United MileagePlus Quest Card (2024 outdated edition)

Next in the series of comparisons of the major US airlines’ credit cards comes the United MileagePlus Quest card. This card sits as an upper-middle card, offering enhanced perks without the annual fee of a Club card. This card competes with the Delta Platinum Card and the discontinued American Aviator Silver Card.

This card has long been of interest to me personally because the perks it offers generally align with what I want out of a credit card with a $250 annual fee.

This blog is just for entertainment purposes. I provide the information here just to give readers a vague idea if the rewards offered by the card might make sense for them to consider the card.  The information on this page has been collected independently, and all information should be confirmed with the card company before applying.

Welcome Offer

At the time of posting, the United Quest card has a 70 000 bonus mile + 500 PQP offer after spending $4 000 in 3 months. In general, United miles are worth around 1.2 ¢/pt.  That makes this current welcome offer worth at least $840, which is good for a $250 annual fee card, but better offers have been available before. United has devalued its miles several times in recent years, which is the cause of this low welcome offer valuation.

Earnings

The United Quest Card has a good earn rate for a co-branded card: 3x miles/$ on United Airlines; 2x miles on dining, select streaming services, and other travel; and 1x mile/$ on everything else.

These earning rates are decent for a $250 annual fee card but are good for a co-branded card. The 3x miles/$ on UA purchases is a decent earn rate for UA miles (and is about a 60% boost to the amount you earn directly on a flight).

This card also earn 1 PQP per $20 spent on the card, which is enhanced compared to 2024 earn rates but will be in line with other United cards (except the United Club Card) going forward.

Benefits

For its $250 annual fee, this card offers several benefits to offset its annual fee. First, it offers a $125 statement credit towards United flights purchases. If you’re not spending at least $125 on United flights each year, it doesn’t really make sense to have this card, so this card’s effective annual fee really is just $125. In addition, the card offers 10 000 miles in United award flight credits each year (5 000 x 2 flights reimbursed). Next, the card offers two free checked bags, priority boarding, and 25% back on inflight purchases and United Club premium drink purchases.

How to use the points

The main use for United Airlines miles is to redeem them for United Airlines, Star Alliance, and other partners’ flights.  United Airlines has dynamic pricing for its own flights and some partner flights that involve the United States. Outside the United States, award prices appear to be fixed. However, United has recently raised the base (saver) cost of international award tickets multiple times, so the miles have lost a fair bit of value recently. United Airlines is a transfer partner of Chase, so the miles are relatively easy to come by.

The other type of point earned, PQP, is used for United status. Starting in 2025, you need: 6 000 PQP for Silver, 12 000 PQP for Gold, 18 000 PQP for Platinum, and 28 000 PQP for Premier 1K (which can be reduced with a sufficient number of qualifying flights).

Examples of using the card

These examples assume you spend all your airfare budget on United Airlines.

Spend per month

	Example A		Example B		Example C		Example D
Groceries (1x)	$300	300	$200	200	$600	600	$400	400
Gas (1x)	$0	0	$100	100	$200	200	$100	100
Airfare (3x)	$700	2 100	$200	600	$0	0	$400	1 200
Hotels (2x)	$1 000	2 000	$200	400	$0	0	$300	600
Gen Travel (2x)	$400	800	$0	0	$300	600	$100	200
Dining (2x)	$600	1 200	$300	600	$300	600	$0	0
General (1x)	$1 000	1 000	$500	500	$500	500	$400	400
Total	$4 000	7 400	$1 500	2 400	$1 700	2 300	$1 700	2 900
Average points/$		1.85		1.60		1.35		1.71

The travel-focused earning structure means that the average points earned has a substantial range of 1.35 – 1.85 points/$, which is worth 1.62 – 2.22 ¢/$.  That’s not a great return, but it’s decent when you take into account the other perks of the card. The range is dependent on how much and what portion of your budget each month is spent on United Airlines and other travel. For non-airline cards with a similar annual fee, you’d expect much higher returns, and you can earn United miles similarly efficiently with the Chase Sapphire Preferred.

Specific examples

Card	United Airlines Economy class ($750)  (% return)	Marriott Hotel night ($230/night)	Points values (United/Hotel)
No rewards card	3 500 UM (5.6%)	2 200 MP (7.7%)	$42.00 / $17.60
General 2% cashback card ($0)	3 500 UM + $15.00 (7.6%)	2 200 MP + $4.60 (9.7%)	$57.00 / $22.20
Chase Sapphire Preferred ($95)	3 500 UM + 1 500 UR (8.6%)	2 200 MP + 460 UR (10.7%)	$64.50 / $24.50
Amex Green Card ($150)	3 500 UM + 2 250 MR (9.8%)	2 200 MP + 690 MR (11.9%)	$73.50 / $27.26
United Quest Card ($250)	5 750 UM (9.2%)	2 200 MP + 460 UM (10.1%)	$69.00 / $23.12

Is this the right type of credit card for you?

If you take a handful of United flights each year (i.e. at least 1 paid at >$125, and 2 award flights at >5 000 miles each), then this card virtually pays for itself ($250 – 125 – $120 in miles = $5). So for $5, you get priority boarding, two free checked bags, and a discount on inflight purchases. If you’re in the market for a United credit card, then this one could make a lot of sense if you value the perks listed. For earning points, you may be better off with a card like the Sapphire Preferred or Reserve that earns transferrable points that can be turned into United miles at a 1:1 ratio.