United Quest Card Review [2021]

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Chase just released a new United Airlines credit card called the United Quest Card. It is sort of a mid-level premium card which makes it a little different and very interesting. Below, I will break down the card and give you some insight into the value you might receive if you choose to go with United Quest Card.

United Quest Card intro

  • Earn 80,000 bonus miles after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open.
  • Plus, earn an additional 20,000 bonus miles after you spend $10,000 total on purchases in the first 6 months your account is open.
  • 3X on United
  • 2X on travel, restaurants, and streaming
  • $125 United credit
  • Anniversary Award Flight Credit
  • Two Free checked bags
  • No foreign transaction fees
  • Decent travel and purchase protections
  • $250 annual fee

Welcome bonus

  • Earn 80,000 bonus miles after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open.
  • Plus, earn an additional 20,000 bonus miles after you spend $10,000 total on purchases in the first 6 months your account is open.

80,000 United miles for only spending $5,000 is a terrific bonus. An additional 20,000 bonus miles after spending $5,000 more is not bad either — especially since you get six months to do so.

The good thing about this bonus is that you are still eligible even if you have opened up other United cards like the Explorer Card. As always, I would recommend checking your eligibility using WalletFlo before you apply for your credit cards.

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Bonus categories

  • 3X on United
  • 2X on travel, restaurants, and streaming

Earning 3X on United is pretty good but you could optimize your United miles better with another card. For example, the United Club Infinite Card earns 4X on United purchases.

Earning 2X on travel, restaurants, and streaming is also not super impressive. You could earn 3X on dining with a no annual fee Freedom card and if you have a card like the Sapphire Reserve you could also earn 3X on travel. You could then transfer those points to United for better earnings for United.

Earning extra on streaming is nice but because spending on streaming is usually pretty limited I don’t think this card has the best bonus category earning potential.

$125 annual United credit

You will receive up to $125 in statement credits each account anniversary year. The statement credit is automatically applied and includes airline tickets purchased from United along with the following:

  • Seat upgrades
  • Economy Plus
  • Inflight food, beverages and Wi-Fi
  • Baggage service charges or other United fees.

United Card Events from Chase purchases will also qualify. 

The fact that you can use this on airline tickets makes this credit extremely easy to use and lucrative for anyone who flies United each year. By utilizing the credit you can quickly knock down your $250 annual fees to $125.

Anniversary Award Flight Credit

Each anniversary year, you will get 5,000 miles back up to two times after you take a United or United Express operated award flight booked with your miles.

The rebate is valid for award tickets booked that include at least one United- or United Express-operated flight. Just note that it does not appear you get the rebate if you use United miles solely on partners.

You could value each of these rebates at around $70 which means that you could potentially get up to $140 back in value. Putting 10,000 miles back into your account each year is a pretty nice benefit.

Free checked baggage

Another one of the major perks of this card is that you and one traveling companion can get their first and second standard checked bag for free. It’s pretty common to get your first checked bag free on a co-branded credit card but this card takes it up a notch with your second bag also being free.

There is a lot of value to be had with this benefit. One round-trip with two people could offer savings over $300. This means that even for people who only fly United once per year, they could completely offset the annual fee with waived baggage fees alone. Pretty impressive.

Priority boarding

You and your travel companions can get priority boarding as long as you are on the same reservation. You can read more about priority boarding here.

Additional perks

  • Global Entry credit
  • Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection (LHRC) 
  • The primary Cardmember will earn 500 Premier Qualifying Points (PQP) for every $12,000 in net purchases purchases (including purchases made by authorized users) up to a maximum of 3,000 PQP in a calendar year.
  • 25% back on food, beverage and Wi-Fi purchases onboard United- and United Express-operated flights
  • As long as tickets are still available for sale for the applicable cabin on any United-operated flight, the primary Cardmember can use miles to book award travel on such flight

Purchase and travel protections

The Quest Card has some okay travel protections although you can do much better.

For example, the trip cancellation is only up to $1,500 per person and $6,000 per trip. But if you have a card like the Sapphire Preferred, you can get reimbursed up to $10,000 per person and $20,000 per trip. That is a pretty huge disparity.

Other benefits like baggage delay insurance are also a little bit toned down. For example you will get coverage up to $100 a day for three days but with a Sapphire Preferred you can get coverage up to five days. So if you want optimal travel protections, I would not use this card for your travel purchases.

With that said, the purchase protection on this card is very strong at up to $10,000 per claim. You also get primary rental car coverage which is pretty great.

Final word

This new United Airlines Quest credit card is coming out of the gates very strong with a 100K offer. I’m not very impressed with the bonus earning potential especially because cards that earn Ultimate Rewards can do much better.

But this card has some very solid perks that can help you easily offset the annual fee if you fly United even a couple of times a year.