Continental One Pass

[PRR 60]

I've had a Chase card for at least 25 years with not one problem. I don't question the stories of others, but my experience with Chase has been first rate.

 

[Cascadia]

I've had a Chase card for at least 25 years with not one problem. I don't question the stories of others, but my experience with Chase has been first rate.

That's encouraging, and similar to my experience with US Bank, a lot of people have horror stories about them, and in fact I had a bad experience with them many years ago, but the business I've done with them here over the last eight years or so has been problem free, they have treated me very well, and I feel I have benefited from the relationship. All the same I moved my primary activity to a smaller bank.

I will feel really stupid if I pass up this OnePass miles offer.

 

[jis]

I've had a Chase card for at least 25 years with not one problem. I don't question the stories of others, but my experience with Chase has been first rate.

I have had two Chase Cards (AGR and Continental Presidents Plus) for quite a while, and no problems. And I am even one of the nightmare customers for them since I have seldom ever paid a cent of interest or late fee to any of them. And still they keep trying to increase my line of credit and send me checks and goad me into taking cash advance and what nots, which I always turn down and tear the checks up and throw them away.

 

[AAARGH!]

I've had a Chase card for at least 25 years with not one problem. I don't question the stories of others, but my experience with Chase has been first rate.

I have had two Chase Cards (AGR and Continental Presidents Plus) for quite a while, and no problems. And I am even one of the nightmare customers for them since I have seldom ever paid a cent of interest or late fee to any of them. And still they keep trying to increase my line of credit and send me checks and goad me into taking cash advance and what nots, which I always turn down and tear the checks up and throw them away.

Same here. I have three cards from them (AGR, Continental, and BP gas). They are a bit pushy, but can be easily ignored. I have had no problems with Chase.

Their onboarding process (when you open a new card) is something else. When you activate a card, you get a real person, not an automated call tree thingy. They give you great information and of course, cross sell the heck out of you.

At the same time I got the BP card, I got a Shell card from City. They were the complete opposite. They did not want to talk to me or cross sell or anything. All automated and cludgy.

I work for another big bank that offers credit cards. We are more like City and consider Chase to be way out there as far as how they do things. But it must work. I for one like the Chase method, even if I have to ignore their 'pushyness'.

 

[The Metropolitan]

UGH! Thanks for the warning on the cross-sell on activation of the card. At least I'll know what to expect so that I can be HALF polite when I say no instead of being caught by surprise and irritated as all heck about the marketing schlock. I've always hated those sales calls for crap like dining or travelling "clubs" and hope I don't have to listen to said spiels where "we're going to go ahead and start your first month of the program for free and if you decide you don't want it, we'll give you a number to Bogota where you can call and cancel..."

For what it's worth again, my previous Chase experience relayed above was quite real, quite unexpected, and very souring, but it doesn't necessarily extend across all large banks. I've been extremely satisfied with PNC Bank, though admit I like dealing with my agency Credit Union most of all.

***Edit - Clarification: The UGH! was a reaction, not addressing AAARGH! by the wrong name! LOL!

 

[AAARGH!]

UGH! Thanks for the warning on the cross-sell on activation of the card. At least I'll know what to expect so that I can be HALF polite when I say no instead of being caught by surprise and irritated as all heck about the marketing schlock. I've always hated those sales calls for crap like dining or travelling "clubs" and hope I don't have to listen to said spiels where "we're going to go ahead and start your first month of the program for free and if you decide you don't want it, we'll give you a number to Bogota where you can call and cancel..."
For what it's worth again, my previous Chase experience relayed above was quite real, quite unexpected, and very souring, but it doesn't necessarily extend across all large banks. I've been extremely satisfied with PNC Bank, though admit I like dealing with my agency Credit Union most of all.

***Edit - Clarification: The UGH! was a reaction, not addressing AAARGH! by the wrong name! LOL!

Thanks for not calling my name in vain! :lol:

The cross sell wasn't that bad. They did it, but it wasn't pushy or anything. Just be ready. They tried to get me to take debt cancellation insurance. They asked me if I knew how it worked. At the bank I work at, I am in the department that OFFERS that product, so I probably knew more about the type of product than she did!

If a bank is going to cross sell, Chase does it the right way in my opinion.

