Update: DEAD! Don’t miss it if this becomes alive again. Sign up for deal notification alerts here!
Table of Contents
Limited time signup bonus
For a limited time only, you can earn up to 100,000 bonus miles for opening a Chase United Explorer Business Card. You’ll get 50,000 bonus miles for spending $5,000 in 3 months and another and another 50,000 bonus miles for spending an additional $20,000 in 6 months.
Annual fee
There is a $95 annual fee.
Welcome bonus terms
You can receive the bonus on this card if you haven’t received a bonus on a United business card in the past 24 months and don’t currently have a United business card.
You can receive the bonus on this card even if you got a United consumer card in the past 24 months or currently have a United consumer card.
Card benefits
- A free checked bag for the cardholder and a companion, even on basic economy fares.
- A free carry-on bag for the cardholder and companions, even on basic economy fares.
- Priority boarding for the cardholder and companions, even on basic economy fares.
- The ability to use online checkin and get a boarding pass in advance on basic economy fares. United does not allow online checkin on basic economy fares unless you have elite status or a United card with free bags.
- 2 free United Club passes every year for being a cardmember.
- Miles that will never expire as long as you are a United cardholder, even if you don’t have any activity.
- Primary rental car CDW insurance in the US when renting for business purposes and in every other country for any rental purpose.
- 2 miles per dollar on United, restaurants, gas stations, and office supply stores.
- No foreign exchange fees.
- Exclusive cardmember access to auctions that allow you to use your miles for once-in-a-lifetime experiences. A few years ago I used 25K miles for 4 field box seats to an Indians game along with the right to run onto the field before the top of the 7th inning and swipe 2nd base right off the field. Nobody could believe it as I walked around the ballpark with 2nd base. I even got it signed after the game by the Indians wining pitcher that night, Justin Masterson, who was equally shocked that I actually had 2nd base.
- Cardholders with United elite status get free upgrades on coach award tickets on upgrade eligible routes.
- If you spend $25K/year on the card it waives the requirement to spend $3K on United flights to get Silver status, $6K on United flights to get Gold status, and $9K on United flights to get Platinum status. You only need to fly the 25K, 50K, or 75K miles like in the good old days.
Business card and 5/24 info
This is a business card, but you may already have a business that needs a card to keep track of expenses. For example if your name is Joe Smith and you sell items online, or if you have any other side business and want a credit card to better keep track of business expenditures you can open a business credit card for “Joe Smith” as the business. You don’t need to file any messy government paperwork to be allowed to do that. Just be sure to select “Sole Proprietorship” as the business type and just use your social security number in the Tax Identification Number field.
It’s important to just write your own name as the business name if you are just applying for your own small business as a Sole Proprietorship that doesn’t have any business paperwork.
If you’re like me and you run more than one business, you can signup for multiple of the same card for each business to manage each businesses expenses separately.
All Chase cards appear to be subject to 5/24 restrictions, meaning that you are not likely to be approved if you have been approved for 5 or more consumer credit cards in the past 24 months. Note that the Chase system automatically counts cards like authorized user cards and store cards as cards that count towards 5/24, but if you explain to Chase that those cards are merely authorized user cards or store cards they can manually approve you for a new card.
However, it’s important to note that business cards from most banks, including Chase business cards, do not get added to your 5/24 count of recently opened cards. That’s because business cards from most banks don’t show up on your personal credit report and the 5/24 count is based off of your personal credit report. That means that applying for these cards won’t “hurt” your 5/24 count.
Another benefit of the card not reporting on your personal credit report is that when you spend money on personal cards your credit score will be hurt even if you pay your bill on time. A whopping 30% of your credit score is based on credit utilization. You can pay off your card bill before your statement is generated to avoid that, but that takes effort and laying out money well before you have to. Additionally it’s good to have the statement close with a couple dollars to show the card is active and being paid every month. On an business cards from banks like AMEX and Chase it’s just not reported, so you can wait until the money is due without it having a negative effect on your score. That also means if you close the card, it won’t have an effect on your credit score.
