The United Airlines (UA) and Continental (CO) merger caused a number of issues this year. One issue being that the conversion of the CO card to a UA Explorer card was reported to prevent customers from receiving the UA Explorer card sign up bonus. The dire warnings were abound. We are happy to share that readers CAN apply for the Chase UA Explorer card AND recieve the United MileagePlus sign up bonus even if they previously had the Chase Continental card.

LINK: Chase United MileagePlus Explorer Card Sign Up Bonus Offer

United Explorer Card Bonus Available After Continental Card Conversion

The reports earlier this year stated that if a person had previously applied for the Chase Continental credit card they would be prevented from ever receiving the United Explorer card bonus. As a result, many people applied for the Chase CO card before the cutoff date. The reports coming out of Chase secure messages are that you can still obtain the Chase UA Explorer card bonus offer as long as you’ve never had the same “product” in the past.

Secure Message To Chase 

A reader recently send the following message to Chase asking for consideration about the UA Explorer card sign up bonus.

I had a Continental Credit Card converted to a United MileagePlus Explorer card. This conversion makes it so I will not be able to receive the new MileagePlus Explorer card signup bonus. 

Please advise if the new United Explorer card bonus can be extended to my card?

Response From Chase’s Email Customer Service Representative 

Thank you for contacting Chase about your United MileagePlus credit card account ending in xxxx.

Please be assured if you apply for a MileagePlus Visa Explorer product you would qualify for the enrollment bonus miles as long as you have not previously held a MileagePlus Visa Explorer card. Since the MileagePlus MasterCard Explorer product you currently retain received the enrollment bonus under a different product you would not be denied for the enrollment.

If you have any further questions, please reply using the Secure Message Center.

Thank you,

Email Customer Service Representative

Apply for the United ExplorerPlus Card from Chase

LINK: Chase United MileagePlus Explorer Card 40,000 Sign Up Bonus Offer

• Earn 25,000 bonus miles after first use and 5,000 additional bonus miles after your first Card use and for adding an authorized user within two months of opening your account
• Plus, earn 10,000 bonus miles when you spend $25,000 or more on your Card each calendar year
• First year free: Pay no annual fee for the first year you are a Cardmember, a $95 value
• Check first bag for free: When you use your Card, you and your companion can each check your first bag for free when you fly United-operated flights, up to a $50 savings per person round trip
• Priority boarding privileges: You’ll be invited to board your flight ahead of general boarding with priority boarding
• Two passes to United Club every year: Relax in style before your flight and enjoy complimentary snacks, beverages and Wi-Fi
• Earn double miles on United purchases: Earn 2 miles per $1 spent on tickets purchased from United and 1 mile per $1 for everything else
• Miles don’t expire: Your miles don’t expire as long as you are a Cardmember with no limit to the number of miles you can earn

There are also reports of a targeted offer for 60k miles. There are further reports that if you are not targeted, some readers successfully applied for the 40k offer and emailed Chase to bump the bonus to the 60k offer. Please note that this is just one readers experience and YMMV.

Bottom Line

If this is true, this should open up the United MileagePlus Explorer card bonus to a number of people who had Continental cards converted to United Explorer cards.

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*Points, Miles and Martinis will earn a referral fee for successful Chase credit card applications through the associated links in this post.

Hat tip to HansGolden

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