sdexplorer00 From United States of America, joined Dec 2007, 145 posts, RR: 0 Posted (2 years 8 months 1 week 6 days 8 hours ago) and read 4615 times:
Membership Rewards Will End Relationship with Continental
American Express announced this morning that it would no longer allow its charge card customers to redeem their Membership Rewards points for frequent flier miles in Continental’s OnePass program come Sept. 30, 2011.
I guess we can see United running the FF show here. Also Chase now dominates program. At least we have a year to redeem points. Any guess what will happen to the Amex lounge access program?
FlyASAGuy2005 From United States of America, joined Sep 2007, 6520 posts, RR: 11 Reply 1, posted (2 years 8 months 1 week 6 days 8 hours ago) and read 4543 times:
william From United States of America, joined Jun 1999, 1139 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (2 years 8 months 1 week 6 days 8 hours ago) and read 4493 times:
That stinks........I do not particular care for Chase,but now may not have a choice. DL must be happy now.
N471wn From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 1186 posts, RR: 1 Reply 3, posted (2 years 8 months 1 week 6 days 8 hours ago) and read 4493 times:
They also ended their membership rewards program with Southwest
LAXintl From United States of America, joined May 2000, 22073 posts, RR: 51 Reply 4, posted (2 years 8 months 1 week 6 days 8 hours ago) and read 4467 times:
Cant say this is a shock considering the coziness and recently expanded relationship Chase has with both airlines. I'm sure Chase has had a strong desire to have an exclusive partnership.
For the lounge access, I don't know. At the end of the day AmEx pays the airline for access, so for the new United it becomes a calculation of does it loose more in paid lounge memberships versus the revenue it can gain from AmEx.
For example, I know more then one AA Admiral Club member that dumped their lounge memberships after AA joined the program in 2008, so UA would likely loose thousand of paid members.
If I had to guess, I think this will die also since UA has more lounges, and manages them more as a separate business unit that need to stand on its own versus CO does with its clubs.
From the desert to the sea, to all of Southern California
LAXintl From United States of America, joined May 2000, 22073 posts, RR: 51 Reply 5, posted (2 years 8 months 1 week 6 days 7 hours ago) and read 4415 times:
Quoting N471wn (Reply 3): They also ended their membership rewards program with Southwest
True, that ended back in June 30th.
Interestingly SWA is also hooked up with Chase. One wonders if part of the relationship, Chase demands carriers to sever their links with competing banks or issuers.
From the desert to the sea, to all of Southern California
wingman From Trinidad and Tobago, joined May 1999, 1838 posts, RR: 5 Reply 6, posted (2 years 8 months 1 week 6 days 7 hours ago) and read 4295 times:
I'm not sure of the details but Amex now offers MR redemption for flights "on any airline, anytime". I think this is a straight redemption of your MR points at a predetermined dollar value for bookings via Amex Travel. That "pre-detrmined" dollar valuation may be more or less than an airline FF point but this depends on a many factors. My guess is that it pans out in the end seeing as FF trade ins are becoming more expensive (50,000 pts for a RT domestic fare vs. the old standard of 25,000) but actual paid fares are not.
At the end of the day that Amex MR program is still routinely voted as the best in the card business and that must be for good reason. I use a Chase United card myself and pay $140 a year for Platinum status. That puts me squarely in the demented camp. If you travel United or any other airline heavily for business I would avoid that airline card and get something like the Amex Starwood card. That way you're elite on your airline but also complementing that with hotel perks. Doubling up on airline points is pretty senseless. You can fly 75,000 to 100K miles per year on DL or US to make top of the class. So spending $20,000 on your personal card and not adding to that "elite" qualifying status makes little sense. Even at double accrual the 40,000 additional points may be worth as little as $300 for a RT domestic ticket. But those same points traded in for 2-3 hotel nights may be worth double or triple that in real dollar terms. Just my semi-learned opinion. Hope it helps you.
No. Just because Continental is ending the relationship doesn't mean the merged frequent flier program will be United's... there are other factors involved.... basically, you can blame Chase and the new One Pass Plus product.
