The United MileagePlus Explorer Card is offering an increased 50,000 United mile welcome bonus after spending $3,000 in within the first three months (OFFER EXPIRED).
You’ll also earn 5,000 additional miles when you add an authorized user who makes their first purchase. On top of that you will earn a $50 statement credit after your first purchase.
This increased offer on the United Explorer Card has come and gone periodically over the last several years, but it’s currently a good time to grab it at the highest offer levels.
The offer shown on United.com is marketed as a limited time offer and said to end on June 2, 2015.
How to Get the United 55,000 Mile Offer
The offer is currently publicly available on United’s homepage or you can try via this link.
Simply go to United.com and you should see a small banner showing the 50,000 mile offer in the lower right hand corner on the home search page. If you use Adblock make sure to have it turned off to see the offer.
If the offer is not showing up on the home page for you, try making a search for a flight on United.com and the offer should be visible on a banner on the next booking page.
55,000 Mile + $50 United MileagePlus Explorer Card Offer
This is among the highest past offers on the United Explorer card which does make it a good time to apply for the card, especially so if you've been interesting in earning some extra United miles.
With the new welcome bonus offer you'll earn:
- 50,000 bonus miles after spending $3,000 in the first three months
- 5,000 bonus miles for adding an authorized user that makes a purchase
- $50 statement credit after your first purchase
To earn the extra 5,000 miles you would need to add an authorized user in your application information when applying online. You'll receive a card in their name and they just need to make a single purchase to earn the extra 5,000 bonus miles. Once the 5,000 miles are earned, the authorized user does not have to keep or use the card, and will still be eligible to earn the bonus on their own United Explorer card in the future.
Card Earning
The United MileagePlus Explorer Card earns 2 miles per dollar spent on tickets purchased from United and 1 mile per dollar on all other purchases. There is a annual bonus if you are a big spender and after making $25,000 or more in purchases on the card each year you will earn 10,000 bonus miles (OFFER EXPIRED).
Card Benefits
A few noteworthy benefits of the United MileagePlus Explorer Card include a free first checked bag for yourself and one traveling companion on United flights purchased with your card. Other benefits include priority boarding and two complimentary United Club lounge passes each year.
Another interesting benefit of this card offer is that you will get extra Standard Award space as a cardholder. However, it's unclear how much improved the award availability will be for cardholders. It only mentions that your MileagePlus number associated with your card will allow you to get access to more award seats.
Annual Fee and Foreign Transaction Fees
The United Explorer Card does not have any foreign transaction fees which makes it another great option for spending while traveling abroad. The annual fee is also waived the first year, but after that you'll pay $95 per year.
Why United Miles are Valuable
United miles are among the most valuable airline miles for international economy awards and award tickets with free stopovers and one-ways. United is part of Star Alliance and you can book flights on any of the 27 Star Alliance member airlines making it possible to travel anywhere in the world with your miles.
United’s user friendly website and for the most part a very reliable award search engine, United miles are among the easiest airline miles to use and you have great options of airlines to book on.
United's economy and own premium class awards are a good value---adding stopovers can add a ton of value as well. United’s BusinessFirst and GlobalFirst offer fully flat beds and can be a good use of miles if you still want to redeem a premium cabin award. For many, the best use for United miles are for economy awards both domestically and for international flights.
United's award chart is very competitive and allow you to book stopovers on round trip awards, which can add incredible value to an award ticket. Another huge benefit of United miles is that they do not charge fuel surcharges which means you will never pay extra fees on award tickets.
Don’t Forget that Chase Will Match Offers
If you've applied for the United Explorer Card within the last 90 days can request for Chase to match this increased bonus offer. In general Chase is among the most generous bank when it comes to matching an improved offer on a card that you have recently been approved for at a lower offer.
Just send Chase a Secure Message through your online Chase account and request for them to match the better offer to your account. I have had success several times and there are many success stories across the web that Chase fulfills these requests.