 

[JayPea]

I only have the AGR card from Chase and have had no problems other than their stupid website. :angry: Danged thing keeps insisting I typed my user name and password wrong when I know that's not right. :angry: Chase itself has been just great. Just my luck, Continental doesn't fly in and out of my airport of choice, Spokane. First Amtrak departs and arrives in the dead of morning and no Continental in and out of Spokane. I guess I need to move!!!! :lol:

 

[The Metropolitan]

AARGH! - (clarification, not a reaction but addressing a poster by name! )

Thanks for the further insights. I can deal with responsibly making you aware of a product directly related to the item that you've already proceeded to acquire. When I was at the branch, the account rep wanted to sell me up to a Savings Account or Credit Card as a measure of overdraft protection. I contemplated biting on the former option, but when he honestly confided that the current interest was a mere fraction of 1% (versus the 1.35% or so that I've got at PNC), I elected to skip, and he was fine with it.

I've just gotten jaded with cross sells. Verizon has repeatedly tried to give me a free trial of things like VCAST to watch "great music videos" on my cell phone. When I ask if they have Brtitish Trip Hop groups like I like, they always back down - LOL! Sorry, not paying $10 a month for access to watch cheesy Jonas Brothers videos, thanks!

Jay Pea, Continental directly is admittedly a little tricky for me as well. I'm not sure I care to fly ERJ's too readily if there's a MD80 or better option available elsewhere, so that leaves me with a handful of West Coast Destinations, Houston, Phoenix, and New Orleans for the most part. Does United or US Airways fly into Spokane? If so, they are both Star Alliance Members whose points can be converted to CO miles in lieu of their "native" miles.

 

[JayPea]

Ohhhh.......I didn't know that United or US Airways points could be converted into CO miles. Both do indeed fly into Spokane. US Airways coverage is very limited, but United is less so.

 

[AAARGH!]

I contemplated biting on the former option, but when he honestly confided that the current interest was a mere fraction of 1% (versus the 1.35% or so that I've got at PNC), I elected to skip, and he was fine with it..

How are you getting 1.35% with PNC? I shouldn't be the one asking you considering PNC is the bank for which I work! :unsure: :blink: :unsure: :blink:

Actually, my account is with National City for another three weeks until it converts over to PNC (PNC bought National City). My current savings account is well below 1% not to mention 1.35%.

AAAARGH!! (clarification, a reaction, not calling out my own name )

 

[AAARGH!]

Ohhhh.......I didn't know that United or US Airways points could be converted into CO miles. Both do indeed fly into Spokane. US Airways coverage is very limited, but United is less so.

I don't think they can be transferred, BUT you can use the miles to fly on any of the Star Alliance partners.

 

[The Metropolitan]

How are you getting 1.35% with PNC? I shouldn't be the one asking you considering PNC is the bank for which I work! :unsure: :blink: :unsure: :blink:
Actually, my account is with National City for another three weeks until it converts over to PNC (PNC bought National City). My current savings account is well below 1% not to mention 1.35%.

AAAARGH!! (clarification, a reaction, not calling out my own name )

Actually upon checking just now, it's actually gone down to 1.1%. Sadly it was a full 3.0% 16 months ago, but its more the times we're in versus the bank's fault. It's the "Virtual Wallet" Account with PNC, sort of a competition to ING Direct, but with the advantage of much more clearly defined free ATM access at PNC locations, with a brick and mortar bank there if you need it.

Still, the interest rate is far higher than the usuals found elsewhere, and I've had no problems at all with PNC. The online interface is so good, I haven't needed to use the branch offices for anything but an occasional ATM visit.

 

[AAARGH!]

How are you getting 1.35% with PNC? I shouldn't be the one asking you considering PNC is the bank for which I work! :unsure: :blink: :unsure: :blink:
Actually, my account is with National City for another three weeks until it converts over to PNC (PNC bought National City). My current savings account is well below 1% not to mention 1.35%.

AAAARGH!! (clarification, a reaction, not calling out my own name )

Actually upon checking just now, it's actually gone down to 1.1%. Sadly it was a full 3.0% 16 months ago, but its more the times we're in versus the bank's fault. It's the "Virtual Wallet" Account with PNC, sort of a competition to ING Direct, but with the advantage of much more clearly defined free ATM access at PNC locations, with a brick and mortar bank there if you need it.

Still, the interest rate is far higher than the usuals found elsewhere, and I've had no problems at all with PNC. The online interface is so good, I haven't needed to use the branch offices for anything but an occasional ATM visit.

