United Airlines’ MileagePlus has long been one of the most attractive frequent-flyer programs within the Star Alliance. This was especially true for people in Europe, as not only were mileage accrual rates quite generous, but elite status was also relatively easy to achieve.
That has completely changed over the past few years. Status is now tied to spending (with the exception of flights on Star Alliance partners), and previously attractive award flights have become increasingly expensive. Now, the remaining customers in Europe are being pushed away even further. From April 2026, mileage accrual for many tickets will be reduced by up to 40%. At the same time, Basic Economy tickets will earn no miles at all, unless the passenger holds elite status.
The changes apply to all flights where revenue-based mileage earning is used. This is the case whenever:
- a) the ticket is issued by United (regardless of the operating airline), or
- b) the flight is operated by United (regardless of where the ticket was booked).
New Mileage Accrual from April 2026
Depending on frequent-flyer status, the following changes apply to Economy (excluding Basic Economy), Premium Economy, and Business Class flights:
| Frequent-flyer status | Accrual rate (until Apr 1) | New accrual rate (from Apr 2) | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| No status | 5 miles per $ | 3 miles per $ | – 40 % |
| Premier Silver | 7 miles per $ | 5 miles per $ | – 28 % |
| Premier Gold | 8 miles per $ | 6 miles per $ | – 25 % |
| Premier Platinum | 9 miles per $ | 7 miles per $ | – 22 % |
| Premier 1K | 11 miles per $ | 9 miles per $ | – 18 % |
For Basic Economy tickets, however, the following applies:
| Frequent-flyer status | Accrual rate (until Apr 1) | New accrual rate (from Apr 2) | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| No status | 5 miles per $ | – | – 100 % |
| Premier Silver | 7 miles per $ | 2 miles per $ | – 71 % |
| Premier Gold | 8 miles per $ | 3 miles per $ | – 62 % |
| Premier Platinum | 9 miles per $ | 4 miles per $ | – 55 % |
| Premier 1K | 11 miles per $ | 6 miles per $ | – 45 % |
United wants to use this change to boost credit-card sign-ups. In many cases, holders of an eligible United credit card will even see slight improvements in their earning rates. This applies even if the ticket is paid for with a different card. Simply holding the card is enough. In Basic Economy, the earning rate is still reduced in that case, but not as drastically. However, this does not help customers in our region at all, since none of these credit cards are available in Europe.
Bottom Line
Overall, the impact of this latest change is not particularly severe for us. Even now, revenue-based mileage earning is often so unattractive that crediting flights to programs like Miles&More makes more sense. Distance-based, it can actually be worthwhile to credit flights with e.g. Eurowings, Lufthansa, and others to a United account, and nothing changes in that regard. The pure focus on selling credit cards once again shows that United has completely lost sight of customers outside the US.
Other US airlines have also restricted earning on Basic Economy tickets. At Delta SkyMiles, no miles have been awarded for such tickets for quite some time. And more recently, American AAdvantage has also stopped awarding both award and status points for these fares, even on flights operated by partner airlines.
Translated by Ditmar