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.

 

[AndersK]

An update... checked just now. Explorer now linked to Gateway. Platinum Edge shows NO rewards at all in the account summary. AND my full points balance (only a few thousand) was transferred from Ascent to Gateway?? Not quite what I wanted.

When viewing rewards statement, I do have the option to switch between the two rewards accounts, so the two rewards programs are still there, just Platinum Edge doesn't seem to be linked to any rewards from the main account summary.

Any ideas on what has happened? Should I wait a day or two to see if it gets sorted, or call them up to clarify?

This is my current status as well. spoke to amex yesterday about it and they would try to get the edge back on Ascent but told me that there is a chance that i would end up with both cards on Ascent. Was also told that i would definitely not get any signup bonus for the explorer. Anyway, $1500 is now spent on the explorer and i'm just waiting for the charges to get confirmed. if i do end up getting the bonus i'll transfer it to KrisFlyer faster than you can say wooloomooloo lol

 

[SOPOOR]

So what is likely to happen with me?

Have Explorer. Got the bonus points.
Just been approved Plat edge. Card on the way.
Would they auto merge my account? Or do I have to call and is there a chance I could lose my 100k points

Are people losing their points because they got the Plat edge bonus first?

 

[rfc4eva]

Got my points from gateway to ascent

 

[nightelves]

Got my points from gateway to ascent

Including the 110k points?

 

[crossbow]

This is my current status as well. spoke to amex yesterday about it and they would try to get the edge back on Ascent but told me that there is a chance that i would end up with both cards on Ascent. Was also told that i would definitely not get any signup bonus for the explorer. Anyway, $1500 is now spent on the explorer and i'm just waiting for the charges to get confirmed. if i do end up getting the bonus i'll transfer it to KrisFlyer faster than you can say wooloomooloo lol

My accounts now appear to be sorted. Called the direct membership rewards number this afternoon on advice of online chat agent. The Australian I spoke to could see the problem and set me up with new Ascent program linked to Plat Edge, and restored points I earned in Ascent.

So now have I have it the way it should have been to start with - Explorer linked to Gateway, Plat Edge to Ascent. Charges over $1500 pending tonight, fingers crossed the bonus hits. I plan to transfer bonus out from Gateway to SPG directly if it does, and probably happy to leave the accounts that way for a while.

 

[unfunkable]

Just had another thought . For people whose explorer card come's linked and they won't de-link to make a gateway. if you cancel your plat edge account (move the points out first ), your account should them revert to gateway, then you can make the required spend and get the bonus points, then apply for a plat edge again or plat charge if you need to. At least you don't miss out on the 110,000 gateway point's.



That is what we plan to do if it's too hard

 

[lovetravellingoz]

. Charges over $1500 pending tonight, fingers crossed the bonus hits. .

Note that the actual spend will need to have happened after you were all linked to Gateway.

 

[crossbow]

Note that the actual spend will need to have happened after you were all linked to Gateway.

Yep, charge was made after I had noticed Gateway was finally linked up. Will see what happens anyway.

 

[Berko613]

Hi Folks,

Been silently following this thread for a few weeks now. It took me a while to get through it all, but I think that I've read everything now and thought that I would share my experience as it may help/give hope to others in a similar situation (despite the 110k offer now being finished).

I was an existing Essential card holder (gateway program) and applied for a Qantas Ultimate card and received my 110000 QFF bonus in early January. I then cancelled my Essential card (I made sure to transfer out all MR Gateway points first to ensure that my Gateway program would completely close) and approximately a week later applied for the Explorer card. Upon activation of the Explorer (and the reappearance of a Gateway program on my account), I rang customer service and requested my Membership Rewards number and it was different to the one that I had previously had under the Essential card (if it wasn't I was going to ask if a new one could be created as I needed the point earnings to be distinguishable on the new card etc). I have just reached the minimum spend and can confirm that I have received the 110k sign up bonus. Plan is to cancel the Qantas card after a year and then consider applying for a Platinum Edge card if the linking loophole is still available by some slim chance.

So in summary, despite having an existing Gateway Membership Rewards account in the last 18 months (in fact, within the same calendar month), as long as a new Membership Rewards number is created/generated then it appears that the points are up for grabs. Obviously, it sounds like some changes are in the air, so there are no guarantees, but I struggled to find exact confirmation of this specific situation before applying, so thought I would share my positive outcome.

 

[Dr Ralph]

Hi Folks,

Been silently following this thread for a few weeks now. It took me a while to get through it all, but I think that I've read everything now and thought that I would share my experience as it may help/give hope to others in a similar situation (despite the 110k offer now being finished).

I was an existing Essential card holder (gateway program) and applied for a Qantas Ultimate card and received my 110000 QFF bonus in early January. I then cancelled my Essential card (I made sure to transfer out all MR Gateway points first to ensure that my Gateway program would completely close) and approximately a week later applied for the Explorer card. Upon activation of the Explorer (and the reappearance of a Gateway program on my account), I rang customer service and requested my Membership Rewards number and it was different to the one that I had previously had under the Essential card (if it wasn't I was going to ask if a new one could be created as I needed the point earnings to be distinguishable on the new card etc). I have just reached the minimum spend and can confirm that I have received the 110k sign up bonus. Plan is to cancel the Qantas card after a year and then consider applying for a Platinum Edge card if the linking loophole is still available by some slim chance.

