United sent out a notification to MileagePlus members that earning redeemable miles on United will be changing. As of April 2, 2026, MileagePlus members will earn fewer miles per dollar spent, unless they have one of the United MileagePlus credit cards that has an annual fee. If the member has the free United Gateway card, they can also receive the bonus redeemable miles by spending $10,000 annually on that card.

Right now, earnings for MileagePlus members look like this, per dollar spent on a trip:

The announced updates to earning look like this:

Calling this a downgrade would be generous. United’s reward prices have become downright atrocious in the last couple of years, so reducing earning is a hard pill to swallow. And I think this is where United has lost the plot, they think people aren’t getting or using their United credit cards because there isn’t an incentive to use them, when in reality, the currency has taken such a hit that people don’t see the value in using the card to earn United miles. Those folks are earning on Chase or CapitalOne or Amex premium cards in a fungible currency that can be used across carriers and doesn’t lock them into a single program.

Just trying to find reward space on partners using United miles is very difficult task these days. Getting that availability at a reasonable price is a unicorn. United leadership needs to take a step back, look at pricing on rewards, including the “dynamic” aspect and rethink what the value is for the travelers who fly their airline. If a traveler is paying attention, they aren’t going to utilize your cards when your redemption rates are outrageous.

On that note, one more small detail in the announcement is that cardholders will get access to a 10% discount on reward prices (the Gateway card users need to spend $10k/year for this feature). If you are a cardholder and a MileagePlus elite member, the discount is 15%. The caveat is that you must use the card to pay the taxes and fees on the reward to receive the discount.

This comes down to United wanting to grow their credit card base and increase revenue without really offering anything. You get more miles, but only a few, after they reduced the miles earned for everyone. It’s all about profitability and growth and the constant requirement to show those two things. What makes me worried is that United doesn’t seem to understand that if the cards aren’t adopted that isn’t a traveler problem, that’s a United problem.