6 Great Ways to Use Your United Miles

So you're looking to use a pile of United MileagePlus miles. What's the move? Here are some great options.

1. Short-haul domestic flights

You can fly United within the U.S. for as few as 5,000 miles one-way. Just keep in mind, these short-haul flights vary a lot in terms of pricing.

On expensive days, a saver award will increase, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad deal.

Plus, United doesn’t sell basic economy tickets as flight awards. That means you’ll be flying in regular economy when redeeming your miles. Full-size carry-on and free seat selection? Yes, please.

» Learn more: United Airlines: Basic economy vs. economy vs. Economy Plus

2. Intra-Europe flights

Although carriers such as Ryanair and Wizz Air offer cheap flights throughout Europe, they tack on tons of fees. This includes fees to select a seat, fees to check a bag, fees to board first and fees to bring a carry-on.

If you’re traveling with anything more than a backpack, you’re on the hook for these fees. However, United has a strong partner network in Europe, with Lufthansa, Swiss, LOT, Aegean, Austrian, Turkish Airlines and Brussels Airlines all operating flights within mainland Europe.

Even better, flight redemptions can be had for as little as 6,000 miles — and award availability is plentiful:

3. Business class flights to Africa

It’s notoriously difficult to get to Africa using your points and miles. There are few direct routes from the U.S., and what few you can find are often astronomically priced.

This is true for United’s own flights, whether you’re flying in economy or business class. If you can find saver-level business class award space, it’ll cost you 80,000 miles one-way. That’s not bad, but it’s about as common as a unicorn in Scotland.

However, Ethiopian Airlines and Egyptair are members of Star Alliance, and their award space is plentiful.

4. Flights to Mexico

United provides surprisingly affordable miles redemptions for flights to Mexico, especially in economy class.

Before you book, however, note that you’ll pay almost $100 in taxes and fees. Think of this redemption more as a discount on your flight rather than as something “free.”

» Learn more: The best airline credit cards right now

5. Star Alliance partner flights

United is one of the few airlines that doesn’t pass on fuel surcharges from other airlines. That means you’ll always pay the lowest amount in fees when redeeming your United miles. And sometimes that can make a huge difference, especially with Star Alliance partners.

For example, here’s a Lufthansa flight from San Francisco (SFO) to Frankfurt (FRA) in January. Booked using your United miles, the flight will cost you 88,000 miles and $5.60 in fees.

That’s fairly expensive for a one-way business class flight from the U.S. to Europe, but it’s direct and from the West Coast, which means you’re really getting the most bang for your buck.

But look what happens if you to try to book that same flight through Lufthansa’s own loyalty program, Miles & More.

As you can see, the cost in miles drops to just 56,000, but the taxes and fees jump up over $1,000!

In this case, is it worth it to save 32,000 miles and pay an extra $1,000? Absolutely not.

» Learn more: What are carrier-imposed charges for airlines and should I care?

6. Far-flung destinations 

Within the last year, United has added flights to Nuuk, Greenland; Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Dakar, Senegal; and even Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. That’s not something you’ll find with other U.S. airlines.

And while award redemptions aren’t especially cheap — you’ll pay 30,000 miles one-way in economy from Tokyo (NRT) to Ulaanbaatar (UBN) — neither are cash flights.

At least this way, you can keep your out-of-pocket costs low while visiting some very off-the-beaten-path locations.

» Learn more: United award travel: What you need to know