Chase United MileagePlus Explorer Visa Signature Review (before June 2018)
Updated March 20, 2018. Please see our updated review here.
The Facts
The Math
You will maximize the value if you charge exactly $25,000 a year to your card. The annual mile booster essentially makes it returning 1.4 mile/$, which is very good indeed. If you can negate the $95 annual fee by charging enough United airfare, you need to value miles at 1.43 cent a mile to beat 2% cash back from Fidelity Visa since 1.43 cent/mile x 1.4 mile/$ = 2%. Of course if you charge more on airfare and/or value miles higher, it is a no-brainer. You may also enjoy the added features such as lounge passes, waived check bag fees, priority boarding, and primary rental car collision damage waiver.
United MP Explorer vs. United MP Select (discontinued): They have the same $95 annual fee. MP Select has one extra mile on United purchases (3x with MP Select vs. 2x with MP Explorer) as well as on the long list of categories: gas, groceries, dining, home improvement, and Star Alliance purchases, PLUS the anniversary 5,000 miles bonus with no spending requirement. MP Explorer has the 10,000 mile booster for $25K spending, and added airport features. You only need to spend $5,000 ($417 per month) on the bonus categories with MP Select to cancel out the 5,000 extra miles gained from MP Explorer, which should not be hard at all. Then you have to value the added features. If you are a frequent flyer with United, you have already got the waived bag fees and priority boarding, then MP Select will provide much better value for most scenarios.
The Conclusion
United MP Explorer is a very nice card to have, especially for United flyers; however, in our opinion it is not as great as the discontinued Untied MP Select.
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The Facts
- Annual Fee: The 1st year free and $95/year thereafter
- Signup Bonus for Personal Version: (1) Public 55,000 miles + $100 offer: $100 statement credit after your first purchase, 50,000 miles after spending $3,000 within 3 months of new account opening, and an additional 5,000 miles after you add the first authorized user and make the first purchase within the same period. (2) Check if you are targeted for the 75,000 miles offer ($95 annual fee NOT waived): 70,000 miles after spending $3,000 within 3 months of new account opening and an additional 5,000 miles after you add the first authorized user and make the first purchase within the same period. You need to follow these three simple steps: a) Open a private browsing window in your browser (Incognito in Chrome, Private in Firefox or Safari, InPrivate in IE); b) Visit www.theexplorercard.com/70k3k; c) On the page, log in into your United MP account to see if you qualify for the 75K offer. The signup bonus is not available if you currently have this card or have received a signup bonus for this card in the past 24 months. Based on anecdotal reports, this card is subject to Chase's 5/24 rule (you won't be approved for this card if you have opened 5 or more new accounts within the past 24 months; any new account with any issuer will count, not just with Chase; new accounts include most credit cards and charge cards but exclude non-Chase business cards and store charge cards). Historical best bonus of this card: 55,000 miles (50K after spending $2,000 and 5K after adding the first authorized user) + $50 statement credit with the first annual fee waiver was the best public offer; 75,000 miles without the annual fee waiver (in June 2016 and February 2017) was the best targeted offer.
- Application Landing Page for Personal Version 55K + $100 Offer
- Signup Bonus for Business Version: 50,000 miles after spending $3,000 within 3 months of new account opening. Historical best bonus of this card: 50,000 miles most of the time in the past years.
- Application Landing Page for Business Version 50K offer
- Rewards: 2x United and 1x everywhere else. You get a 10,000 mile booster after you spend $25,000 a year.
- Best Use of MileagePlus Miles: MileagePlus (MP) is the frequent flyer program of United Airlines, a member of Star Alliance. United miles are generally valuable for redeeming on United or partner metals, especially after dropping the notorious "StarNet blocking" with the merger with Continental Airlines.