FWAERJ From United States of America, joined Jun 2006, 3183 posts, RR: 1 Reply 8, posted (2 years 8 months 1 week 6 days 6 hours ago) and read 4245 times:
I'm surprised one hasn't mentioned that the Chase Sapphire Preferred Visa Signature, a direct competitor to American Express's green and gold cards, allows cardmembers to redeem "Ultimate Rewards" points for CO OnePass or BA Executive Club miles on a 1 to 1 basis. (IHG Priority Club, Amtrak Guest Rewards, and Marriott Rewards also allow for 1:1 point transfer through Sapphire Preferred.)
You can bet that the CO/UA merger will continue to allow redemption for UA/CO miles, whatever they may be called, as Chase has both CO and UA agreements. The big question, though: BA plans on merging Executive Club with AAdvantage in the US post-ATI. AAdvantage, being the stronger program in the US, will survive Stateside (the inverse will happen in the EU). Citi issues AA's AAdvantage card, so will Sapphire Preferred's BA 1:1 transfer switch to AAdvantage? Will WN (another airline with a Chase-issued credit card) Rapid Rewards be added in BA's place? Or will the merged UA/CO program, whatever it may be called, be the only FFP linkable to Sapphire Preferred? Tricky question.
sdexplorer00 From United States of America, joined Dec 2007, 145 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (2 years 8 months 1 week 6 days 1 hour ago) and read 3963 times:
Well, here's the answer to the lounge access as well. Bad news! Although theoretically you could still get some access with the $200 credit they're offering.
The free lounge access has definitely been a factor in my airline choice in Continental's favor. I wonder how many others feel this way and switch more business to Delta.
akelley728 From United States of America, joined Dec 1999, 2101 posts, RR: 6 Reply 10, posted (2 years 8 months 1 week 6 days 1 hour ago) and read 3924 times:
Quoting wingman (Reply 6): If you travel United or any other airline heavily for business I would avoid that airline card and get something like the Amex Starwood card. That way you're elite on your airline but also complementing that with hotel perks.
Agreed. I mainly fly Delta but have a Marriott Rewards Premier visa card. I find that the Marriott Rewards points I get on the Marriott card are a lot more useful than if I was to have the points going to Delta.
ikramerica From United States of America, joined May 2005, 21029 posts, RR: 60 Reply 11, posted (2 years 8 months 1 week 6 days 1 hour ago) and read 3874 times:
Quoting sdexplorer00 (Reply 9): Well, here's the answer to the lounge access as well. Bad news! Although theoretically you could still get some access with the $200 credit they're offering.
If this applies to all clubs as a new policy instead of the current lounge access program, AMEX will lose a boat load of platinum card customers. I will drop to the gold card, and possibly even the green card, as there is little other benefit to me of the Platinum card without the lounge access.
On a side note, AMEX just added US Airways to the lounge access program.
Of all the things to worry about... the Wookie has no pants.
sdexplorer00 From United States of America, joined Dec 2007, 145 posts, RR: 0 Reply 12, posted (2 years 8 months 1 week 4 days 3 hours ago) and read 2170 times:
Quoting ikramerica (Reply 11): If this applies to all clubs as a new policy instead of the current lounge access program, AMEX will lose a boat load of platinum card customers. I will drop to the gold card, and possibly even the green card, as there is little other benefit to me of the Platinum card without the lounge access.
The question is will people change cards or carriers?
ikramerica From United States of America, joined May 2005, 21029 posts, RR: 60 Reply 13, posted (2 years 8 months 1 week 4 days 3 hours ago) and read 2160 times:
Looks like the $200 thing is on top of club access.
I'm still considering changing my primary card to the United Club Visa from Chase. It's cheaper than AMEX Plat, you get a full Red Carpet Club membership (not a "you must be flying on UA that day" access privilege), and earn UA points. Downgrade the Plat card to Gold and still get many benefits I actually use, not the ones I never use.
Of all the things to worry about... the Wookie has no pants.
sdexplorer00 From United States of America, joined Dec 2007, 145 posts, RR: 0 Reply 14, posted (2 years 8 months 1 week 4 days 1 hour ago) and read 2086 times:
The Chase/Continental Presidents Plus card seems to be the same offering at CO.
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