[Expired] Act Fast: Save 35% on a United Club Membership [Ends June 28]

Update: The offer mentioned below has expired and is no longer available.

Are you missing out on airport lounge access? How often do you fly United?

If you’re interested in acquiring an annual United Club membership, now’s your chance — United has launched a limited-time promotion allowing you to save 35% when redeeming miles for the cost of membership.

Let’s take a look.

Promotion Details

Buying an airline’s lounge membership allows you access to the lounge whenever you’re flying the airline, no matter your fare class.

United MileagePlus members can save 35% on the mileage cost of a United Club membership if they purchase by 11:59 p.m. CST on June 28, 2022.

Members will save 35% when redeeming miles for an annual membership:

• General members, Premier Silver, Premier Gold: 55,250 miles
• Premier Platinum: 52,000 miles
• Premier 1K: 48,750 miles

The discount is not valid when using cash to purchase a membership.

Is It Worth It?

It’s always nice to have lounge access, and there are plenty of reasons to purchase a lounge membership if you’re particularly loyal to a single airline. However, redeeming miles to do so generally isn’t a great use of those miles.

Consider the cost of a United Club membership if you’re not a high-level elite member. We value United miles at 1.3 cents each, which means paying 55,250 miles would cost you ~$718 in United miles. Of course, this is far better than paying the 85,000 miles United will normally charge you for membership, but it’s still overpriced.

Instead of using miles, you can choose to pay just $650 in cash for the same membership — and if you have a credit card that’ll cover airline incidentals, such as The Platinum Card^® from American Express (reimbursing you up to $200 for airline incidentals each year), that’ll help bring the cost down even more.

Hot Tip: You may not even need United Club access with the Amex Platinum card! Cardholders receive access to the American Express Global Lounge Collection, which includes Centurion Lounges (both in the U.S. and abroad), Delta Sky Club (when flying Delta same-day), Escape Lounges – The Centurion Studio Partner, select Lufthansa Lounges (when flying Lufthansa same-day), Plaza Premium Lounges, Priority Pass lounges (upon enrollment), and select Virgin Clubhouses.

Otherwise, you could always opt to acquire a credit card with lounge access, such as the United Club℠ Infinite Card, whose $525 fee costs less than purchasing a United Club membership outright.

Finally, it may not make sense at all to get one of these memberships if you don’t fly with United the majority of the time. Since you’ll need to be on a same-day flight in order to gain access, you’re out of luck if you’re traveling with Delta, American Airlines, Southwest, etc.

If you are this type of flyer, consider instead getting yourself a credit card with Priority Pass access. Priority Pass includes more than 1,400 airport experiences worldwide — and it doesn’t matter the airline on which you’re traveling; you simply need a same-day boarding pass. The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card*×Information collected independently. Not reviewed by Capital One. offers Priority Pass (including 2 guests) for a relatively low $395 annual fee (rates & fees).

Final Thoughts

All this is to say that — while United is offering a 35% discount on its Club lounge membership, it’s really not something you should be investing in. Unless you have more United miles than you know what to do with, you’re far better off purchasing it in cash or investing in a credit card that offers complimentary airport lounge access. Still, if this is something you’re interested in, be sure to do so before 11:59 p.m. CST, June 28, 2022.