- United Airlines Benefits: (1) Two lounge (United Club) day passes upon opening and each anniversary thereafter. (2) Waived check bag fees for you plus one companion on the same reservation. (3) Group 2 priority boarding after premium cabins & certain United elites (Premier Platinum and above) and before general passengers, for you and your companions on your reservation. (4) Domestic unlimited upgrades on awards tickets are available exclusively to United elite members with MP Explorer cards. (5) United Anytime Awards without capacity control are exclusive to United elites with MP Explorer cards (general members will access Anytime Awards with a slight reduction in availability). Even though Anytime Awards are not the best way to redeem miles (since you normally pay double miles), occasionally they can be valuable.
- Hotel Privileges: (1) Chase Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection (LHRC), through Signature Travel Network, offering perks such as daily complimentary breakfasts for two, room upgrades upon availability, early check-in and late check-out upon availability, and property specific amenities (such as a $100 spa/dining/hotel credit per stay), at over 900 luxury hotels and resorts worldwide. You may book a hotel on LHRCollection.com and the rates are mostly the same of the Best Available Rates (BAR, i.e., refundable flexible rates set by the hotel) and include taxes, resort fees, etc. This benefit is available on select Chase cards such as Sapphire Reserve, Sapphire Preferred, United MP Club, and United MP Explorer. (2) Visa Signature Luxury Hotel Collection which offers perks including daily complimentary breakfasts for two, room upgrades upon availability, late checkout upon availability, $25 food and beverage credit per stay, free room wi-fi, and VIP amenities, at over 900 luxury hotels and resorts worldwide. You may book a hotel on VisaSignatureHotels.com and the rates are the same as BAR. Note that the coverage and perks are different from LHRC's, but some hotels participate in both programs. This benefit is actually available to any U.S. issued Visa Signature cards.
- Other Benefits: (1) Waived foreign transaction fees. (2) Primary rental car collision coverage. Note while most credit cards provide rental car insurance, they are secondary, meaning your personal insurance's collision damage coverage kicks in before the credit card's. Please see our featured review on credit cards that come with primary rental car insurance for details. (3) Complimentary 24/7 Concierge Service.
- Protection: United MP Explorer offers the second highest level of consumer and travel protection among Chase cards.
- The History: Since United is not a transfer partner of Amex Membership Rewards and the transfer ratio from SPG points to United miles is very poor at 2:1, Chase United cards, along with premium Ultimate Rewards cards (such as Sapphire Preferred and Ink Plus), have been the only logical ways to obtain United miles from credit card spending. In mid 2011, with the merger between United and Continental on the way, Chase launched this new United MP Explorer. At about the same time, the three old United MP cards (Signature, Select, and Club) discontinued accepting new applications. Chase and United chose to adopt the Continental OnePass Plus's model in developing MP Explorer - that is why it seems almost identical to OnePass Plus, even the look.
The Math
You will maximize the value if you charge exactly $25,000 a year to your card. The annual mile booster essentially makes it returning 1.4 mile/$, which is very good indeed. If you can negate the $95 annual fee by charging enough United airfare, you need to value miles at 1.43 cent a mile to beat 2% cash back from Fidelity Visa since 1.43 cent/mile x 1.4 mile/$ = 2%. Of course if you charge more on airfare and/or value miles higher, it is a no-brainer. You may also enjoy the added features such as lounge passes, waived check bag fees, priority boarding, and primary rental car collision damage waiver.
United MP Explorer vs. United MP Select (discontinued): They have the same $95 annual fee. MP Select has one extra mile on United purchases (3x with MP Select vs. 2x with MP Explorer) as well as on the long list of categories: gas, groceries, dining, home improvement, and Star Alliance purchases, PLUS the anniversary 5,000 miles bonus with no spending requirement. MP Explorer has the 10,000 mile booster for $25K spending, and added airport features. You only need to spend $5,000 ($417 per month) on the bonus categories with MP Select to cancel out the 5,000 extra miles gained from MP Explorer, which should not be hard at all. Then you have to value the added features. If you are a frequent flyer with United, you have already got the waived bag fees and priority boarding, then MP Select will provide much better value for most scenarios.
The Conclusion
United MP Explorer is a very nice card to have, especially for United flyers; however, in our opinion it is not as great as the discontinued Untied MP Select.
© 2018 DrCreditCard.net All rights reserved.