Earn Oodles of Free(ish) Flights With the New United Quest Card
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Finding a good airline credit card can be tough. While most offer you basic perks like priority boarding — which is usually still pretty close to the back of the line — and one free checked bag, it can be tough to get back the value you spend on the annual fee every year.
With the new United QuestSM Card, however, frequent United flyers can get more than enough value to make up for the card’s $250 annual fee. That’s right: The card is expensive, but you can get that annual fee back and more with its perks alone. More importantly, Chase is running a limited-time offer of up to 100,000 miles through June 2, 2021.
Does the United Quest Card Deserve a Spot in Your Wallet?
The card’s sign-up bonus alone is almost worth getting the new United card. You’ll earn a staggering 100,000 miles after you spend $10,000 in the first six months (though 80,000 of that will come when you spend $5,000 in the first three months). That high of a bonus on an airline credit card is almost unheard of, so this one’s special.
United generally offers award flights starting at 5,000 miles one way, which means you could get 10 roundtrip flights with the bonus alone. But recently, we saw a deal for 3,000 miles each way, which gives you a lot more value.
Of course, we say free(ish) because no award flight is truly free — you typically have to pay taxes and fees, which are generally cheap unless you’re flying internationally.
But it’s rarely a good idea to open a new credit card solely for the sign-up bonus. So here’s what else you can expect to get from the card:
3x miles per dollar on United purchases, 2x miles per dollar on restaurants, select streaming services and all other travel and 1x mile per dollar on all other purchases.
$125 annual United purchase credit.
5,000 miles for each of your first two award flights booked each account anniversary year, up to 10,000 miles total.
The first and second checked bags free for you and one companion.
Priority boarding and premier upgrades on award tickets.
Application fee credit for Global Entry or TSA Pre✓®.
Up to 3,000 Premier qualifying points per year toward elite status eligibility — that’s almost enough to earn Silver status.
25% back on United inflight purchases, such as food, beverages and Wi-Fi.
No blackout dates.
Valuable trip insurance protection.
>>MORE: Complete Guide to the Top United Airlines Credit Cards
Bottom Line
All told, you’ll have several opportunities to get enough value back from the United Quest Card to make up for its annual fee. But again, the question is whether it deserves a spot in your wallet. To answer that, you need to consider your own travel habits. If you fly United regularly, you’re already on the right track. But you’ll need to make sure you fly often enough to maximize the card’s perks.
If you’re not a United loyalist, though, or you only travel once or twice a year, you may be better off with a card that doesn’t limit your rewards to just one airline.
Only you know whether the card is a good fit or not, so take your time. Shop around and compare other cards. And run the numbers to find out just how much value you can squeeze out of this card every year. Read our full review of the United Quest Card.
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While we work hard on our research, we do not always provide a complete listing of all available offers from credit-card companies and banks. And because offers can change, we cannot guarantee that our information will always be up to date, so we encourage you to verify all the terms and conditions of any financial product before you apply.
