Should you apply at Chase for the United Club card after its recent annual fee increase? At first glance the answer might be “No, of course not. What are you, a fool?” And I have to admit, it does feel a bit foolish to buy a $695 card I may not even use for general spend.
But I had some solid reasons to apply for this card and after I explain them here, you might agree there’s still some value here even with a very high fee.
United Club Card vs. Other Premium Cards
A price hike of $150 is bad, but it didn’t happen in a vacuum. The Chase Sapphire Reserve recently raised its fee to $795 while cutting benefits. The Amex Platinum is $695 already and widely expected to increase later this year. Delta’s Skymiles Reserve card is $650, although they’re rumored to be introducing an even higher level card above that in the near future. So $700 is going to be the baseline for premium travel cards going forward.
Another consideration is that it’s not only this card that increased in cost. All of Chase’s United cards with a fee now cost more than ever. The Quest card is perhaps the most popular and useful in terms of earning and benefits, and it now comes in at $350 a year. If you want a United card and are considering the Quest, paying an extra $350 a year above its price for lounge access isn’t really a bad deal.
United Club Card Lounge Access
I recently decided to go loyal to United/Star Alliance for flights whenever possible. Being loyal to one airline doesn’t make sense for everyone but I’ve got enough spend per year to reach for status and if I’m going to do it, I want to do it right. Even without status the benefits of the United Club card are enough to provide an experience very close to having status with early boarding, free bags, increased miles earning, and the club.
BOOK UNITED: Search the Lowest Airfares with Skyscanner
It’s become a regular occurrence for me to disembark a flight, walk past the United Club right there at my connecting gate, and then walk for miles or possibly go to another terminal to reach a Priority Pass lounge. It’s frustrating and I’m tired of it. I want that VIP treatment and the added convenience.
It’s worth noting that the United Explorer and United Business each come with two one-time lounge passes. In reality that benefit is absolutely useless and worthless. When you pay enough attention you start to notice every single club has a sign out front saying “Sorry, we’re crowded. No one-time passes today.” Those signs are now out at every lounge every day. You’ll never get in with a one-time pass.
Can the United Club Card Pay for Itself?
When a card’s annual fee is increased, it’s par for the course to offer an increased welcome bonus to offset the pinch to the consumer. So there probably won’t be a better time to get this card in the foreseeable future, even if the past was a better time. This is also the maximum amount of time before the next fee hike. You can remain confident for several years the price isn’t going up again.
I’m not even going to hash out the card’s benefits in this post. They’re not great overall. Spending on this card makes no sense except for buying airfare. Although if at some point I decide I really need a PQP boost, having the card available to pull out and start using is a good option to have.
JOIN THE CLUB? Apply for the Card with Chase
Of course you can make the United Club card pay for itself if you check enough bags and maximize the benefits. But I don’t think a card needs to pay for itself completely to be worth holding. The face value of the lounge membership is $750. Whatever you value it at personally it’s not a bad deal if you’re flying United enough.
Pay Yourself Back
But in another sense the United Club card can absolutely pay for itself. With Chase’s Pay Yourself Back feature you can use MileagePlus miles to cover the card’s annual fee. Redemption values can change over time, but last I checked the 90,000 mile bonus with this card was enough to pay for the annual fee three times. Since United cards are available for a bonus every 24 months, you could theoretically hold this card and enjoy lounge access for free, cancelling and re-applying every 2-3 years.
In that way, this card can make sense for even an occasional United flyer who doesn’t care about collecting miles. When compared against just about any other card that’s a benefit that’s almost impossible to beat.
Update After 6 Months of Use…
Over the first six months of carrying this card I’ve seen two ongoing promotions where category earnings are boosted or bonus miles are awarded. They make the prospect of general spend much more attractive for this card, particularly if status is your goal.
In the first 3 months of 2026 I’m looking to put $18k of spend on this card for 15,000 bonus miles. Another $2k will earn me the 10,000 point discount on a redemption as an annual big-spend bonus.
A snapshot of my spending for January shows my overall earning on the card was 1.315x overall. The bonuses on $20k spend work out to 2.565x overall earn rate when they’re added in. If you value United miles at the Frequent Miler RRV of 1.3 cents each the total rewards come out to 3.33 cents for all spend.
About half of my January spend was one large $2000 purchase in an unbonused category. A larger data set would almost certainly yield a result somewhere above 4% back on all spend over the course of six months or a year. That’s the kind of return one expects from a premium card and it’s enough for me to keep using this card at least enough to max out any bonuses.
