yoshapman

I've read that you can convert the United Mileage Plus Visa Card to the Mileage Explorer Card for no fee.

My question is - I'm flying on United with my wife in January, and have no status. We each need to check one bag, so it seems switching cards would save us $100 RT.

1) Can we convert cards?
2) If we can, and we cancel the card next year, can we sign up for the Mileage Explorer Card and still get the signup bonus after we've canceled the card?
3) Any other advice?

We probably have a mortgage hit coming up next year, so we've been trying not to sign up for any new cards, so any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

bagspacked

You should be able to convert by calling the number on the back of your card. Chase recently changed the rules so ALL current/former United cardholders are no longer eligible for signup bonuses on the Explorer card. So my short answer is you probably won't get the signup bonus either now or next year if you cancel and reapply.

So I would decide which card is better for you in the long run, your current card or the explorer, and if explorer is better switch. Remember that once you switch you won't be able to sign up for your existing card again. So I am keeping mine which has 3x miles on united purchases, for example.

Hope this helps

yoshapman

Can anyone else confirm this? I dont use the United card at all, so if I can't get the signup bonus, I would definitely switch cards to save myself $100. Thanks.

jmastron

Have you purchased the tickets yet? The way I read the terms, the tickets must be purchased with the Explorer card to get the baggage benefit, meaning already purchased tickets, or even award tickets would not be eligible (unless paying the taxes on awards counts?). Does anyone have a different interpretation of the free bag benefit?

Related question to the OP's: My wife is an authorized user on my old UA Visa (not a true joint account). Can *she* apply for the Explorer card and get the signup bonuses (and then add me as an authorized user on that), or will she be considered an existing customer?

I believe in California, as a community property state, she can still use total household income to apply, which isn't true everywhere due to the credit card law "fixes".

garykung

1. No - the recent law changes actually make it impossible to make any changes. AFAIK, Chase has not yet made any offer for conversion.

2. Usually the bonus is a no. But just in case (as I have benefited ), there may be an offer that allow previous and existing members to get the bonus again (the last offer like this was offered to elite members only).

3. At this moment, if you are credit-worthy, get the new card (UA M+ Explorer or CO OP+) without canceling the old card (In your case, unless you have a CO as well, get CO to get the bonus again). Then wait and see.

But read the whole T&Cs carefully before submitting.

Sorry - but I don't see how what you say is true.

1. Some of us did get the bonus again.

2. My old M+ Gold Class (Wow...) was offered to convert to M+ Select last year. See how long did it take for Chase to do something?

lostone

I called Chase last week to ask about converting my existing Mileage Plus card to an Explorer. The representative said she could convert it over for me, but suggested that I apply for the Explorer card instead in order to get the bonus miles.

I received the card this weekend, and the accompanying paperwork indicates that I will be getting a 25k bonus. So will wait to see.

PTahCha

You can make the change. However, be aware that Chase might do a credit-pull for just a simple card type change.

Avatar345

Does the mileage dining program remain unchanged if one swaps out for the Explorer card? I forget whether the program was through the MileagePlus card, or operated independently of it.