Continental OnePass Frequent Flyer Miles

I love to travel, and I love racking up some airline miles.  In a few weeks I will be headed to Lisbon, Portugal and Luanda, Angola and I will be racking up 17,358 miles.  Add that to the 175,000 miles I already have on Continental and 25,000 on Alaska Airlines, and that is alot of miles . . . but for me not enough.

My slacker friend Emil said he needs to get on the ball in adding up some miles, and I am going to get about 50,000 miles next week, so here is how I do it.

Chase Continental Airlines Debit Card (25,000 OnePass Miles)
This requires you to open a Chase Free Checking Account and then get a Chase Continenal Airlines Debit Card.

1. Go to this link and print out the two copies of the coupon (one to keep and one to give to the bank)
2. Get $100 in cash to open the new account
3. Go to the bank and open the checking account and get 10,000 bonus miles when you make 5 debit card purchases or set up direct deposit
4. Pick either the Chase Continental Airlines Debit Card ($25 Annual Fee - 1 mile per $2 spent) or the Chase Continental Airlines Preferred Debit Card ($65 Annual Fee - 1 mile per $1 spent) and get another 15,000 bonus miles after your first qualifying purchase when you use the card
5. Setup Direct Deposit or make 5 Debit Card transactions a month to avoid monthly fees
6. Close your account after 6 months if you don't want to keep it open, the miles are your gift

Now the cool thing about this deal is that you can do it once per calendar year.  So in January 2011, do it again.  That is a free round trip every year!


Chase Continental Airlines Business Debit Card (25,000 OnePass Miles)

1. Get an EIN from the IRS and print up the paperwork to take to the bank
2. Go here to print two copies of the coupon (one to keep and one to give to the bank)
3. Get $500 in cash or a check from a different bank. The fine print states that money used to open the account can't be from an existing Chase account
4. Go to the bank and open the Chase Business Classic Checking Account and get 10,000 OnePass miles when you open it
5. Get the Chase Continental Airlines Business Debit Card ($65 Annual Fee - 1 mile per $1 spent) and get another 15,000 bonus miles after your first purchase with the card.  Make 5 Debit Card transactions a month to avoid a monthly fee
6. Close your account after 6 months if you don't want to keep it open, the miles are your gift
   
7. Do this once per year as it is limited to 1 Business award per customer
   

If you are opening multiple accounts for a spouse or friend, make sure you refresh the coupon page as the numbers are unique.  If you use the same printout for them, it won't work.

 If you are so inclined, you can get another 50,000 OnePass miles by opening a Chase Continental Credit Card (25,000 for a personal account, another 25,000 for a business account).  See this link for more information