The price of loyalty just went up. But will you pay up?

United Airlines has raised the price of its United Explorer Card from $95 to $150. Is it time to bail out on these pricey loyalty schemes?

If you play the points game, maybe you received an email this week from United Airlines saying that it was “excited” to announce that its United Explorer Card now has upgraded benefits to make travel even more rewarding.

But buried in the fine print was an unwelcome surprise: United also upgraded the annual fee of its card from $95 to $150.

It’s not the first points-earning card to raise its fees recently — last year, Delta hiked the cost of its Platinum card from $250 to $350. But given the softening economy and the airline industry’s avarice, it will probably not be the last.

The question is, will you go along with it?

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