Continental Airlines Debit Card Review
The Continental Airlines Debit Card is available to with Chase checking accounts. It allows you to earn Continental OnePass Miles each time you use the debit card. Let’s find out more about the card.
Miles Rewards – As with most debit cards, the Continental Airlines Debit Card comes with a basic and a preferred version. The basic version allows you to earn one mile for every two dollars that you spend on the card. The Preferred version allows you to earn one miles for every dollar that you spend on the card.
You get to earn 2,500 bonus miles when you make your first qualifying purchase and an additional 2,500 bonus miles when you get a card for your joint account holder (that is if you have a joint account holder).
Double Miles for Continental Airline Purchases – The best feature of this debit card is that unlike other debit cards, you can earn double miles for every dollar that you spend on the card. No other airline debit card that I know of allows that (as far as I know).
You can also use the card at shoponepass.com, Continental’s shopping mall and earn a good number of miles.
Qualifying Purchases – I’ve taken this verbatim from Chase website as to what constitute a qualifying purchase for you to earn miles : “include all debit card purchases made without using a Personal Identification Number (PIN). Such “non-PIN” purchases include purchases you sign for, Internet purchases, phone or mail-order purchases, small dollar purchases that do not require a signature, bill payments (where billers process the transaction as a credit transaction) and contactless purchases (purchases made by holding your blink®-enabled card to a secure reader). Cash advances and cash transactions do not qualify. “
Fees – The annual fee is $25 for the basic version and $65 for the preferred version.
Verdict – The Continental Airlines Debit Card is probably the best airline debit card I’ve reviewed so far. Most airline debit cards at best allow you to earn one mile for every dollar that you spend on the card. The Continental Airlines Debit Card, on the hand, allows you to earn double miles. Furthermore, the $65 annual fee of the preferred version compares favorably to the Continental Airlines World MasterCard’s $85 annual fee (though you get a much more benefits with the credit card).
For those who are really hung up over paying an annual fee for either a credit card or debit card, the Chase Sapphire Card or the Chase Freedom allows you to transfer points to Continental OnePass Miles on a one for one ratio and is another good alternative to earning OnePass miles.
As for those who insist on only using a debit card and want to earn Continental OnePass Miles, then the Continental Airlines Debit Card is a good alternative to the credit card and possibly the best airline debit card around.
