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.

 

[annielee]

Just called to get my account linked, and the agent said yes ! But i've to wait for 3 days for the points to be reflected.. hopefully it will fingers cross ....

 

[forumninja]

Called up and the agent said possible to link the accounts but said the bonus points from Gateway would be lost. He recommended to spend it first before linking. Obviously did not go ahead with the linking!

 

[purpleparrot]

I currently have the Explorer card and am thinking about getting my wife to apply for one. She is currently not earning but AMEX has this line in it's eligibility T's & C's:
I have a personal or household gross (pre-tax) annual income of $65,000 or more

Has anyone had experience applying for a non-working spouse based on the household income mentioned above? If so, has it been approved succefuslly by AMEX?

I might call then to check as I don;t want to risk getting a credit hit for my wife if it is declined.

Interestingly if you generate a referral link it only mentions personal income rather than household income as eligibility criteria :idea:

I had this exact same query a couple of months ago. I phoned AMEX and they told me it was based on household income. When you start the application I think there's a screen that discusses that it is household and not personal income. In any event, as you complete the application it asks for income and partner's income. My partner is self-employed, earns much less than $65k and was approved immediately.

 

[Colonel Flagg]

Called up and the agent said possible to link the accounts but said the bonus points from Gateway would be lost. He recommended to spend it first before linking. Obviously did not go ahead with the linking!

I tried tonight twice and got the same answer about losing the Gateway points

Can the Gateway points be retrieved if you do link ?

 

[JessicaTam]

I currently have the Explorer card and am thinking about getting my wife to apply for one. She is currently not earning but AMEX has this line in it's eligibility T's & C's:
I have a personal or household gross (pre-tax) annual income of $65,000 or more

Has anyone had experience applying for a non-working spouse based on the household income mentioned above? If so, has it been approved succefuslly by AMEX?

I might call then to check as I don;t want to risk getting a credit hit for my wife if it is declined.

Interestingly if you generate a referral link it only mentions personal income rather than household income as eligibility criteria :idea:

You will be fine.

 

[rfc4eva]

I got my points and then called to link and the lady said absolutely and even spruiked that i'd be getting better value for my points on the Ascent program.24-72 hour wait

 

[Blackswan]

I got my points and then called to link and the lady said absolutely and even spruiked that i'd be getting better value for my points on the Ascent program.24-72 hour wait

Sounds like the agent I spoke with a few weeks ago, she was said I was smart to move to Ascent given the better value. Points transferred almost instantly. Only problem - the $400 travel credit disappeared from Amex travel website upon linking. I've had to call a few times to chase it up.

 

[rfc4eva]

Just checked mine aren't in there.ill wait another 48hrs.I dont have the $400 credit but i havent paid the $395 yet.

 

[NoName]

So I've read quite a bit on this thread regarding the linking/unlinking to ascent in order to be able to transfer the 110k bonus pts on a 1:1 basis instead of 1:0.75. Question I have not been able to find an answer for (admittedly could have missed it) is this: everyone I have read here appears to have had an already existing ascent account, mainly through the platinum edge card. I don't have this. If I was to open a card in a few months time that was on the ascent program will I still be able to link my Explorer card to it?

 

[daft009]

Yes, I'll be doing the same in a month or 2

 

[imipenam]

Just checked mine aren't in there.ill wait another 48hrs.I dont have the $400 credit but i havent paid the $395 yet.

Data point: My travel credit also disappeared after linkage. After about 2 - 3 weeks, upon paying the $395 fee, the travel credit reappeared again. If you are going to ring up, I suggest ringing up the foreign call centres. I rang the Australian centre to enquire about the travel credit early on but the CSR was nosey enough to see that my accounts were linked and said it wasn't meant to be ... and was going to initiate an enquiry on my account. I told her in no uncertain terms to leave my account alone. Fortunately, nothing happened to my linked accounts and points. I have since used my travel credit successfully. Worst scenario, ring up Amex travel if you need to book in a hurry and get them to apply the credit manually.

 

[albyd]

That was my thinking too. I saw it disappear. Not in a hurry to use it - figured I'd book over the phone when I'm ready and they can see I haven't used it yet and just apply it manually. Will have been more time since the linking to muddy the waters. Points uplift from linking is worth a lot more than $400 so prepared to forgo it in year 1 to ensure no unnecessary digging around to "find" it.

 

[Ken1]

Just checked mine aren't in there.ill wait another 48hrs.I dont have the $400 credit but i havent paid the $395 yet.

