Is the United Club Infinite annual fee worth it?

For the first few years of our travel hacking journey, the maximum annual fee for a card we held was $95. That was the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, a must-have for anyone who is interested in travel hacking. In 2022, we each added the United Explorer card, which also had a $95 annual fee. Our annual fee amount then increased in 2023 with the American Express Gold card that comes with a $250 annual fee.

This year, the highest annual fee we pay jumped to $525 when P2 opened the United Club Infinite credit card. We definitely had a lot of discussions about whether adding this card to our travel hacking portfolio was worth it. And ultimately we decided that the United Club Infinite annual fee made sense for us and the way we travel.

Let’s start with the benefits.

Right now, new cardholders earn 90,000 bonus miles when they spend $5,000 in the first three months their card is open. Add that to the minimum of 1 mile per dollar on the $5,000, and you’re already sitting on 95,000 United miles.

The United Club Infinite annual fee also covers United Club membership, which United charges $650 annually for. So that’s a $125 discount on just the United Club membership. If you weren’t going to buy a membership, entry per day per person into the United Club is $59. Cardholders can bring themselves, up to two adult guests, or one adult and dependent children under 21 into the lounge with this card.

Cardholders receive their first and second checked bags for free along with two bags for a companion. That’s a potential value of $90 per person each way or up to $360 round trip.

A $100 Global Entry, TSA Precheck, or Nexus free credit, premier upgrades on award tickets, Avis President’s Club, and complimentary DashPass are also benefits offered with the United Club Infinite card.

So, is this fee worth it?

As mentioned above, the card has a $525 annual fee. With the two of us, we save $118 each time we go into the lounge. Or the amount of an annual pass ($650). We also now check bags because we’re traveling with our baby, so we save a minimum of $80 (for bags checked in advance) each flight.

P2 got the card in May. We visited three lounges ($118 x 3) and checked bags on four flights ($80 x 4) in June. With just those costs, we’ve used $674 dollars worth of benefits from the United Club Infinite card. Subtract the annual fee of $525, and we’re already $149. Seems like the annual fee is worth.

Summary

Credit card annual fees can be daunting, especially those that are upwards of several hundred dollars. The United Club Infinite annual fee is the highest in our wallets, by more than 2x, but the benefits more than pay for themselves. With just four flights and three lounge visits, we’ve already come out ahead of the cost with more trips scheduled for the remainder of the year. We’ll continue to reap the benefits and likely will keep this card open as long as we fly out of a United hub as our home airport.