Question
I got a Chase Continental MC in Dec. of 2005. When I tried to book a flight 2 days ago, Continental.com would not give me the 5% discount. Turns out that you only get the discount for the FIRST year. I called Chase Customer Service and of course they said it was Continental's doing, not theirs. I then asked if they would waive the $85 annual fee (which I had gotten them to waive for 2006). They said no so I cancelled the card. Just does not make sense to have an $85 annual fee credit card with the only real benefit being 1-1 miles for dollars.
I think Chase and Continental were betting on luring people in for one year with the 5% discount and no fee, and then socking it to them with a high fee and no discount after the first year in hopes that people will be too lazy to cancel the card.
I just wanted to see if other people know about this or have had similar experiences.
FYI- I decided to primarly use my SPG Amex but the problem is that not everyone takes Amex and also now you can only get 1 Continental mile for every $2 you spend w/ the card. According to SPG, Continental just changed this on 1/1/07. Guess Continental is clamping down on non-airline mileage acculmulation.
Answer
Affinity cards sponsored by a specific airline or hotel chain tend to be discussed in the sponsor's message section of Flyertalk, and there are several threads in the Continental area about this issue. Here are links to two...
http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=643741
http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=594642
<< Guess Continental is clamping down on non-airline mileage acculmulation.>>
More likely Chase is clamping down on other credit card issuers being able to award OnePass Miles. There is a thread in the Continental section mentioning that Chase purchase $75 million worth of miles from Continental in a year. I imagine this gives them some influence. Nonetheless, it is still possible to transfer American Express Membership Rewards points 1:1 to Continental.
dennis
Answer
One no-annual fee option you DO still have for Continental miles ($1=1 mile) is the Amtrak Credit Card, which accumulates Amtrak Rewards points which are convertable to Continental miles in 2500 point blocks.
Answer
MY favourite airline. My least favourite bank and credit card.
Chase is losing business they'd never get from me. CO is losing business I'd give them in a heartbeat if it wasn't for chase. Instead, I put all my purchases on a US airways card. *A rewards are tempting and the perks of the card are great for the fee.
Answer
One no-annual fee option you DO still have for Continental miles ($1=1 mile) is the Amtrak Credit Card, which accumulates Amtrak Rewards points which are convertable to Continental miles in 2500 point blocks.
If you dont have it You cant get it1 Amtrak is ditching BofA who purchased MBNA. sometime in the Spring they are connecting up with another Bank , so you'll have to wait till the new Bank comes in before anyone can get an Amtrak CC
Answer
I know three Chase-free sensible routes to Continental:
American Express Membership Rewards to Continental 1000:1000
Starwood Preferred Guest to Amtrak to Continental 5000:5000:5000
Diners Club Rewards to Amtrak to Continental 5000:5000:5000
Only Diners Club Mastercard is suitable for merchants who will not accept American Express. Routing via Amtrak is limited to 25,000 miles per year, can be s-l-o-w, and there is the risk that Amtrak will eliminate such transfers without notice and you will be left holding Amtrak Guest Rewards points that you do not really want.