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If you hold top-tier Marriott Bonvoy status, or mid-tier status with United Airlines, there’s a reciprocal partnership between the two programs that you should probably know about.
Elite status in one program can get you you elite status in the other without any effort on your part and, better yet, it costs nothing to sign up for.
Introduction
The Marriott Bonvoy/United MileagePlus partnership dates back to 2013 , when Marriott Rewards (as it was called back then) and United MileagePlus launched it as a copy of the Crossover Rewards partnership that Starwood and Delta had put together earlier that same year.
Marriott’s Emirates partnership came a little later, because Starwood and Emirates launched Your World Rewards in November 2014, and that was relaunched as the Marriott/Emirates partnership in July 2019.
The Marriott/United partnership is called ‘RewardsPlus’ – a hybrid of Marriott Rewards (as it was called back then) and United MileagePlus – and it is designed to give elite members of the two programs reciprocal elite status.
The concept is simple – select Bonvoy elites can enjoy elite status in United’s MileagePlus program and select United MileagePlus elites can enjoy elite status in the Marriott Bonvoy program.
The RewardsPlus partnership also gives Marriott Bonvoy members an improved transfer rate when they convert Bonvoy points to MileagePlus miles and allows MileagePlus elites to convert miles to Bonvoy points.
Unlike the Marriott/Emirates partnership, however, the RewardsPlus partnership does not offer reciprocal redeemable currency earnings, so Bonvoy members don’t earn United miles alongside Bonvoy points on their Marriott stays, and United’s flyers don’t earn Bonvoy points alongside MileagePlus miles when they book with United.
The one exception is that the two programs run an occasional dual currency promotion for members who have linked their accounts, and there’s one live at the time of writing. Registration is open until 31 August 2026 and travel has to commence by 30 September 2026.
Select MileagePlus elites get Bonvoy status
United MileagePlus members with Premier Gold status and higher can register for the RewardsPlus program (here) and automatically receive Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status without having to make any stays.
Bonvoy Gold status comes with the following benefits:
- A 25% points bonus on all eligible stays.
- Access to room upgrades on a space available basis.
- A 2pm late checkout (subject to availability).
- A welcome gift of 250 or 500 Bonvoy points on each eligible stay (varies by brand).
- Access to enhanced (faster) internet on all eligible stays.
This Bonvoy Gold status remains live for as long as a MileagePlus member maintains Premier Gold status or higher.
Top Marriott Bonvoy elites get MileagePlus status
Marriott Bonvoy Titanium and Ambassador elites can register for the RewardsPlus program (here) and automatically receive United’s Premier Silver Elite status without having to take any flights with United and without having to earn any Premier Qualifying Dollars.
- 5 miles/dollar on flights booked with United Airlines, rising to 8 miles/dollar for those who also hold a United co-branded credit card.
- Access to complimentary Premier upgrades on the day of travel, and these now apply to award tickets as well as paid tickets.
- Expanded access to Saver Award space in United Polaris Business Class.
- Access to Group 2 priority boarding.
- Premier Access, which covers designated check-in lines, priority security lines and priority baggage handling where available.
- Complimentary checked bags (70lbs/32kg each) for the status holder and up to nine others travelling on the same itinerary:
- One bag for Economy Class travel within the continental US and between the US and Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America.
- Two bags for Economy Class travel between the US and South America, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
- Three bags on all premium cabin travel.
- Complimentary access to ‘Preferred’ seats at the time of booking (for the status holder + up to 8 companions).
- Complimentary access to ‘Economy Plus’ seats at check-in (for the status holder + 1 companion).
- Star Alliance Silver status.
- Avis Preferred Plus elite status, plus 1,000 bonus miles per completed rental.
- Discounted CLEAR Plus membership ($179).
Note: This is no longer the only way for a Marriott Bonvoy member to pick up Star Alliance status without flying. Marriott also has a preferred partnership with Air Canada under which Bonvoy Titanium Elite and Ambassador Elite members get complimentary Aeroplan 25K Status, and that conveys Star Alliance Silver status too.
This Premier Silver status remains live for as long as a Bonvoy member maintains their Titanium or Ambassador Elite status.
