Chase’s increased offer on the the United Explorer credit card, where you can earn up to 65,000 Bonus United Mileage Plus miles, is ending sometime on Wednesday Jan 21st after 2 months on the market. Act now or be prepared to wait a while for the next boost.
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It’s broken into two spending thresholds as follows:
40,000 bonus miles after you spend $2,000 in your first 3 months and 25,000 additional bonus miles after you 
spend $10,000 total in your first 6 months. The annual fee of $95 is waived the first year.
This will be 65,000 bonus miles if you spend the full $10,000 within 6 months, plus the 10,000 miles for spending on the card (more if you spend on United) meaning you’d have at least 75,000 miles.
That bonus alone would be enough for a one way business class award to Europe on a partner like Lufthansa, Swiss, LOT, or Austrian – and United doesn’t add fuel surcharges.
But the card also has other valuable benefits as I describe on the United Explorer Card page over at Your Best Credit Cards.
It’s one of the best widely available the card has offered, though I have seen offers of up to 75,000 crop up in targeted ways before.
The main reasons to keep the United Explorer card beyond the bonus offer are:
- Free checked bags for you and a companion (must pay with the card)
- Priority boarding
- Expanded economy saver award availability (I explain in more detail on the United Explorer Card page)
- 2 yearly United Club passes
- Primary car rental damage coverage (see all credit cards with primary car rental collision coverage)
- a PQD status spend waiver with $25,000 in annual spend
Remember that United has recently changed the Mileage Plus program and only partner awards remain (for now) on a fixed award chart. United flights are now dynamically priced, reducing the value of the miles if you primary will use them to fly on United.
Also keep in mind that you should still be putting your daily spend on a credit card with transferable points, like the Chase Sapphire Reserve or the Chase Sapphire Preferred.
If you are under 5/24 and interested in applying, please see this link for the United Explorer card.
Thoughts?
Let me know here, on Twitter, or in the private MilesTalk Facebook group.
You can find credit cards that best match your spending habits and bonus categories at Your Best Credit Cards.
New to all of this? The MilesTalk “introduction to miles and points” book, MilesTalk: Live Your Wildest Travel Dreams Using Miles and Points is available on Amazon and at major booksellers.
