays, car rentals, cruises, products, gift cards, experiences, and more. These award redemptions will likely offer less value than redeeming your miles for flights though.

For instance, a $100 iTunes gift card would cost 33,333 MileagePlus miles, whereas an economy one-way flight fare from the U.S. to Europe would normally cost over $300, or 30,000 MileagePlus miles. Your miles can pack a lot more value when you use them for flights.

Note that you can also redeem 30,000 miles to cover the $525 annual fee, which gives you a value of 1.75 cents per mile.

United transfer partners

Cardholders can take advantage of United’s transfer partnerships with Star Alliance member airlines and the Marriott Bonvoy loyalty program. You can convert MileagePlus miles to Marriott Bonvoy points at a 1:1 ratio if you’re a Premier Silver or higher MileagePlus member.

Star Alliance is an aviation alliance consisting of more than two dozen member airlines from around the world, including United Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa Airlines, Air Canada, and many more. You can earn and use MileagePlus miles on all Star Alliance member airlines and other United airline partners, like Aer Lingus and Hawaiian Airlines.

Here are the full lists of United’s airline transfer partners, including the Star Alliance airline members.

Star Alliance:

• Aegean Airlines
• Air Canada
• Air China
• Air India
• Air New Zealand
• All Nippon Airways
• Asiana Airlines
• Austrian
• Avianca
• Brussels Airlines
• Copa Airlines
• Croatia Airlines
• EgyptAir
• Ethiopian Airlines
• EVA Air
• LOT Polish Airlines
• Lufthansa Airlines
• Scandinavian Airlines (SAS)
• Shenzhen Airlines
• Singapore Airlines
• South African Airways
• Swiss International Air Lines
• TAP Air Portugal
• Thai Airways
• Turkish Airlines

Other worldwide partners:

• Aer Lingus
• Aeromar
• Air Dolomiti
• Airlink
• Azul
• Boutique Air
• Cape Air
• Discover Airlines
  
• Edelweiss
• Emirates
• Eurowings
• Flydubai
  
• Hawaiian Airlines
• JSX
• Olympic Air
• Silver Airways
• Virgin Australia
• Vistara

United Club Infinite Card FAQs

Other cards to consider

The bottom line is that the United Club Infinite is a great choice for frequent United flyers who want premium travel benefits. But if you don’t want your luxury card benefits to be tied to a specific airline, you might consider one of the following two rewards credit cards instead.

The Platinum Card^® from American Express still provides airport lounge access in the form of Amex Centurion Lounges and Priority Pass lounges, but you don’t have to fly on a specific airline to access them. You also receive TSA PreCheck, or Global Entry fee credit and you can use Amex Membership Rewards points on more than a dozen airline and hotel Amex transfer partners.

For one of the most flexible travel rewards programs available, the Chase Sapphire Reserve^® has your back. You can transfer your Chase Ultimate Rewards points to more than 10 of the most popular airline and hotel brands in the world and still enjoy premium card benefits like $300 annual travel credit and Priority Pass lounge access. Or you can redeem your points for discounted travel directly through the Chase travel portal.

A Premium Card for United Flyers

United Club℠ Infinite Card

4.8

FinanceBuzz writers and editors score cards based on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence how we rate products.

United Club℠ Infinite Card

4.8

FinanceBuzz writers and editors score cards based on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence how we rate products.

Apply Now

Why We Like It

Earn 80,000 bonus miles after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening

Apply Now

See how these cards compare:

The Platinum Card® from American Express

• Earn 80,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $8,000 on purchases on your new card in the first 6 months
• Select your metal card design: classic Platinum Card, Platinum x Kehinde Wiley, or Platinum x Julie Mehretu
• 5X points on flights booked directly with airlines or on Amextravel.com (on up to $500,000 per calendar year, after that 1X) and prepaid hotels booked on Amextravel.com
• Access to Centurion and Priority Pass airport lounges
• Select benefits require enrollment.
• See rates and fees | Terms Apply

Chase Sapphire Reserve®

• Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
• Earn 10X points on hotels and car rentals purchased through Chase Travel℠ (after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually)
• Priority Pass airport lounge access
• $300 annual travel credit
• 1:1 point transfer to leading airline and hotel loyalty programs