Upgrademe, you apparently disagree, but given the relative "weight" of the two previous posters before me (mileking and gleff), who I hold in very high regard w/ respect to opinions on ff programs, you are fighting a fight that's long been over. When these two posted agree and make the comment they both do about Continental's program, its a slam-dunk.

Nonepass is known to be what it is. A super, award-winning (Randy can't stop awarding them Freddys it seems) program FOR TOP-TIER elites only...they do, clearly, take care of their own.

This said - they also treat the non-elite would-be award traveler like a dog. Any travelers/credit card user who collects Nonepass miles, and has no TOP TIER ONLY elite status w/ them, is making a B I G mistake.

You have not discussed: a) number of seats you obtained an award for (try a family of 4-5 on Nonepass, again as a non-top-tier elite, then post your experiences), or b) your own elite level w/ Continental.

Until these full details are divulged, your post has no standing with me.

Again, this fight has long since been over - Nonepass is known to be the worst affinity program for anyone *except* top-tier Onepass elites, who have special inventory, waivers and favors. You know - this is where AA apparently is headed w/ their milesaaver program.

In general, I see most of the legacy airline's affinity programs as loading up w/ gotchas and fine print rules, etc, and massive inflation of miles sold versus awards allocated. It only gets worse year by year as the airlines' whore out their affinity program scrounging for real today-dollars, knowing there is no federal oversight of their programs. They do *just enough* to get by and keep the hounds at bay.

So...no small wonder why Capital One's "generic" points programs, and other similar programs, are make strong inroads these days, and, I note with chagrin, I get Citibank solicitations DAILY for cash-back cards and their own internally-designed affinity program...seems to be the Citibank/AAdvantage *trendlines* for new cards issued, as well for, I suspect, total charges per day, is on the decline. IOW - the dirty secret of the legacy airline's affinity programs is slowly seeping out.