United Airlines, alongside its credit card issuer partner, Chase, just announced a new credit card called United TravelBank Card. Of course, the main attraction is that it doesn’t have any annual fees.
Also, it’s obvious that this comes as an answer to the recent card announced by Delta Airlines and American Express, which also comes with no annual fees and it aimed at young consumers and new travelers, says Forbes.
It’s not their first card!
Over the past years, United and Chase released quite a few co-branded travel rewards credit cards, including the United MileagePlus Explorer and the United MileagePlus Club Card. However, these feature some pretty big annual fees, of $95 and $450.
On the other side, the new card is also aimed at younger consumers who don’t fancy the idea of paying fees, but they’re still interested in a credit card which allows them to gather a few travel rewards.
Specifically, cardholder will earn between 1.5% and 2% cash back on purchases. Also, on each United purchase, like airline tickets, seat upgrades of checked-bag fees, they earn 2% back, while other purchases give them 1.5% cash back.
The banked cash can be redeemed for tickets on United, as well as United Express flights. As for the redemptions, they start as low as one dollar, the same value in TravelBank cash being equivalent to a dollar in airfare.
Pay just for a part of your ticket!
One of the biggest advantages of this card is that the cardholder wants to buy a plane ticket, for example, and doesn’t have enough TravelBank cash to cover the entire cost, they can still redeem them for a part of the purchase.
“Cash-back credit cards continue to rise in popularity and we noticed an opportunity in this space for United customers – a no annual fee card with compelling travel benefits that rewards in TravelBank cash,” said Leslie Gillin, Chase’s President of Co-Brand cards.
The company’s research revealed that leisure travelers just want the simplicity of a cash back card, combined with the ability to redeem for travel.
