Anyone with thoughts on getting a united airlines infinite card? At least for the first year it seems worth the price with the 90,000 miles, access year round to the United clubs, four times the miles etc. I'm more and more traveling on United versus southwest and intercontinental is closer to College Station than Hobby.

I have had it for like 5-6 years and think it's worth it. The free checked bags basically offsets the costs. I'm sure there are more bang for your buck cards out there if you want to do a little more work.

Got mine past summer. The point re bags is spot on

I have one and agree with the posters above. The free bags and the club access make it worth the cost.

Don't forget you can use miles to cover the annual fee. It was 30k the last couple years, but recently I've seen posts where people are seeing 33k & 36k.

https://choices.unitedmileageplus.com/

How much is the fee? That seems like a giant waste of points

How often do you fly? For most people, doesn't seem the $525 fee would be worth it vs. the $95 United Explorer Card....

Just looking online, seems the biggest benefits are:
First and second bags vs. 1 free bag (don't think I've ever checked two bags)
Premier Access
4x points vs. 2x points
Initial bonus of 90k vs. 60k points
United Club membership vs. one time passes (is this really worth it?, I haven't been in a United Club in awhile but when I did they weren't great, just beer and like cheese and crackers, now, if it were Polaris Club that's a different story)

The Quest card seems like a good balance. 3x points, $250 fee but get $125 annual purchase credit, but doesn't seem like any lounge access.

$525

Have had the card for 1 year. Having access to the lounge for wife and kids everytime we travel is worth it in and of itself. I had the southwest highest tier card for a few years but SW has kind of been sucking and the perks weren't worth it anymore. Find myself using United more and more anyway.

United club is decent. Better food than cheese crackers. Its full bar. A place to relax that's not crowded with folks. Although I've been to one at IAH where I wanted to get out immediately as to how crowded it was (forget which terminal) but others have been nice IMO.

You said kids so I assume more than 1. Can you bring your wife and multiple kids in a lounge? The terms are a little unclear, but seems like it would only be 2 guests max:

Quote:

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With a United Club membership, you can bring one adult and dependent children younger than 21, or up to two guests.

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1 guest is my wife (she can't get in without me) and any dependent children- I have 2 and they let us all in, so even if I had 4 kids I imagine theyd have let let us all in.

The "Or up to 2 guests" would be 2 adults with you. So I dont think you can bring 2 guests + dependents.
But you can bring 1 guest (spouse I would imagine) + dependents.

Thanks, makes sense. But seems very poorly worded.

I switched to the club card two years ago. It's definitely worth it if you fly United a lot and through airports with their lounges. For me that's 90% of my travel. It's been a pain in Denver for a while with the club remodels but not to the detriment of the value. The clubs in Denver are very nice now and the food is quite good actually. The "grab and go" club has also been awesome on days where I've been too late to sit and eat at the club.

I believe the guest policy is you can bring two adults or one adult plus your children under 21.

There are two other benefits to the card that have saved me a lot of money and/or earned a decent amount of other points. The first is the Avis Presidents club perk. I have been renting the lowest cost car (economy or intermediate) and upgrading on the app to SUVs. This has probably saved me at least $1000 over two years and I have yet to not obtain the SUV upgrade. The other benefit is the platinum elite status and credits at IHG hotels. IHG kind of hands the status out easily with easily fulfilled offers, but I travel to rural locations a lot where a Holiday Inn Express is often the best option. Having that status right off the bat each years helps earn some decent bonus points. IHG does have some decent luxury hotels where I've been happy to use the points for vacations.

Overall very satisfied with the card and the $525 fee

That is the way I am thinking. Southwest has cut or decreased the usual flights I use and driving through houston to Hobby from here has become more and more of a pain. I don't check bags often but I guess that is a plus. I do like Southwest's companion fare being free.

NColoradoAG said:

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I

There are two other benefits to the card that have saved me a lot of money and/or earned a decent amount of other points. The first is the Avis Presidents club perk. I have been renting the lowest cost car (economy or intermediate) and upgrading on the app to SUVs. This has probably saved me at least $1000 over two years and I have yet to not obtain the SUV upgrade. The other benefit is the platinum elite status and credits at IHG hotels. IHG kind of hands the status out easily with easily fulfilled offers, but I travel to rural locations a lot where a Holiday Inn Express is often the best option. Having that status right off the bat each years helps earn some decent bonus points. IHG does have some decent luxury hotels where I've been happy to use the points for vacations.

Overall very satisfied with the card and the $525 fee

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I had not even considered the Avis benefit nor the IHG. Makes sense

I've stuck with the Explorer card. The lounge is nice but I have the free passes if I need them. Plus i usually don't have time to go in anyway.

