Continental - What to do with 10,000 miles.
 

Don't fly CO much and signed up for OnePass last year, little did I know I'd accumulate so many miles so quickly. I fly AA alot and have elite status with them I have only flown some Star Aliance carriers on routes where there was no One World carrier and that is how my CO miles added up. I know now UA and CO have mergered and things will change. My question, is there anything I can do now with the 10,000 miles I have? If so, what? Or, is it better just to keep the miles and build on them which will take along time as I fly One World airlines alot.

Make sure you have activity with your miles and hold on to them. If you rent a rental car, use Continental's website so you get a few miles and that will help for activity.

You didn't mention your age or location, however, Continental's new alliance is pretty big and includes a lot of really good international carriers and I love flying foreign airlines.

we use small amounts of miles on carriers we know we won't use much for magazines.

Magazines & newspaper subscription. Donation. Onepass auction for sports tickets and other stuff.

BTW, CO is not enforcing its mileage expiring policy. Have not done it for ever, not doing it now. So, no need to keep activity currently.

And CO and UA hasn't merged. But will soon. Onepass and Mileage plus likely merged sometime in 2011.

If you do not expect to have a use for those miles, you can donate them to a charity, mostly medical-related, that will use the miles to help families travel to be with loved ones in treatment away from home. Details can be found under "use miles" on airlines' websites.

Signup for some of the credit card deals out there that give you Continental miles. That way you will easily get to a mileage level where you can fly free.

One little tricky move is to get an Amex card for UA.

They usually offer bonuses for one's first purchase and the first year is free.

I've been nursing some Delta miles for years, using this methodology. If you use your Amex card, it updates your expiration date on the miles. Just got a new Delta Amex card and 25,000 miles for my first purchase. If you ever run a detailed credit check on yourself, you will see that Amex makes inquiries almost every month, followed by an offer that's usually pre-approved.

You probably already have a Citibank AA Gold or Platinum card, so the offer letters should be pouring in. I usually dump the Amex card after using it for 3 months and letting it lay idle for 9 months or so.

Sounds deceptive, and it probably is; however, it's not more deceptive than what the airlines and credit card issuers try to pull on you.

An AMEX care for UA? What are you talking about?

We donated ours to Fisher House to help the wounded and/or wounded families travel free between hospital and home. We now have another 8000 miles to give them.