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Free United Airlines Flights - United Explorer Card Sign Up Bonus

4/11/2025

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United Airlines has boosted the sign up bonus for their United Mileage Plus Explorer Credit Card for a limited time. 

That means you can get FREE flights! 
​

How to get free flights

If you want to  get free flights on United Airlines , the easiest way is to take advantage of this 80,000 bonus mile offer for opening a new United Mileage Plus Explorer Card. 
​
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I always keep this card in my arsenal as it offers free checked luggage, priority boarding, and free United Club passes (2 passes each year)  which are great for long layovers. 

Fly to europe for free!


Dreaming of a Mediterranean Cruise this summer? 

With 80,000 bonus United Miles you can book saver award tickets from the US to Europe and make your travel dreams come true! ;) 
​
How To Do It:
​
Open the card, pay for your cruise with the new card, earn the sign up bonus, and book your free flights! 

Easy peasy! 
​

Best United Card Sign Up Bonus

This is the best bonus we've seen on a United Card with a $0 annual fee for the first year, in a loooong time. 

Strike while the iron is hot! 
I want free flights!

need More Flexibility?

Check This Out: 
• Best Credit Card Sign Up Bonus For Travel - 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points - LIMITED TIME OFFER! 

See Also: 

• United Airline Miles Articles - Miles & Points Blog
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How to transfer chase points to united to get free flights | Marissa books travel blog

7/8/2024

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So you've earned enough Chase Ultimate Rewards points for a free flight and you're ready to transfer them to United to get it booked - congratulations! Few things are more exciting than getting free travel. 

It really is not difficult to send your Chase Ultimate Rewards Points to your United MileagePlus Account. In this simple tutorial I will show you one of the ways to do this!
​
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​->
 Current Free Travel Bonuses <-


Step One: Log into your Chase Account and Click "Ultimate Rewards Points"

On a desktop you will see it at the top right of your log in page. 
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Step two: Select Which card you want to see

In this case since we are transferring to travel partners we need to select the Chase Sapphire Card
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Step Three: Select Transfer points to partners

At the top of the page you will see the drop down menu under travel. Select "Transfer points to partners" 
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Step four: Scroll down to select united airlines

Scroll down to select the travel partner of your choice - in this case United Airlines. 
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Step five: Click transfer points

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Step six: Confirm Your Mileageplus account

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You will need to enter your United MileagePlus Account Number here. If you do not have an account, you can sign up for one for free here. Then click next. 

Step seven: Confirm how many points

You'll go ahead and type in how many points you want to transfer. Please note, you can only transfer in increments of 1,000.

Example: If you need 38,500 points you will need to round up and transfer 39,000 points.  

Click next ​on the bottom right when you're ready.
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Step eight: Confirm details and submit

Take a moment to confirm the details of your transfer. On the left side you will see your Chase card, how many points you are moving and how many you will have left. On the right side you will see the travel partner, in this case United MileagePlus, and how many points that account will be receiving. When you're sure the values are what you need for your trip, click submit! :)
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How long will it take for my chase points to show in my united account?

As you can see by the fine print on the image above, officially "most point transfers process by the next business day, but may take up to 7 business days."

In my personal experience, the points have shown up nearly instantaneously - it's amazing! If you are logged into your United account you will need to log out and then log back in to see the points. 

You may have a different experience, but all I can do is share what has happened to me 100% of the time in the past 8+ years doing this. I hope you have the same experience I have had so far! :)
​

Tips for transferring chase UR points to United

  • I always recommend transferring your chase points directly to a travel partner like United as opposed to booking through their travel platform. You are almost always going to get a better value from your points that way :) 
  • Wait until you're sure you will be booking United flights and know exactly how many points you will need to transfer. Once you make a transfer it is final and you're locked in to that travel partner (airline, hotel etc) so I always do it right before I'm ready to book my flight! :)
    ​

how do i get these amazing points for free flights?

Easy peasy lemon squeezy! You just need a Sapphire Card or if you already have one, get the United Card. With both you will get a really great sign up bonus. Bonuses are linked on the Best Travel Credit Cards Page
​

Are travel agents worth it? 

 ... with tips like these, is it even a question? ;) 


Read Next: HELPING MY ALASKA CRUISE CLIENTS (& YOU!) GET FREE FLIGHTS | MARISSA BOOKS TRAVEL BLOG

READ NEXT: Sun Princess Mediterranean Cruise with Greek Isles, Italy & Turkey - Day 1


Pin for later:

Share this with a friend or save it to your Pinterest Travel Board for later - you're going to need it when all your Chase Points start rolling in ;) 
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Filed Under:

​• Travel Credit cards
​• united airline miles
​• Marissa books travel
​• Technical writing
​• travel hacks
• TRAVEL TUTORIAL
•  Chase Cards
​• are travel agents worth it?



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Helping My Alaska Cruise Clients (& you!) Get Free Flights | Marissa Books Travel Blog

5/26/2024

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Post By: Marissa Books Travel
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your visit to this page made me smile! 。◕‿◕。

​Over the past month I have had the privilege to work with a lovely family on a very special Alaska cruise to celebrate a 50th wedding anniversary - isn't that amazing?!  

