mainline To reiterate and emphasize, the AmEx Plat charge card only admits you to the airline lounges of the carrier operating your flight that day (before and after), regardless of how your ticket is paid or if it is an award ticket. Be careful about codeshares even within the same alliance. For example, in the past with CO-NW, you could only use the lounge of the carrier operating the flight, which typically meant that a RT ticket between MSP and IAH resulted in lounge access at only one airport, and creative attempts to play with the ticket stock didn't work. Similarly, regional carrier partners generally don't count for actually obtaining lounge access, although the technical rules aren't totally clear on this. (However, if you could somehow do a connection in each direction involving both mainline metals on each day, this could be a solution.) You also don't get access to any partner, alliance, contract, or specially named lounges regardless of the signs on the door. International lounges, in my experience, are generally not included either, based on some technicality that they are business class lounges rather than club lounges. The lounge dragons aren't always correct about the rules, but they definitely error on the side of denying access whenever possible, just as they interpret the policies on partner and alliance lounge acccess. You should be prepared to argue with them.

On the other hand, the annual charge card fees can be less than a single lounge membership alone, so depending on your travel patterns and usage of other card benefits, it can nevertheless be very worthwhile. Another option is to combine AmEx Plat with Priority Pass as a backup, which unfortunately no longer covers the DL Skyclubs although it does still cover many of the other domestic lounges. (Current detailed information, including lounge locations, hours, and facilities/services, is available at prioritypass.com, which is accessible to nonmembers.) Similarly, you may be able to buy a day pass when you would otherwise have no lounge access, although the calculation suggests that three normal paid day passes (for all day at one airline's domestic clubs) cost slightly less that an annual Priority Pass plus daily fees for three clubs. However, one also needs to compare guest access policies and costs.

NOV 22: I E-mail CO
"I recently applied for and got the Presidential Plus World MasterCard. When may I expect to see the promised $150 appear in my TravelBank?"

NOV 27: CO E-Mails Me
"Please feel free to contact Continental's OnePass Service Center at 713/952-1630, 6:00am-8:00pm, Monday-Friday concerning the $150 for the Presidential Plus World MasterCard credit card approval."

NOV 27: I Call OPSC
On-hold quite a while and got transferred twice. They don't know anything about the $150 offer and ask me where it is on CO.com. I was out shopping with TSMRSRNE and did not have the URL handy. And because it's too long and convoluted to recite over the phone, I sent the URL in a reply to their e-mail.

Status:
As I reported previously, Chase "appears" to have confirmed the $150 bonus, so maybe I don't need to have CO confirm it. Still, it would be nice to know CO is aware of this offer and able to advise me about it. And I do have a question about if my membership in the travel club having expired will affect my receipt of the $150 into my TravelBank.

! Your membership is expired.
The continental.com Club Member Since: 12/1/2005
Membership will expire: 6/6/2009

www.presplus150.com
 

Today I received a letter from Mark Bergsrud. (Me and thousands of others.) He entitled it The Smarter Card for the Continental Traveler. It's a print version of the offer for the Continental Airlines Presidential Plus World MasterCard, including prominent mention of the $150 TravelBank bonus in the first paragraph. I already have the card, of course, so the letter was of little consequence to me, but it did provide a more mnemonic URL that links to the offer details on CO.com. I thought I'd share that with you.

www.presplus150.com

Additionally, I found pertinent fine print that (I think) answers my question. To wit:

TRAVELBANK: You will receive a $150 travel credit with this offer. You will qualify for and receive your credit after you are approved for the Continental Airlines Presidential PlusSM World MasterCard. If you already have a TravelBank account, the $150 travel credit will be added to your existing account. After qualifying, please allow two to three weeks for the travel credit to be deposited into your TravelBank account at continental.com. Credit can be used when booking Continental flights at continental.com (excluding reward travel). This one-time offer is valid only for first-time Continental Airlines personal cardmembers with new accounts. Existing Continental Airlines personal cardmembers/accounts are not eligible for this offer. Chase Bank USA, N.A. not responsible for offer fulfillment."

Mark was sweet to send me this letter informing me of the offer. Perhaps the Senior Vice President of Marketing Programs and Distribution should inform Customer Support about such marketing programs so they would have a clue what customers are talking about when they call in with questions. :rolleyes:

The Plot Thickens
 

Overnight an e-mail hits my inbox from Deb Walden, Executive Vice President, Customer Experience, Chase Card Services and Mark Bergsrud; you know who he is. In the e-mail, this dynamic duo thanks me for acquiring the Continental Airlines Presidential Plus World MasterCard and then goes on for five paragraphs touting the perks and benefits I'll receive. Nowhere is the $150 TravelBank bonus mentioned! :mad:

My PClub membership expires 2/10... TravelBank $150 promo expires 1/31/10. Was planning on jumping to PP card instead of renewing and currently do not have any CO-branded Chase cards (aside from debit).

