Chase United Business Card Review 2024

If you run a small business and want elite-like benefits without having to meet the elite qualification requirements, the United℠ Business Card may be for you. Despite its annual fee, the card packs valuable benefits such as priority boarding and a free checked bag for you and a companion on United flights when you use your card to pay for your flight, plus a generous rewards plan that earns 2 Mileage Plus miles per dollar on a wide array of expenses.

With United Airlines charging up to $35 for a first checked bag on domestic flights, you’ll only need to check a bag three times each year to make up for the card’s annual fee. And that’s before factoring in other savings like the $100 United travel credit after seven United flight purchases of $100 or more, 25% rebate on food, beverage and Wi-Fi purchases on United flights. Plus, the card has no foreign transaction fees.

Cardholders can also travel a little more comfortably with priority boarding on United flights and two, one-time United Club lounge passes each year.

• Earn 2 miles per dollar on United purchases, on dining (including eligible delivery services), at gas stations, office supply stores, and on local transit and commuting and 1 mile per dollar on all other purchases
• Free first checked bag on United-operated flights for the primary cardholder and up to one travel companion when you use your card to pay for your flight
• Priority boarding on United flights for the cardholder and travel companions on the same reservation
• Two one-time United Club lounge passes each cardmember year
• 25% back on food, beverage, and Wi-Fi purchases onboard United-operated flights
• Earn a $100 statement credit for making seven purchases of $100 or more with United
• Foreign transaction fees are $0
• $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $99
• No additional cost for employee cards

Earning Rewards

Holders of the United℠ Business Card earn 2 miles per dollar on United purchases, on dining (including eligible delivery services), at gas stations, office supply stores, and on local transit and commuting and 1 mile per dollar on all other purchases.

Cardholders can earn a $100 statement credit by charging seven United flight-related purchases of $100 or more to the card in an anniversary year. Per the terms and conditions, “United flight travel-related purchases include seat upgrades; Economy Plus®; inflight food, beverages and Wi-Fi; baggage service charges or other United fees.” However, it’s going to be hard to spend more than $100 in a single transaction for some of these types of purchases.

Those who own both a personal United card and the United℠ Business Card will get 5,000 bonus points each year on their card anniversary.

Redeeming Rewards

The United℠ Business Card earns United MileagePlus miles. For better or worse, the best use of these miles is for award flights on United or its Star Alliance partners. There are several appealing ways to make use of the card’s welcome bonus.

United no longer publishes an award chart but there’s still a lot to like about United’s current award program. For example, the welcome bonus on the United℠ Business Card is enough to fly round-trip to Europe in economy:

United’s domestic award flights vary in price, generally tied to demand and cash prices. Award rates currently bottom out at a little more than 5,000 miles one way for short and cheap economy flights.

Meanwhile, business class award flights from coast to coast generally cost at least 80,000 miles each way.

Members can use their United miles to upgrade tickets bought with cash. However, the exact price in miles and cash co-pay depends on the region, cabin booked and even the fare class that you booked.

You can use your United miles for cruises. However, the redemption rate is only around 0.7 cents per mile. Similarly, MileagePlus members have the opportunity to redeem miles for merchandise. However, the redemption rates are quite poor.

Rewards Potential

The number of miles that your small business could earn through the United℠ Business Card depends on how much is charged to the card—especially in the card’s numerous bonus categories. But, to demonstrate how rewarding the United℠ Business Card may be, let’s run some example numbers.

Forbes Advisor uses data from various government agencies to determine both baseline income and spending averages across various categories. The 70th percentile of wage-earning households bring in $116,000 annually and can charge $36,177 to credit cards each year. Based on this estimate, our sample household spends $2,443 on flights, $2,479 on gas and public transit and $3,856 on dining annually.

If all $2,443 of airfare spending was on United, a business would earn 4,886 United miles from these purchases. Plus, a cardholder would earn 12,670 miles from $6,335 spent in the other bonus categories. That leaves $27,399 in non-bonus spending, which would earn 27,399 miles.

In total, a small business with these spending patterns would earn 44,955 United miles from credit card spending each year. That’s before factoring in the bonus earned in the first year.

