Credit Card Offers Amex Explorer: 50,000 bonus Amex points

Earn uncapped Amex Points and enjoy a $400 travel credit every year!​

Learn more and apply for this card:

American Express® Explorer Credit Card

With the American Express Explorer credit card, earn uncapped Amex Membership Rewards points and offset the annual fee with a travel credit.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

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What are the main benefits of this card?

1. Signup bonus: 50,000 bonus Amex Membership Rewards Points, when you spend at least $4,000 on eligible purchases within 3 months of approval
2. Earn 2 Membership Rewards Points per $1 on eligible purchases, uncapped, which you can transfer to 13 different airline & hotel programs
3. $400 annual travel credit fully offsets the $395 annual fee

Why we like the American Express Explorer credit card

This card lets you earn Amex Membership Rewards points at a solid rate of 2 points per dollar, uncapped, without the higher annual fee of the Amex Platinum card.

You can transfer Amex points to 11 airline frequent flyer programs and 2 hotel loyalty programs, generally at a 2:1 rate. For example, this means you’re effectively earning 1 Velocity Point, Qatar Avios or Cathay Asia Mile per $1 spent on the card.

The $395 annual fee is offset by a $400 annual travel credit that you can spend on eligible flights, car rentals or hotels when booking through American Express Travel.

You'll also receive two free annual visits to the Amex Centurion Lounges in Sydney or Melbourne Airport, plus complimentary travel insurance. See our card guide for the full details:

American Express® Explorer Credit Card

With the American Express Explorer credit card, earn uncapped Amex Membership Rewards points and offset the annual fee with a travel credit.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

AFF members are welcome to discuss this card in this thread.

 

[k3nnis]

Thanks guys. Just seems that with small purchases it will take me forever to they that J or F seat lol. Also the $400 voucher will that get me to NZ return?

 

[bismarck]

It'll get you there 30% faster!

The $400 voucher can be used on any flight. So NZ is fine. Even if a flight is more expensive, you can use the voucher and pay the balance with your card.

 

[k3nnis]

Ok thanks. Will see where $400 will take me hopefully ZQN probably only 1 way

 

[adelee]

Ok thanks. Will see where $400 will take me hopefully ZQN probably only 1 way

You can check airfare prices at any time at the american express travel (no need to login to do so). You might just manage $400 (or slightly more) if you wait for an EK or QF NZ flight sale, as these prices are generally reflected in the AMEX portal.

 

[k3nnis]

Thanks for the info

 

[frequentflyer]

Has anyone been able to generate a referral link?

 

[tuvz]

Thanks guys. Just seems that with small purchases it will take me forever to they that J or F seat lol. Also the $400 voucher will that get me to NZ return?

The effective sign up bonus of 75k miles will be more then enough to get you a business seat on SQ or CX etc

Has anyone been able to generate a referral link?

Not yet

 

[mini2]

I've got Plat Charge/Reserve/Edge already and just applied for the Explorer. If I'm ineligible, should I be rejected straight away or going to get a call tomorrow?

 

[nightelves]

I've got Plat Charge/Reserve/Edge already and just applied for the Explorer. If I'm ineligible, should I be rejected straight away or going to get a call tomorrow?

Give them a call they can give you an answeer straight away. Happened to me with the Velocity Platinum application.

 

[adelee]

Give them a call they can give you an answeer straight away. Happened to me with the Velocity Platinum application.

In my case, I received an SMS 4-5 business days after the application was submitted, asking me to call them to discuss the application. At the time, I held the Plat Charge, Plat Velocity and Plat Edge. I was asked to cancel one card in order for the application to proceed. If you don't want it to drag out, would suggest calling up to enquire on status of your application.

 

[coolkid101]

useful article on pointhacks about explorer giving $1:1 SPG point.

Amex Explorer earns equivalent of 1 Starpoint per $ on spend

 

[coolkid101]

also haven't got my card yet but got a letter in the mail saying it had been approved and would come within a week
that letter was yesterday - just looked at my plat charge "membership rewards points history" breakdown to see my $400 explorer credit has been added to that!
not sure what that means - would be awesome if my explorer earned on ascent premium but i'm mostly getting it for the sign up bonus which i'm much less hopeful of getting now

 

[tuvz]

useful article on pointhacks about explorer giving $1:1 SPG point.

Amex Explorer earns equivalent of 1 Starpoint per $ on spend

Its a good read..but purely looking at the points 'dollar value' your better off transferring to some of the other partners (CX, SQ, EY..etc)
That being said, if you are after SPG, you cant get much better then this

 

[Finale]

I'm seriously considering this card. Is it part of local champion yet?

Yep pretty much as soon as you activate the card

 

[bismarck]

Its a good read..but purely looking at the points 'dollar value' your better off transferring to some of the other partners (CX, SQ, EY..etc)
That being said, if you are after SPG, you cant get much better then this

I used to pay more attention to AA but have been more KF focused recently. Pretty sure there are some sweet spots for AA redemptions worth looking at. I'm looking at a SYD-SCL redemption for next year sometime (which is obviously *O territory) and it could be better for me to use AA points via SPG than QF directly.

Just have to work out what to do with all my QF points then...

 

[tuvz]

I used to pay more attention to AA but have been more KF focused recently. Pretty sure there are some sweet spots for AA redemptions worth looking at. I'm looking at a SYD-SCL redemption for next year sometime (which is obviously *O territory) and it could be better for me to use AA points via SPG than QF directly.

Just have to work out what to do with all my QF points then...

Yep definitely true that there can be value in AA especially if you utilise promos like this:

https://www.aa.com/i18n/aadvantage-program/miles/program-offers/earn-more-with-starwood.jsp

In regards to QF, i believe its against the rules of AFF to sell them here, but there are other reliable forums on which you could..

 

[kamchatsky]

For people having a lot of points available in other airline programs, transferring points to SPG becomes a fantastic option. That's what I have done for hotel stays in my past trip to Asia as I still have a lot of airline points to use.

 

[Mr_Orange]

In regards to QF, i believe its against the rules of AFF to sell them here, but there are other reliable forums on which you could..

Nevermind AFF, it is against the QFF T&Cs to sell points. There are no forum sites or auction sites where you can do this without breaching the T&Cs.

 

[mini2]

Plenty of QFF points buyers on OzB...

 

[adelee]

Plenty of QFF points buyers on OzB...

Quite risky though, particularly when the same few users tend to keep buying and selling multiple batches of points, which would surely flag as suspicious in the QF system.

A number of buyers got burned a few months back when QF did an audit and confiscated points transfers where users couldn't prove that the transfer had taken place in line with the T & Cs - while both buyer and seller accounts are suspended and the points confiscated, the buyers are the ones that lose out the most, as they lose both the money they paid for the points as well as the points themselves.