Continental Airline Tickets

Are there any credit cards that United or Continental give air miles for, but with no annual fee?

I got an offer for a United Airlines Visa card but it's got an annual fee of $60. Is that normal? Seems pretty steep.

Public Comments

1. Did you know a little factoid? Airline miles never amount to more than cards that offer 1% cash back. Cash back cards are always a better deal. I'm a cost analyst and have done the math. Plus, google the nightmares on how hard they are to redeem. I am not sure at all why people like them. Stop getting these offers Get your credit reports at annual credit report. com And look for a telephone number that looks like 800-opt-out If you need a card - find it yourself. Most of the pre-approved offers you will get in the mail are the junky cards that offer nothing. Also note - that pre-approved means nothing. They will give you a card as fast as any other company will. /
2. United cards are $60 and up, Continental cards are $85 and up. If you fly a lot or have a red carpet club membership you are going to buy, you might want to look into cards with United that have a higher fee, actually, that will compensate you miles each year or the red carpet club membership each year as a part of the card. If not, this might not be the card for you. But no, there are practically no airline partner cards (be it with American Airlines, Delta, United, Continental, Southwest) that offer a card with no annual fee. $60 is actually the lowest I've seen on them in a while.
3. REWARDS PROGRAMS are designed to do one thing and one thing only: to get the CC holder to spend more money than they can afford. There is no correlation between the points earned and the $ value of those points. You may earn 1 point (or 1 mile) for each $1 charged, but the $ value of those points is closer to $0.01 for each point redeemed. So you charge $50,000 and get 50,000 points, but the $ value of those points is only $500 when you redeem them. The restrictions and requirements are so confusing that it may be near impossible to reap your rewards. An airline ticket may cost 100,000 points at first. But they can change the exchange rate and require 150,000 points for that same ticket. Violate any part of the agreement and you could lose your points and get hit with the default interest rate. To get the points back, you will have to pay an expensive reinstatement fee. The rewards cards, if they do not now, will carry an annual fee. Wells Fargo offered me a rewards card for $12 per year. I charge $650 and I get a coupon for a free Burger King Whopper. Let us do the math. Pay $12 to get a $3 coupon for a burger. That burger costs $9. What a Whopper of a deal!!! Drop the rewards cards and save your money for your own rewards program. Continental/Chase rewards card: Many people use their rewards for airline travel, so let’s look at that program. The card costs $85 per year just to possess it which reduces the value of your rewards. I’m not going to include interest charges for balances. We’ll presume that you pay your balance in full every month. But note that if you don’t pay in full, interest charges will be added to this calculation. To redeem the rewards for an airline ticket: A. The card holder must purchase a full fare adult ticket to get the discounted ticket. The discount received on the ticket has been lost when you must purchase a full fare adult ticket. B. $20 maximum discount for destinations to Houston TX, Newark NJ or Cleveland OH (no free tickets to these destinations). C. Taxes, fees and surcharges are added. The surcharges (redemption fees?) can be significant. D. Cannot be combined with other discounted offers E. Cannot be used on code-share flights (other airlines that use Continental Airlines to connect other flights). Your flight must originate, traverse and end on a Continental Airlines branded aircraft. F. Cannot be used on G/T/E/L/W/S/N class flights or equivalents. These flights are usually business travelers, military travelers on government orders, group travel, travel industry travelers, airline employees, etc. G. Cannot be used on Fridays or Sundays and requires a Saturday night stay. So, you must travel on Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu or Sat and return on a following Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu or Sat. There must be a Saturday between the departing and returning flights. H. Blackout dates apply (probably on their busiest travel days). Again, dump the rewards cards, save your money for your own rewards. These cards sometimes carry a higher interest rate, also.