Aug 25, 2015, 6:19 pm
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
January 2024 -- Moved to Chase.com and renamed Pay Your Self Back
Noted -- The Chase Annual Fee had moved in 2011, now the flight reimbursement has moved and UA Choices site closed.
The Choices Points program was started in 2006 and is a method for using Chase MP branded earned miles (RDMs) to "pay" for a UA ticket charged to the credit card. These tickets are normal paid tickets and fully earn miles and elite credit. Statement credit redemption is at 1 cpm. (minimums applied, maximum is ticket cost)
Additionally, you can "pay" your Chase annual card fee. (rate varies, in 2020/2021 it has been increased to 1.5 cpm)
Note flight miles and miles from other sources are not eligible. Signup bonuses have qualified in the past.
There were other features originally, such as purchasing EQMs, but that has been discontinued.
To redeem or see balance, go to www.united.com/Choices
Original pre-merger thread on Choice Points
Noted -- The Chase Annual Fee had moved in 2011, now the flight reimbursement has moved and UA Choices site closed.
- Sign into your account here
- Click on "More" on the top right corner of your account page
- Select "Rewards dashboard" from the menu
- Choose "Use MileagePlus miles with Pay Yourself Back" on the top navigation bar
Additionally, you can "pay" your Chase annual card fee. (rate varies, in 2020/2021 it has been increased to 1.5 cpm)
Note flight miles and miles from other sources are not eligible. Signup bonuses have qualified in the past.
There were other features originally, such as purchasing EQMs, but that has been discontinued.
To redeem or see balance, go to www.united.com/Choices
MileagePlus Choices® Terms and Conditions Aug 2021
Important: Your participation in MileagePlus Choices® ("Choices") is governed by (i) the following terms and conditions and (ii) the MileagePlus® Program Rules found on united.com and expressly incorporated herein by reference (collectively the "Choices Terms and Conditions"). It is your responsibility to read and understand all of them. The Choices Terms and Conditions cannot be superseded or changed, except in writing from United Airlines, or any of its affiliates, (collectively, "United").
General conditions
Choices is offered at the discretion of United and United has the right to terminate Choices, in whole or in part, or to change the Choices Terms and Conditions, benefits and conditions of participation, in whole or in part, at any time, with or without notice, even though changes may affect the value of benefits already accumulated.
"You" and "your" means the primary Cardmember on the MileagePlus credit card account and whose MileagePlus account number is associated with the account ("Cardmember"). "MileagePlus credit card" includes United branded credit cards issued by Chase Bank USA, N.A. ("Chase") that accrue MileagePlus award miles.
Award miles accrued with your MileagePlus credit card and transferred to your MileagePlus account based on eligible card activity, including, but not limited to, credit card purchases, Chase promotional offers, and anniversary renewals, are available for use in Choices. Award miles earned (i) for flight activity, (ii) through MileagePlus partners, (iii) for Chase non-credit card activity including, but not limited to, debit/check card purchases or home equity advances, and (iv) for activity that is rewarded by third parties as bonuses associated with use of the MileagePlus credit card will be credited to your MileagePlus award miles balance but are not eligible for use in Choices. Your Choices balance is a subset of your MileagePlus award miles balance and not a separate balance. Your Choices balance can be found by visiting www.united.com/choices. You must have previously earned award miles with your MileagePlus credit card and be a current Cardmember to be able to login. Also, if you close your MileagePlus credit card account, you will forfeit your Choices balance.
Award miles accrued with your MileagePlus credit card will continue to be reflected in your award miles balance. In addition to the options available to MileagePlus members, Choices offers more ways to use miles that are exclusive to Cardmembers. Any Choices activity using award miles will result in a reduction of your MileagePlus award miles balance. You cannot have a greater Choices balance than your MileagePlus award miles balance.
The MileagePlus account number used for both Choices and the credit card account where the MileagePlus award miles were earned must be the same. You must be the primary Cardmember to use Choices. You cannot use your award miles through Choices for a statement credit on another person's MileagePlus credit card account.
Choices Airfare Statement Credit
To use Choices for an airfare statement credit, purchase any United ticket on united.com with your MileagePlus credit card. Flights purchased through any other source, such as United General Reservations, United Vacations, travel agencies or other travel websites, are not eligible. When the purchase posts to your credit card account, login at www.united.com/chase to use award miles earned with your MileagePlus credit card for an airfare statement credit against that charge.
