Oh my... I want to say these are “not bad” offers compared to what United’s card offerings have looked like lately, but then United miles aren’t worth what they used to be so it’s almost like let’s devalue the miles, increase the rewards.
And then I look over to Chase’s Ink business offerings, with UR a much more flexible currency and transferrable to UA 1:1, and the CIP earning 80k UR (+20k UR support) for $5k MSR, the CIU earning 50k UR (+15k UR support) for $3k MSR, and the CIC earning 50k UR for $3k MSR. The $10k MSR for 100k UA is still a high minimum and a waste of spend for what you get, but a lot better than the ludicrously tiered spend $5k in 3 months for 50k UA, spend $20k more in the first 6 months for another 50k UA (a $25k MSR for the full 100k UA!!!) offer that just ended.
The personal Explorer offer is, again, “not bad.” It’s a lot better than the just ended tiered 65k UA offer (spend $2k in 3 months for 40k UA, spend $8k in 6 months for an additional 25k UA — $10k MSR for the full 65k UA!!!). Previous iterations of this card have had targeted offers of up to 70k UA — back when United miles were arguably worth more, but I believe with higher $4k or $5k MSRs. 60k UA for only $3k MSR is pretty good if you have a need for United miles and/or you were planning to transfer UR to UA anyway. As I’ve said before, the great thing about the United Explorer card is not the SUB or its bonus categories, but the fact that just holding this card (or its no AF downgradeable option) opens up expanded economy saver award inventory and, if you have it added to your MileagePlus account payment options, you get a 25% cardmember bonus on points earned buying eGCs through MileagePlus X. The Explorer card has its AF waived the first year, and you can product change to the no AF United MileagePlus card after a year (and still retain access to expanded XN inventory and the cardmember bonus in MPX), so you can pay no AFs for the SUB and card benefits. If you fly United, this card is worth considering.
Since we fly out of a United hub and fly on United a lot, I’ve been eyeing the Explorer card to add to DW’s wallet and may finally bite sometime before 4/2, but this will take her to 4/24 and we’ll need to save a slot to churn a certain Chase card or two later this year.
What I am seeing is Chase is offering better SUB terms on their Business and Explorer cards (I guess they didn't get many bites with their last promotion?), but also SUBs on their business and personal Club cards that don’t always offer a SUB instead waiving the high $450 AFs (AF not waived with the current SUB offers).