Expanded award ticket availability
The reason this card is the best airline card you can get isn’t for the spending benefits, it’s for the perks. And they are awesome.
The reason this is my favorite airline card is that the United card is the only airline card that offers expanded award ticket availability.
This increases the value of your miles significantly and in turn makes the Chase Quadfecta/Quinfecta spending strategy even more valuable.
Cardholders have access to expanded saver coach award availability (XN class), last seat standard coach award availability (YN class), and last seat standard business/first class award availability (JN class).
It’s not just slightly expanded. There is a world of difference between the availability that cardholders can access and the availability for non-cardholders.
Availability calendar for non-cardholders:
Availability calendar for cardholders:
Read more about this in the United Expert Mode post.
This availability differential applies to all domestic and international routes and makes it crucial to be a United cardholders.
Expanded Plan B availability
As you have better access to saver coach awards you’ll also have better ability to do Plan B awards.
Plan B allows you to redeem for saver business class awards when there’s only saver coach available! Read more about Plan B in this post.
No airline besides United offers a Plan B style award redemption.
Discounted awards for cardholders
United runs promotions offering discounts on award flights for cardholders.
They have offered these discounts for travel to Tahiti, Ski destinations, Hawaii, Mexico, The Caribbean, and more
New 5K Saver Awards
United recently introduced new lower cost saver awards starting at just 5K miles:
I went about compiling a list of all award rates on all of United’s flights to/from NYC and here’s where I found one-way saver awards for less than the normal rate:
- Atlanta, Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, Montreal, Myrtle Beach, Orlando, Toronto: 5K
- Asheville, Norfolk, Richmond, Washington DC: 5.5K
- Burlington, Portland/PWM: 6K
- Knoxville, Savannah, Syracuse: 9K
- Buffalo, Charleston, Charlotte, Cleveland, Grand Rapids, Rochester: 9.5K
- Houston: 10.5K
- Denver, Minneapolis, New Orleans: 11K
- Miami, West Palm Beach: 11.5K
- Dallas, Madison, Nashville, Seattle: 12K
Short haul routes to/from NYC where I only found the regular 10K saver rate: Akron, Albany, Bangor, Boston, Detroit, Greensboro, Greenville, Halifax, Hilton Head, Indianapolis, Louisville, Nantucket, Pittsburgh, Presque Isle, Providence, Quebec City, Raleigh, South Bend, Traverse City
Long haul routes to/from NYC where I only found the regular 12.5K saver rate: Austin, Bentonville, Bozeman, Fort Myers, Jacksonville, Jackson Hole, Kansas City, Key West, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Memphis, Milwaukee, Montrose, Orange County, Palm Springs, Pensacola, Phoenix, Portland/PDX, Rapid City, S. Louis, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Sarasota, Steamboat Springs, Tampa, Vail, Vancouver
The advantage of United MileagePlus
In general I’m a big fan of United miles as they’re part of the Star Alliance, which has the best award availability of any airline alliance.
Best of all, United never charges any fuel surcharges. Other airlines like American collect massive fuel surcharges to fly on British Airways. Delta charges fuel surcharges to fly on some partners and if you originate in Europe and other regions. United will never collect a fuel surcharge and they have access to awards on 36 partner airlines which means better availability on more awards.
A short-haul United domestic award under 700 miles in distance is just 10,000 miles. That’s more than the BA 7.5K short-haul, but availability is much better, it allows for a longer flight distance, and you are allowed to have connections for the same rate, something that BA doesn’t allow.
Short-haul nonstop flights within any region outside of the US are just 8K miles:
United is also the only major US carrier that caps the mileage rate for standard awards at a reasonable rate.