Most of travel is for business so I can just expense a meal or snack.
We tried to argue to our travel people that paying for one these cards would save money but they didn't buy it, although I have heard of our implementation and sales people that travel all the time getting a corporate Amex platinum for lounge.

lazuras_dc said:

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$525

Have had the card for 1 year. Having access to the lounge for wife and kids everytime we travel is worth it in and of itself. I had the southwest highest tier card for a few years but SW has kind of been sucking and the perks weren't worth it anymore. Find myself using United more and more anyway.

United club is decent. Better food than cheese crackers. Its full bar. A place to relax that's not crowded with folks. Although I've been to one at IAH where I wanted to get out immediately as to how crowded it was (forget which terminal) but others have been nice IMO.

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I figure I save the $525 not buying dumb snacks and foods with the kids on our 2-4 family trips a year. Before I got it, I bet I spent $60-$100 on crappy airport lunches at or bags of trail mix every time I stepped foot in the airport. That doesn't include a drink or 2 for each parent.

It does get jammed up from time to time, especially in Denver.

Also as someone mentioned above, the free luggage check contributes even more.

My opinion is, if you fly with 4+ with a bunch of bags on a ski trip or something, it pays for itself in luggage and $ not spent on food in lounge time in 1 trip.

Also nice for occasional work trips to be able to hit it up for food a drink and a place to work in quiet.

It arrived today and the benefits make sense. I rented from enterprise for years but Avis should save me money so that perk is just a plus. The card even offers free deliveries with DoorDash for a year. I agree with others that I have spent easily the annual fee in crappy food and drinks elsewhere at the airport.

Card holder here for ~4 years.

1 round trip with family is 4 meals x 2 = easily $150+
On top of that, we even sometimes go to the club after we land, so that is more money saved.

Do that twice a year and it's paid for.

Or to piggy back off NOCO, not only do you get plat. IHG status, but you also get $75 statement credit a year. So that combined with a round trip of family in my opinion has pretty much paid for itself. I don't even have to consider the free bags.. honestly the $90 explorer card gets free bags so that's not really justifiable.

The food is certainly not just cheese and crackers. I've had fajitas, breakfast tacos, enchiladas, sandwiches, grilled chicken, soups/salads, etc etc.
They are real meals by any definition.

Then a full bar. The free drinks are bud/miller/coors draft or house/well liquor. I'm either doing a bloody mary if early, or whiskey/ginger ale, so always free since I don't mind well brands.


If I was a solo traveler, just do the math. The explorer gets you 2 free visits plus free bags for under $100, then pay the $50 or whatever to just get in the club. If you are paying for club 8 times or more, well that's $400 in club visits, so you're breaking even. More than that, get the card, less than that, don't.

I would say it's almost worth it for me even without the free food. Plenty of people will say well I can just eat at home.
Having a comfortable non crowded space (anyone who has complained about DEN being crowded hasn't been to the new location yet, it's the biggest in the country), there is always a plug nearby (If I can have my laptop then I'm not using PTO on a weekday,

How many guests can you bring into the club with one credit card?

dylan said:

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How many guests can you bring into the club with one credit card?

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2 guests or a spouse and dependent children under 21.

And even if the spouse is also a cardholder, only the person whose MileagePlus account the card account is tied to is the primary. The spouse can only come in with the primary card holder.

txags92 said:

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dylan said:

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How many guests can you bring into the club with one credit card?

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2 guests or a spouse and dependent children under 21.

And even if the spouse is also a cardholder, only the person whose MileagePlus account the card account is tied to is the primary. The spouse can only come in with the primary card holder.

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Perfect. Thanks. I wanted to bring two guests. That's good to know as well about my wife a cardholder.

One other question: do you have to be flying United that day to use the club?

dylan said:

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One other question: do you have to be flying United that day to use the club?

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I believe the answer is yes. I have always used my boarding pass to scan into the club. I think having a boarding pass from that day is required.

dylan said:

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One other question: do you have to be flying United that day to use the club?

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100% yes.

htxag09 said:

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How often do you fly? For most people, doesn't seem the $525 fee would be worth it vs. the $95 United Explorer Card....

Just looking online, seems the biggest benefits are:
First and second bags vs. 1 free bag (don't think I've ever checked two bags)
Premier Access
4x points vs. 2x points
Initial bonus of 90k vs. 60k points
United Club membership vs. one time passes (is this really worth it?, I haven't been in a United Club in awhile but when I did they weren't great, just beer and like cheese and crackers, now, if it were Polaris Club that's a different story)

The Quest card seems like a good balance. 3x points, $250 fee but get $125 annual purchase credit, but doesn't seem like any lounge access.

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Centurion lounges have forced the airlines to step up their games. The new UAL club in DIA is actually really nice. I still prefer the centurion lounge but definitely an upgrade.

AMEX card holder here....

Good to know about other lounges stepping up their game to compete.

But, I will say Centurion lounges are now the most overrated perk for AMEX cards, IMO. Seems every time I travel, doesn't matter the airport, they have a line to get in. Not going to wait 20 minutes to get into an "exclusive" lounge for "free" food and drinks.