Thanks!!! I'll look into it once I convert to PNC. They have been playing up the Virtual Wallet product in our intranet.

 

[The Metropolitan]

I don't think they can be transferred, BUT you can use the miles to fly on any of the Star Alliance partners.

That's how it works to my understanding, you can either:

Access your flight reservation on United and specify that you want the miles to go to your specified CO account, or...

Book the United flight through CO's website through a Code Share. I don't know how comprehensive this option is, but if Spokane flights show in the CO results, it's always worth it to compare the CO and UA prices. We've noticed savings here in Baltimore of between $10 and $30 booking UA flights through code share on the CO website. And of course since the rewards are based on physical miles, there is no need at all to pay more (as you may on rare occasion actually wish to do on Amtrak if it means hitting a status level or reward threshold.)

Jeff, I've been quite satisfied with the Virtual Wallet product and defintely recommend you check it out. There may be a $100 incentive for Direct Deposit to a VW account still going on.

 

[The Metropolitan]

Got my card and am all set, though I admit I have one little BIG question that baffles me.

One of the benefits I would normally get is 1 mile for every $2 spent. Buth they list the following as a benefit as well:

Double OnePass miles when you use the card to purchase tickets directly from Continental.

So now I'm confused. Let's say I spend $150 on a trip from Los Angeles to Baltimore-BWI that would accrue roughly 2600 CO One Pass Miles due to the distance travelled.

Do I get twice the "Dollars Spent" mile to get 150 miles instead of 75 miles for my CO Purchase, or do I get twice the "CO distance travelled miles" to get 5200 One Pass Miles instead of 2600 miles for my flight?

 

[the_traveler]

I don't think they can be transferred, BUT you can use the miles to fly on any of the Star Alliance partners.

That's how it works to my understanding, you can either:

Access your flight reservation on United and specify that you want the miles to go to your specified CO account, or...

Book the United flight through CO's website through a Code Share. I don't know how comprehensive this option is, but if Spokane flights show in the CO results, it's always worth it to compare the CO and UA prices. We've noticed savings here in Baltimore of between $10 and $30 booking UA flights through code share on the CO website. And of course since the rewards are based on physical miles, there is no need at all to pay more (as you may on rare occasion actually wish to do on Amtrak if it means hitting a status level or reward threshold.)

What you can do is when you fly United or US Air, you can request that you receive OnePass Miles (give or enter your OnePass number) instead of Mileage Plus or Dividend Miles. Then they will be posted into your OnePass account! Then you can transfer those to AGR at 1:1!

 

[the_traveler]

Got my card and am all set, though I admit I have one little BIG question that baffles me.
One of the benefits I would normally get is 1 mile for every $2 spent. Buth they list the following as a benefit as well:

Double OnePass miles when you use the card to purchase tickets directly from Continental.

So now I'm confused. Let's say I spend $150 on a trip from Los Angeles to Baltimore-BWI that would accrue roughly 2600 CO One Pass Miles due to the distance travelled.

Do I get twice the "Dollars Spent" mile to get 150 miles instead of 75 miles for my CO Purchase, or do I get twice the "CO distance travelled miles" to get 5200 One Pass Miles instead of 2600 miles for my flight?

The way it works is that normally with that card, you earn 1 OnePass Mile for every $2 spent. So for example if you bought $20 in gas, you would earn 10 OnePass Miles. But if you purchase a Continental Airlines ticket directly from Continental with it, you earn 1 OnePass Mile for every $1 spent! (Much like you earn 2 AGR points per $1 on Amtrak tickets using the AGR MasterCard!)

So using your example, your $150 ticket will earn 150 OnePass Miles. And you still would earn another 2,600 OnePass Miles for the flight!

 

[The Metropolitan]

Thanks, I was hopeful for the other way, but it's still a nice perk nonetheless. Considering CO also has a separate 500 point bonus for using ANY Mastercard through October on a booking, it helps to bump the points, I mean "miles," up a good bit further.

I'm assuming Codeshare flights on UA booked through the CO website would also qualify for the double dollars bonus?

 

[the_traveler]

I'm assuming Codeshare flights on UA booked through the CO website would also qualify for the double dollars bonus?

Yes, as long as it's "CO____ operated by United Airlines", and can be bought on the CO website!

