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

---

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.

 

[Dannyism]

Mine says Membership Rewards. Is that different to Gateway? I held Velocity Gold Amex earlier this year.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Mine says Membership Rewards. Is that different to Gateway? I held Velocity Gold Amex earlier this year.

Gateway and Ascent are both Membership Reward Programs.

 

[mrtupperware]

Yes, its the supp card option. If I get one of the ones that converts at 1:1, will I keep my regular plan (Explorer, 4:3) or join the better one (like the Edge)?

 

[luxurytraveller]

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.

Yeah - I am still thinking of getting an unlinked Gateway account to see if I can get the 100K Gateway Membership points. Hoping that someone else in the community would have done it before to tell us what the results were. I think if you do go ahead - maybe transfer your points from your Acscent account to an airline frequent flyer program first - just in case Amex stuff up with your membership reward programs and deduct what is already in your account.

 

[Lawrage]

Finally took the plunge on an Amex card. Applied and approved.

Card is on the way.

 

[frequentflyer]

Has anyone been able to create a referral link?

 

[Steady]

Has anyone been able to create a referral link?

Not working yet for me

 

[adelee]

Not working yet for me

Nor me. I've checked periodically (when I click on the 'refer a friend' link when I'm viewing my Explorer card, I get a link for my other card (Platinum Edge). I'm sure we'll all know very quickly once it comes live

 

[Dannyism]

Gateway and Ascent are both Membership Reward Programs.

Got my bonus points shortly after posting this.

Data point - Got 100k bonus points almost instantly after 1500 spend cleared. Closed a Gold Velocity Amex in March 2016. Held no other AMEX cards. Created a new login.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Got my bonus points shortly after posting this.

Data point - Got 100k bonus points almost instantly after 1500 spend cleared. Closed a Gold Velocity Amex in March 2016. Held no other AMEX cards. Created a new login.

So I assume your are now showing as Gateway now?

 

[Dannyism]

So I assume your are now showing as Gateway now?

Yep. Took me a long long long time and a lot of clicking around to figure out where to find that.

 

[Steady]

Got my bonus points shortly after posting this.

Data point - Got 100k bonus points almost instantly after 1500 spend cleared. Closed a Gold Velocity Amex in March 2016. Held no other AMEX cards. Created a new login.

I'm similar, I cancelled the Velocity Platinum in April, no other direct Amex, created a new login, bonus posted as soon as the spend was reached.

 

[HTG2016]

Confirmed 100k bonus points applied to my account this morning, whilst holding Velocity Platinum & Platinum Charge.

Curious to know how long after the $1500 before you received the 100k bonus points . Received a SMS today saying that cards approved and will be send within 7 days . Looking forward to book some SPG Free nights with this bonus point on our Stay around end of November .

 

[winstonAU]

I'm similar, I cancelled the Velocity Platinum in April, no other direct Amex, created a new login, bonus posted as soon as the spend was reached.

Cancelled Velocity Platinum in June, still hold Platinum Edge. Separate login created. Bonus points posted as soon as spend was reached.

 

[adamphosho]

Cancelled Velocity Platinum in June, still hold Platinum Edge. Separate login created. Bonus points posted as soon as spend was reached.

For those who created a separate login, did you achieve this by listing a different email address on this credit card application? I listed the same email address as my other cards used, and so I don't recall being asked to create an login, it just automatically merged with my existing one

 

[liamsal]

I currently have the Velocity Platinum and am thinking of cancelling that and applying for Explorer and Platinum Edge - couple of Q's before I do though (probably been answered before so apologies in advance):

People are mentioning about earning 2 points per $ spent. Does this equal 2 VA or SQ points per dollar (excluding government), or 1.35/1.5 per $? I read an earlier post about a few people earning 2 points per $ but am confused - is this 2 FFP or 2 MR points which convert to less FF points?

When using the $400 travel voucher on flights, do you earn status credits/points as if you were booking a flight normally?

I was going to hold off on the Explorer until next year when my Velocity annual fee is due but I want to nab to 100k points offer in case it drops before then.

Cheers in advance

 

[albyd]

The explorer's program is a different level of MR works out to equivalent of 1.5 airline miles per dollar spent vs 1 MR for ascent and ascent premium members.
There are reports that members with Platinum charge card (ascent premium) are seeing explorer added to Ascent Premium rather than a new gateway account being created which means they're earning 2 true points per dollar but they're not getting the sign up points.

 

[greenfrog86]

Yes, its the supp card option. If I get one of the ones that converts at 1:1, will I keep my regular plan (Explorer, 4:3) or join the better one (like the Edge)?

Supp cards follow the rules of the parent card: ie if you have platinum charge and get a supp for a family member, their spend will earn points under the ascent premium program.

The only other scenario I'm aware of is the 'companion cards' that can be received if you hole a platinum charge. They are cards whose rules get overwritten by the charge account - ie your spend on a platinum reserve will accrue under the same program as the charge, despite the Reserve having a different program if held alone (ie with no charge card).

I don't understand what you are trying to ask in your quoted statement above...

 

[somewhat]

It seems everyone got the 100K points bonus, but me.

Not sure bad luck or just need a little more patience. Official saying, bonus points will reach account after 8-12 weeks....

Got my Explorer card on 3 Sep, active card and register new online account. Spent about 1.7K for buying some gift cards online and pay some bills via PayPal.
Transaction cleared on 5 Sep, but bonus point didn't show up. A little disappointed.

Previous holding Amex BMW Gold card, cancelled by May 2016.

No sure what happened. Is Buying gift cards eligible for signup bonus transaction?

 

[jackofspade]

The BMW Gold card has MR Gateway so maybe your Explorer card is linked to your old MR Gateway account and therefore no bonus points for existing MR account. Check your MR account number with your old BMW Gold statement to see whether it's the same.