American Express Explorer Card - 100,000 points (apply by 11-Apr-2018)

[kamchatsky]

AMEX has updated its Explorer Card referral sign-on bonus as of today: now when you apply for a new Explorer card, you can earn 60,000 bonus Membership Rewards Gateway points after spending at least $1,500 on the card within the first three months!

Now I know it is not as good as the 100000 points offer, but with Explorer Card general offer being reduced to 50000 points, this is still a great offer!

You can APPLY HERE.

Those 60,000 points translate into 45,000 frequent flyer points/miles with Virgin Australia, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Etihad, Malaysia Airlines and Thai Airways, to $450 Air New Zealand Airpoints Dollars, to 60,000 Hilton Honors points, or to 45,000 Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) Starpoints (which can then be transferred onward to a host of other programs including American Airlines AAdvantage, British Airways Executive Club and more).

The card has a $395 annual fee, but that's more than offset by the benefits enjoyed:

• Receive a $400 travel credit every year to spend on flights, hotel bookings and more - so if you were already planning to spend $400 on travel over the next year, the card literally pays for itself, and then some!
  
• Enjoy two free visits to the American Express lounge at Sydney Airport each year, regardless of which airline you're flying (perfect if you're flying in economy or your airline's own lounge is full!)
• Earn 2 Membership Rewards Gateway points per dollar spent on most charges which are equal to 1.5 airline frequent flyer points per dollar spent when converted to the programs above at a 4:3 rate. They're also equal to 2 Hilton HHonors points or 1 SPG Starpoint. (On government spend such as ATO payments, you can also earn 1 Gateway point per $2 spent.)
• No points capping or tiering, so you'll continue to earn points and at the full rates, regardless of how much you spend
• Buy your next smartphone using this card or use it to pay for your monthly contact and you could be covered by free smartphone screen insurance
• Add an additional cardholder for free, such as your partner or spouse, to maximise your points (all points earned go to your account, getting you your next free flight even faster!)
• Link your card to Apple Pay, Samsung Pay or Android Pay for easy smartphone payments wherever AMEX contactless payments are accepted, including at major retailers like Coles and Woolworths
• It's also quite a pretty card.

So, what are you waiting for? APPLY HERE.

NOTE: I hope you've found my summary helpful! When you apply via my referral link, I'll receive a bonus 30,000 Gateway points if you're approved and you can receive 60,000 points in total, so it's a win-win!

 

[michaelangelo]

Not much to add to the above, so a brief anecdote on a less headlined feature perhaps. I never bothered with Android/Apple pay until I loaded up a trolley full of groceries at Woolies, got to the checkout and realised I left my wallet at home. I had a fortunate brainwave and was able to setup this card on my phone ready to go by the time everything had been scanned. Saved me a 30 min round trip to collect my wallet and immeasurable embarrassment. I know this isn't unique to Amex, but having just gotten a Virgin Money card that doesn't have this feature, I guarantee you'll wonder how you ever lived without it!

Great card - the first that I've ever kept past the initial year. As long as you know you're going somewhere in the next 12 months (moot point on this forum, perhaps?) it's effectively free with the $400 travel credit.

They may have trimmed down the sign up bonus, but it's still worth most of a one way SQ J to SE Asia. Tasty!

60K points for nothing, and you'll be generously adding 30K points to my secret honeymoon stash that will hopefully surprise the soon to be Mrs Michaelangelo with J seats to Cape Town.

My link: http://amex.com.au/refer/enT2z

Cheers!

 

[MicoPico]

This is my favourite AMEX card currently due to the good point earning and features.

If you are eligible and successful in your application, you will get 60000 AMEX Gateway points (which is 10000 more than general amex site) after $1500 eligible spend within 3 months. These 60k Amex points can be transferred to 45000 airline miles like Krisflyer or Asiamiles. (But not qantas).

As the referrer, I get 30000 points.

$395 annual fee is easily offset by the $400 travel credit.

here is my link if you wish to apply. Full benefits, terms and conditions can be found here:
http://amex.com.au/refer/xg81l

 

[k_sheep]

I got this card with the 100k points. Took the card to work to activate it before going on holidays. Got home, no idea where card is. I've only ever lost one card before (broken zip when out for a run), so this was a new record losing it immediately after registering.

