Year: 2012

Continental OnePass Card Holders 50% Bonus Miles

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Do you think Continental is fighting for a chance to stay alive amid the merger with United? Back in October my wife and I each opened up new OnePass personal credit cards for the stellar 50,000 miles each offer. After making our first purchases, I actually just threw them in the safe the other day until I can figure out when would be a good time to shut them down prior to them transitioning over to the United Explorer cards. The big thing is I do not want to risk not being able to get the United Explorer bonus in the future if the cards would switch.

Well now Chase is making it harder for me to not use the card. In the mail, my wife and I each received the below announcement that from January 4 to March 4, 2012, we will now earn 50% more miles on all purchases.

50% Continental Offer

So Continental purchases will now net us 3 miles per dollar, and purchases everywhere else will bring in 1.5 miles per dollar. While it is not a huge increase, the Continental Cards now carry a high likelihood of working their way back into our wallets. The Discover More and Miles cards we use only net us 1% back with the excepting of the 5% rotating categories on the More card and 2% back on the Miles cards. Therefore, for everyday spend outside of the Discover premium categories, we are better off using the Continental cards.

As I sit and relish in the thought of raking in more miles, I also begin to wonder.

1) Is this promotion the start of a new trend with Chase? Are we likely see higher earning potentials as the new standard? Or does Chase know that we have not used the cards a ton within the first couple months and really want to win our business?

2) Is this really an effort for Chase to try and unload a ton of extra Continental OnePass miles that they are sitting on prior to rolling over the card to United? Maybe we might see some other new promotions out there to help gather up all those unwanted miles. Maybe it is the other way around and Continental is trying to sell as many cheap miles at discount as they can before the merger?

I really think it is a combination of both scenarios in item 2. Whatever the reason, we will be switching our spending over to Continental and Chase while our Discover cards take a well needed break.

Edit: This is a targeted offer. You may be able to call up Chase and have them apply it to your account, but it is YMMV.

Gilt Me Into 1,500 United Miles for $13.95 Spend

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Update 1/15/12: The “Gilt” that keeps on giving. Today I noticed we received a third round of bonus miles (1,500) in each of our Continental accounts. Therefore, my wife and I have each pulled in a total of 4,540 Continental miles and 1,540 United miles. Pretty good investment for a $14 spend.

Continental Gilt Miles

I did notice though that in our United accounts, after giving us the 1,500 miles, they then took them away and then credited us 1,540 miles (1,500 bonus miles + 40 miles from purchase). While our United accounts are now balanced, we moved all of our miles out of our Continental accounts, so there is nothing for them to “take” away. I recommend running, not walking, to do the same.

United Gilt Miles

Update 1/11/12: The United miles credited to both my wife and my accounts a while back; however it took awhile, and today the Continental miles posted to each of our accounts. The problem, or good thing, is that the Continental miles have posted twice to each of our accounts (3,000 vs 1,500 miles). Rather than wait around for them to be possibly swept away, you might want to consider moving your Continental miles over to United for free using their transfer option upon logging into your account!

Sometimes I debate whether it is worth spending money that I normally would not have just for the sake of getting miles. However, The Points Guy turned me onto a pretty hefty offer from the Gilt Group to earn 1,500 miles plus 5 miles per dollar spent. I looked through the offerings slightly when he first posted it, but really did not get to go through the website in more detail until last night.

The most enticing part of the offer is by-far the 1,500 bonus miles for any purchase, and if you can keep the cost low, it becomes a very viable offer.

I initially placed a small order for myself with only $13.95 out-of-pocket expense (including shipping). I am not saying what I purchased because I eventually turned around and made the same purchase with an account for my wife, and the items will be used as gifts for some people I know who read our site. Then we followed it up with a new account for both my wife and I using our Continental OnePass accounts. So we will have 4 packages on their way that will be as presents at some point.

So total out of pocket expense was $13.95 x 4 = $55.88.

The beautiful part is that for the four orders, we should earn (1,500 miles * 4) + 4(5 miles * $8) = 6,160 miles
I did not include the cost of shipping towards the miles multiplier, but if they give them to us, that would be better.

Meaning we bought miles at $0.0091 or over 110 miles per dollar spent. That is an incredible return on the dollar, and in my opinion worth the outlay of spending money for the sake of earning miles (and gifts for people).

Audience Rewards Trivia Update for SPG Rewards (1-16-12)

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Good Morning everyone! Today we have another set of the Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) Audience Rewards questions to earn you free rewards.

Now for the trivia questions.

  • Who is directing Nice Work If You Can Get It? Kathleen Marshall
  • True or False? The original Broadway Billy’s were involved the final show of Billy Elliot on Broadway. True
  • Who is the music director of the revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying? David Chase
  • What was the name of Judy Garland’s last husband, featured in End of the Rainbow? Mickey Deans
  • What notable film in recent Hollywood past has Jennifer Lim of Chinglish been in? 27 Dresses
  • (20 points) What was the first show that Diane Paulus directed on Broadway? Hair

As a reminder, for all things Audience Rewards, including all the latest free points and miles from the Points Play trivia questions, see my Audience Rewards page.

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