Jock 07 said:

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htxag09 said:

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How often do you fly? For most people, doesn't seem the $525 fee would be worth it vs. the $95 United Explorer Card....

Just looking online, seems the biggest benefits are:
First and second bags vs. 1 free bag (don't think I've ever checked two bags)
Premier Access
4x points vs. 2x points
Initial bonus of 90k vs. 60k points
United Club membership vs. one time passes (is this really worth it?, I haven't been in a United Club in awhile but when I did they weren't great, just beer and like cheese and crackers, now, if it were Polaris Club that's a different story)

The Quest card seems like a good balance. 3x points, $250 fee but get $125 annual purchase credit, but doesn't seem like any lounge access.

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Centurion lounges have forced the airlines to step up their games. The new UAL club in DIA is actually really nice. I still prefer the centurion lounge but definitely an upgrade.

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Technically two new lounges at DIA now. Lately I've been hoping for A gate departures because the one over there doesn't seem quite as busy as the remodeled one on B.

htxag09 said:

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AMEX card holder here....

Good to know about other lounges stepping up their game to compete.

But, I will say Centurion lounges are now the most overrated perk for AMEX cards, IMO. Seems every time I travel, doesn't matter the airport, they have a line to get in. Not going to wait 20 minutes to get into an "exclusive" lounge for "free" food and drinks.

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Guess I've just been lucky. I figure I hit them up across the country but mainly DIA & IAH probably 20ish times a year between work and personal travel. I've been waiting listed exactly once in having the card for over a decade now. When I stopped in to LAS yesterday it was pretty quiet, especially for the amount of traffic in the airport overall.

Yup that was my experience. Stopped in the A one in the way back from a work trip since I didn't feeling like trekking over to C for Centurion and it was really nice. I'd say pretty much the same as B but just smaller, and, like you said, quieter. Although I don't think the draft selection was as large.

I'm in Houston so my main experience is IAH. It was really bad for awhile. The changes to zero guests have definitely helped. But they've also made it less convenient if traveling with the family, not going to pay $50 for everyone.

I've just gotten to where I time going to the airport to get there 20 minutes or so before I board and just don't deal with the lounge anymore. I've tried twice in the last few months, though. First, was a flight delayed so I went to the lounge, it was crowded but no wait. Second time I just went a little earlier to avoid rush hour traffic, there was a line of about 20 people out the door so I turned around.

My wife flies to Las Vegas and San Francisco a lot for work, those lounges are always bonkers.

htxag09 said:

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I'm in Houston so my main experience is IAH. It was really bad for awhile. The changes to zero guests have definitely helped. But they've also made it less convenient if traveling with the family, not going to pay $50 for everyone.

I've just gotten to where I time going to the airport to get there 20 minutes or so before I board and just don't deal with the lounge anymore. I've tried twice in the last few months, though. First, was a flight delayed so I went to the lounge, it was crowded but no wait. Second time I just went a little earlier to avoid rush hour traffic, there was a line of about 20 people out the door so I turned around.

My wife flies to Las Vegas and San Francisco a lot for work, those lounges are always bonkers.

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Oh yea SFO was always a **** show when I was flying through there when I lived central coast CA. Somehow never got waitlisted there. Maybe a 5 minute wait to get to the desk. Never made it through there after the expansion/remodel though.

Also their opening hours were dog **** last time I was traveling through. Something like 10-5 or some *****

Side note, only Polaris lounge I've been to was the SFO one and it was pretty kick ass.

I have the United "World Elite". I have had it since United came in and ruined Continental. I have done club access off and on. In business travel I was BF international so it was covered. The UA lounge domestically does not match up with other airlines. I sign up for a year when I have spare miles. I have a UBS Infinite card that has "Priority Pass". Unlimited guests.

Club access at Bush is a joke. Always packed to the gills in the main terminals, food is disgusting, and people treat it like a daycare, letting their kids behave like animals.

Make it 18+ to enter, cut the free passes, and build a lounge twice the size and maybe it is worth it. It's not open bar, premium drinks are still a charge.

I think they are building new lounges soon, but at least a year out.

fire09 said:

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Club access at Bush is a joke. Always packed to the gills in the main terminals, food is disgusting, and people treat it like a daycare, letting their kids behave like animals.

Make it 18+ to enter, cut the free passes, and build a lounge twice the size and maybe it is worth it. It's not open bar, premium drinks are still a charge.

I think they are building new lounges soon, but at least a year out.

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I usually go to the one in Terminal C on my way back through IAH to Austin to get some dinner and a drink and have never seen it overrun by kids. Maybe it is a weekend thing? It is usually pretty full, but I have never been unable to find a seat with some room to relax. The food selection is somewhat limited, but disgusting seems to be a bit harsh.

Wow. I'm confused. I thought you could bring two guests into the club with the infinity card