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.

 

[peanutz]

mmmm I have just applied for the Explorer card and didn't get approval on the spot. I have Platinum (applied & received card in Mar'16) and Edge (applied & received a few years ago). SMS has arrived asking me to call them to discuss my application. What's my chance of getting bonus points?

 

[wxxnxs]

mmmm I have just applied for the Explorer card and didn't get approval on the spot. I have Platinum (applied & received card in Mar'16) and Edge (applied & received a few years ago). SMS has arrived asking me to call them to discuss my application. What's my chance of getting bonus points?

If both of your AMEX cards are credit cards, then they will ask you to cancel one of them in order to get Explorer approved. Bonus points is another story.

 

[peanutz]

If both of your AMEX cards are credit cards, then they will ask you to cancel one of them in order to get Explorer approved. Bonus points is another story.

Strangely they have my DJ card active on their file when I no longer have the card. As for welcome bonus point, I've been told upfront that I'm not entitled

 

[lovetravellingoz]

As for welcome bonus point, I've been told upfront that I'm not entitled

As the t&c state that you are not eligible for bonus points, did you expect any other answer? Once again one should not speak with Amex on things that you may get but which one is not entitled too.

 

[Isochronous]

It seems that the Explorer card isn't allowed to register for certain offers listed on the Amex Network website - when I click the register offer button it redirects to the Amex portal and loads the my offers tab but then doesn't show the original offer I clicked.

Is this a glitch, or do they deliberately shut off certain offers for Explorer?

 

[lang_13]

It seems that the Explorer card isn't allowed to register for certain offers listed on the Amex Network website - when I click the register offer button it redirects to the Amex portal and loads the my offers tab but then doesn't show the original offer I clicked.

Is this a glitch, or do they deliberately shut off certain offers for Explorer?

i haven't tried this but local champion seems to function a little differently. none of the places i have shopped at - supermarkets, dan murphys etc - appear in the list of shops to choose from (unlike my previous platinum edge). i wonder if this is intentional also or are there just a few glitches to be ironed out.

 

[adelee]

I've not had a single offer come through on my Explorer card as yet, so suspect it may indeed be another glitch. I can't think of any reason why offers for this card would be restricted moreso than any other cards in the AMEX stable.

 

[N860CR]

Also have not had any offers, although I've had no issue manually registering the new explorer card (primary and secondary)

 

[Steady]

It seems that the Explorer card isn't allowed to register for certain offers listed on the Amex Network website - when I click the register offer button it redirects to the Amex portal and loads the my offers tab but then doesn't show the original offer I clicked.

Is this a glitch, or do they deliberately shut off certain offers for Explorer?

I also experienced this when trying to register for something - I used a manual link in the end that worked

 

[Damien00]

Re: Offers - we activated the Explorer card for my partner on Friday evening and due to some glitches we had to call up Amex to get this done. The agent on the phone said to watch out in November for offers on this card.

 

[peanutz]

As the t&c state that you are not eligible for bonus points, did you expect any other answer? Once again one should not speak with Amex on things that you may get but which one is not entitled too.

Well, I didn't want to talk to them. I didn't get approval on the spot and had to ring them up as they had my old DJ card active so 2 credit cards on their file being active. I didn't even ask or mention anything about welcome bonus even when they asked why I wanted this card. It's them who kept telling me that I wasn't qualified for the welcome bonus again and again. Even after I said I couldn't care less and just give me the card, the lady still asked me to confirm that I want to go ahead even without getting the welcome bonus which was really weird that she had to press me this hard. She was even said our communication was on record so I then said don't worry then. I have Platinum charge card, Platinum Edge and I'd better get Reserve card for the free flight first and I still have until the end of November to apply for Explorer card again.

 

[adelee]

Has anyone been through a billing cycle for this card yet?

I'm 21 days in, no annual fee has been charged and I'm fast approaching my (albeit small) limit. Have linked by bank account to the card, however have found that as no balance is due, there is absolutely no way for me to pay it off (seems I need to wait for first statement to be raised). Seems a bit bizarre, will need to give them a call, as at this stage, applying the annual fee will take me overlimit.

 

[bismarck]

Has anyone been through a billing cycle for this card yet?

I'm 21 days in, no annual fee has been charged and I'm fast approaching my (albeit small) limit. Have linked by bank account to the card, however have found that as no balance is due, there is absolutely no way for me to pay it off (seems I need to wait for first statement to be raised). Seems a bit bizarre, will need to give them a call, as at this stage, applying the annual fee will take me overlimit.

Mine showed up a day or two before the statement issued.

BPay details are the same as all other Amexs if you need to top up. Biller code is 5082 and reference is your card number.

 

[potm]

You should give them a call to check but you should be able to do a bpay with the card number as the reference number.

 

[michaelangelo]

How are people finding booking travel/using the travel credit through Amex? Am I likely to see the same options and prices as I would using Skyscanner, for example?

 

[Damien00]

How are people finding booking travel/using the travel credit through Amex? Am I likely to see the same options and prices as I would using Skyscanner, for example?

We booked a Qantas flight using it last night and it was pretty straight forward. The pricing was the same as we saw on the Qantas website (didn't compare it to Skyscanner sorry) - now that I come to think of it there was no mention or addition of CC booking fees either which was a positive.

At checkout there was simply an option to use the travel credit (or even redeem points) and the Explorer card details were pre-populated to cover the balance.

One point to note is that the $400 it covered does not appear on your cc statement, only the difference in cost does so its almost like a voucher rather than a statement credit. I doubt there would be any points earn on the the $400 and I assume it wont count towards the minimum spend to trigger bonus points.

The booking appeared in our QFF accounts within a minute or two so it was very easy and simple in my experience.

 

[luxurytraveller]

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?

 

[Finale]

We booked a Qantas flight using it last night and it was pretty straight forward. The pricing was the same as we saw on the Qantas website (didn't compare it to Skyscanner sorry) - now that I come to think of it there was no mention or addition of CC booking fees either which was a positive.

At checkout there was simply an option to use the travel credit (or even redeem points) and the Explorer card details were pre-populated to cover the balance.

One point to note is that the $400 it covered does not appear on your cc statement, only the difference in cost does so its almost like a voucher rather than a statement credit. I doubt there would be any points earn on the the $400 and I assume it wont count towards the minimum spend to trigger bonus points.

The booking appeared in our QFF accounts within a minute or two so it was very easy and simple in my experience.

[-]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[/-]

This was Virgin

 

[Mr_Orange]

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?

Since you are highly unlikely to get the bonus, I would stick with the 2ppd on Ascent Premium.

 

[nightelves]

Saw someone on here mentioned that you have to spend the equivalent of $150k to get the same as 100k Gateway points. Also another person posted that they were able to get the 100k Gateway points even after switching from Ascent to Gateway but forfeited all Ascent point earned prior to the switch over.