United (Chase) credit card drops foreign transaction fee

[Mossman]

Like most everyone else, I resent paying the 3% foreign transaction fee that my United Explorer (formerly Continental World) Mastercard tacks on to foreign purchases. I've considered getting one of the Capital One cards that don't charge the fee, but I'm so used to using my mileage card for all my purchases, I resisted making the switch.

I just received an e-mail today notifying me that United is dropping the foreign transaction fee on the Explorer card effective June 1, just in time for my June Cozumel trip. That means that I'll be saving $66 on my diving and AI hotel charges, more than enough to pay the $65 annual fee.

Hopefully other cards will follow suit.

 

[Pedro Burrito]

Just received the email from United while I was reading your post!

Like you, I've been thinking about replacing the card with a Capital One card. Chase must have been losing lots of customers to give up the foreign transaction fee revenue.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

There goes some more of my incentive to keep paying the much higher fee for my old Continental Presidential Plus (now replaced by the United Club card, but Continental customers were granfathered in). First they made the premium flex miles expire (originally no expiration date) and now a card that costs about $300 less per year also has no FTFs? Blah.

 

[Diver Kat]

I know United lost us as a Chase card holders awhile back when they started taking away a lot of the benefits that we had when it was Continental. (Continental was SOOOO much better!) It just wasn't worth the annual fee anymore. So maybe other people got pissed and left as well. With us it was going to a 'traveling with, or primary only' with a number of the benefits, like 1st bag free and priority boarding. In this day and age, it really is poor business practice to treat the wife like a 2nd class citizen that only counts if she's traveling with the hubby. (Especially if she's the one paying the credit card bill all the time!)

 

[herbdb]

I have a grandfathered Presidential Plus card. For me the United Club membership alone is worth the $350 fee. This would cost $400-$500 depending on elite status if purchased outright. Of course if you always travel first class you don't need the membership to access the clubs.

Two free checked bags and elite access are nice too.

 

[Mossman]

I have a grandfathered Presidential Plus card. For me the United Club membership alone is worth the $350 fee. This would cost $400-$500 depending on elite status if purchased outright. Of course if you always travel first class you don't need the membership to access the clubs.

Two free checked bags and elite access are nice too.

Actually you don't get club access when flying domestic (including Canada/Mexico/Caribbean) first class. The Explorer card like the World card before it comes with two club passes per year, first checked bag free, plus early boarding privileges.

 

[herbdb]

I did not realize that about domestic first class lack of club access. I only travel in first on a reward ticket or traveling on a company pass (I retired from Continental). Too much for me.

I try to use reward miles or buy a ticket for travel when I have a schedule to meet, which is usually the case for dive trips. I use the card for just about everything and auto pay it every month. The points add up.

Presidential Plus cards are no longer available for new subscribers, but those of us who had them prior to the conversion still maintain full Club membership, two free checked bags and elite access. It is a generous deal and worth the price if you fly often. My guess is they found it expensive and modified the benefits with the new cards.

 

[drbill]

I am phasing out my AT&T Master Card due to the foreign transaction fees. Got a Harvard Credit Union card with no annual membership fee, rewards and no foreign transaction fees. Only problem was that it didn't arrive in time for my trip to the Philippines last month.

 

[iamrushman]

great info...thanks for sharing....

 

[Mossman]

I did not realize that about domestic first class lack of club access. I only travel in first on a reward ticket or traveling on a company pass (I retired from Continental). Too much for me.

I try to use reward miles or buy a ticket for travel when I have a schedule to meet, which is usually the case for dive trips. I use the card for just about everything and auto pay it every month. The points add up.

Presidential Plus cards are no longer available for new subscribers, but those of us who had them prior to the conversion still maintain full Club membership, two free checked bags and elite access. It is a generous deal and worth the price if you fly often. My guess is they found it expensive and modified the benefits with the new cards.

When those cards first came out, I still had a year left on a 3-year PC membership so the card would have been redundant. After that expired, Continental offered J the PP card, waiving the first-year's annual fee. That was a really good deal! But our travel frequency waned and we didn't feel the cost of the PP card was worth it, so we let it go as soon as they wanted to charge the next year's fee. The club passes have been enough for me since then, as my domestic layovers are usually short enough to not worry about club access, and all my international flights tend to be in business class using miles, so I get club access on those.

I used this year's club passes in December in FLL on the way back from a cruise with a friend since we had several hours to kill in the airport. For my June flights to Coz, I'll be on the plane in LAX before the club even opens (5:15 am flight, club doesn't open until 5 am), then only 1:20 in IAH before the next leg takes off, barely time to deplane, traverse IAH to the departing gate, and grab a bite to eat before re-boarding. On the way back, there's no club lounge in COZ, and most of my 2 hours at IAH will be spent clearing customs/immigration, hopefully leaving some time for dinner at Pappadeaux's. Club access would be worthless for me, unless I just wanted to run in and out for a quick free drink. But I'll be flying in first so I can get my free drinks on the plane.

No kidding, the miles do add up. I used to use a Chase Business card for business purchases and racked up quite a few. After this "free" flight to COZ, I'll still have 733,000 left