United Airlines and Continental Airlines Merger

Continental Airlines and United Airlines will be merging in the next year or so. Although the new airline will keep the United Airlines name.. the planes will have the Continental Airlines signature blue and gold tail.

As of this writing, they are still operating as separate entities until the issuance of a single operating certificate from the FAA.. which is expected to be issued sometime in the next 12 months.

When the merger is complete.. the frequent flyer programs of these two airlines will merge as well. At that time, Continental One Pass members will be automatically enrolled in United Mileage Plus^®

The Continental One Pass Card will cease to exist at the beginning of 2012. Consumers who currently have either of these credit cards can benefit by applying for the other credit card and getting an additional 40,000 bonus miles.

This creates a window of opportunity for the next year or so for frequent flyers.. as well as for savvy travelers who may be looking to take advantage of some additional bonus miles to use on the new United Airlines.

If you are a United Mileage Plus frequent flyer member and already have a United Airlines Credit Card, you should take advantage of the sign up bonuses for the Continental Airlines Credit Card.

If you are a Continental OnePass frequent flyer member and already have a Continental Airlines Credit Card, you should take advantage of the sign up bonuses for the United Airlines Credit Card.

You can also get bonus miles on either of these airlines with most American Express Cards, since both airlines are currently members of the American Express Membership Rewards program.

The Membership Rewards program applies to American Express Gold Cards and American Express Platinum Cards for consumers or business.. as well as American Express Blue Sky.

Chase Bank also has credit cards which will allow you to convert points into miles with either of these airlines. The Chase Sapphire and Chase Sapphire Preferred Card for consumers will allow you to do that.. as well as the Chase Ink Bold with Ultimate Rewards for Small Business.

Keep in mind.. it is not advisable to apply for more than a couple of credit cards in a 90 day period, as this can impact your credit score. If you plan to apply for more than one credit card.. apply for one now and perhaps one more in another 6 to 8 weeks.

You may want to have your spouse apply for these cards as well and reap double the bonus mile rewards.

Take advantage of this unique opportunity and rack up some additional air miles. You will be on your way to earning free airline tickets on Continental, United or on the new United Airlines in early 2012.

For more information regarding these credit cards, as well as other Airline Credit Card offers.. see the page Airline Miles Credit Cards at our website.