 

[The Metropolitan]

Well, bringing the topic back to AGR, I thought it only fitting that my first purchase with the card should be my $12 Amtrak ticket from BAL to BWI to make my 2200 mile flight to Phoenix on CO this coming Sunday. I guess it should be equally fitting that I should pace my purchases so that my 5th qualifying purchase that nets me these bonus miles is either a breakfast purchase on Amtrak (if I have time in those 12 minutes) or a drink purchase on one of the CO flights, presuming they don't restrict sales over a "Dry Sunday" state.

 

[Cascadia]

I did go to a Chase branch today to open a checking account using this 25,000 OnePass miles coupon. I tried to do it online first, but it wouldn't accept my passport as ID (I don't drive). It's just as well that I went to the branch because I'm sure I would have wanted them to vet everything anyway to make sure I get the miles.

I took the debit card that gets 1 mile per 2.00 spent, that has the 25.00 annual fee.

I must say it was a positive experience, the service was very good and friendly. Here in Bellingham Chase took over Washington Mutual (WaMu) when WaMu went bust. The fellow who helped me told me something interesting. He said that there were conflicts over customer service policies when Chase first took over - WaMu had been an award winner in the customer service area he said, whereas Chase came from a corporate culture of "what's customer service?" lol.

Chase adopted WaMu's customer service policies in response, system wide, I thought that was neat that they had some responsive give and take between the two entities and took the best that WaMu had to offer and provided the Chase state of the art computer systems in return.

So, I feel a little better about the decision and am definitely looking forward to the large miles bonus and to transferring them to Amtrak AGR ASAP. I am glad I squeezed in under the deadline on this one - thanks for the heads up you guys!!!!

 

[Ispolkom]

I'm glad that you weren't scared away by the horror stories (mine, or rather my wife's, included). My impression is that Chase does well enough with customer service, as long as you don't get into a situation where the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.

 

[Husker Mom]

Ok, now I have a couple of questions. I have started using my CO Chase card to acrue the 7500 bonus points awarded for a three month period begining on Apr 1st and going through July 1st. 1. So the purchases such as gas in my car and groceries etc are 1 point for every $2 spent correct? 2. Also, this CO Debit Card/Checking account......is this a different card than what I currently hold? Can I apply for that one and receive 25,000 bonus points? We have no Chase Banks in LNK but I do travel alot. 3. I am minutes (well a couple of days) away from renewing Pro Football Weekly on the AGR site for 16 points per dollor. I looked at the CO Mall and it said 15 points per dollor but are they double points? So should I renew through CO or AGR? Thanks!

Al

PS. I didn't realize that I was logged in under Brenda's AU account, this is really RailFanLNK.

 

[the_traveler]

Ok, now I have a couple of questions. I have started using my CO Chase card to acrue the 7500 bonus points awarded for a three month period begining on Apr 1st and going through July 1st. 1. So the purchases such as gas in my car and groceries etc are 1 point for every $2 spent correct? 2. Also, this CO Debit Card/Checking account......is this a different card than what I currently hold? Can I apply for that one and receive 25,000 bonus points? We have no Chase Banks in LNK but I do travel alot. 3. I am minutes (well a couple of days) away from renewing Pro Football Weekly on the AGR site for 16 points per dollor. I looked at the CO Mall and it said 15 points per dollor but are they double points? So should I renew through CO or AGR? Thanks!
Al

PS. I didn't realize that I was logged in under Brenda's AU account, this is really RailFanLNK.

I've heard that excuse before too, Al! :lol:

1) Is the card you have now the AGR credit card from Chase, the CO credit card from Chase or the debit card from Chase? :huh:

• The debit card is 1 mile per $2
  
• The CO credit card is 1 mile per $1, which can be transfered to AGR at 1:1
  
• The AGR credit card is 1 point per $1
  

2) If you have either credit card, it is totally separate and you can get the bonus!

3) If you are the PRIMARY holder of the CO MC (I learned that the hard way ) and you use the CO MC, you will get double miles! Otherwise, you only get the 15/$!

 

[Ispolkom]

I'm also confused about whether you are talking about a credit or a debit card, but I'd recommend using the Continental OnePass mall if you can get the double points bonus for using a Continental-branded debit or credit card. Double points are nice, and my experience with the Continental mall is uniformly positive. The miles always post. I can't say that about the Amtrak points for shopping.