Nothing in my post states or implies CO "instructed Chase to rebrand the cards."
Point taken, but since Continental owns the marks related to OnePass and the President's Club, I don't imagine that Chase could make changes to the branding on the card without CO's say-so.
True. I merely speculated that Chase was renaming it to OnePass Plus (essentially dropping "presidential") to "neutralize" the card somewhat. Indeed, Chase may have advanced knowledge that the combined program will be called OnePass. That I don't know. Or the renaming could be a half step to something else. Again, I don't know. Nevertheless, I maintain this move this early is telling on Chase's part.
Fair enough, but again, if Chase were 'neutralizing' the name of the card, why would CO still be advertising it as the "Presidential Plus" card?
I'm not suggesting that your recollection was inaccurate, but generally lower-level bankers, branch managers and CSRs don't have insider information re: affinity credit card operations.