Just had the annual fee hit on my MileagePlus Explorer card, which I used for the one-time 50k offer and never touched again. I mentioned that with the recent United devaluation, I wanted to reconsider if the $95 fee was worth it. The CSR said that she couldn't waive the fee or provide a retention bonus, so I asked if I could convert to another Chase card without an annual fee. In about 60 seconds, I was able to downgrade to the MileagePlus Awards card (
https://www.chase.com/online/Credit-...ewards-new.htm) with no fee! Same CC #, credit history stays intact, no fee.