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If a are a Continental Airlines frequent flyer, chances are that your continental airlines credit card is the Chase Continental Airlines World Mastercard. You will earn double miles on Continental Airlines purchase and also one mile for every dollar you spend on "other purchase items". You also have to pay a $85.00 annual fee. Though normal for an airline credit card, annual fees are fast disappearing in the credit card world.
What if you do not want to pay the annual fee? What alternatives do you have?
Firstly, you can call up Chase and ask them to waive the annual fee. They will likely agree to that on condition that instead of earning double miles, you only earn one mile for every two dollar that you spend on the card. That is the standard
response if you make a similar request for any airline credit card.
You can also get the Blue from American Express, which is a reward credit card based on the Membership Rewards Options program. There are 21 airline partners, of which Continental Airlines is one of them. You earn one point for every dollar you spend, and can transfer two points for one mile to your OnePass account. There is no annual fee for this card. The net effect is the same if you asked Chase to waive your annual fee.
Best Solution : Get a Chase Flexible Rewards Card
Or you can get the Chase Flexible Rewards Platinum Visa® Card. How does that help, you might ask. Well, as part of their reward program, this card allows you to transfer points into Continental Onepass Miles as well. You can transfer at a rate of 10,000 points for 12,000 OnePass Miles. Since the card has no annual fee and you earn one point for every dollar you spend on the card, that is equivalent to earning slightly less than one miles for every dollar you spend. This is a much better rate than using the Blue Card or getting your annual fee waived for your Continental Airlines World Mastercard.
If you do not wish to transfer points to miles, the Chase Flexible Rewards Card also lets you redeem points for Continental Airline Tickets. With most reward programs, you do not really have control over the choice of airlines. But with this card, you can choose to redeem points specifically for Continental Airlines tickets. Below is a table illustrating the airline rewards for the Flexible Rewards Program.
| Destinations |
Continental Airlines |
Other Airlines |
| Continental US |
25,000 pts |
25,000 pts |
| Mexico |
35,000 pts |
45,000 pts |
| Hawaii |
40,000 pts |
45,000 pts |
| Canada |
|
45,000 pts |
| Caribbean |
30,000 pts |
45,000 pts |
| Alaska |
|
45,000 pts |
| Central America |
35,000 pts |
75,000 pts |
| Asia |
55,000 |
75,000 |
| South America |
45,000 pts |
75,000 pts |
| South Pacific |
55,000 pts |
|
| Europe |
45,000 pts |
50,000 pts |
| Middle East |
55,000 pts |
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Conclusion - If you are a frequent flyer on Continental Airlines and want to earn extra points, the Continental Airlines® World MasterCard® from Chase will allow you to earn double miles. But you have to pay an annual fee of $85.00. If paying the annual fee is not an issue, then this card is probably the best for you.
But if you do not want to pay the annual fee, or you are flying less often these days, then the Chase Flexible Rewards Platinum Visa® Card would be a great alternative. You pay no annual fee for this card, and yet you can use points to either convert to Continental OnePass miles or redeem Continental Airline Flights directly.
P.S. - If you go to the Chase website, you will not find any of these details. Only Chase reward cardholders can see what rewards are available at choosemyrewards.com. However, I am a cardholder of the Chase Flexible Rewards and I have access to this information (which is why I am providing this tip!). I am also very happy with the service and highly recommend this card.
P.P.S. - The Chase Flexible Rewards also allows you to convert miles to United Mileage Plus and British Airways Miles as well! See our other hot tips articles below :
How to earn United Mileage Plus Miles with a no annual fee credit card?
How to earn British Airways Miles with a no annual fee credit card?
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