No blackouts means any flight available on united.com can be purchased for Choices any day of the year. No inventory restriction indicates that any open seat on any available flight on united.com is eligible for Choices. Award miles earned with your MileagePlus credit card can be used against a ticket purchased on united.com through Choices for an airfare statement credit up to the full cost of the ticket.
Airfare statement credit requested may not exceed the ticket purchase amount charged to your MileagePlus credit card. Partial statement credits are allowed with a minimum of 5,000 award miles. However, only one statement credit request can be made per unique transaction.
You must submit your request within 90 days of the ticket purchase date.
Award miles are deducted at time of request. Please allow 5-7 days for the credit to appear on your credit card account. Since award miles earned with your MileagePlus credit card are reflected in your MileagePlus account balance, any activity through Choices will result in a reduction in your MileagePlus account balance. Use of award miles through Choices for an airfare statement credit made on or near the end of your monthly billing cycle may take up to one billing cycle to appear on your monthly billing statement. You are responsible for making your monthly credit card payment according to the terms and conditions of your account to avoid any late fees or finance charges.
For rejected requests, award miles initially deducted will be reversed.
E-mail confirmation will be sent to you to indicate a successful redemption and statement credit posting to your credit card account.
The MileagePlus account number used for both Choices and the credit card account where the MileagePlus award miles were earned must be the same. You must be the primary MileagePlus Cardmember to use Choices. You cannot use your award miles through Choices for an airfare statement credit on another person's MileagePlus credit card account.
Airline ticket changes, cancellations and refunds are subject to the rules of the airline ticket.
Award miles used in Choices cannot be returned or re-deposited by you.
MileagePlus and Chase reserve the right to reverse Choices air statement credits where the original ticket purchase is refunded. Award miles used will be re-deposited in your account and the Choices airfare statement credit will be reversed on your MileagePlus credit card account. In the event a reversal is required, an administrative fee of 2,500 award miles may be deducted from your MileagePlus account and will appear on your MileagePlus statement as an adjustment.
The number of award miles required depends upon the cost of the airline ticket including all taxes and fees and the amount of the airfare statement credit requested. You are responsible for all associated taxes, airport security charges, baggage fees, fuel surcharges and other usage fees required for travel. These charges will be included in the overall calculation to determine the number of award miles required for the airfare statement credit. The number of award miles required is subject to change at any time without notice.
Annual Membership Fee Reimbursement
Current Cardmembers may apply award miles through Choices towards one Annual Membership Fee Reimbursement per MileagePlus credit card account per 12-month period ("Annual Membership Fee Reimbursement"). Award miles used for an Annual Membership Fee Reimbursement cannot be returned or re-deposited.
Cardmember must submit an Annual Membership Fee Reimbursement request within 90 days of the annual membership fee transaction date on your credit card account.
The amount of the Annual Membership Fee Reimbursement requested may not exceed the annual membership fee billed to your monthly billing statement. One Annual Membership Fee Reimbursement request (full or partial) per 12 month period is allowed per credit card account.
Award miles are deducted from your MileagePlus account at the time you make your request. Please allow 5-7 days for the Annual Membership Fee Reimbursement to appear on your credit card account. Requests for an Annual Membership Fee Reimbursement made on or near the end of your monthly billing cycle may take up to one billing cycle to appear on your monthly billing statement. You are still responsible for making your monthly credit card payment according to the terms and conditions of your account to avoid any late fees or finance charges.
For rejected requests, award miles initially deducted will be reversed.
E-mail confirmation will be sent to you to indicate a successful redemption and statement credit posting to your credit card account.
Important: Your participation in MileagePlus Choices® ("Choices") is governed by (i) the following terms and conditions and (ii) the MileagePlus® Program Rules found on united.com and expressly incorporated herein by reference (collectively the "Choices Terms and Conditions"). It is your responsibility to read and understand all of them. The Choices Terms and Conditions cannot be superseded or changed, except in writing from United Airlines, or any of its affiliates, (collectively, "United").
General conditions
Choices is offered at the discretion of United and United has the right to terminate Choices, in whole or in part, or to change the Choices Terms and Conditions, benefits and conditions of participation, in whole or in part, at any time, with or without notice, even though changes may affect the value of benefits already accumulated.
