This morning I raised the question of whether Chase let the cat out of the bag on an upcoming program change for Continental OnePass. There was fine print in some of the promo spots on continental.com this morning detailing the T&C for the new versions of the Chase/Continental credit cards. Included in there was a reference to upgrades on reward flights but no real details. As of 4:30pm EDT today the new benefit has been confirmed. Here are the details offered of the new program:
- The Elite upgrade boundaries are similar to revenue tickets. This upgrade benefit will apply to the same flights where we offer complimentary Elite upgrades for paid tickets. It will only apply, however, to flights operated by Continental.
- The prioritization of these upgrades will be similar, too. Reward ticket upgrades will be prioritized within each respective Elite tier, just behind the lowest revenue fare class. And because I know you’re going to ask, EasyPass rewards won’t be considered eligible for instant upgrades.
- It’s for Presidential Plus and OnePass Plus MasterCard cardmembers only. This benefit will not not extend to any other Continental credit or debit card.
- This will is a OnePass benefit for the primary cardmember only. This means that in order to take advantage of this benefit, the OnePass reward tickets have to be redeemed and used by the Elite member, and the Elite member has to be the primary cardmember. This will not extend to rewards redeemed for other individuals, rewards redeemed from anything other than the primary cardmember’s OnePass account, nor will it apply to additional cardmembers.
- Platinum and Gold Companions benefit will still apply. This policy will mirror what we do for revenue tickets.
The good news is that Continental is adding a benefit. The bad news is that it is tied to the credit card. Still, any new benefit is better than none and it is good to see that the airlines do remember that they need to add things every now and then to remain competitive.
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What surprises me is… The small number of postings in the CO FT forum thread. CO flyers will be surprised when the forum merges with the UA forum, I think 😉
There is little conversation because it is, at best, a limited benefit and one that was clarified with coherent and specific communication from someone at Continental. When the details provided are specific and confirmed there’s no need for endless speculation and hand-wringing.
I hope it extends to United, post-merger. This would be a great benefit!