United℠ Explorer Card Review (2026.1 Update: 80k Offer)

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2026.1 Update: The new welcome offer is 80k. Offer ends on 2026.5.20.

2025.6 Update: The welcome offer is now lowered to 70k.

2025.4 Update: There’s a new link with better offer 90k: in addition to the 80k offer with $3k spending requirement, earn 5k more miles when you add an authorized user in the first 3 months, and earn 5k more miles upon approval when you use your United agent‘s promotional code. That’s 90k miles in total. “United agent‘s promotional code” should be obtained when you fly United and ask an employee, and I am not sure whether you can just make one up. Offer ends on Jun 4. HT: DoC.

Application Link

Benefits

1. 80k offer: get 70,000 United miles after $3,000 spending in 3 months. Earn 10k more miles when you add an authorized user in the first 3 months. That’s 80k miles in total. The recent best offer is 90k.
2. We value UA miles at 1.5 cents (Airline Miles Value). So the 90k highest welcome offer is worth about $1,350! See A Beginner’s Guide to UA Miles to check for details about UA Miles.
3. Earn 2x UA miles on United, restaurants and hotels. Earn 1x UA mile per dollar spent on all other purchases.
4. [New] There are varies coupons on this card now, see next section below.
5. Get 2 United Club one-time passes each year.
6. First checked bag free on United flights when purchasing tickets (or paying the tax and fees for award tickets) with this card..
7. Group 2 boarding on United flights when purchasing tickets (or paying the tax and fees for award tickets) with this card.
8. Earn 25% back on in flight purchases.
9. Get 25% bonus miles on MileagePlus X purchases.
10. More award availability (XN cabin) with this card.
11. Up to $100 Global Entry or TSA Pre✓® Fee Credit.
12. With this card, you can redeem your UA miles towards annual fee at a fixed ratio 1.52 cents/point.
13. Primary car rental insurance.
14. [New] Earn $100 in United TravelBank cash after you spend $10,000 on purchases each calendar year.
15. [New] Earn a 10,000-mile award flight discount after spending $20,000 on purchases each calendar year.
16. No foreign transaction fee.
17. Refer a friend: You can earn 5,000 bonus UA miles for every approved account you refer, up to a maximum of 10 approved referrals (50,000 UA miles) per calendar year.

Varies Coupons

1. $100 United Hotels credit: Receive $50 back as a statement credit on both your 1st and 2nd prepaid hotel stays purchased directly through United Hotels with this card, up to $100 each anniversary year.
2. $50 Avis/Budget credit: Receive $25 in United TravelBank cash, up to $50 each anniversary year, for your 1st and 2nd Avis or Budget car rental booked directly through cars.united.com and paid for with this card.
3. $60 rideshare credit: Enroll to receive up to $5 back as a statement credit each month on rideshare purchases when you pay with this card, up to $60 each calendar year. Yearly opt-in is required.
4. $120 Instacart credit: Receive a $10 Instacart credit monthly, up to $120 total each calendar year, for purchases made directly through Instacart with this card. Terms apply. Benefits end 12/31/27.
5. $100 JSX credit: Get up to $100 back as a statement credit each anniversary year when you book flights directly with JSX using this card. JSX is a hop-on jet service that offers a semi-private flying experience at commercial fares.

Disadvantage

1. Annual fee $150, waived for the first year.

Recommended Application Time

1. [5/24 Rule] If you have 5 or more new accounts opened in the past 24 months, Chase will not approve your application on this card, no matter how high your credit score is. The number of new accounts includes all credit card accounts, not only Chase accounts. See this post for details about how to possibly bypass this rule.
2. You are not eligible for this sign-up bonus if you received a sign-up bonus on this card within 24 months. Note that what matters here is the time you got the sign-up bonus, not the time you opened or closed the account.
3. Don’t apply for more than 2 Chase credit cards within 30 days, or it’s highly likely that you will get rejected.
4. We recommend you to apply for this card after you have a credit history for more than a year.

Summary

The sign-up bonus on this card is usually very nice, so it is worth applying. However, this card has become a coupon book. If you hate spending time on this kind of thing, you can consider downgrading it to the no fee Chase United Gateway card after one year.

Related Credit Cards

Recommended Downgrade Options

After Applying

• Call 800-436-7927 to check Chase application status. This is an automated telephone line, and the information has the following meanings: Receive decision in 2 weeks means your application is probably approved; Receive decision in 7-10 days means your application is probably rejected; Receive decision in 30 days simply means your application requires further review and there’s nothing to tell you for now.
• Chase reconsideration backdoor number: 888-270-2127 or 888-609-7805. Call it if you didn’t get approve immediately. Your personal information will be acquired and they will then review it. You seldom answer questions, instead, just enjoy the music and then you get approved or rejected, or further information is needed to be hand in to the branch or faxed.

Historical Offers Chart

Note: Sometimes there are offers such as 40k+25k on this card, but the spending requirement for the latter part is huge. Therefore, we don’t treat them as sign-up bonus; instead, we treat them as spending bonus.

Application Link

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