Designing a Credit Card for United Elites
Today, the biggest upside Elites get with the Explorer card is upgrades on award tickets. That's a material benefit and is why I keep my card year after year. The 10,000 mile bonus for spend at $25,000 is good too. The bag fee waivers and expanded award availability is great for non-elites but elites get these benefits from their status anyway. The Club card does waive the close in mileage fee for lower elite tiers, and that can add up.
That said, United has seemed to have removed itself from offering a credit card product for United road warriors and/or high spenders. The Mileage Plus select card I still carry (pre merger, no longer offered) remains compelling to me.
3x points: united.com purchases
2x points: restaurants, gas, groceries, home improvement, star alliance
1x: everything else
Up to $5000 PQMs, 1 PQM per dollar spent on United.com. Treated as true PQM (unlike presidential plus).
Annual fee $95, 5000 bonus miles every account aniversary.
Why do you think United hasn't re-offered a card like this? Less focused on offering costly waivers but instead is designed for the 100K/ year flier? What would you like to see?
My wishlist: PQM for $ spent on United.com up to $5000 but also a 5000 PQM bonus for hitting $50K spend.