In mid April Chase announced they would be implementing changes on the personal version of the United MileagePlus Explorer card. Those changes are now live and are as follows:
- Card will earn 2 United miles per $1 spent on hotel stays and restaurant purchases (this is in addition to the 2 cardholders already receive on United purchases)
- 25% off in flight purchases when using your card (including WiFi and food/beverages)
- Addition of $100 Global Entry/TSA PreCheck credit
- Removal of 10,000 miles after $25,000 in spend
- Removal of return protection/price protection benefit (purchase protection remains)
- Annual fee stays the same at $95
- Other standard benefits remain the same:
- 2 miles per $1 spend with United Airlines
- 1 mile per $1 spend on all other purchases
- Last seat availability
- Miles don’t expire
- Free checked bag when you pay with card (for 2 people)
- Priority boarding
- 2 Club passes per year
- No FX fees
The removal of the 10,000 miles after $25,000 in spend is significant as some people spend $25,000 to receive a PQD waiver. To make matters worse this is being removed mid year and cardholders are only being compensated with 4,000 miles if you’ve spent $10,000-$24,999 up until this date. To me that is completely unfair and I’d be filing complaints directly with Chase if this affected me, when you put spend on a card to receive an anniversary benefit it’s reasonable to expect that benefit to be offered.
In other news some people have also been able to get a bonus of 60,00 miles after $3,000 in spend in the first three months, plus 5,000 miles for adding an authorized user. This card is subjected to the Chase 5/24 rule and we have seen higher bonuses of up to 75,000 miles so it might make sense to wait for something better to come along (hat tip to Running with Miles for pointing this offer out).
