Navy Federal Credit Union has a new “Join and Get $300” promotion for new members. Join as a new Navy Federal member by 12/31/2024 and you can get an additional $300 statement credit when you open a new Navy Federal credit card within 14 days of joining. As with most credit unions, you’ll need to open a Share Savings account and keep $5 in there. Additional selected fine print:

1 Offer valid November 1 – December 31, 2024 and can expire anytime without prior notice. To receive the one-time $300 statement credit to your credit card account, you must 1) be 18 or older and eligible for membership, 2) join Navy Federal between 11/1/2024 and 12/31/2024, and 3) open a new unsecured Navy Federal credit card account within 14 days of joining. Offer excludes Navy Federal Business, Home Equity Line Platinum, and nRewards® Secured credit cards. […] Limit one (1) statement credit per member. […] Statement credit will be credited to your account within 8 weeks of credit card account opening.

Navy Federal membership is open to members of the Coast Guard, all Department of Defense (DoD) uniformed personnel, reservists, Active Duty, retired, Veterans, Army and Air National Guard, DoD civilian employees, contractors, and their immediate family. In 2019, they expanded membership to include veterans and their immediate family members including grandparents through grandchildren. If you call them, they will help you look up information on veterans in your family.

This could stack up to be a pretty significant bonus, as the first-year value for these two card bonuses are already $400+ on their own.

• Navy Federal cashRewards Plus Card
• Navy Federal Flagship Rewards Credit Card

New increased offer (up to 100k total). The Frontier Airlines World Mastercard is a niche co-branded card from Barclays, but if you do fly on Frontier regularly, it actually offers some good perks on a relative basis. Many strict, barebones airlines are starting to trickle back some perks to win back customers and Frontier is no exception. For Frontier, it appears that this credit card is a major gateway to these little wins like actually getting to bring on a carry-on or not having to pay a fee to redeem your miles. (I’ve never flown Frontier before, but I’m assuming they must be cheap for you to put up with this stuff!)

• The standard offer is for 50,000 bonus miles plus a $100 flight voucher after spending $500 on purchases and paying the annual fee in full, both within the first 90 days of account opening.
• Right now, if you visit this page, you can see how to get an extra 50,000 bonus miles if you are the primary cardmember of a cobranded credit card with another US Domestic Airline, complete verification, and complete an additional application form. You must also spend $3,000 within 180 days of account opening to earn the additional 50,000 miles. That would give you a total of 100,000 Frontier miles. Looks like you must apply by January 31, 2025.

Here are the other highlights of the card :

• Two Free Checked Bags for primary cardmember. Must purchase flight at FlyFrontier.com using this card. Includes ski/golf bag.
• Elite Gold Status. Get it upfront for 90 days with account opening and first purchase with your card within the first 90 days of account opening. To keep it, you must spend $3,000 within the first 90 days of account opening. Status will be good for 12 months from the day the account was opened.
• Pooling of miles between friends and family members is allowed with this card.
• Zone 2 Priority Boarding for primary cardmember.
• Award Redemption Fee Waiver
• 5X miles on eligible purchases at flyfrontier.com.
• 3X miles on eligible restaurant purchases.
• 1X miles on all other purchases.
• 1 Elite Status Point for every $1 spent on purchases.
• $100 Frontier Airlines Flight Voucher after your Account anniversary when you have spent $2,500 or more in Net Purchases on your Card Account during your cardmembership year (each 12-month period through and including your Card Account anniversary date).
• $0 annual fee for the first year, then $99.

Elite Gold Status gets you the following benefits:

• Free carry-on bag for yourself
• No change/cancel fees* (+7 days from departure)
• Preferred Seat Assignment at Booking
• Premium Seating at Check-in (based on availability)
• Priority Customer Care (both live phone and online chat)
• Priority Boarding: Zone 1 for you, Zone for 2 everyone in your booking.
• Family Pooling

Redeeming Frontier miles. They advertise that 50,000 miles can be redeem for “up to 2 round-trip award tickets”, which is technically true but that is for their most limited “value” awards. They also have “standard” awards and “last seat” awards (available to elites only). You will also be subject to taxes and fees starting a $5.60 per one-way. Here is their award chart:

The good news is that this card does give you an easy pathway toward Elite Gold status for the first year and that lets you nab any unsold seat on the plane. But that also means that 50,000 miles might only be worth a single roundtrip award ticket.