• United travel benefits: Free checked bag, priority boarding, and 25% back on inflight purchases.
• Expanded award availability: Cardholders get access to additional saver award availability.
• Auto rental collision damage waiver: Get primary theft and collision coverage on rental cars when renting for business purposes.
• Baggage delay insurance: Reimburses essential purchases for baggage delays over six hours (up to $100 a day for three days).
• Lost luggage reimbursement: Covers up to $3,000 per passenger when a bag is lost.
• Trip cancellation/trip interruption insurance: If a trip is canceled or cut short by sickness, severe weather or other covered situations, receive up to 1,500 per person and $6,000 per trip in reimbursements.
• Trip delay reimbursement: Reimburses meals and lodging on delays of more than 12 hours or requiring an overnight stay (up to $500 per ticket).
• Purchase protection: Covers new purchases against damage or theft for up to 120 days and up to $10,000 per claim.
• Extended warranty protection: Extends the period of a U.S. manufacturer’s warranty by an additional year on warranties of three years or less.
• Visa concierge: Complimentary Visa Signature Concierge Service for finding tickets, making dinner reservations, or getting help sending a gift.
• Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection access: Receive room upgrades, complimentary breakfast, early check-in, and late checkout at over 1,000 hotels worldwide.

Interest Rates

• APR on purchases: 21.99% - 28.99% Variable
• APR on balance transfers: 21.99% - 28.99% Variable

Fees

• Annual fee: $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $99
• Balance transfer fee: Either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater.
• Foreign purchase transaction fee: $0

United℠ Business Card vs. Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card

The United℠ Business Card is one of two small business cards available to new cardholders that earns United miles directly. However, there’s another card that also effectively earns United miles: the $95-annual-fee Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card.

Ink Business Preferred cardholders earn Chase Ultimate Rewards® points. These points can be transferred at a 1:1 ratio to nearly a dozen airlines—including United—and several hotel partners. Alternatively, you can redeem points at a rate of 1.25 cents per point toward airfare, lodging, car rentals and other travel directly through the Chase Travel Portal. That means you have the flexibility to transfer to United when awards are cheap or book through the portal when cash fares are a better deal.

The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card earns 3 points per dollar on the first $150,000 spent on travel and select business categories each account anniversary year and 1 point per dollar on all other purchases. That’s better than the 2 United miles per dollar you can earn on a smaller set of bonus categories using the United Business Card.

Additionally, the Ink Business Preferred is offering new cardholders a welcome bonus: 100,000 points after spending $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. You can transfer those points to United, transfer to Chase travel partners or redeem them for up to $1,250 through the Chase Travel Portal.

United℠ Business Card vs. Capital One Spark Miles for Business*

If you’re looking for a business card with a simple earning structure, the Capital One Spark Miles for Business* card might be a better fit. This card earns 2 miles per dollar on every purchase and 5 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.

Capital One miles can be transferred to more than 15 travel transfer partners. However, the transfer ratio is not a flat rate. While most programs are transferred at a 1:1 ratio, a few programs yield a lower rate.

While United isn’t a Capital One transfer partner, six Capital One transfer partners are United partners. You can transfer your miles to Air Canada Aeroplan, Avianca LifeMiles, EVA Infinity MileageLands, Singapore KrisFlyer, TAP Miles&Go or Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles and then use these miles to book United award flights. Some of these partners have reasonable award rates for United flights.

United℠ Business Card vs. United℠ Explorer Card

Since there are limited small business cards that earn United miles, let’s compare the United Business Card with the personal United℠ Explorer Card.

Both have similar ongoing annual fees and many benefits are the same. For example, both offer a free checked bag on United flights, priority boarding, 25% off inflight purchases, and two, one-time United Club passes each year.

There’s a bit of a difference when it comes to secondary perks though. The personal card offers up to a $100 Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee credit every four years. Meanwhile, the business card offers the $100 statement credit each year for making seven United purchases of $100 or more.

The biggest difference between the two cards is in the bonus categories. The United Explorer Card earns 2 miles per dollar on dining including eligible delivery services, hotel stays and United® purchases and 1 mile per dollar on all other eligible purchases. It’s typically a bit more lucrative to get the United℠ Business Card, as it offers a few more perks.

Read more: Best Business Credit Cards

The United℠ Business Card fits a gap for United travelers that don’t fly enough to earn elite status. Cardholders get elite-like benefits like priority boarding, a free checked bag, and even two, one-time United Club passes each year. Flying United even a couple of times a year could easily make up for the annual fee⁠.

With that said, small business owners who don’t fly United—or those who already fly United enough to get elite status⁠—may want to select a more general travel card.

Forbes Advisor considers a variety of criteria when assigning credit cards a rating. Cards are graded based on numerous factors, including:

• Annual fees
• Welcome bonus offers
• Ongoing earning rates
• Value of individual points or miles
• Included travel or merchant credits
• Additional cardholder benefits

Card features we expect cardholders to use the most often are weighted more heavily in our ratings. Altogether, the factors came together to provide a star rating for each individual card.

Read more: How Forbes Advisor Rates Credit Cards