So in summary, despite having an existing Gateway Membership Rewards account in the last 18 months (in fact, within the same calendar month), as long as a new Membership Rewards number is created/generated then it appears that the points are up for grabs. Obviously, it sounds like some changes are in the air, so there are no guarantees, but I struggled to find exact confirmation of this specific situation before applying, so thought I would share my positive outcome.

Thanks for the report and welcome to AFF Berko613. Looks like the time you took to do the research has paid off for you.

 

[Berko613]

Thanks Dr Ralph. Yes, despite not finding anyone who was in the exact situation that I was in, the info and experiences that others in this thread had shared convinced me that it was worth a shot. So to all of you I say THANK YOU!!!

 

[MicoPico]

A datapoint from me...
- existing gold credit card (ex BMW gold) in Ascent.
- applied on 20/1 using referral link
- approved on 24/1
- card posted on 25/1 and received and activated on 30/1. Explorer auto-linked to Ascent
- called amex on 30/1 to delink. When it was done I got a "we're sorry" message when I clicked on Your Points Balance. So I asked CSR to check. He did something and then I couldn't see points in either Gateway nor Ascent. He put me on hold and did something again, and it went back to the mode where I can see my Gateway and Ascent point balance on each of the card's landing page, but I still got the "we're sorry" message upon clicking Your Points Balance. He said that he is 100% sure everything is fine and may take a day to resolve the sorry message issue.
- did my $1500 by 31/1
- 110k gateway MR posted early 2/2

now... pondering whether to try relink. May try it late night or weekend.

 

[crossbow]

110k bonus posted this morning. Success! Will be transferring straight out from Gateway via SPG, rather than trying to relink and get the bonus moved across.

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has posted and contributed in this thread!

 

[crossbow]

- called amex on 30/1 to delink. When it was done I got a "we're sorry" message when I clicked on Your Points Balance. So I asked CSR to check. He did something and then I couldn't see points in either Gateway nor Ascent. He put me on hold and did something again, and it went back to the mode where I can see my Gateway and Ascent point balance on each of the card's landing page, but I still got the "we're sorry" message upon clicking Your Points Balance. He said that he is 100% sure everything is fine and may take a day to resolve the sorry message issue.

For about an hour after I got everything linked up yesterday, I saw the same thing - a "we're sorry" error message trying to view rewards statement. I think this is probably normal after membership rewards account changes, it must take a little bit of time for the system to sync up or something.

 

[Returnofthemach]

Ok all this talk of closing loopholes is making me a little nervous - Currently have a Plat Edge on Ascent which I am more than happy with. Applied through a referral link for an Explorer which is now sitting next to me, unopened. Is it even worth experimenting with this? Some pople have referenced the ability to cancel the card and have the annual fee reversed with 30 days. Has anyone actually done this?

I'm guessing I should probably just activate it and hope it has been set up as a seperate Gateway account rather than being linked to my current ascent? At the end of the day I am happy redeeming 110k Gateway points directly into Velocity etc, I don't have the time or patience to risk trying to re-link everything to ascent and obviously don't want to risk losing the gateway bonus if I even ever get it...

 

[AndersK]

110k bonus posted this morning. Success! Will be transferring straight out from Gateway via SPG, rather than trying to relink and get the bonus moved across.

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has posted and contributed in this thread!

thanks for the update! this gives me hope. my final charge that takes me over $1500 will confirm tomorrow *crossing fingers*

 

[crossbow]

Ok all this talk of closing loopholes is making me a little nervous - Currently have a Plat Edge on Ascent which I am more than happy with. Applied through a referral link for an Explorer which is now sitting next to me, unopened. Is it even worth experimenting with this? Some pople have referenced the ability to cancel the card and have the annual fee reversed with 30 days. Has anyone actually done this?

I'm guessing I should probably just activate it and hope it has been set up as a seperate Gateway account rather than being linked to my current ascent? At the end of the day I am happy redeeming 110k Gateway points directly into Velocity etc, I don't have the time or patience to risk trying to re-link everything to ascent and obviously don't want to risk losing the gateway bonus if I even ever get it...

Definitely activate and see what you get. If you get it linked to Ascent and don't want to try unlinking, at least you've got a card earning 2pts/$ to velocity which is a great earn rate. If you get it linked to Gateway you should get the bonus (and worth 82,500 velocity which is still a great bonus). Even if you don't want to fuss with unlinking and linking, either way you still win.

 

[Returnofthemach]

. Even if you don't want to fuss with unlinking and linking, either way you still win.

Thank you. From what I am reading I gather the de-linking is not so much an issue, more de-linking to try to get the bonus and then attempting linking back to ascent? If I was able to de-link, get the bonus , I would happily transfer the bonus straight out at the gateway rate and leave the accounts separate, or try to re-link later with 0 gateway points in credit to reduce the risk...

 

[White3186]

After receiving approval SMS how long did it take for everyone to receive their card?

 

[lang_13]

After receiving approval SMS how long did it take for everyone to receive their card?

was approved on a friday and card arrived the following thursday