Is the United Explorer card worth the $150 annual fee?

Chase and United recently refreshed all of their co-branded credit cards, including the United Explorer card. In this refresh, the annual fee for the United Explorer card increased from $95 to $150 and some key perks have changed (some for the better, some for the worse).

The United Explorer card currently has a sign-up bonus of 80,000 miles after you spend $3,000 in your first three months, which I think is a pretty decent offer (The Points Guy currently values United miles at 1.35 cents per mile, making the bonus worth ~$1,080). But for purposes of this article, I’m going to ignore the bonus and focus on whether the card alone is worth the $150 annual fee.

Here, I’ll discuss whether the new United Explorer card is worth the $150 annual fee.

Earning rates on the United Explorer card

The United Explorer card earns United MileagePlus miles for your spend at the following rates:

• 5 miles for every $1 spent on hotel stays purchased through United hotels.
• 2 miles for every $1 spent on purchases with United, on dining (including eligible delivery services), and hotel accommodations booked directly with the hotel.
• 1 mile for every $1 spent on everything else.

Overall, I would say the earning rates on the United Explorer card are nothing to be excited about compared to other card offerings.

For example, if you instead got the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, which has an annual fee of $95, you’d earn 3 points for every $1 spent on dining and 2 points for every $1 spent on United (and on other travel). With the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, you’d earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points instead of United miles, and Chase Ultimate Reward points are much more valuable than United miles, as you can transfer those points to United or to any other of Chase’s transfer partners, like Air France, British Airways, Hyatt, and more.

Because of the versatility of Chase Ultimate Reward points, The Points Guy currently values Chase Ultimate Rewards points at 2.05 cents per mile, which is about 52% higher than the value given to United miles. So basically, not only does the Chase United Explorer card earn the same or less miles/points than the cheaper Chase Sapphire Preferred card, but the miles earned on the United Explorer card worth less.

United Explorer card benefits

While you shouldn’t get the United Explorer card for the amount of points that it earns, there are some benefits that could make the card the $150 annual fee. Below is an overview of most of the card’s current benefits:

• Two United Club Passes each anniversary (note that the cardholder has to be present to redeem these passes, which is a departure from how these passes previously worked, where you could gift them to friends or family).
• Priority boarding.
• Free first checked bag.
• 25% back on inflight purchases and on premium drinks at United Clubs.
• No foreign transaction fees.
• Complimentary Instacart+ membership for 3 months and then a 25% discount off the monthly rate.
• Earn up to 1,000 PQP, with 1 PQP earned for every $20 in spend (so you’d need to spend $20,000 to earn 1,000 PQP).
• 10,000-mile award flight discount after spending $20,000 in a calendar year.
• Trip cancellation and interruption insurance.
• Baggage delay insurance.
• Auto rental coverage.
• Extended warranty protection.
• Up to $120 Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or NEXUS fee credit every four years.
• Up to $100 in United Hotels credits (earned as $50 every six months).
• Up to $60 in rideshare purchases (earned as $5 every month).
• Up to $120 in Instacart credits (earned as $10 every month).
• Up to $100 in credits for JSX purchases (earned annually).
• Up to $50 in United travel credits for Avis or Budget car rental purchases (earned as a $25 credit for up to two rentals).
• $100 United travel credit after you spend $10,000 in a calendar year.

So the card has a host of benefits, and I put the cash savings benefits last for a reason: so you can see that if you take advantage of just the cash savings benefits, you could earn upwards of $650 from the card.

So while by that metric the card is more than worth the $150 annual fee, the issue is that as a cardholder, you’ll either need to keep track of all your purchases to ensure that you receive all of the savings/credits mentioned above or you’ll need to use the United Explorer card as your only card to ensure you don’t miss out the savings/credits (but given the earning benefits are so low on the card, I would not recommend that anyone make the United Explorer your primary spend card).

Who would benefit from the United Explorer card?

While from a purely numbers perspective, the United Explorer is worth the $150 annual fee, given the low earning rates, the low value of United miles compared to other credit card points and currencies, and other credit card options, I don’t think the United Explorer card is worth it for most individuals looking for a new credit card.

That said, the United Explorer card could be worth getting for some people, including:

• If you like to points hack and would like to earn the current 80,000 mile sign-up bonus and get rid of the card after a year.
• If you don’t have status with United and value priority boarding and a free checked bag.
• If you are OCD enough to keep track of and use the monthly coupons the card gives you (like the $5 monthly rideshare credit), so you can take full advantage of those benefits.

Note that I didn’t include the ability to earn PQP as a reason to have the United Explorer card as they cap PQP earning at 1,000 PQP per year, so if you’re looking to get a United card for earning PQP, you should instead look at the $350 annual fee United Quest card which has a 18,000 PQP cap.

Bottom line

In general, the refreshed United Explorer card is underwhelming and while technically is worth the $150 annual fee, the card is not a good choice for most people unless they are able to really put the effort into getting the most of the card.

What are your thoughts on the refreshed United Explorer card? Let me know in the comments.