My $400 Travel Credit showed up under My Redemptions around a week after I received and started using the card. Just under a week later I called and spoke to someone in the Philippines call centre asking to have the Explorer card de-linked from Ascent to Gateway and that was done straight away. I spent the $1500 and received the 110,000 bonus points. Five days later I phoned and spoke to someone in the US call centre around 5am on a Sunday morning to ask to have the Gateway and Ascent programs merged to Ascent. I was told that normally you can't combine the two programs because the points in Ascent are worth more but that he would file a request to the back end team and that I would hear from someone in 3 to 5 business days.

I didn't hear anything from anyone and didn't see any changes in my account to the two programs when I checked each day and was thinking that the request had been unsuccessful and that I would have to call and try again in another few days. A week later I logged in and saw that under the Explorer card to view points under card number xx_xx and then saw that the points had been moved to the Ascent program, including the 110,000 bonus points so I was very relieved and very happy, so a big thank you to everyone who has posted their advice and experiences here.

The $400 travel credit always showed under My Redemptions, both before and after the Gateway account was created and then combined back to Ascent. The $395 annual card fee was posted to my card account on the day the statement was issued, just under two weeks later.

I've read here that some people have had the $400 travel credit disappear when accounts were delinked or relinked but have been told by Amex that they can call up to use it, even if it is not showing under My Redemptions at the time. Yours may still show up soon. There have been lots of examples of points transfers not showing for a few days but eventually showing up.

 

[annielee]

When i called yesterday for both MR to be linked, the agent said no problem and even told me the pros of getting both merged, and told me to wait for 3 days for the points to be transferred, as at now, i can only see both MR merged but Gateway points not transferred yet.. will wait for another 2 days...

 

[SOPOOR]

I've had my card for two weeks odd noe
The travel credit has shown up as 400
But when I go to book the option to use it doest come up

Terms and conditions say that it will become available once I pay the annual fee after the first month.....

OH well. As I was trying to use it last night

 

[JessicaTam]

I've had my card for two weeks odd noe
The travel credit has shown up as 400
But when I go to book the option to use it doest come up

Terms and conditions say that it will become available once I pay the annual fee after the first month.....

OH well. As I was trying to use it last night

I have only just got this card so have yet to use the travel credit, however my understanding is that you have to ring up to use it. I.e. it can't be used online.

Happy to be corrected.

 

[Dr Ralph]

I have only just got this card so have yet to use the travel credit, however my understanding is that you have to ring up to use it. I.e. it can't be used online.

Happy to be corrected.

I'm yet to use mine. But I have used the spend $200 get $50 offers recently. When I did so it asked if I wanted to use the $400 credit as my payment.

Edit - appears you can definitely do it online:

How to redeem your travel credit (https://www.americanexpress.com/au/content/explorer-travel-credit.html):

'Step 1: Visit americanexpress.com.au/travel
Step 2: Login with your account details.
Step 3: Search the best options across airline, hotel, experiences or car hire to suit your itinerary.
Step 4: When you're ready to make your booking, choose to redeem your Travel Credit. Your booking value must be equivalent to, or more than your Travel Credit amount.
Step 5: Pay for additional costs with your American Express Card, Membership Rewards points or both!
Step 6: Review and confirm your booking.'

 

[annielee]

as long as you can 'see' $400 credit in your account, then you can redeem it online..some of us can't see it anymore coz of the MR linking, but we still can access the travel credit via a phone call..

I have only just got this card so have yet to use the travel credit, however my understanding is that you have to ring up to use it. I.e. it can't be used online.

Happy to be corrected.

 

[Steady]

I have only just got this card so have yet to use the travel credit, however my understanding is that you have to ring up to use it. I.e. it can't be used online.

Happy to be corrected.

I'm yet to use mine. But I have used the spend $200 get $50 offers recently. When I did so it asked if I wanted to use the $400 credit as my payment.

Edit - appears you can definitely do it online:

How to redeem your travel credit:

'Step 1: Visit americanexpress.com.au/travel
Step 2: Login with your account details.
Step 3: Search the best options across airline, hotel, experiences or car hire to suit your itinerary.
Step 4: When you're ready to make your booking, choose to redeem your Travel Credit. Your booking value must be equivalent to, or more than your Travel Credit amount.
Step 5: Pay for additional costs with your American Express Card, Membership Rewards points or both!
Step 6: Review and confirm your booking.'

as long as you can 'see' $400 credit in your account, then you can redeem it online..some of us can't see it anymore coz of the MR linking, but we still can access the travel credit via a phone call..

Confirming when you can see it in your account, it is easy to use online

 

[SOPOOR]

Confirming when you can see it in your account, it is easy to use online

I'm having trouble with mine

I haven't paid the annual fee

I see my credit but when I check out the option to use the travel credit isn't there.
The demo video they have shows it.
But mine doesnt