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.

 

[ChrisFlyer]

I booked QF flights on Sep 10. Everything looked good until Sep 24 when this showed up.

TRAVEL SERVICE FEES PTY LTD MELBOURNE VI $8

I think that's actually the merchant name which shows up for Virgin Australia inflight charges (eg. the buy on board menu stuff)..?

 

[Finale]

I think that's actually the merchant name which shows up for Virgin Australia inflight charges (eg. the buy on board menu stuff)..?

Actually my bad lol yes I did buy a wine on Virgin totally forgot about it. thought it was amex travel.

 

[albyd]

Thanks for sharing your experience luxurytraveller.

I have the Platinum Charge, Edge and Reserve cards. Was thinking of closing Charge and Reserve (I'm getting good use of 3ppd at Supermarkets) and applying for Explorer. Based on your experience, I'm tempted to keep Charge and Edge and close Reserve to get Explorer for 2 Ascent Premium points/$ on all categories except government. I think I can get my moneys worth from Charge utilising the perks and travel credit but otherwise Charge is a $1200 white elephant for 3 ppd on dining (given everything else is 2 points/$ on Explorer).

Nearly earned back the 200 Veda points I lost a year ago with my Charge application so have an itchy trigger finger for Explorer.
Any other Platinum Charge holders had the same experience as luxurytraveller?

 

[auriga]

Just received and activated my Amex Explorer. I had an Amex QF Premium card from early this year, which I cancelled.
Anyway, I set up the Explorer with a new username. There was a section to set up membership rewards. When I looked at it, it was showing the set up as "Ascent" program, instead of Gateway.
I am concerned that this would mean I will not be able to receive the 100K bonus points.

Any thoughts?

 

[nightelves]

Yeap i'm afraid you will not get the 100k bonus signup if it's on the Ascent. Unless someone can prove me wrong.

 

[mrtupperware]

Hey guys

Card received and bonus points posted as soon as the transactions moved out of pending.

Quick question - I noticed I can apply for another Amex card without a fee. Will this be another credit check? Am I right in thinking that if I get the platinum charge (that shows up as one of the cards with $0 fee) i'll have access to FHR, Amex concierge, but I won't get the 80k points bonus?

Thanks

 

[jackthomas]

Hey guys

Card received and bonus points posted as soon as the transactions moved out of pending.

Quick question - I noticed I can apply for another Amex card without a fee. Will this be another credit check? Am I right in thinking that if I get the platinum charge (that shows up as one of the cards with $0 fee) i'll have access to FHR, Amex concierge, but I won't get the 80k points bonus?

Thanks

May I ask where you spotted this? I haven't seen that but would be very interested in doing the same....
Quick question on the side...Does anyone know if we earn FF points for bookings made with our $400 travel credit?

 

[jackthomas]

Hey guys

Card received and bonus points posted as soon as the transactions moved out of pending.

Quick question - I noticed I can apply for another Amex card without a fee. Will this be another credit check? Am I right in thinking that if I get the platinum charge (that shows up as one of the cards with $0 fee) i'll have access to FHR, Amex concierge, but I won't get the 80k points bonus?

Thanks

I've been thinking this over and I've realised, are you sure you're not clicking on the supplementary cards page? That would explain the $0 fee but it's only for extra cards on existing accounts (same card, for family members etc)

Maybe I'm just a pessimist but your promotion sounds far too good to be true.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

I've been thinking this over and I've realised, are you sure you're not clicking on the supplementary cards page? That would explain the $0 fee but it's only for extra cards on existing accounts (same card, for family members etc)

Maybe I'm just a pessimist but your promotion sounds far too good to be true.

Yes IMO it will just be the Supp Card option, and will not allow free different Amexes.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Just received and activated my Amex Explorer. I had an Amex QF Premium card from early this year, which I cancelled.
Anyway, I set up the Explorer with a new username. There was a section to set up membership rewards. When I looked at it, it was showing the set up as "Ascent" program, instead of Gateway.
I am concerned that this would mean I will not be able to receive the 100K bonus points.

Any thoughts?

As you have Ascent, what other Amex cards do you have. The Edge? Or is the new Explorer your only Amex now?

 

[Mr_Orange]

Quick question on the side...Does anyone know if we earn FF points for bookings made with our $400 travel credit?

I don't see why not. It is a travel credit, that could be used for a hotel booking too, not a airline reward seat.