​What a great way to honor such a landmark and truly inspirational example of working hard to preserve this sacred union. :) 
​
While the cruise is still more than a year out and it's too early to book flights, I decided to take a proactive peak at what the prevailing rates were for this year so I could match my clients with a money-saving strategy that worked for them. 
​
I quickly realized that Southwest Airlines does not fly into Anchorage, where their cruise will depart. However, my old standby United sure does! ;) 

As you can see below, I did a search paying with miles instead of money and there is potentially for flights at 15k + 5.60 taxes/fees. :)  
Filed Under:
  • Travel Deals​
  • Alaska Cruise
  • ​Princess Cruises
  • JW Travel Agent
  • Travel Tips + Travel Hacks
  • ​Marissa Books Travel

    ^ Tap to explore more of what interest you! :)
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United Award Flights Nashville to Anchorage 15,000 miles
Since my client has 5 travelers, at 15k per person we need 75k miles or corresponding points to get them free flights from Nashville to Anchorage Alaska (BNA - ANC) for their Alaska Anniversary Cruise!

The United card is one I highly recommend, but in this case I recommended it along with an alternative (actually my top favorite travel card!) because there is a limited time offer of a 75,000 point sign up bonus with this card right now. It's rare to see the bonus tip over 60k so this is perfect timing! These universal travel points can be transferred to United at a 1:1 ratio. Meaning my clients have a very real potential of getting all 5 of their flights free if they choose to take advantage of this offer! 


•> SEE OUR CURRENT TRAVEL BONUS RECOMMENDATIONS HERE! <•


How Much My Clients Can Save

The cash price of these flights was $354 so multiply that by 5 people and my clients have the potential to save +/- $1770 on their flights one way! Of course they do have a flight home to think about. And guess what? They could take advantage of another bonus to cover that one too ;) 

This is a huge advantage of booking travel early. You have time to take advantage of these opportunities at a reasonable pace. ;) This is also the advantage of booking with a travel agent who loves travel and can help you find out-of-the-box ways to save on your trip! :)

Related timeless Wisdom

  • Who of you wanting to build a tower does not first sit down and calculate the expense to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, he might lay its foundation but not be able to finish it, and all the onlookers would start to ridicule him, saying: ‘This man started to build but was not able to finish.  (Proverbs 22:7)

  • ​The borrower is slave to the lender. (Proverbs 21:17)

    ​Basically, taking advantage of these opportunities requires planning and responsible credit card use. If you cannot meet the threshold to receive the bonus, or you cannot pay the balance of your card each month then it's not wise to try this because the amount of fees you will incur will far outweigh the "benefits".

    However, if you are in a position to leverage these opportunities financially it can really open up opportunities for you to enjoy both "a handful of rest" and display a "Here I Am! Send Me!" spirit. ;) 

•> See our current travel bonus recommendations here! <•


Pin For Later & Share With a Friend! 

Alaskan Glaciers
Clouds seen from airplane
Airplane wing seen from window inside plane

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United Mileageplus - 60,000 MILEs - Best Travel Credit Card sign-up bonuses

11/18/2023

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One of my favorite ways to make travel more accessible is leveraging credit card rewards for travel. 
​I want you to travel for free too.  
So I'm sharing this sign up bonus on a card I personally use!
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tap to compare cards

For a limited time United Airlines Explorer Mileage Plus is offering a bonus of 60,000 bonus miles at sign up! The bonus is often set at 50k so you'll get an extra 10k!

​sweet deal.
​

How many flights can 60,000 airline miles get you?

Every airline's program works differently and values points differently. But since we are talking about united airlines, let me give you a first hand example. 

I recently booked 2 flights between the US and Europe for 58,000 United Miles

So it is reasonable that you can find flights to Europe and back with your sign up bonus, let alone domestic flights! Slick, right?
Check Current United Airlines Sign Up Bonus

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tap to get free flights!

​My favorite benefit of the United Explorer Card  is that the sign up bonus lets me travel roundtrip to Europe for free lol.

Beyond that, you will enjoy a free checked bag on United flights, 2 free passes to United Club lounges at the airport (airport lounges are so great)  and some other benefits you can read about. 

But let's be honest, you're here for free flights and the lounge access is a bonus. :) 

United actually has several travel credit cards available so you may want to compare them to see what suits your needs best at this time. Each has its own unique perks and sign up bonuses.

Check them out below!

Compare United Card Bonuses

What's your favorite travel credit card?

Our favorite travel credit cards can be found on our Best Travel Credit Cards page. But when we aren't eligible for those bonuses, we always have a Chase United Card because the miles go far internationally!

We would love to hear what your favorite travel credit card is or your favorite trip where you got free flights from a travel credit card! :) 

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    Traveling Through Food

    Oh, Hey!

    We're Justin and Marissa
    We love to travel and eat! 
    Traveling Through Food is a place to share some of our adventures in travel and food so you can find inspiration for your next big trip whether it's around the world or down the freezer aisle at the grocery store. :p 

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