Got Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Elite hotel status? You get United Airlines status for free

If you have gained Titanium Elite status in Marriott Bonvoy over the last year or so, perhaps boosted by the 2022 ‘double elite nights’ offer or the 15 free elite nights that the Marriott Bonvoy American Express card offers, you may not know that you can claim elite status with United Airlines.

The United Airlines and Marriott Bonvoy partnership is called RewardsPlus and you can find all the details here.

Unfortunately, if you are about to drop from Titanium Elite to Platinum Elite, you cannot jump on this offer. Even if you are Titanium Elite today, your match to United will not trigger until the end of February when United can see that you have renewed Titanium.

For Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Elite and Ambassador Elite members, it offers:

• free United MileagePlus Premier Silver status, valid across Star Alliance

• the ability to move United MileagePlus miles into Marriott Bonvoy at 1:1, which is a handy way of dealing with any occasional Star Alliance flights you may have

Here is a summary of how RewardsPlus works.

RewardsPlus benefits for Marriott Bonvoy elite members:

If you are a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Elite member (which is the situation Head for Points readers are more likely to be in, as I doubt we have many United Airlines elites here) you can receive Premier Silver status with United.

Don’t get too excited about this. In Star Alliance, Silver status usually only gets you lounge access with the airline which issues your card, and United doesn’t even let you do this.  You cannot therefore use this card to get, say, lounge access when flying Lufthansa or SWISS.

United Premier Silver does get you upgraded to United’s Economy Plus at check-in if there are spare seats. However, this would need to be a flight with very few Gold or above members on it, as they would have priority over you.  You also get a free 32kg checked bag and will earn 7 miles per $1 spent when flying United.

Here is the most useful benefit to my eyes.  Being Premier Silver allows you to transfer your MileagePlus miles into Marriott Bonvoy at 1:1, up to 50,000 miles per calendar year.  This could come in VERY handy if you have the odd Star Alliance flight but do not actively collect with any Star Alliance airline.

RewardsPlus benefits for United Airlines elite members:

RewardsPlus also works the other way.

If you have United MileagePlus Premier Gold status or higher, you can leverage it into Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status.

Bonvoy Gold Elite gives you free high speed wifi, 2pm late check-out and 25% bonus Marriott Bonvoy base points. It’s not hugely exciting but better than nothing.

As I noted above, the most useful benefit is that United Premier Silver or higher members are able to transfer up to 50,000 United MileagePlus miles per year into Marriott Bonvoy points at a 1:1 ratio.

Conclusion

For UK-based Head for Points readers, the most likely scenario is that you will have Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Elite status and can get United MileagePlus Premier Silver status.

Even if you never fly with United, this will allow you to credit occasional Star Alliance flights to MileagePlus and, instead of being stuck with a few useless miles, transfer them to Marriott Bonvoy at 1:1.

You can find out more, and sign up for RewardsPlus if your Marriott or United status is high enough, on this special website.

PS. You can learn how to earn United MileagePlus miles from UK credit cards in this article.

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How to earn Marriott Bonvoy points and status from UK credit cards (January 2024)

There are various ways of earning Marriott Bonvoy points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

The official Marriott Bonvoy American Express card comes with 20,000 points for signing up, 2 points for every £1 you spend and 15 elite night credits per year.

You can apply here.

You can also earn Marriott Bonvoy points by converting American Express Membership Rewards points at the rate of 2:3.

Do you know that holders of The Platinum Card from American Express receive FREE Marriott Bonvoy Gold status for as long as they hold the card?  It also comes with Hilton Honors Gold, Radisson Rewards Premium and MeliaRewards Gold status.  We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here and you can apply here.

You can also earn Marriott Bonvoy points indirectly:

• American Express Gold (20,000 bonus Amex points)
• American Express Rewards Credit Card (10,000 bonus Amex points)

and for small business owners:

• American Express Business Gold (20,000 bonus Amex points)
• American Express Business Platinum (40,000 bonus Amex points)

The conversion rate from American Express to Marriott Bonvoy points is 2:3.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which can be used to earn Marriott Bonvoy points. 

(Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)