The United Explorer Card enhances your airport experience, your boarding experience, and even your booking experience with elite-like benefits.
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While the card flaunts perks like free checked bags, TSA PreCheck or Global Entry fee credits, and bonus miles for common purchases, there are plenty of lower-profile enticements, too. For example, you'll get access to more award seats than most United flyers; you can be one of the first to board the plane, guaranteeing ample overhead-bin space; you can even get into United airport lounges for free a couple of times each year.
Here are the six benefits you shouldn't ignore to make the most of your
Getting free checked bags is a boon if you're not a fan of bringing a carry-on and prefer a hands-free airport experience. Or, if you're simply in the habit of checking bags, this benefit will save you and a travel buddy up to $120 per round-trip.
United charges $30 for your first checked bag. But when you pay for your flight (or the taxes and fees on an award flight) with this card, you and one guest on your reservation will get the first checked bag free on United flights. If you and a travel buddy were to use this benefit for one trip each year, you'd more than offset the card's annual fee.
If you're thinking about getting TSA PreCheck or Global Entry and you have the
If you pay with your card, United will credit your statement with the cost of TSA PreCheck ($85), Global Entry — which includes PreCheck ($100), or NEXUS, which includes both TSA PreCheck and Global Entry benefits ($50). Here's why this should interest you:
All three of these programs could save you many hours at the airport each year, depending on how much you travel. But Global Entry is the easy choice here, as it includes TSA PreCheck benefits. NEXUS is the most powerful of the programs, but it's far more difficult to be approved for than the others, because it requires you to be interviewed by both US and Canadian border authorities. And there are only a handful of current interview locations.
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United Club day passes regularly cost $59 each, so you can think of these passes as $118 in value per year — if you'll use them.
This little-known trick isn't necessarily a card-specific benefit, but it's a great way to spend the increased bonus that comes with the
The United Excursionist Perk effectively extends your vacation to another location for free. There are a handful of rules you should know (consult our United Excursionist Perk guide for those details), but here's how it works in short.
Let's say you want to book a round-trip flight from Houston to Paris. This flight regularly costs around 60,000 miles in coach. The Excursionist Perk allows you to book an additional one-way flight within Europe during your trip for zero miles. So instead of a simple round-trip flight, you could book something like:
You'll have to pay the (often nominal) flight taxes and fees, but this is an excellent way to get a bit more for your miles.
United Airlines has different levels of award seats you can buy. The cheapest (and best value) seats are called "Saver Awards." Once these seat prices sell out, you could find yourself paying double the amount of miles for the exact same flight.
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Basic economy is a bottom-of-the-barrel fare that airlines publish which is filled with restrictions. United's basic economy tickets enforce the following:
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