Made the call of shame to 'fess up. Answered straight away, very friendly chap who commiserated and made me feel less of a goose. While I was on, he mentioned the smart phone screen insurance which was nice - it was actually something I hadn't known. New card was received promptly.

So I'll be wrestling when/if to cancel this one - don't want to miss out on the next big points bonus, but gee it's a nice card!

My link, just in case you didn't want any of the above http://amex.com.au/refer/katieb7foW

 

[Cynicor]

Screen insurance, like all credit card ins can be hard to activate. Need to make sure that your handset was paid on the card, or actually itemised on your bill apparently.

 

[lang_13]

60,000 bonus Gateway points on offer after $1,500 spend is still good value for those accumulating either KrisFlyer, Velocity or Asia Miles (Also for transfers to Emirates, Etihad, Malaysian, Thai or Air NZ). Plus this is still 10,000 more points than the 50,000 on offer without a referral.

Earn 2 Gateway reward points (equivalent to 1.5 velocity/krisflyer points ) per $1 spend (excl govt bodies - 0.5 gateway points per $. Although keep an eye out as some can be paid using Paypal via Postbillpay for the full earn rate).

Includes $400 travel credit, frequent amex statement credits, 2 American Express Airport Lounge entries and smartphone screen insurance which more than cover the $395 annual fee.

Anyway here’s the link, would appreciate anyone using it to sign-up.

http://amex.com.au/refer/3f1ao

As referrer, I receive 30,000 points

 

[Blackswan]

Throwing my referral link out there. This is my favourite card. 60,000 membership rewards points when you spend $1,500 within the first three months, two entries to the Amex Lounge at SYD international, and my favourite (and well used) feature - Smartphone Screen Insurance up to $500 twice a year, if the phone or contract is paid using the card (particularly handy for the iphone X whereby Apple charge $418.95 for a replacement screen!!!)

Blackswan's Referral Link - Amex Explorer

The $395 annual fee is immediately offset by the $400 travel credit, which can be used for airlines, hotels, hire cars. Full disclosure, I get 30,000 points for referring you.

 

[somebodyhere]

How long after the friend is approved does the referrer get the email notification about the bonus points?

My friend got approved a week ago but I still haven’t got an email. He’s an existing AmEx card holder though, does that still work?

Does he need to activate the card and/or make a spending for it to work?

I do have my Explorer linked to an Ascent Premium rewards program, wondering if that might be why I seem to be missing out.

Thanks.

 

[cnosaj]

How long after the friend is approved does the referrer get the email notification about the bonus points?

My friend got approved a week ago but I still haven’t got an email. He’s an existing AmEx card holder though, does that still work?

Does he need to activate the card and/or make a spending for it to work?

I do have my Explorer linked to an Ascent Premium rewards program, wondering if that might be why I seem to be missing out.

Thanks.

I've had one successful referral and it did not send me a notification about the bonus points, I just noticed them in in balance one day.

It would also depend on the referral promotion at the time, it maybe be X bonus points for $Y spend in Z days for both parties to get the bonus points. As your friend is an existing AmEx card holder he may not get the sign on bonus but someone else may let us know if you still get a referral bonus.

This has been very good card for me, with the smart phone screen insurance came in very handy recently and the decent points earning in addition to the sign on bonus. Also looks great and love the full Apple Pay support, all making it very easy to use.

I'll put my referral link out there too, which I get 30,000 points for referring - http://amex.com.au/refer/jasonczDME?XLINK=MYCP

 

[somebodyhere]

It would also depend on the referral promotion at the time, it maybe be X bonus points for $Y spend in Z days for both parties to get the bonus points. As your friend is an existing AmEx card holder he may not get the sign on bonus but someone else may let us know if you still get a referral bonus.

I don’t think any of the promotions required the referee to reach a certain spend for the referrer to get points?

 

[somebodyhere]

I've had one successful referral and it did not send me a notification about the bonus points, I just noticed them in in balance one day.

Actually this seems to be what happened to me too. I got some points and I can only imagine it’s from my friend

If anyone needs a referral link, please let me know. I know quite a bit about AmEx, happy to answer any questions.

 

[bigray73]

Great card.