Who doesn’t qualify for the United or Marriott elite statuses
There are two exclusions:
- Members who already hold the equivalent or higher status in the other program can’t register (the site will accept the registration, but nothing will change).
- Members whose qualifying status came from a status match or a status challenge aren’t eligible.
The first one is, hopefully, obvious. The second one, less so, and it means that getting reciprocal status isn’t quite as easy as it may seem at first glance.
How long the status lasts
The rule is the same in both directions. Complimentary Premier Silver status granted to a Bonvoy member, and complimentary Bonvoy Gold Elite status granted to a MileagePlus member, are both valid only for the remainder of the calendar year in which the status was granted, and not the following calendar year.
In practice the elite statuses renew themselves, so A Bonvoy member who has already registered and received Premier Silver status, and who then requalifies for Titanium Elite status or higher for the following calendar year, has their registration renewed automatically and doesn’t need to register again.
The same applies to a MileagePlus member who holds Premier Gold status or higher and has already received Bonvoy Gold Elite status.
It’s also worth knowing that Premier Silver status granted this way is just a status level as far as MileagePlus is concerned, so you don’t get the number of Premier Qualifying Points required to earn Silver status deposited into your MileagePlus account.
What this means is that Silver status earned through this partnership doesn’t give you a boost towards a higher Premier tier, you’ll have to earn that higher tier the hard way.
What United Airlines changed in 2026
Two of the items above have changed since we last wrote about this partnership. One thing changed for the worse and the other for the better.
The first change was a straightforward devaluation. As of 2 April 2026, United Airlines rebuilt its earnings table around whether or not a member holds one of its co-branded credit cards, and Premier Silver members without a card went from earning 7 miles/dollar to earning 5 miles/dollar.
Premier Silver members who do hold a co-branded card now earn 8 miles/dollar.
Related: Why holding a United Airlines co-branded credit card can matter more than ever
Every Premier tier was affected in the same way, so this isn’t limited to Premier Silver members specifically, but if the only reason you hold Premier Silver status is the RewardsPlus partnership, you’re probably in the group without a United card and you’re now earning fewer miles than you were.
The second change was a genuine improvement. From 2026, United Chase cardholders and Premier Silver and Premier Gold members get access to an exclusive pool of Saver Award seats in United Polaris Business Class.
United says that around a third of the flights with Saver Award space available have inventory set aside for this group, and that’s the first time this partnership has given anyone anything that could reasonably be described as valuable.
There is, however, a catch, and it’s one you have probably seen coming. The separate award discounts United introduced at the same time (at least 10% off award tickets for cardholders, at least 15% for cardholders who also hold Premier status) require a United card. Status on its own gets you nothing there.
One other change worth noting is that, as of 1 February 2026, Complimentary Premier Upgrades and PlusPoints upgrades can be applied to award tickets for all Premier members.
Bonvoy points convert to United MileagePlus miles with a boosted bonus
Marriott Bonvoy points can be converted to a wide variety of airline currencies (including United’s MileagePlus miles), and the standard conversion ratio is 3 Bonvoy points to 1 airline mile.
Ordinarily, Marriott also offers Bonvoy members a 5,000 mile bonus when they convert 60,000 Bonvoy points into most airline currencies, and that improves the transfer ratio to 2.4 Bonvoy points to 1 airline mile.
Thanks to the RewardsPlus partnership however Bonvoy members get an added 5,000 miles bonus (for a total bonus of 10,000 miles) when transferring 60,000 points across to MileagePlus, and this sees the transfer ratio improved to 2 Bonvoy Points to 1 MileagePlus mile.
As we value Bonvoy points at 0.6 cents each and United’s miles at 1.2 cents each, the option to transfer Bonvoy Points to United miles only makes sense for me when I transfer in batches of 60,000 points (this way we neither lose nor gain).
There’s one situation where that changes, and it’s worth watching for. United periodically runs a transfer bonus on points moved across from its hotel partners, and that bonus stacks on top of the 10,000 miles that RewardsPlus gives you. The most recent one offered a 25% bonus and ran until 30 June 2026.