Is there any other real incentive to apply for PP now (considering TravelBank offer)?

Also, it's my understanding the card is branded as a rather "exclusive" for "highly qualified" folks. Credit wise, I'm good, but doubt I'm "highly qualified" - anyone with additional insight here?

It would be interesting to hear from anyone who has actually received the $150 TravelBank bonus, if there is anyone.

Don't sweat your FICO score if it's just pretty good (750+). Mine is 810, last I looked. Even with a score under 750, Chase would probably qualify you because of the annual fee. It might crimp your limit; that's all. Nevertheless, you should not let the prospect of denial keep you from applying for the card, if it is a savings on what you would spend anyway for PC membership. And don't forget the $150 TravelBank bonus...assuming that's real. :rolleyes: Yes, a credit check may ding your score, but you can have two or three checks a year suffering little if any effect. I do. And if your FICO is so bad you don't get approved, then the credit check ding won't matter too much to your already-bad score. So, I think your decision is clear.

Points taken, and thanks.

Assuming I'm a reasonable person (usually), given I apply now and am approved, I'm essentially ditching the final 3 months of the paid PC membership.

MMmmm... I think I'll still proceed, and advise if/when the TravelBank credit is applied.

No worry. CO will refund the unused portion of your paid membership.

Even better - off to apply! Thanks again!

A bit off the point here but it is PC. I see *A has just changed their website to include paid club access as P.C. is acceptable. They replied to a question why Maple etc had been listed and not PC and said they would change -appears to have been done in last 24hrs - well done *A.
Eligible Paid Lounge Membership Customers include United Airlines Red Carpet Club, US Airways Club - Star Alliance Upgrade, Air Canada Maple Leaf Club – Worldwide and Continental Airlines Presidents Club.

DEC 5: CO E-mails Me:
"Dear RNE: Please accept our apologies for the delay in this response. I copied the following from the link you provided:
'TRAVELBANK: You will receive a $150 travel credit with this offer. You will qualify for and receive your credit after you are approved for the Continental Airlines Presidential PlusSM World MasterCard. If you already have a TravelBank account, the $150 travel credit will be added to your existing account. After qualifying, please allow two to three weeks for the travel credit to be deposited into your TravelBank account at continental.com. Credit can be used when booking Continental flights at continental.com (excluding reward travel). This one-time offer is valid only for first-time Continental Airlines personal cardmembers with new accounts. Existing Continental Airlines personal cardmembers/accounts are not eligible for this offer. Chase Bank USA, N.A. not responsible for offer fulfillment.'
Your continental.com Club membership shows expired since June 6, 2009. Hope this helps!"

DEC 5: I E-mail CO:
"Thank you. I'm three days short of three weeks and still no money. Oh, well. I'll just be patient. Meanwhile, let me ask you this. Will the fact my continental.com Club membership has expired inhibit my receipt of the $150 travel credit into my TravelBank account? Since the offer states 'Chase Bank USA, N.A. not responsible for offer fulfillment,' then Continental Airlines must be responsible for it. Therefore, I'm sure you can answer my question. Thanks so much! Happy Holidays!"

If I am not mistaken -- you do need to book said tickets on said PP MC! I'm not so sure that for flights booked on other cards -- that the 'Elite Access' benefits necessarily apply! I know this is true for the waived baggage fee benefit!

That is incorrect. Your OP account is flagged (unseen by us) as a Presidential Plus MC holder. You may charge your tickets to any card or pay cash and still receive the Elite Access benefits including the waived baggage fee as long as you are the primary cardholder and your OP number is in the reservation.

What you suppose and know to be true are not.

EliteAccess: All EliteAccess terms and conditions apply. Benefits apply to the Primary Cardmember on the Continental Airlines Presidential Plus Card account and anyone traveling on the same reservation. Benefits are available as long as the credit card account is open and not in default. Upon cancellation of the credit card account, all benefits will be cancelled. Benefits include: priority check-in, priority airport screening (where available), priority boarding privileges, and priority baggage when traveling on Continental-operated and -marketed flights.

Continental Airlines Presidential PlusSM primary cardmembers get their first and second checked-bag fees automatically waived (a savings of up to $100 per round trip per passenger checking bags). Customers traveling with the primary cardmember will also get their applicable baggage fees waived if they are listed in the same reservation and check in at the same time. This exemption will not apply to group reservations including 10 or more customers.

(controller1 beat me to the punch.)

P.S. Today, I received my Presidents Club membership card. I would frame it, but I can't fit the frame in my wallet. :)

I've had CO agents mention baggage fees at the kiosks -- and I am a primary PP MC holder who charges all my tkts to that card! So, I'm not sure it's obvious to the agents!:rolleyes: