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Neo Financial and United Airlines are launching a new co-branded credit card in Canada: the United MileagePlus Neo World Elite Mastercard. Available from April 2026, this card will allow Canadians to earn MileagePlus miles on their daily purchases and enjoy benefits on United flights.
A waitlist is already open, with a bonus of 5,000 additional miles reserved for the first 3,000 people to sign up. You have until March 25, 2026, to register.
This is a first in Canada: United Airlines, the world’s largest airline by available seat miles, is partnering with Neo Financial to offer a credit card that combines the Neo Rewards network with the MileagePlus loyalty program. If you frequently travel to the United States or internationally with United and its Star Alliance partners, this card could be a game changer.
The full details, including annual fees, earn rates by category, and insurance coverage, have not yet been released. Here is what the press release confirms for the planned launch in April 2026.
This article will be updated once we have the details of the new credit card.
Neo Financial has opened a waitlist ahead of the official launch. All new cardholders will receive a standard welcome offer. However, the first 3,000 people on the waitlist who are approved, activate their card, and make a first purchase will receive an extra 5,000 MileagePlus miles on top of the welcome offer.
Until now, Canadians did not have a local credit card that allowed them to directly earn United MileagePlus miles. In the United States, Chase offers several United cards (Explorer, Quest, Club Infinite, etc.) with generous benefits (consult United MileagePlus cards on Milesopedia USA). And Chase left the Canadian market a few years ago, leaving Canadian travelers without a direct option.
This card fills that gap. Canadians who frequently fly with United, whether for cross-border flights to major hubs like Chicago, Houston, Newark, or San Francisco, or for international connections, can now earn MileagePlus miles on their everyday spending in Canada.
Here are the destinations served exclusively by United Airlines according to Flightconnections:
The fact that miles can be used across the entire Star Alliance network adds flexibility.
Also, there will be a secured version of this United MileagePlus Neo World Elite Mastercard.
This means that newcomers to Canada, who do not have a credit history, will also be able to obtain this card, which is rare in the world of credit cards in Canada offering points for travel! This represents an interesting market for United and Neo.
We would like to see other loyalty programs like Aeroplan or Flying Blue offer these types of secured cards.
To view all options for the best credit cards in Canada, feel free to compare.
In the meantime, Canadians can transfer Marriott Bonvoy points to United MileagePlus at a 3:1.1 ratio.
The launch of this Canadian card coincides with a major overhaul of the MileagePlus program, effective April 2, 2026. United is changing its earn rates on flights to reward co-branded credit cardholders. Specifically, MileagePlus members with a United credit card will earn more miles per dollar spent on their tickets compared to those without a card.
For members without a card, earn rates decrease and even drop to zero for Basic Economy tickets. This restructuring makes holding a co-branded United card nearly essential to get the most out of the program.
Neo Financial is a Canadian fintech founded in 2019 in Calgary by former SkipTheDishes executives. The company has raised over $650 million in funding and serves more than one million customers across Canada. Neo has been ranked as the fastest-growing company in Canada by The Globe and Mail and Deloitte.
Neo stands out with its network of over 10,000 merchant partners across the country, offering instant cash back rewards. With the United card, these partners will instead offer accelerated MileagePlus miles, creating an attractive model for combining local shopping with travel rewards.
The launch of the United MileagePlus Neo World Elite Mastercard is good news for Canadian travelers who use United Airlines and the Star Alliance network.
This is the first time a Canadian card has allowed for the direct accumulation of MileagePlus miles, and the core benefits (priority boarding, free checked bag) are solid.
However, many unknowns remain: annual fees, detailed accumulation rates, insurance, and lounge access. We await these details before making a definitive judgment on the value of this card compared to other available options in Canada. We will update this article as soon as the full terms and conditions are announced.
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