"You" and "your" means the primary Cardmember on the MileagePlus credit card account and whose MileagePlus account number is associated with the account ("Cardmember"). "MileagePlus credit card" includes United branded credit cards issued by Chase Bank USA, N.A. ("Chase") that accrue MileagePlus award miles.
Award miles accrued with your MileagePlus credit card and transferred to your MileagePlus account based on eligible card activity, including, but not limited to, credit card purchases, Chase promotional offers, and anniversary renewals, are available for use in Choices. Award miles earned (i) for flight activity, (ii) through MileagePlus partners, (iii) for Chase non-credit card activity including, but not limited to, debit/check card purchases or home equity advances, and (iv) for activity that is rewarded by third parties as bonuses associated with use of the MileagePlus credit card will be credited to your MileagePlus award miles balance but are not eligible for use in Choices. Your Choices balance is a subset of your MileagePlus award miles balance and not a separate balance. Your Choices balance can be found by visiting www.united.com/choices. You must have previously earned award miles with your MileagePlus credit card and be a current Cardmember to be able to login. Also, if you close your MileagePlus credit card account, you will forfeit your Choices balance.
Award miles accrued with your MileagePlus credit card will continue to be reflected in your award miles balance. In addition to the options available to MileagePlus members, Choices offers more ways to use miles that are exclusive to Cardmembers. Any Choices activity using award miles will result in a reduction of your MileagePlus award miles balance. You cannot have a greater Choices balance than your MileagePlus award miles balance.
The MileagePlus account number used for both Choices and the credit card account where the MileagePlus award miles were earned must be the same. You must be the primary Cardmember to use Choices. You cannot use your award miles through Choices for a statement credit on another person's MileagePlus credit card account.
Choices Airfare Statement Credit
To use Choices for an airfare statement credit, purchase any United ticket on united.com with your MileagePlus credit card. Flights purchased through any other source, such as United General Reservations, United Vacations, travel agencies or other travel websites, are not eligible. When the purchase posts to your credit card account, login at www.united.com/chase to use award miles earned with your MileagePlus credit card for an airfare statement credit against that charge.
No blackouts means any flight available on united.com can be purchased for Choices any day of the year. No inventory restriction indicates that any open seat on any available flight on united.com is eligible for Choices. Award miles earned with your MileagePlus credit card can be used against a ticket purchased on united.com through Choices for an airfare statement credit up to the full cost of the ticket.
Airfare statement credit requested may not exceed the ticket purchase amount charged to your MileagePlus credit card. Partial statement credits are allowed with a minimum of 5,000 award miles. However, only one statement credit request can be made per unique transaction.
You must submit your request within 90 days of the ticket purchase date.
Award miles are deducted at time of request. Please allow 5-7 days for the credit to appear on your credit card account. Since award miles earned with your MileagePlus credit card are reflected in your MileagePlus account balance, any activity through Choices will result in a reduction in your MileagePlus account balance. Use of award miles through Choices for an airfare statement credit made on or near the end of your monthly billing cycle may take up to one billing cycle to appear on your monthly billing statement. You are responsible for making your monthly credit card payment according to the terms and conditions of your account to avoid any late fees or finance charges.
For rejected requests, award miles initially deducted will be reversed.
E-mail confirmation will be sent to you to indicate a successful redemption and statement credit posting to your credit card account.
The MileagePlus account number used for both Choices and the credit card account where the MileagePlus award miles were earned must be the same. You must be the primary MileagePlus Cardmember to use Choices. You cannot use your award miles through Choices for an airfare statement credit on another person's MileagePlus credit card account.
Airline ticket changes, cancellations and refunds are subject to the rules of the airline ticket.
Award miles used in Choices cannot be returned or re-deposited by you.
MileagePlus and Chase reserve the right to reverse Choices air statement credits where the original ticket purchase is refunded. Award miles used will be re-deposited in your account and the Choices airfare statement credit will be reversed on your MileagePlus credit card account. In the event a reversal is required, an administrative fee of 2,500 award miles may be deducted from your MileagePlus account and will appear on your MileagePlus statement as an adjustment.
The number of award miles required depends upon the cost of the airline ticket including all taxes and fees and the amount of the airfare statement credit requested. You are responsible for all associated taxes, airport security charges, baggage fees, fuel surcharges and other usage fees required for travel. These charges will be included in the overall calculation to determine the number of award miles required for the airfare statement credit. The number of award miles required is subject to change at any time without notice.
