United Gateway Card Review: A No-Annual-Fee Ticket to Airline Miles

No annual fee

Some luxury travel credit cards have annual fees measured in several hundreds of dollars, while the typical airline card often charges a fee of around $100 per year or more. This card has an annual fee of $0. That gets you earning United miles with little downside.

Sign-up bonus

For an airline credit card with an annual fee of $0, it’s a plus to have a sign-up bonus: Earn 20,000 bonus miles after you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open. Plus, 0% intro APR for 12 months from account opening on purchases. Learn more. Card issuers change bonuses often, but usually the bonus is enough to at least give you a decent head start toward a free domestic round-trip flight in coach.

» MORE: How to use United Miles

A chance to earn free checked bags

You can snag two complimentary checked bags per year on United or United Express flights after spending $10,000 per year on the card. Terms apply. At $40 per bag each way when you don't prepay, fees for first checked bags add up in a hurry. That’s why this benefit can be valuable if you already spend that amount annually. Yes, it's a relatively high number to hit, but you have a year to do it, and if the United Gateway℠ Card is your primary or exclusive payment method, it may be realistic.

» MORE: Airline credit cards that offer free checked bags

Perks

The United Gateway℠ Card is light on flash compared with most travel cards, but it does come with a few other minor perks:

• In-flight discount: 25% back as a statement credit on purchases of food, beverages and Wi-Fi on United-operated flights and United Club premium drink purchases when you pay with the card.

• No foreign transaction fees: Travel cards generally don’t charge a fee for making purchases abroad. This United card doesn’t, either. (A fee of 3% is common on nontravel cards.) And it uses the Visa network, which is widely accepted abroad.

• Travel-related insurances: Trip cancellation/interruption insurance and secondary rental car insurance are nice-to-haves on an airline card.

• Purchase protection: Covers new purchases made with the card for 120 days against damage or theft, up to $500 per claim.

» MORE: Benefits of United Airlines credit cards

How it compares with other United cards

The United Gateway℠ Card is one of four co-branded personal United Airlines credit cards. Its siblings offer better perks, making this card a potential “gateway” to higher-end United cards.

Here’s how the United Airlines consumer cards compare on key features:

No early boarding

You won’t get boosted toward the front of the boarding line, because the United Gateway℠ Card lacks a priority boarding perk. That could hurt you when looking for overhead bin space.

Light on other benefits, too

Some airline cards give you perks at the airport. They might reimburse you the application cost of Global Entry or TSA Precheck to get through security lines quicker, or get you free or discounted passes to an airport lounge.

This United Gateway℠ Card offers none of those. If you want them, the logical solution is to step up a notch to the higher-end United℠ Explorer Card. Aside from its richer ongoing rewards (and priority boarding perk), this card also offers a variety of credits and perks, including:

• First checked bag free for you and a companion on your reservation, if you use the card to purchase your ticket.

• Two United Club one-time use passes per year.

• Global Entry/TSA Precheck statement credit every four years.

• 25% off United in-flight and Club premium drink purchases.

• A 10,000-mile award flight discount, if you spend at least $20,000 on the card in a calendar year.

• $100 in United TravelBank cash to spend on United or United Express flight, if you spend at least $10,000 on the card in a calendar year.

• Up to $50 in United travel credits annually on Avis or Budget purchases when you pay with the card (issued as two $25 credits).

• Up to $100 credit annually when you use your card to purchase hotel stays directly through United® Hotels (issued as two $50 statement credits).

• Sign-up bonus: Earn 50,000 bonus miles after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open.

It has an annual fee of $0 intro for the first year, then $95.

» MORE: Cards that offer airport lounge access

Inflexible redemptions

For redeeming rewards, you’re locked into United Airlines and its partners. That's limiting compared with general travel credit cards, which allow you to apply rewards to a wide range of travel-related expenses.

An option for those looking to avoid an annual fee is the Bilt World Elite Mastercard® Credit Card. It offers 3 points per $1 spent on dining, 2 points on travel, 1 point on everything else (and points in other categories if you meet certain requirements). You'll even earn 1 point on rent payments with no transaction fee. Points can be redeemed in multiple ways, including transferring them to United Airlines at a 1:1 ratio. There is a small catch, though: To earn any significant pile of rewards, you'll need to use the card at least five times per statement period.

If you're looking for more robust rewards, the Wells Fargo Autograph® Card also has a $0 annual fee and earns an unlimited 3 points per $1 spent on:

• Restaurants.

• Travel and transit.

• Gas stations (and electric vehicle charging stations).

• Popular streaming services.

• Select phone plans.

Points are worth 1 cent each and can be redeemed for travel, gift cards or statement credits. It's important to note, though, that you can't transfer rewards earned with the Wells Fargo Autograph® Card to United. So if your primary goal is to earn United Airlines miles, you'll likely fare better with a different card.

You can also see how these cards measure up vs. the best credit cards NerdWallet has to offer.