The terms on these promotions exclude the standard 10,000 mile RewardsPlus bonus from the calculation, so a 25% bonus applies to the 20,000 base miles only. That turns 60,000 Bonvoy points into 35,000 MileagePlus miles rather than 30,000, and at our valuations that’s $360 of Bonvoy points becoming $420 of United miles.
That’s the difference between a transfer that breaks even and a transfer that’s actually worth making, so if you’re sitting on Bonvoy points you’ve earmarked for United, it may be worth waiting for one of these deals to come around if you have the time.
Note: Don’t forget that United MileagePlus is a Chase Ultimate Rewards partner, and it’s the only one of the four major transferable currencies that can be turned into MileagePlus miles, so for a lot of readers it may be more economical to generate MileagePlus miles by spending on select Chase cards.
MileagePlus miles can be converted to Bonvoy points
Another aspect of the RewardsPlus partnership is that it allows United’s Premier elites to convert their miles to Bonvoy points in a 1:1 ratio.
At 1.2 cents per United mile and 0.6 cents per Bonvoy point, that transfer halves the value of everything that goes through it, so this makes little sense for me if I need a significant number of Bonvoy points.
If, however, I only need to generate a small number of points to give me enough to make a specific award booking, and I don’t have enough time to generate those point through my Bonvoy co-branded credit cards, converting a handful of miles into Bonvoy points may be an acceptable option of last resort … but I’d have to be pretty desperate!
Note: This benefit is only open to MileagePlus Premier members, and United caps the conversion at 200,000 miles per calendar year.
Thoughts
Eligible Bonvoy and MileagePlus elites aren’t being asked to give up anything when they participate in the RewardsPlus partnership, so while the partnership isn’t something to get excited about, it has its uses. More so since United introduced the April 2026 MileagePlus changes.
Neither of the elite statuses on offer will give someone benefits that justify earning those statuses the hard way (through stays, flying, and spending), but as something that’s being given away for nothing, they can be good to have.
I, for example, wouldn’t have access to any kind of benefits on United if it wasn’t for the Premier Silver status that I hold courtesy of my Bonvoy Titanium Elite status, and when I’ve occasionally had to fly with United unexpectedly, the ability to choose Preferred seats at the time of booking and Economy Plus seating at the time of check-in (without having to pay a fee) has come in very useful.
Also, the award availability point has become more interesting than it used to be.
As I don’t hold a United Airlines co-branded credit card, I wouldn’t have access to the expanded Saver Award pool without the Premier Silver status that the RewardsPlus partnership has given me, and now that the expanded access covers Polaris Business Class specifically, that’s worth considerably more than it was not that long ago.
The earnings cut, however, wasn’t good news. Dropping from 7 miles/dollar to 5 miles/dollar isn’t going to change anyone’s life on the handful of United flights that someone like me takes each year, but it’s a reminder that what an elite status offers can (and often does) change very quickly.
Similarly, someone who doesn’t stay at Marriott properties very often probably doesn’t think that they need Bonvoy status, but for those rare visits, Bonvoy Gold elite status could be the difference between getting a room with a view of the dumpsters and getting a room with a considerably more civilized view, so it can be worth having.
Most people are probably not missing out on much if they don’t participate in the RewardsPlus program, but as it costs nothing to register and as the benefits it offers may one day come in useful (possibly when you least expect it), why not sign up anyway.
Bottom line
Marriott and United Airlines have a partnership that gives select Bonvoy and MileagePlus members reciprocal elite status, access to an improved ratio for transfers from Bonvoy to MileagePlus, and access to transfers from MileagePlus to Bonvoy.
On the whole there’s still nothing amazing on offer here, and United Airlines has made the mileage earning side noticeably worse for anyone who doesn’t hold one of its credit cards, but the expanded access to Polaris Saver Award space is a genuinely useful addition and Premier Silver status remains useful for those of us who only fly with United every now and again.
Anyone eligible to participate should probably sign up and make the most of the benefits when they can, and Bonvoy Titanium Elite and Ambassador Elite members should remember that Marriott’s Aeroplan partnership will get them to the same Star Alliance tier as well, so there’s no need to choose between the two.
