Update: There’s been some interesting discussion in the comments about whether you will be able cancel the card once you get the miles and have them prorate the annual fee, or if you will be able to switch this card into a no annual fee card and get the miles for free. The bottom line is that YMMV (Your mileage may vary) you might get a great rep who will help you out and you can wind up with this whole deal for free, or you might not.
Is the deal hot? Yes, and it’s simple why. Even if you can’t get Chase to prorate or waive the $85 it is worth it because of the value of a mile.
In essence you are buying 20,000 miles for $85, a cost of about 4/10ths of a penny per mile.
As far as the uses go:
-Coach ticket to Israel on Continental is about $1,000 for 70,000 miles= 1.42 cents per mile value
-BusinessFirst ticket to Israel is about $5,000 for 100,000 miles= 5 cents per mile value.
-3 systemwide RT Tickets on Southwest/ATA is about $1,000 for 20,000 miles=5 cents per mile value.
-12 systemwide RT tickets on Southwest with a companion pass is worth at least $5,000 for 50,000 miles=10 cents per mile value.
-5 nights of $400 hotel rooms is worth $2,000 at a cost of 20,000 miles=10 cents per mile.
As you can see, buying miles for under half a cent each is a hot deal, and can be extremely hot if you make good use of the miles, or if you get the fee prorated or waived and pay nothing!
Related Links:
Transfer Amex/Amtrak/Continental/Starwood Into Choice Points And Southwest Credits Post!
Continental Business World Mastercard Linky
Continental Consumer World Mastercard Linky
Chase bank offers 2 Continental Mastercards, a consumer and a business version.
They both now offer 20,000 Continental mile upon signup.
They can be applied for at the same time without any problem.
Unfortunately both cards have $85 annual fees, which are not waved for the 1st year. But the value you can now get out of Continental miles far outweighs the fee for a year.
What you can do with just 20,000 Continental miles:
Boring:
-Use all of it for a short-haul domestic flight on Continental.
More interesting uses:
-Transfer it into 100,000 Choice Privileges points, enough for 5 stays at normally $400/night Manhattan hotels.
-Transfer it into 40 Southwest credits. Assuming you took my advice and signed up for the 8 free credits, you now have a couple options:
-3 Sytemwide Round-Trips on Southwest Or 3 Systemwide Round-Trips besides Hawaii on ATA.
-1.5 Round-trips to Hawaii on ATA (32 credits/Hawaii ticket)
Chase has just upgraded the Continental Airlines Business Card to “World For Business” status.
World Mastercards are the only US issued credit cards that offer free CDW insurance when renting a car in Israel.
Both Continental cards have “World” status.
Additionally both cards will let you save 5% on all Continental.com tickets by using the code: ONEPASS
Other benefits for the business card include:
-Earn 5,000 more bonus miles once you spend $25,000 on the card.
-Earn 2 miles per dollar spent on Continental tickets.
-Earn 2 miles per dollar spent at restaurants, gas stations, and at office supplies stores!
-Earn 1 mile per dollar spent elsewhere.
hi is the 85 dollar fee pro rated? thanks
Good question-I’m afraid that I don’t have the answer either…
I know, for example, that AMEX will prorate half the annual fee of a card if you cancel halfway through your billing year.
Has anyone tried to get Chase to prorate an annual fee?
Honestly though, putting aside whether on not they’ll prorate it, it’s the surest and best $85 you can invest today!
I don’t know if this deserves the word “Hot” after all it does cost something(unlike the southwest deal)
You’re right, there’s nothing hot about paying $85 to get $2,000 in hotel rooms or 3 plane tickets.
great post. i’ll pass it around to my folks.1 question. if s/o opens multiple accounts-say 5-,gets 100k for $85 times 5=$425,can they go and combine the cards and only pay 1 annual fee,if they dont want to close em out completely.if you posted about this in the past please write a link thanx always for a job well done p.s. dan we all know that you need and deserve a little time off from your crowd. if possible can you let us know of any extended absences,thanx
Being that I live in Israel and would use it for tickets to the states, I would need 4 cards to get a ticket therefore at 340 for the tickets, its not sooo hot, because I can do it for less with Starwoods or AA
Its not even $85. You can get that prorated…..but its still not hot enough. LOL
just curious dan, which $400/night manhattan hotel can you get 5 nights at for 100k choice points?
great deal…and HOT too
sometimes you can get the points, then change the kind of card it is, to one without an annual fee. any possibilty here?
how do you transfer points from Continental to Choice?
http://www.dansdeals.com/archives/2843
chase only lets you apply for credit once in 90 days. thsi is true with the busniess card. and with the regular card I belive its once in 60 days.
Is there anywhere I can transfer 25000 us airways points?
You left me out of your answering session post. Can you answer my question too? Thanks!
Dan , please put this article as well as last weeks articles on choice points etc. on the knowledge base under the airlines and points section. thanks
What can I do with 102,739 delta skymiles? I have over 100,000 Amex points and My wife has 50,000 amex points. I alsohave about 85,000 AA miles and 25,000 Continental. I will be transfering the continental to AA
Just spoke to Amtrak and they said the year starts from when you open the account
Dan do you know of any car rental places IN ISRAEL that I can use milage to rent a car?
thanx
Can you p[lease send me any good deals any time