You also avoid the award redemption fee with this credit card. Otherwise, they charge an award redemption fee of between $15 and $75 for all award tickets departing within 180 days of booking.

I’ve seen outside valuations place the value of a Frontier mile at about 1.1 cent each. After pricing out some Frontier flights, that sounds about right, although it will definitely vary based on your route. The cheaper, shorter flights are easier to find a “saver” award, while their most convenient, longer routes you should expect to use the “standard” or “last seat” awards. I’d also only agree with this valuation if I had this credit card to ease the hassles.

Two free checked bags are a new feature that was announced 8/15/24 (hat tip to DoC). Here is the fine print:

Tickets must be purchased from FlyFrontier.com or the Frontier Airlines mobile app

· There is no limit to how many times you can use this benefit

· Free checked bag benefit includes golf and ski equipment

· Primary cardmembers must use their FRONTIER Airlines World Mastercard at booking to unlock the free checked bag benefit

Due to the limited footprint of Frontier, I’m not sure if I will add this to my Top 10 Best Credit Card Bonus Offers.

Check offer link again to see if eligible for this new round. If you have a Discover card with cash back rewards, you can redeem them to buy eligible items at Amazon.com. The redemption rate is $1 in Cash Back Bonus = $1 to spend at Amazon, which is the same rate as their statement credit redemptions. Check if you have a targeted promotion and activate for an additional discount for redeeming a single penny’s worth of points. (To see the link, you may need to visit this page on the internet if viewing this via e-mail or RSS.)

• Get $10 off $50/$75 or 30%/40% Off (max cap applies), valid on items shipped and sold by Amazon. Must redeem at least $0.01 in Discover cash back.

Here are some additional tips:

• If you haven’t linked your Discover yet, first check if you can get a bonus here. If not, you can link your Discover Cashback points balance to your Amazon account here. Check again, possibly waiting a day or two.
• If you have already linked your Discover card previously and aren’t targeted, consider removing your Discover card from your account completely, and then linking it again after a day. Try again in a day or two.
• Items must be marked as both sold AND shipped by Amazon.com.
• Be sure to select your Discover Card as your payment method and redeem at least 1 point or $0.01 in value of Discover points.
• You should see the promo credit on final order checkout page, right before final purchase.

This is a recurring perk for existing Discover cardholders, which is why I never cancel a card with no annual fee. Check out my Discover it credit card review, one of my keeper 5% cash back cards. From now until December 31, 2024, Amazon is one of their 5% categories.

Qatar Airways has new limited-time offers on their two US co-branded credit cards through a small issuer called Cardless. Even if you have no plans to fly on Qatar, these cards offer many perks useful to even domestic-only US travelers. For example, Qatar Airways Avios are easily transferrable to British Airways Avios and can be used to book award flights on American Airlines. These cards also include different levels of OneWorld Alliance status, which includes perks to American Airlines travelers like access to priority check-in lines and even business-class lounges with the premium version. Here are the highlights of the two card versions:

Qatar Airways Privilege Club Signature Credit Card

• Up to 60,000 bonus Avios. 30,000 bonus Avios after first transaction. Additional 30,000 bonus Avios after spending $3,000 in the first 90 days.
• Qatar Airways Privilege Club Silver tier benefits instantly after being accepted for this credit card. Importantly, this in turn gives you OneWorld Ruby status. Applies to the first year only.
• 4X Avios on Qatar Airways spend.
• 4X Avios on restaurant spends till Dec 31, 2024. Usually 2X.
• 2x Avios on other eligible spends till Dec 31, 2024. Usually 1X.
• $99 annual fee.