1.5 Krisflyer points per $ spent with no cap.

It may be possible to link the card to an Platinum Edge card so that your rewards are in the Ascent Membership Rewards program instead of the Gateway Membership Rewards program in which case you earn 2 Krisflyer points per $ spent on the Explorer card with no cap.

Here's my referral link if you'd like an extra 10,000 points:

http://amex.com.au/refer/raymohdA84?CPID=100291815

 

[prf31]

Hi All,

As above, this is a great card. Easily the best in my point hacking coughnal when you consider the points per dollar (1.5ppd into many programs including Asia Miles, Krisflyer and Velocity Frequent Flyer and 1ppd into Starwood Prefered Guest opening up many other frequent flyer programs through indirect earning, and of course SPG itself).

Coupled with a good earning Visa/MC you’ve got rock solid point earning potential on your everyday spend.

If you choose to use my referral link, you can earn 60,000 Amex Gateway points (converting to 30,000 SPG points or 45,000 Asia Miles, Krisflyer Miles or Velocity points, among others) after approval and meeting the minimum spend criteria of $1,500 in the first three months - 10,000 above direct application without a referral) and I will receive 30,000 Amex Gateway points.

Much appreciated to anyone using this referral:

http://amex.com.au/refer/elizafk1T4?XLINK=MYCP

Cheers!

prf31

 

[ChrisFlyer]

Hey Kamchatsky, nice copy-paste rip-off of my AMEX Explorer spiel from this earlier thread. Are you honestly so lazy that you can't write your own comments about the card from your own experiences, or are you just after some quick and lazy bonus points while taking advantage of the hard research of others, while pretending to be knowledgeable about the product yourself? Pretty pathetic mate.

AMEX has updated its Explorer Card referral sign-on bonus as of today: now when you apply for a new Explorer card, you can earn 60,000 bonus Membership Rewards Gateway points after spending at least $1,500 on the card within the first three months! ...

 

[mrtupperware]

Best Amex card on offer at the moment

Some of the benefits include:

- Various insurance
- 2 Gateway points per dollar spent on almost everything
- $400 travel credit per annum (offset the $395 card fee)
- Bunch of other stuff as mentioned above

I've been using this card for just over a year and so far booked the following awards:

- First class Emirates to Europe
- First class Etihad on the way back
- Various business class around Europe
- 2x business class to the US and back
- LOTS of Starwood nights redeemed (the card transfers to SPG at a great rate of $1 per SPG point)

Apply for your card here and get 60k points (and help me get a 30k referral bonus)

To give back to the community, i'll also do a one hour frequent flyer assistance Skype session with some of the people using my referral, so let me know once you apply and we can schedule a time once the referral points are credited

 

[Irishbazz]

Nothing more to add to what has already been said about the Explorer card. It simply is the best all round earn card available, especially when linked to an ascent reward card.

Referral link: http://amex.com.au/refer/finbamhgEU?XLINK=MYCP

 

[kpc]

You will get 60K (instead of 50K if you apply directly on the Amex website) gateway points via the referral link below, and I'll get 30K gateway points as the referrer . 60K gateway points coverts to: 30K SPG points or 45K Asia Miles, Krisflyer Miles or Velocity points.

My referral link: http://amex.com.au/refer/oN3uZ?XLINK=MYCP

 

[Oubline]

Just adding my link here. You will receive 60,000 Membership Rewards points upon meeting the spend requirements, and I will receive 30,000.

http://amex.com.au/refer/rossgN0v1?CPID=100199911

In my opinion, the best use for MR points is transferring them to SPG (60k converts to 30k). From there you could also transfer them to Marriott Rewards at a 1:3 ratio (90k Marriott).

You can certainly use them to transfer from SPG to all kinds of airline programs but I personally find saving money on hotels to be trickier than airfares these days so really value using these points for free nights.

Feel free to ask me any questions! Cheers

 

[casanovawa]

You will get 60K (instead of 50K if you apply directly on the Amex website) gateway points via the referral link below, and I'll get 30K gateway points as the referrer . 60K gateway points coverts to: 30K SPG points or 45K Asia Miles, Krisflyer Miles or Velocity points.

My referral link: http://amex.com.au/refer/oN3uZ?XLINK=MYCP

Should be getting 30k points shortly KPC as a referral bonus...

 

[kpc]

Should be getting 30k points shortly KPC as a referral bonus...

Thanks!!