Continental to Leave Amex Membership Rewards Program in 2011

Sept. 15, 2010

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1 min read

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I've been waiting for this announcement for a while, so I can't say I'm totally surprised. September 30, 2011 will be the last day to transfer your American Express Membership Rewards points to your Continental Onepass account. While this decreases the flexibility of Amex MR points, you can still transfer your points to Air Canada or ANA if you want to book Star Alliance awards. However, each have different award charts that may have better/worse redemptions.

For example, it is only 80,000 points on Air Canada to fly US-Europe in business class (vs 105k on Continental).
However, its only 65,000 Continental miles to go to Southeast Asia (vs Air Canada 95,000)

I love the Membership Rewards program, but with the loss of Southwest this year and Continental next year, I'm hoping they bolster their ranks with more programs (by bringing back US Airways as a partner or adding American or Virgin America). Wishful thinking, I know.

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