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The United Explorer Card

The United Explorer Card is Chase's mid-tier United card. It charges no annual fee for the first year, then $150. Chase's page describes 9x total miles on eligible United flights, of which 6x is what a MileagePlus member earns on the fare and 3x comes from the card, plus 3x on other United purchases, 2x on dining and on hotels booked with the hotel, and 1x elsewhere, with no foreign transaction fee.

Facts read from the Chase official United Explorer card page on October 22, 2026. How we check them: methodology.

Earn rates, as the issuer prints them

Read the 9x carefully: Chase's own wording splits it into 6x miles on the fare that any MileagePlus member earns, and 3x miles on the entire United purchase with the card. The card's own lanes are 3x on United, 2x on dining and on hotels booked with the hotel, and 1x elsewhere. A flight on any other airline earns 1x from the card. The miles land in MileagePlus and cannot move to another program, which is why the United hub on this site is the page to read before valuing them.

A year of spending on this card, worked out

Arithmetic illustration with stated inputs: $3,000 a year on United flights, $3,600 on dining, $1,200 on hotels booked with the hotel and $6,000 on other purchases earns 9,000 + 7,200 + 2,400 + 6,000 = 24,600 miles from the card a year. The 6x member earning on the United fares, 18,000 miles on these inputs if the whole purchase is fare, comes from MileagePlus itself, with or without the card. A flat 1x card would earn 13,800 miles on the same $13,800, so the card lanes add 10,800 miles before the fee is weighed.

Welcome offer as published

As published on the issuer page: 70,000 bonus miles after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open, plus 10,000 bonus miles after you add an authorized user to your account in the first 3 months your account is open.

The 70,000 bonus miles need $3,000 in purchases in the first three months, about $1,000 a month, and the page adds 10,000 more for adding an authorized user in the same three months. That spend earns at least 3,000 miles of its own at 1x. The fee is $0 in the first year and $150 after that, so the second year, not the first, is when the earn table has to carry the card on its own.

Who this earn structure suits

Travelers who fly United often enough that the checked bag benefit and the card's 3x on United purchases matter, and who want their miles to land directly in MileagePlus. Dining and hotels booked with the hotel earn 2x, so the card is not idle between United trips, but every other purchase earns 1x.

Notes from the issuer page

• The annual fee is $0 for the first year, then $150, as published on the issuer page checked.
• The issuer page checked also lists a free first checked bag for the primary cardmember and one companion, Group 2 priority boarding, and two United Club one-time passes per year.

The traps to check in your account

• Points land in United MileagePlus. They are not bank points, so there is no bank transfer step. Read its hub for what they book.
• The 3x card rate covers United purchases only, and the 6x part of the 9x headline is MileagePlus member earning, not the card. A fare on another airline earns 1x, and the miles cannot be transferred out of MileagePlus once earned.
• Interest on a carried balance can outweigh the rewards, so the earn table assumes you pay in full.