United MileagePlus Explorer Card: Up to 55,000 Miles + $50 Statement Credit

While similar deals have been around for a while, this United MileagePlus Explorer offer is still attractive if you’re willing to jump through a few hoops. Under this offer, you’ll earn 50,000 miles after spending $1,000 within your first 3 months of cardmembership, a $50 statement credit after your first purchase and an additional 5,000 bonus miles after you add an authorized user to the account who makes a purchase within the first 3 months. In addition, you will earn another 10,000 bonus miles in every calendar year in which you spend at least $25,000.

The annual fee of $95 is waived for the first year.

To view this offer, you’ll need to follow these steps:

1. Log into your United MileagePlus account. (If you don’t have one already, you can sign up for one free at united.com.)
2. If you have had recent activity in your account, you should see a link for a 50,000 bonus miles MileagePlus Explorer offer. If you do, you can skip directly to step #4. Do not follow that 50,000 miles link, however, or else you will miss out on the extra $50 statement credit. If you haven’t had recent activity, you should see a 30,000 bonus miles offer.
3. If you are only seeing the 30,000 bonus miles offer, you need to generate some mileage activity on your account. Some examples of ways to do this include:
   • Transferring miles into your account
   • Earning some free miles from bckstgr.com–a site where you can link your Facebook or Twitter account to earn some miles. (People report that miles you earn from bckstgr post quickly, but you may need to clear your cache or restart your browser in order for your mileage activity to be reflected in your MileagePlus account.)
4. After you have successfully generated some recent MileagePlus activity, visit https://www.theexplorercard.com/MPYoureIn50k50AFWIC.aspx. This link should now take you to the 55,000 miles + $50 statement credit Explorer card offer. (Hat tip to FT and SD.)