Annual Membership Fee Reimbursement
Current Cardmembers may apply award miles through Choices towards one Annual Membership Fee Reimbursement per MileagePlus credit card account per 12-month period ("Annual Membership Fee Reimbursement"). Award miles used for an Annual Membership Fee Reimbursement cannot be returned or re-deposited.
Cardmember must submit an Annual Membership Fee Reimbursement request within 90 days of the annual membership fee transaction date on your credit card account.
The amount of the Annual Membership Fee Reimbursement requested may not exceed the annual membership fee billed to your monthly billing statement. One Annual Membership Fee Reimbursement request (full or partial) per 12 month period is allowed per credit card account.
Award miles are deducted from your MileagePlus account at the time you make your request. Please allow 5-7 days for the Annual Membership Fee Reimbursement to appear on your credit card account. Requests for an Annual Membership Fee Reimbursement made on or near the end of your monthly billing cycle may take up to one billing cycle to appear on your monthly billing statement. You are still responsible for making your monthly credit card payment according to the terms and conditions of your account to avoid any late fees or finance charges.
For rejected requests, award miles initially deducted will be reversed.
E-mail confirmation will be sent to you to indicate a successful redemption and statement credit posting to your credit card account.
MP Choice Points Q&A [Consolidated] (Moved to Chase.com, renamed Pay Yourself Back)
Sep 12, 2021, 8:46 pm
#77
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.997MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,859
If it was a refund situation, since the miles were converted to a Chase statement credit, UA is out of the picture.
Sep 13, 2021, 8:19 am
#78
Join Date: Apr 2016
Programs: UA 1K 1MM, AA Gold, Marriott Titanium, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 695
MileagePlus and Chase reserve the right to reverse Choices air statement credits where the original ticket purchase is refunded. Award miles used will be re-deposited in your account and the Choices airfare statement credit will be reversed on your MileagePlus credit card account. In the event a reversal is required, an administrative fee of 2,500 award miles may be deducted from your MileagePlus account and will appear on your MileagePlus statement as an adjustment.
Sep 15, 2021, 1:35 pm
#79
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 8
MileagePlus and Chase reserve the right to reverse Choices air statement credits where the original ticket purchase is refunded. Award miles used will be re-deposited in your account and the Choices airfare statement credit will be reversed on your MileagePlus credit card account. In the event a reversal is required, an administrative fee of 2,500 award miles may be deducted from your MileagePlus account and will appear on your MileagePlus statement as an adjustment.
Sep 15, 2021, 1:41 pm
#80
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.997MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,859
If you cancel, there is no refund (most fares are nonrefundable on voluntary cancellations unless you book a refundable fare). UA keeps the credit (toward a future flight)
Jan 19, 2022, 12:42 pm
#81
Join Date: Dec 2021
Location: PHX
Programs: United: Gold & Club; HERTZ Pres. Crcl; AVIS Pres.Clb; IHG Platinum; Marriott Gold.
Posts: 35
Additionally if a Chase MP card holder, you can redempt statement credit / Choice points from your credit card miles at the rate of 1 cpm. Compare to the Money plus miles offer which is reported 1 cpm also.
With Choice Points you earn the full PQP and RDMs vs only the cash portion for Money plus Miles
And not limited to UA-only itin
With Choice Points you earn the full PQP and RDMs vs only the cash portion for Money plus Miles
And not limited to UA-only itin
Can you please help me understand the Choice Points application to getting PQP and RDMs in your response. I am a Chase MP card holder and have plenty of unused miles. I am primarily interested in earning PQPs so I pay cash for all my flights and upgrades instead of using points (including being waitlisted). When you say Choice Points are you referring points from Chase's Ultimate rewards points vs. United Airline Miles earned on Chase cards, e.g., Chase Sapphire Preferred card vs. Chase's United Explorer card? Also, is there a link that explains how you can get the PQP using Choice Points? I apologize for my lack of understanding but learning to maximize points can get complicated. Thank you for your input.
Jan 19, 2022, 1:11 pm
#82
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.997MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,859
You can convert those Choice Points / miles to Chase statement credit -- 1 cpm mile.
