A $545 gap between two United co-brand cards
United Club Card (formerly United Club Infinite) and United Explorer are Chase's two higher-tier United MileagePlus co-brand cards. The step up from Explorer to Club costs $545/year — $150 to $695 — making Club Card Chase's most expensive United product below elite-status-linked options.
What each card bonuses
| United Club Card ($695) | United Explorer ($150) | |
|---|---|---|
| Direct United purchases & airfare | 5x | 3x |
| Dining | 2x | 2x |
| Hotels | 2x | 2x |
| Other travel, car rentals/agencies/cruises, activities | 2x | — |
| Renowned Hotels & Resorts (United's hotel portal) | 5x | — |
| Everything else | 1x | 1x |
United Club Card pays two full points higher on direct United purchases (5x vs. 3x) and extends its 2x rate across more travel categories — car rentals, agencies, cruises, and general "other" travel all bonus at 2x on Club, while Explorer's 2x is limited to dining and hotels. Club also adds a 5x rate on prepaid Renowned Hotels & Resorts stays booked through United's own hotel portal, a bonus Explorer doesn't have at all.
The credit lists look richer, but model almost the same
Both cards carry Global Entry/TSA PreCheck reimbursement (up to $120 every four years, about $30/year) — the one credit on either card we count as genuinely easy to use, since it requires no ongoing spend or merchant restriction.
Past that, the lists diverge in size but not in modeled value. United Explorer carries seven credits: Global Entry, an Instacart credit, a rideshare credit, a threshold-gated $100 United travel credit (requires $10,000/year in spend), an Avis/Budget car rental credit, a United Hotels credit, and a JSX semi-private-flight credit. United Club Card carries six: the same Global Entry credit, a bigger Instacart credit ($240/year cap vs. $120), a bigger rideshare allowance ($150/year cap vs. $60), a bigger Avis/Budget credit ($100 vs. $50), a bigger JSX credit ($200 vs. $100), and — in place of Explorer's plainer hotel credit — a $200/year Renowned Hotels & Resorts credit for prepaid bookings through United's portal.
Every credit past Global Entry is merchant-gated, threshold-gated, or too narrow for us to count as reliably captured, so both cards model to the same ~$30/year of easy-to-use credit value regardless of which card's list looks longer or bigger on paper. The $545/year fee gap isn't buying more usable credit value — it's buying a materially better everyday and United-specific earn rate.
Who should pick which
- Frequent direct United flyer with meaningful "other travel" or car-rental spend: Club Card's 5x United rate and broader 2x travel categories can close real ground on the $545 gap, but only at volume — run your real numbers through the optimizer to check.
- Occasional United flyer, or spend that's mostly outside United's own portal categories: United Explorer at $150/year captures nearly the same modeled credit value for a fraction of the fee.
- No United loyalty at all: a flat-rate no-fee card like Citi Double Cash will out-earn either of these on the categories this app optimizes, without a three- or four-figure annual fee.
Run the optimizer with your real spend to see how these compare against your actual wallet, not just the rate table.
Data verified as of August 27, 2026.
Want the live numbers side by side? See the United Club Card vs. United Explorer comparison page — it renders current rates and fees straight from our verified card data.