Trade gift cards for miles

With United Airlines’ Gift Card Exchange, you can trade the value of unused gift cards for United MileagePlus miles. Only gift cards from approved retailers, including Target, Walmart and rival airlines American and Southwest, can be exchanged (a complete list is available online).

Each gift card must have a balance of at least $15, and multiple gift cards can be exchanged at one time. To qualify, you must have had a MileagePlus account for at least 90 days with no negative balance.

To make a trade, go to giftcardexchange.mileageplus.com and follow the instructions. After United verifies the value of a card with the retailer, it will make an offer in miles, which you can either accept or reject.