Uses for American Express Explorer Travel Credit

Ltonydav on 23/03/2018 - 10:17
Last edited 23/03/2018 - 10:40 by 1 other user

I'm not looking to get into a discussion about the value of the Amex Explorer travel credit (I think there's a few threads on that that have got a bit heated).

I have this credit and doubt I'll be getting rid of the card in a hurry so trying to work out how to use it. Last year I booked a hotel in Adelaide that worked for my travel. This year having trouble finding anything that I'd like to use.

So just wondering how others have used this travel credit.

Also, has anyone used the travel insurance for "protection" against the exorbitant rental car excesses? The policy wording looks pretty good.

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  Thrawn on 23/03/2018 - 11:00

  I just used mine for a US domestic flight.

  Generally speaking it’s best used for non-LCC flights because it’s not usually discounted

  Hotels are usually not good because they’re usually discounted around 15% elsewhere

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  Marty-69 on 23/03/2018 - 13:00

  When I checked the Amex travel website yesterday hotels were a lot more expensive via them. I used my credit for Qantas flights, $1 cheaper than then same flights on the Qantas website.

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  tonydav on 23/03/2018 - 14:16

  My experience has been that the hotels are more expensive and there is a limited selection of flights.

  Having said that, I have a $400 credit that I don't really feel costs me anything given the other benefits I get from the card, so if I can book something close to my $400 I'm not too stressed if I could get it direct for $250, yet Amex are charging $350. Either way I'd lose my entire $400 credit.

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  LemonShapedRock on 24/03/2018 - 15:04

  from time to time the costs of Virgin/Qantas flights on AMEX travel match that of the Virgin/Qantas website.

  So I use mine mainly for flights.

  (Plus using AMEX travel gets you one extra point per dollar and avoids the % surcharge that Qantas and Virgin slug you with during booking)

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    MathNerd on 24/03/2018 - 17:57

    Plus using AMEX travel gets you one extra point per dollar

    Are you sure about that? I didn't get 3 pts/$ when using my Explorer to pay the balance of my flight booking after redeeming the travel credit, only the standard 2 pts/$. Is there a trick to this?

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      LemonShapedRock on 24/03/2018 - 18:23

      I've got an Explorer card and when I last used the AMEX Portal it came up as two items in my MR Points log.

      1. First was the 2 points per $ for the regular transaction
      2. Then right after it was a separate one named something like "AMEX travel portal bonus points" and that was 1 point per $

      I was trying to look for the log but it was more than 90 days ago so I can't view it online.

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        LemonShapedRock on 24/03/2018 - 18:24

        Might be worth noting that I also have a Platinum Edge card with all of my points pooled to the MR Ascent program.

        Potentially this is not a thing for the Gateway program? (Which the Explorer card belongs to)

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        MathNerd on 24/03/2018 - 19:16

        I have the following:
        19/02/2018 ONLINE TRAVEL MERCHLOCI SYDNEY $860.95 1,720
        But no other points related to this.
        Was it a flight booking for sure? I remember reading a while ago that the bonus 1 point per dollar is only for hotels, cruises and adventures. I wonder if that's the case?

        Also I have the same setup as you, Platinum Edge and Explorer, all earn is into Ascent. Was it a flight ticket that you booked?

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        LemonShapedRock on 24/03/2018 - 19:26

        @MathNerd: Interesting, this worked for when I booked both a flight and hotel night.

        Might be worth phoning Amex to see what the official stance is on this, I remember reading somewhere that it was a temporarily promotion. That was a while back so I assumed it became part of the benefits of using the portal

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  Samsungnote10 on 24/03/2018 - 19:10

  Here is my experience

  Flights. Since I'm a tight ass I only fly lcc when on sale. Amex travel doesn't have any lcc. So prices will always be higher so I don't bother

  Hotels are the way to go.
  Usualy they're 20% to 100% higher than your agoda Expedia hotels. Com etc

  If you look hard enough every now and again a hotel comes up that's virtually the same or only 10% more. However often it's exclude breakfast.

  And the amex travel suite sux.
  Eg Bali. The main city is kuta. But only denpasar and surround comes up making it really hard to choose an area

  If anyone has a better suggestion for getting great value. I'm all ears (other than selling)

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  Baghern on 27/03/2018 - 20:16

  Goldcoast 1 month after the Commonwealth game?

  That was my intent, if I could wait a bit longer for a break