OneWorld Ruby status includes:

• Access to Business Class priority check-in (shorter lines)
• Access to preferred or pre-reserved seating
• Priority on waitlists and when on standby
• Alaska Airlines MVP status and perks
• American Airlines AAdvantage Gold status and perks
• British Airways Executive Club Bronze status and perks

Qatar Airways Privilege Club Infinite Credit Card

• Up to 80,000 bonus Avios. 40,000 bonus Avios after first transaction. Additional 40,000 bonus Avios + 150 Qpoints after spending $5,000 in the first 90 days.
• Qatar Airways Privilege Club Gold tier benefits instantly after being accepted for this credit card. Importantly, this in turn gives you OneWorld Sapphire status. Applies to the first year only.
• 5X Avios on Qatar Airways spend.
• 6X Avios on restaurant spends till Dec 31, 2024. Usually 3X.
• 2x Avios on other eligible spends till Dec 31, 2024. Usually 1X.
• $499 annual fee.

OneWorld Sapphire status includes:

• Access to Business class lounges (including American Airlines lounges)
• Priority boarding
• Extra baggage allowance
• Priority baggage handling
• Access to Business Class priority check-in (shorter lines)
• Access to preferred or pre-reserved seating
• Priority on waitlists and when on standby
• Alaska Airlines MVP Gold status and perks
• American Airlines AAdvantage Platinum status and perks
• British Airways Executive Club Silver status and perks

The application will check your Experian credit report, so be sure to unfreeze/unlock that first. You can only have one Cardless-issued credit card at a time.

This is one of those cards that you may not get as your first airline card, but once you’ve gotten most of the other ones you’ll start to look for other smaller issuers. This niche card still earns Avios which are very flexible.

The United Explorer Card is a Chase-issued credit card that offers unique perks on United Airlines including free checked bags and expanded award seat availability for redeeming miles. Here are the highlights:

• 80,000 bonus miles after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open.* Plus, earn 5,000 bonus miles after you add an authorized user to your account in the first 3 months your account is open.*
• Free first checked bag for both you and one traveling companion on the same reservation (worth up to $160 per roundtrip) when you use your Card to purchase your ticket. Terms Apply.
• Expanded award availability. Having this card makes it easier to find that saver award economy ticket.
• Up to $120 Global Entry, TSA PreCheck® or NEXUS fee credit.
• Enjoy priority boarding privileges and visit the United Club^SM with 2 one-time passes each year for your anniversary.
• 2X miles on dining, on hotel stays, and on United(R) purchases.
• 25% back as a statement credit on purchases of food, beverages and Wi-Fi on board United-operated flights and on Club premium drinks when you pay with your Explorer Card
• No foreign transaction fees.
• Your miles don’t expire as long as your credit card account is open, with no limit to the number of miles you can earn.
• Use your miles for any seat, any time, on any United flight.
• $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $150.

Keep in mind the following terms and conditions:

This card product is available to you if you do not have this card and have not received a new Cardmember bonus for this card in the past 24 months.

This card is very focused on making it a better experience to fly on United. You have the first checked bag for free on United flights, both for your and a companion traveling on the same reservation. The bag fee is now $40 per person, each way, so that adds up to $160 each roundtrip. Before you board, you might use one of your free United Club lounge passes. You also get Priority Boarding, which helps you find space for your carry-on. While onboard, you get 25% back on your inflight purchases of WiFi, food, and drinks.

Expanded award seat availability. You earn United miles for all your purchases (double miles on restaurants and hotel stays), but then they also make it easier for you to redeem those miles on Saver level tickets with no blackout dates. Expanded award seat availability is another of the top perks from this card, and I’ve found a very significant difference when searching. If you’re constantly trying to find economy tickets for the entire family like me, this is a big deal. Saver Award ticket redemptions start at 12,500 miles one-way within the continental U.S. and Canada.

Another unique feature of this card is that it offers primary coverage on the Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver. On most other consumer cards, this coverage is offered as secondary coverage, meaning it only kicks in after your personal auto insurance has been exhausted.

Bottom line. The United Explorer Card offers great perks for folks that fly United even just once or twice a year. The card provides lounge passes, a free checked bag, priority boarding, and inflight discounts. There are bonus categories to earn more miles, and special expanded award seat inventory for credit card holders to make it easier to actually redeem those miles for flights.

Also see: Top 10 Best Credit Card Bonus Offers.

The information for the United Explorer Card has been collected independently by My Money Blog. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.