Chase has hiked up the annual fee on the United Club card all the way to $695. To make room for this card in your wallet, you’ll need to break open the piggybank. As you may expect, benefits have been added that make the card sound good on paper, but the changes here seem largely negative unless you’re planning to spend toward status anyway.
United Club Card New Offer & Key Card Details
| Card Offer and Details |
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Up to 100K Miles ⓘAffiliateThis is an affiliate offer. Frequent Miler may earn a commission if you are approved for this offer 95k miles after $5k spend in first 3 months + 5K bonus miles after you add an authorized user in the first 3 months (Offer Expires 5/7/2025)$695 Annual Fee This card is available to you if you do not have any United Club card and have not received a new Cardmember bonus for any United Club card in the past 24 months. Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. FM Mini Review: While pricey, the Chase United Club Infinite Card is a great choice for those who want a United club membership and other perks like a 10% discount on saver awards. . Earning rate: 5X Renowned Hotels & Resorts for United Cardmembers ✦ 4X United ✦ 2X dining & travel Card Info: Visa Signature issued by Chase. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: Earn up to 28,000 PQPs per calendar year: 1 PQP per $15 spend ✦ Earn a 10K award discount after $20K spend in a calendar year ✦ Earn an additional 10K award discount after $40K spend in a calendar year ✦ Earn United Club All access membership after $50K spend in a calendar year or achieving Premier Gold status or higher + 4 United Club passes when you also have an authorized user. Noteworthy perks: ✦ United Club membership ✦ Unlocks complimentary elite upgrades on award tickets, including companions on the same reservation ✦ 10% discount on saver level economy awards within the continental US and Canada ✦ Up to $120 for Global Entry, TSA Precheck or Nexus fee credit ✦ Priority check-in, security screening, baggage handling, and boarding ✦ Free 1st and 2nd checked bags ✦ Up to $200 in statement credits per cardmember for Renowned Hotels ✦ Up to $150 in rideshare credits per year (up $12 per month January to November and up to $18 in December, re-enrollment is required annually) ✦ Up to $50 in Travel Credit for Avis or Budget car rentals per cardmember year up to two times ✦ Hertz President's Circle Elite Status ✦ Primary auto rental collision damage waiver ✦ Up to $200 per year in statement credits for JSX purchases ✦ Free Instacart+ membership through 12/31/27 ✦ Two $10 Instacart credits per month through 12/31/27 |
What’s changing?
At a high level:
- Changes
- Annual fee is now $695 (up from $525)
- Receive 1.5K Premier Qualifying Points (PQPs) per qualification year starting in 2026
- Earn 1 PQP per $15 spent up to 28K per calendar year (previous cap was 15K PQPs)
- New spend bonuses:
- Earn a 10K award discount after $20K spend in a calendar year
- Earn an additional 10K award discount after $40K spend in a calendar year
- Earn United Club All access membership after $50K spend in a calendar year or achieving Premier Gold status or higher. Also earn 4 United Club passes if you reach this spend threshold and have an authorized user on your account.
- Coupon-like additions:
- Up to $200 in statement credits for Renowned Hotels & Resorts per cardmember year
- Up to $150 in rideshare statement credits: $12/month January to November; $18 in December. Yearly opt-in required
- Up to $50 in TravelBank credit per qualifying Avis/Budget rental made through cars.united.com per cardmember year (up to 2 times per year)
- $200 JSX per cardmember year
- Free Instacart+ membership thru 12/31/27
- Up to $240 in Instacart credits each year through 12/31/27: Two separate $10 credits per month
Analysis of the changes
The changes here are largely negative. The increase in annual fee is significant. Star Alliance lounge access, which previously came with United Club membership, now requires the All Access Membership that requires either $50K in calendar year spend or United Premier Gold status (which provides Star Alliance lounge access without this credit card).
The award discounts with $20K and $40K spend could obviously be nice if you redeem miles for awards every year, though they represent at most an additional half a mile per dollar spent, and that’s valuing them at an overly generous full face value.
The coupons could be good if you’ll use them, but the rideshare credit requires re-enrollment yearly, the Avis/Budget credits require bookings of 2+ days made through United, and JSX only has a significant route network for the western half of the US. The Renowned Hotels & Resorts credit could be useful, but it is hard to say since there is no public access to participating hotels and pricing. Further, you probably won’t get elite credit or benefits or hotel points when booking through Renowned Hotels & Resorts. If you’re a regular Instacart user, you might enjoy those monthly credits, but will all that and club access add up to more than $695 per year in value?
For some, the club access alone is worth the annual fee on this card. And if you’re going to spend your way to United PQPs for elite status, it probably makes more sense to do it on this card than the other consumer cards given the award discounts at $20K and $40K spend (though the business card offers a better base earning rate). If you’re going to spend your way to both of those discounts, it very well could make sense to spend to $50K for the All Access membership. While that’s all true, it all relies on a lot of “ifs” and feels like a slippery upward slope in order to justify a $695 annual fee.
There’s no doubt that the introductory bonus here is excellent and that alone could make it worth testing out the other benefits for a year, but you’ll have to work at squeaking enough value out of the side benefits to justify keeping the card long-term.
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