Using 1 Choice Point decreases your UA RDM total by 1 also
So if you use a Chase MP card to purchase the flight, as a cash purchase the flight earns PQPs and RDMs. Then later (within 60 days) you apply / convert miles to statement credit of any portion of the flight cost. It does not change the PQMs or RDMs earned.
You can also use Choices Points to get statement credit for the card's annual fee -- present at 1.5 cpm
This thread's wiki and http://www.united.com/choices has more
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Jan 19, 2022 at 2:03 pm Reason: typo
Jan 19, 2022, 1:34 pm
#83
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 11,470
Hi Wine Country UA,
Can you please help me understand the Choice Points application to getting PQP and RDMs in your response. I am a Chase MP card holder and have plenty of unused miles. I am primarily interested in earning PQPs so I pay cash for all my flights and upgrades instead of using points (including being waitlisted). When you say Choice Points are you referring points from Chase's Ultimate rewards points vs. United Airline Miles earned on Chase cards, e.g., Chase Sapphire Preferred card vs. Chase's United Explorer card? Also, is there a link that explains how you can get the PQP using Choice Points? I apologize for my lack of understanding but learning to maximize points can get complicated. Thank you for your input.
Can you please help me understand the Choice Points application to getting PQP and RDMs in your response. I am a Chase MP card holder and have plenty of unused miles. I am primarily interested in earning PQPs so I pay cash for all my flights and upgrades instead of using points (including being waitlisted). When you say Choice Points are you referring points from Chase's Ultimate rewards points vs. United Airline Miles earned on Chase cards, e.g., Chase Sapphire Preferred card vs. Chase's United Explorer card? Also, is there a link that explains how you can get the PQP using Choice Points? I apologize for my lack of understanding but learning to maximize points can get complicated. Thank you for your input.
1. buy a ticket from UA normally using your Chase card.
2. go into chase portal and request a statement credit using choice points, which redeems your UA award miles.
edit: somehow I could not see WineCountryUA's reply above when replying; not saying anything new!
Apr 5, 2022, 9:56 pm
#85
Join Date: Apr 2016
Programs: UA 1K 1MM, AA Gold, Marriott Titanium, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 695
Requesting a statent credit for the annual fee on my united business card. Get an email that says request received. The immediately get another email titled "There was a problem with your Pay Yourself Back order". Anyone else try recently and run in to issues?
Apr 5, 2022, 10:08 pm
#86
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.997MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,859
My issue related to the change of the Club card changing to Infinite card -- seemed to confuse the system
"Pay Yourself Back" is the internal process for statement credit. Had never seen it mentioned before.
Apr 6, 2022, 12:49 am
#87
Join Date: Apr 2016
Programs: UA 1K 1MM, AA Gold, Marriott Titanium, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 695
In December, used Chase secure messaging and it was resolved quick.
My issue related to the change of the Club card changing to Infinite card -- seemed to confuse the system
"Pay Yourself Back" is the internal process for statement credit. Had never seen it mentioned before.
My issue related to the change of the Club card changing to Infinite card -- seemed to confuse the system
"Pay Yourself Back" is the internal process for statement credit. Had never seen it mentioned before.
Apr 6, 2022, 6:39 am
#88
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: ORD | LGA | 2E
Programs: UA GS 1.6MM UC | AA CK 0.7MM AC | Bonvoy Ambassador | Hyatt Globalist | Hertz PC
Posts: 1,054
My last annual fee reimbursement (Jun/Jul of 2021) required me to get the GS MP desk on the phone. Kept getting an error about not being able to find the annual fee within the billing lookback window. Prior year, one of two reimbursements required a secure message as well. I just don't think the pipes are working that well but I have always ultimately received the credit.
Apr 12, 2022, 12:56 am
#89
Join Date: Apr 2016
Programs: UA 1K 1MM, AA Gold, Marriott Titanium, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 695
Fixed this by sending a secure message to Chase. They investigated and found the primary address that Chase had on file was different than the primary mailing address on the United account. Updating the addresses to match fixed the issue. Requested the statement credit and it went right through with no issues.
Sep 18, 2022, 11:28 am
#90
Join Date: Oct 2018
Programs: United 1k, HH Diamond, Bonvoy Ambassador and LT-Gold
Posts: 1,664
I was looking into this as an option to get the club card and use miles to "pay me back" as a cheaper path than a subscription, but it is not obvious what this would cost in terms of miles.....