Compare the Features and Benefits of United Club℠ Card and
Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card

The United Club Infinite Card is a surprisingly robust offering from United Airlines and Chase.

The primary reason to get this card is because you fly United enough that you would like to have United Club lounge access for all of your flights.

The average person will save $55 by gaining United Club access via this credit card than by buying it directly – before taking into account all the other benefits and statement credits the card comes with. Why would anyone buy United Club access directly when it’s cheaper to pay a lower annual fee on the credit card?

By the way, the exact same thing applies to the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite MasterCard® and as well as the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card and the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Credit Card. The Delta cards even offer American Express Centurion Lounge access when flying Delta, although they also have a limit on lounge visits per year.

You also have the ability to earn the most Premier Qualifying Points towards United elite status of any of the United credit cards. You’ll earn 1 PQP for every $15 you spend on purchases with your Club^℠ Card, up to 28,000 PQP in a calendar year. This can be applied toward your Premier® status qualification, up to and including the Premier 1K® level

Now, sure, outside of 4X miles per dollar spent on United purchases, the earn rate on other categories aren’t particularly strong. But the card’s features and benefits that we’ve described above that come on top of the United Club lounge access are incredibly compelling.

To recap, those benefits include:

• United Club lounge access
• First and second free checked bags
• Receive 25% Back on United inflight and Club Premium Drink Purchases
• Earn up to 28,000 Premier qualifying points per calendar year (1 PQP for every $15 you spend on purchases)
• 1,500 Card Bonus Premier® qualifying points (PQP) each program year (starting in 2026)
• 10% Saver Award Flight Discount
• Expanded Award Availability
• Premier Upgrades on Award Tickets
• Premier Access including priority check in and priority boarding
• Return Protection for Items a Store Won’t Take Back + Extended Warranty and Purchase Protection
• Access to The Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection
• Primary Car Rental CDW Insurance
• Global Entry / TSA PreCheck / NEXUS Reimbursement as a Statement Credit
• IHG Platinum Status
• Top Tier Avis President’s Club status
• Free Instacart membership and up to $240 in Instacart statement credits
• Up to $150 in rideshare credits
• Up to $100 in United travel credits on Avis or Budget car purchases
• Up to $200 in credit on JSX purchases annually
• Up to $200 in credits for Renowned Hotels and Resorts for United® Cardmembers

That’s not all of the card features, but it sure is enough to see that the value you are getting for that annual fee is pretty amazing.

The market for premium travel rewards cards is crowded, and every major card issuer has a product with an annual fee of $95, or close to it. While not a creative name for a card in this class, the Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card appeals to those who want the cardholder benefits of premium card, but are happy to earn cash back rewards instead points that can be transferred to frequent flier miles or points with hotel programs.

This card earns double points on all travel and dining purchases, and 1.5 points per dollar spent everywhere else. But rather than being just travel rewards points, these points can be redeemed for one cent each as statement credits, bank deposits, gift cards or travel reservations.

So far, this is pretty similar to the no-fee Bank of America Travel Rewards card. But what makes this card “premium” are its benefits.

To start off with, you receive up to a $100 credit towards the application fees of TSA PreCheck or Global Entry, which includes PreCheck. These services are used by frequent travelers to speed themselves through the lines at the airport.

You also receive up to a $100 credit towards airline incidental fees. These are the charges for things like luggage or seat selection that everyone hates, and those who use this fee each year will completely offset this card’s $95 annual fee.

It also includes an entire range of travel insurance policies such as trip delay reimbursement, trip cancellation and interruption coverage, and lost or delayed baggage reimbursement. It even comes with emergency evacuation insurance, a feature only found on a fraction of the top credit cards with annual fees over $500.

Purchase protection and extended warranty coverage are also included.

In the end, you have a card that offers a fairly simple cash back rewards program, similar to what you would find on a no fee card. But at the same time, it has all the fee credits, travel insurance and purchase protection features you’d expect to find on a much more expensive credit card.

Anyone who travels regularly, even if not frequently, will find these benefits to be worth its modest annual fee.