For example the last time there was a limited time offer on this card I checked on award space from NYC to LA:
American charged 82.5K-97.5K miles with their variable standard award pricing:
Delta charged 142.5K-152.5K miles with their variable standard award pricing:
All JetBlue award pricing is variable and they wanted 81K-152.4K miles:
Alaska is the only airline flying nonstop between NYC and LAX without lie-flat seating in business class and they wanted 70K miles:
With United there was a saver award for 32.5K. Those come and go, but the standard awards on United are just 50K-60K on this route. That’s significantly less than other airlines. Best of all, cardholders can book a standard award even if it’s the last coach or business seat on the plane:
Excursionist Perk
While American and Delta have eliminated free stopovers, United continues to offer a free excursionist perk as described in this post. Just use the multi-city award search on United.com to piece it together.
A round-trip to 2 Hawaiian Islands is just 45,000 miles round-trip thanks to the free excursionist perk:
A round-trip ticket to 2 European or South American cities is just 60,000 miles round-trip thanks to the free excursionist perk:
A flight to 2 of my favorite cities in Asia, Hong Kong and Chiang Mai, Thailand is 80K miles thanks to the perk:
You’re even allowed a free open jaw in addition to the perk to really maximize your travel. For example this itinerary includes travel to London, Paris, and Zurich. You can take a train or use 4.5K BA Avios to get from London to Paris to fill the hole in the open jaw:
Of course the free stopover isn’t just useful from the US.
You can stopover in NYC and LA when flying from Tel Aviv to the US:
If you find yourself in Japan you can fly on the island hopper to 2 cities in Micronesia (I’ve been hankering to get back to Palau since the moment I left) for 30K miles:
Partner airlines
United has dozens of partner airlines which means lots of great award opportunities. It can be worth checking for award space on partner sites like ANA or Aeroplan.com to search for award availability and then call United to book if you don’t see availability on United.
Partners airlines include:
- ANA
- Adria Airlines
- Aegean Airlines
- Aer Lingus
- Air Canada
- Air China
- Air Dolomiti
- Air India
- Air New Zealand
- Aeromar
- Asiana Airlines
- Austrian Airlines
- Avianca Airlines
- Azul Brazilian Airlines
- Brussels Airlines
- Cape Air
- Copa Airlines
- Croatia Airlines
- EVA Air
- Edelweiss
- Egyptair
- Ethiopian Airlines
- Eurowings
- Germanwings
- Hawaiian Airlines
- Island Air
- Juneyao Airlines
- LOT Polish
- Lufthansa
- Scandinavian Airlines
- Shenzhen Airlines
- Silver Airways
- Singapore
- South African Airways
- Swiss International Airlines
- TAP Portugal
- THAI
- Turkish Airlines
Are you a United cardholder?
Leave a Reply
51 Comments On "Limited Time Offer: Earn Up To 100,000 Miles On The Awesome Chase United Explorer Business Card!"
All opinions expressed below are user generated and the opinions aren’t provided, reviewed or endorsed by any advertiser or DansDeals.
If i have more then one business, could i get the bonus for each business?
That works on the Chase Ink cards:
https://www.dansdeals.com/credit-cards/ultimate-comparison-chart-chase-ultimate-rewards-cards-supercharge-earnings-creating-killer-quinfecta/
However the bonus on this card will be tracked by the United mileage number on the application.
so if no number is entered, will i get the bonus for each business?
can you put non-business expenses on the card in order to meet the spend threshold to achieve the award?
Officially business cards are intended for business spending, but that’s not something credit card companies audit.
Q is what those 100k of miles are worth come November. Not much
They will still be worth a ton. Though probably not as much as they are today.
In my humble opinion that won’t be worth nearly as much. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that they’re all of a sudden offering 100,000
Can the points earned be combined with my other Ultimate Rewards points?
UR points can be transferred to United, but United points can’t be transferred into UR points.
No
Do you think this offer is better than the past 75k offer with AF waived 1st year?
