One potentially fatal flaw is possible with the recent substantial changes to the United Airlines MileagePlus membership program which became effective as of yesterday, Thursday, April 3, 2026.
One Fatal Flaw With the New United Airlines MileagePlus Program
That fatal flaw is that even if you want to apply for one of the four credit cards offered by JPMorgan Chase & Company in affiliation with United Airlines, you might be consistently denied due to an unwritten rule that is popularly known as the Chase 5/24 rule.
The Chase 5/24 rule means that if you have opened a minimum of five personal credit cards from any card issuer within the past 24 months, Chase will not approve your applications for most credit cards that are issued by Chase — including any of the credit cards that are affiliated with United Airlines — and the impediment is that working around the Chase 5/24 rule is virtually impossible to do other than letting time pass until you may be eligible to apply…
…which means that no matter how good is your credit score, you likely will not be approved for any of the United Airlines credit cards that are offered by Chase.
This issue could be exponentially exacerbated if Aer Lingus, Air Canada, British Airways, Iberia, and Southwest Airlines follow the lead of United Airlines and impose onerously punitive policies to members of their respective membership programs who do not possess an affiliated credit card, as all of them are affiliated with Chase via their own credit cards.
Furthermore, Chase also offers credit cards that are affiliated with multinational lodging companies such as Marriott International, Incorporated; IHG Hotels & Resorts; and Hyatt Hotels Corporation. What if you want to take advantage of the benefits of each of those credit cards?
Even worse: could those multinational lodging companies — as well as the aforementioned airlines — consider penalizing their members in order to sell more credit cards?
Delta Air Lines is currently affiliated with American Express with their credit cards; and American Airlines is now completely affiliated with Citi with their credit cards after recently dropping Barclays. Although both airlines offer incentives for members of their membership programs to apply for their affiliated credit cards, neither of them penalize their members for not having one of their affiliated credit cards…
…yet, anyway.
An extension of this fatal flaw is for those members whose credit is not exactly perfect. While United Airlines probably does not want people who have bad credit scores as customers, some people whose credit scores are not exactly perfect may also be denied the opportunity to fully participate in the United Airlines MileagePlus program and take advantage of as many benefits as possible.
People who also may adversely be affected are those who have not yet fully established their credit yet — such as college students — or some people who may be new to the world of travel.
Final Boarding Call
United Airlines has formally introduced an era of travel in which the possession of a credit card is practically required in order to fully participate and potentially reap the benefits of its MileagePlus membership program — which means that members must now have good credit in order to fully participate in the program.
In other words, the days of free membership in travel programs with any meaningful benefits may be numbered — but at least MileagePlus miles do not expire.
Even though I have been a member of the United Airlines MileagePlus membership program for years, I personally am not yet at the point where I will consider applying for one of their credit cards…
…and of the four MileagePlus credit cards that are currently offered, the United Gateway Card with no annual fee is useless unless you spend a minimum of $10,000.00 per year with that card to enjoy any significant benefits from it — and better ways to spend that $10,000.00 are available to work harder for you, in my opinion.
The other three credit cards are as follows:
- United Explorer Card — $150.00 per year annual fee: Benefits with this credit card include priority boarding, two checked bags at no extra cost, and a basic boost in earning MileagePlus miles. This card is free for the first year until the annual fee kicks in for the next year.
- United Quest Card — $350.00 per year annual fee: Benefits with this credit card include 10,000 anniversary MileagePlus miles, two passes to United Club airport lounges, and a better rate of earning MileagePlus miles.
- United Club Card — $695.00 per year annual fee: Benefits with this credit card include unlimited access to United Club airport lounges and five miles per dollar on purchases with United Airlines.
Some people might want to look at the annual fees of the aforementioned credit cards as a membership fee for the United Airlines MileagePlus membership program itself that ranges from $150.00 per year to $695.00 per year. To some people, those annual fees may be considered a bargain…
…but to other people, those annual fees might be considered costly and not worth participating in the United Airlines MileagePlus membership program — and United Airlines seems to not only be willing to forego those people; but is likely betting that other airlines and multinational lodging companies will follow its lead…
All photographs ©2017, ©2024, and ©2025 by Brian Cohen.
