AmEx Explorer Card or AmEx Velocity - Whether to Extend The Card after One Year

LLifetimedeal on 12/03/2025 - 12:38
Last edited 12/03/2025 - 13:24 by 1 other user

Hi All,

Just need your opinion on whether to pay second year annual fee for Amex Explorer Card.

So basically, I got a Amex Velocity Card about a year ago. I used it regularly (Has another card where they don't accept amex or charge higher Fees) and got a lot of benefit out of it through cashback, points and free flight.

Now it's time to renew. With the $440 Velocity card fee and no bonus point, I am not sure if it's worth keeping. So I requested a retention offer which they decline saying they are not allowed anymore. Tried a couple of times with a same result. I have been offered to move to Amex Explorer which has an annual fee of $395 but has a voucher of $400 although some people say the Amex Travel sites normally charge more so $400 voucher is probably worth $300 or something.

Also, explorer only has 2 Amex points/Dollar which is basically 1 velocity/Dollar. I Understand Explorer has option to move to other airline which is a big plus.

Also, my partner has recently been rejected from Amex (probably because of churning - although no card was applied in the last 7 months). So I can choose to close the card but then I guess I am out Amex's ecosystem.

I know it's not that deep but your opinion is appreciated :)

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  CashMachine10 on 12/03/2025 - 13:53

  No loss being out of the Amex ecosystem for 1-2 years, plenty of better deals elsewhere with bonus airline points and lower annual fees

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  Fazio on 12/03/2025 - 15:37

  There are enough perks to make keeping the card worthwhile, i.e. to recover the cost of the card fee, but it all depends on if you take advantage of them.

  Using the complimentary flight is a no brainer, but there is also lounge access and complimentary travel insurance. Plus it’s a high points earner. There is also the offers which can save a few dollars here and there.

  So the answer, as usual, is, it depends.

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  R0b on 13/03/2025 - 09:44

  I have to agree with what has been said it all depends on your usage but I just recently opted for the velocity card myself waiting for it to arrive only because I am stacking velocity points at the moment and I liked the bonus points offer + earn. I was already planning a domestic trip this year so the fee covers part of that for me.. I did check the amex travel website for a date in the future and I only found it to be 10-15 more expensive than booking through virgin directly so I was ok with that. I do plan however to after my year is up switch to the explorer card purely because I find the explorer card travel voucher more appealing as I am not restricted to flying to 1 other destination. While in terms of velocity points you might be earning half effectively you can always hold out for the 20% bonus transfer to help mitigate this a little. You might even be able to look into if there are transfer bonus to flybuys that happen and then hold them in flybuys to wait for the 20% offer that happens from flybuys to velocity getting an even bigger bump (something I have not looked into myself if it is a thing though).

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    Lifetimedeal on 13/03/2025 - 12:53

    Pretty good advice. But yeah for a new card definitely get velocity for higher points. Btw the point is not half with explorer. 1.25 velocity points as opposed to 1 velocity in explorer (2 amex). And you can mitigate by using the transfer bonus. Explorer is more flexible. Only dilemma is whether to cancel and wait 18 months. But again they might reject you.

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      R0b on 13/03/2025 - 17:07

      Thanks for pointing that out I just checked 1.25 I think I must have gotten mixed up with the 2.25 points for virgin purchases oh well all things considered even at 1.25 still a happy camper considering the bonus points.