Looks very enticing but it’s a lot of spending required and not the best airports for me as they only fly to EWR from my location.
Still enticing since the Air Canada partner does help me.
Applied and approved for this last week. Still didn’t get the card though. Any way to get this added to my card?
Try calling and sending a secure message.
Thanks! Sent SM – they responded I should meet the spend and then message again and they’ll add the extra bonus miles…
Can I sign up for multiple businesses all under Sole Proprietor, or after the first Sole Proprietor, do I need the rest to have EINs?
Applied 2 months ago. I guess I have to chat with them to try to get this bonus. Where do i chat with them?
When you’re logged into your account look for the secure message center.
Does the United Business Club card also has a similar offer?
No.
will it still trigger the regular 25k miles for 25k yearly spending or is this already included in this offer? or is it that for this specific offer it is not a bonus added to the card?
Is their a way to know If I would be approved, it appears I am at 4/24 but I had applied a couple months ago for Ink and Chase denied me
If I have the personal card , besides for 5/24 & the signup bonus, any other benefit to having this card?
Shrek! I got approved for this card 2 months ago.. anything to do??
Scroll up a couple of comments.
I wanna s/u for this, ihg, & csp, how many cards can I sign up w/chase in one day (if I’m the clear w/5/24) ?
I just sent them a secure message and they matched the offer!
now all we need is some better offers for NON chase cards, business especially.
If I have a low credit score (I just opened my first credit card a few months ago) can I apply for a business card or will I need a good credit score?
Dan —
I applied for this card in march and received my 75k point bonus on July 28th.
If I message chase via the secure message center will they hand over the balance 25k points?
As I just tried talking to them on the phone and they shot me down.
Your help is greatly appreciated.
Nothing to lose by trying.
If i spend $5,000 in 3 months, do i have an additional 3 months to spend the $20K or an additional 6 months?
I sell on ebay. wife has no business .. can I apply for her as a business(as i need her to get global entry for us) and to get the full 100k can I paypal using this cc to pay $5000 every month to a friend so i can get the 20k done within 4 months? If she gets global entry would that mean i get it as well(i currently have TSA precheck the past 2 years..
yes
yes
no
@Dan which is the better airline card, Alaska’s personal or chase United explorer
which is better this card (Explorer) or the Ink Business PreferredSM credit card ? That one has a 80,000 bonus sign up after spending only $5,000 in 3 months. what is the advantage of spending the $25,000-$30,000 more over the other card?
Is the 25k spend for status to ear premier per calendar year or 12 month from getting card? Thanks!
Calendar
Thank you. Just got approved. Referred by you 🙂 interesting timing to hit the 25k on both that and spend within eoy and six months to have qualify spend (to get 100k miles), and apply spend to both award and status, needs to be next 3 months sounds like.
How does priority boarding help if I purchased a basic economy fare? My seat assignment was assigned during checkin.
So that you can board early enough to get space for your carry-on item.
which chase card is better? This one or the one that was posted two days ago?
If I had the consumer version a year ago(closed) Can I apply for the bus one today?
The 1st 50k is a great offer at 11 points per dollar for 5k spend. The other 50k points is 3 points per dollar spend for 25k . meh
Offer still up
How is the travel insurance/lost bag/trip interruption/cancel insurance on this one? (compared to reserve, etc.)? Thanks.
Do you know, will the 10,000 bonus miles for spending $25k/calendar year exist next year,? or is that only a benefit this year. I don’t see any mention of that above. I called and they said that it is still active for this year (on top of all of the above) on this card.
Eliminated last year.
That’s so weird, I called number on back of card this morning and the cust serv rep who answered said that it is still working, so maybe they were wrong? (I was checking how far along I am for main sign up bonus and asked about that extra 10k too… ) hmm??
Just so you know this was only eliminated on personal card… still happening last year and this on business card it says.
Does this card have any return extension or theft protection if you use it for a bike purchase, for example? Thanks.