 

[andye]

I don't see why not. It is a travel credit, that could be used for a hotel booking too, not a airline reward seat.

My understanding is that it will be used toward a third party booking (with Amex travel services) so will earn airmiles but not hotel rewards

 

[fairbasa]

Anyone know if you can combine travel credits on a booking? IE if you and your partner both have separate Explorer cards, can you combine the $800 credit on one booking somehow...perhaps by calling up?

 

[auriga]

As you have Ascent, what other Amex cards do you have. The Edge? Or is the new Explorer your only Amex now?

No other Amex cards. Amex QF Premium card was recently cancelled.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

No other Amex cards. Amex QF Premium card was recently cancelled.

Well that is most surprising then.

I can see how if someone is already in Ascent that they link the Explorer to it as Gateway and Ascent are both MR programs. But the Qantas Card would have just been a direct monthly dump to QFF if it is just like the Velocity that I just cancelled with a separate program. So to start up Ascent wen you did not already have an Ascent account is most odd.

 

[adamphosho]

As I have a Platinum Charge card with Ascent Premium - I applied for the Explorer card 3 weeks ago. The Explorer card was automatically linked to my Ascent Premium straight away - thus not getting the separate Gateway program.

I have just spent more than the required $1500 on my Explorer card - but did not get the bonus 100K Gateway Membership Reward points (as I don't even have a Gateway program). But I have been receiving the 2 points per dollar spent on Ascent Premium.

So I called up Amex to double check. The lady said that the reason why there is no Gateway program setup is that for current Platinum Charge members with a higher-tier Membership Rewards program (Ascent Premium) - they give you the "privilege" to earn points at a higher rate as I am a Platinum Charge member.

She said that I can unlink it - therefore getting a new gateway account - but will not receive the 2 points earned for Ascent Premium anymore. I asked her further to see if I could link it back say in a months time. She said once it is unlinked - this can't be undone. So choose very wisely if you are on Ascent Premium.

So my question below is:

I want to get the 100K Gateway bonus points. The only chance I have of getting this is if I have a separate Gateway program. But the negative of this is I create a new Gateway account and do not get the 100K Gateway points - then I've just forfeited my "right" to earn 2 points per dollar on Ascent Premium. The lady of course said since I am already an Amex Card holder - I will not be receiving the Bonus points. But there is the chance of getting the 100K Gateway points since it is an Amex system issue - as I have experienced before with other Amex cards - even though I was a holder of other Amex cards before I still received a welcome bonus.

What would you do in this case?

I am in the same situation as you. I have a Platinum Charge and Velocity Platinum, I applied for Explorer and had it automatically linked to the Ascent Premium. Spend on Explorer is earning at 2ppd into Ascent Premium. No sign up bonus was posted after passing $1500 spend. My reason for signing up to this card was an attempt at getting the signup bonus. I called up to "check" that my not having a Gateway MR account was correct, they said yes this is a "benefit" for you, but they didn't offer to unlink and create one, and I didn't think to ask at the time.

Re: your question of rolling the dice and unlinking. To my recollection, in this thread, there have been no examples of users who had a Gateway account created and *didn't* get the bonus. So I feel somewhat confident that if we unlinked from Ascent Premium and had a Gateway account created, the system would give us the bonus all the same. It is a risk, but I am considering going ahead with it. The extra 0.5ppd on earn isn't a big deal to me - I'll be putting no more than $40k/yr on this card, and I'm not thinking long term enough to realistically expect 2ppd with no bonus to be a better long term outcome than 1.5ppd with a bonus.

 

[potm]

Bear in mind the people who got their bonus had the gateway account created for their cards at the start. I'm not sure that asking for it to be unlinked would result in bonus points. Please report back if you decide to go ahead with it.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

No sign up bonus was posted after passing $1500 spend. .

My guess as that as you have already passed the $1500 is that you would miss out. But it is going to depend on how their software is set up.

 

[kpc]

Cancelled Amex Velocity 2 months ago, and signed up for the Explorer 3 weeks ago and was enrolled in Gateway program . Overnight, the transaction that took me over the $1500 spending threshold posted, and with it the 100k bonus ...what would happen now if I opened a credit account which is linked to the Ascent program?

 

[fairbasa]

Anyone know if you can combine travel credits on a booking? IE if you and your partner both have separate Explorer cards, can you combine the $800 credit on one booking somehow...perhaps by calling up?

Rang up today - not possible.